#for the man who has everything

[poppetsisters]

Fake Reality Prison

[chernobog13]

That time the rest of the Trinity got to meet Mongul for the first time.

For The Man Who Has Everything by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (with colors by Tom Ziuko), from Superman Annual (vol. 1) #11 (September, 1985).

This is my absolute favorite version of Mongul, and hopefully we'll see him again someday.

[iseathegalaxy]

i'm definitely years late to this but do you think when they animated for the man who has everything they changed how in the comics bruce is actually the one that gives clark the new breed of rose he had bred (!) and named the krypton (!!) and instead had diana be the one to gift it to him because they read it and were like "no, that's way too gay, we can't"?

[asha-mage]

i'm on desktop and i'm too lazy to pull up emojis but imagine a pepper emoji right here

The best adaption of the famous Superman story 'For the Man Who Has Everything' is not the Justice League episode of the same name (though that is a very good episode and adaption) but rather, the Supergirl season 1 episode 'For the Girl Who Has Everything'.

As with the comic, Kara- like Clark- is ensnared by the Black Mercy, a plant that entraps it's victim in a hallucinogenic vision of their ideal life, and like Clark, we learn that Kara's vision of an ideal life is living out her time with her family on a Krypton that is never destroyed.

What's interesting is that Clark's vision of Krypton is not really grounded in anything- it can't be. He was a baby when he left and he has no memories to cling to. It's shown that what Clark really wants is being able to live in a world where not only does he not have the power to be a hero but their is no need for heroes at all. His visions of his parents, of what Kryptonian life might have looked like, all of it- it's all a fabrication. Even his dream wife is clearly just 'Lois Lane but on Krypton'. Clark Kent's darkest fantasy is "I don't have to be Superman anymore", because being Superman is a terrible sacrifice, but one he feels he has to make, like he does at the end of the story when he finally breaks free.

But that's not the case for Kara, because Kara's darkest fantasy is not "I don't have to be Supergirl anymore". Kara likes being Supergirl even despite all the sacrifices it demands of her, in part because its her way of making up for not being there for Clark/Kal El when he first got to earth. Instead Supergirl's darkest fantasy really is 'Krypton was never destroyed and none of this ever happened'- because for all the good in her life: from her adopted family, to everything Clark has become, to the friends she cares about so deeply, to everything she has done as Supergirl- she would trade it all to go back to Krypton, back to her family, her world, her life before it was all violently ripped away from her.

Kara remembers Krypton in a way Clark doesn't, and so her vision is more cruel in a way his can't be. Those visions of her parents aren't guess work or fabrication, that's really as she remembers them, and her vision of Krypton and what it was like are grounded firmly in her lived experience. For her, she is seeing people and places that where killed and destroyed, and that she mourned. Clark's vision is of a life he thinks he can never have. Kara's vision is of a life she had but was taken from her and unlike Clark that means that she can not escape on her own.

Instead her adopted sister Alex has to go into the vision to try and reach her, and in the process delivers one of the best speeches in the Arrowverse, or a Superfamily story:

Life isn't perfect. I know it can be hard and it can be lonely. Especially for you. You have sacrificed and you have lost so much. I wish you could've had a life with your family. But even if you did, Kara, it wouldn't be this. Because this isn't real. And deep down, Kara. Deep down, you know it. I can't promise you a life without pain and loss because pain is a part of life. It's what makes us who we are. It is what makes you a hero. You fight every day to keep people from struggling like you have. I know you can remember, please. Please try, Kara. Because Earth needs Supergirl.

This finally breaks through and sets Kara free, because Alex is right. Earth does need her, and just because being Supergirl is not the same burden for her as it to Clark, it doesn't change that, and it doesn't change that it demands incredible sacrifices of her- including saying goodbye to her family and her world for a second time.

Anyways all this to say while the Arrowverse made some wild choices later on, it still had a way better understanding of the DC heroes and what makes their stories tick then basically anyone they've ever let write a Superman movie for the last twenty years.

[ssomagni]

Did a pixel redraw of that scene from JL Unlimited episode for the man who has everything inspired by @sicktember - "Under a spell"

[kara-zor-els]

He's so hot when he's scary 😍

Superman (1939) Annual #11

[momachan]

"You were good once, Red Hood-- I even remember one particular time when you saved my life. It's a shame you've made such a mess of your own. -Work in progress, Super-Dude."

Red Hood (2011-2015) Vol. 2: The Starfire. "Up, Up And Away... My Beautiful, My Beautiful Ballon!".

I love when they use old references. Jason did save Superman from Mongul.

[girlcheater]

Smthg smthg modern day rendition of 'For the man who has everything.' but with current Clark as in married to Lois with a child Clark.

In the og story, he's not married, he's not got kids, he's not at the same place in life as today's Clark. Same in re: the whole.. alternate life thing. Today's Clark is a product of convergence. He's aware of that whole alternate world thing, it's not going to fuck him up as bad (unfortunately it is still going to fuck him up.)

I'd like to keep a lot of the original Alan Moore story beats because duh but to take them further. I propose we do smthg else. Grandparent clark and lois era via black mercy. Jor-El still maintains his fascist bitter bent but it goes further.

He dies and Clark mourns a father who spent most of his life bitter and angry and is now facing how to deal with that legacy for his children. How to prevent his kids from falling into the alt right rabbit hole via influential people (ahem ahem tate ahem) and eventually there's grandkids 🥺. Here I don't think Clark forces himself out. I think in this version Clark's life should run its course, he dies, happy and surrounded by loved ones at an old age and that's when the illusion breaks. Because Clark is going to spend an eternity watching his loved ones die in the 'real life' and this would really fuck him up.

[nitewrighter]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: DCU (Comics), Superman - All Media Types, My Adventures with Superman (Cartoon), Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons), Superman: The Animated Series Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Clark Kent/Lois Lane Characters: Lois Lane, Clark Kent Additional Tags: Mongul (Mentioned) - Freeform, Bruce Wayne (mentioned) - Freeform, Diana (Wonder Woman) (Mentioned) - Freeform, Episode: s03e02 For the Man Who Has Everything (Justice League & Justice League Unlimited), For the Man Who has Everything (Comic), venting, Established Relationship, Domestic Fluff Summary:

After Superman's birthday celebration at the Fortress of Solitude did not go as planned, he finds himself still struggling with the mental aftermath of being under the illusion of the Black Mercy. It's tough to reconcile that with a belated birthday date with Lois, but goddamn if Lois can't find a way.

I wrote another fic!!!

[cigamfossertsim]

am i the only one who doesnt think that clarks fantasy world in the man who has everything (jlu s1e2) makes sense?? bc in that fantasy krypton never blows up so he never comes to earth. i think his desire to be “normal” makes sense for him bc he always battles between his desire to help people but also his desire to have a life away from superman and his fear of his own power. but he grew up on earth with the kents as his family and didnt know abt his kryptonian heritage until he was in hs. his life and his friends and family are all on earth and he has forged a connection with krypton through learning abt it and through his cousin but hes still deeply human. i just dont think that it makes sense that his dream would to be to have a life on a planet thats technically complete foreign to him where he would never know martha, jonathan, lana, bruce, jimmy, or lois.

[swan2swan]

oh frack

[chernobog13]

Wonder Woman has a small disagreement with Mongul.

From For the Man Who Has Everything, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Superman Annual (vol. 1) #11 (September, 1985).

[world-of-advice]

[johnvenus]

What could it be?

[sinkingtime]

[momachan]

"You... insufferable... little... speck... You hurt me. You! Hurt! Me! You should have stayed in whatever happy fantasy the Black Mercy granted you..."

Superman: Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow? The Deluxe Edition (2020). "For The Man Who Has Everything".