All Might is Superman Done Right

I feel like I live in a world made of cardboard always taking constant care not to break something to break someone when discussing Superman as a character the first thing that many people would think of is his strength so many discussions involving Superman discuss him in terms of his strength and who he can or can't beat in a fight could Superman beat Batman could Superman beat The Hulk could Superman beat saitama Superman feels like the proverbial wall your favorite overpowered character has to climb in order to be considered strong however fun these hypothetical fistic cups can be it reduces the character of Superman down to just how hard he can punch it ignores the character of Superman in favor of the PowerHouse personally I feel like if all you take away from Superman is how strong he is you're not fully appreciating the character and what he represents you are removing what makes Superman special and you are left with an overpowered Godlike entity rather than what the character of Clark Kent is supposed to be this will probably be the most controversial thing I say in this video but if all Superman is to you is power then you don't really like Superman you enjoy spectacle strength and cool battles it's perfectly fine to enjoy a character for their displays of power but if that's all you get out of the character you're missing the point of why the character was created in the first place if Superman is as interchangeable to you as the Hulk or Gojo or Kratos or omn man then you're not fully appreciating the character in its entirety I don't mean to shame anyone for enjoying power scaling as a person who makes videos on anime I have engaged with power scaling for my entire life and still do I love thinking about the logistics of who would win in a fight and how one character's Powers would interact with another however while I appreciate power scaling I don't want the discourse around Superman to be reduced to who he could beat in a fight I think more conversations need to be had about the themes and messages of overpowered characters as opposed to Simply how hard they can hit or how big of an explosion that they can make this is how we avoid making misguided assumptions comparing the role of one character to the role of another character this is how we avoid misinformation stating that one character is simply the anime version of Superman just because they have surface level similarities and so without further Ado let's address a certain Super Saiyan in the room hey it's me Goku Goku is not Superman on paper Goku is the most obvious Superman parallel in anime both characters are super powerful aliens that escaped the planet that exploded and were raised by kind farmers and ultimately grew up to become the strongest Defenders of their adopted home World these similarities are undeniable but ultimately surface level Akira toriyama's primary inspiration for the creation of Goku was never Superman but instead it was always son Wukong The Monkey King hence why he had a monkey tail why he fought with a staff why he sought out adventures and battles and why his name is literally Son Goku if you need more proof look no further than Akira toriyama's original design for Goku which was just a cuter younger looking version of The Monkey King even though Goku's origin in Dragon Ball Z was nearly identical to Superman's Goku is not meant to be a Superman esque figure and was supposed to be an archetype of Monkey King parallel Goku's characterization throughout all inar nations of Dragon Ball has always been defined by combat he was raised in the Woods by a martial artist and while grandpa Gohan did try to teach him proper morals he mostly raised Goku the best way he knew how by teaching him how to fight and on top of that fighting is quite literally in his DNA Goku's Saiyan Heritage gives him a biological inclination and desire to seek out opponents for battle it is genetically impossible for a Saiyan to say no to a test of strength even at the risk of their own safety or the safety of others this inherent biological need to seek out stronger opponents is tied to Goku's damatic story Goku's story has always been about bettering yourself and becoming a better person there is a reason why Goku and Dragon Ball have become the inspiration for so many people to hit the gym for Goku his version of self-improvement is taking on stronger and stronger challenges and climbing higher and higher walls he breaks his limits time and time again because that is who he is because of his internal desire to become stronger as well as his being the damatic representation of self-improvement Goku will always seek out a good fight removing fighting from Goku would be removing Goku from Goku and then you're basically left with Gohan meanwhile on the other side of the planet Clark Kent has always been a strong advocate for peace and diplomacy the man of Tomorrow avoids fighting the best he can because he knows that if he has to fight someone he will win and he will have to hurt them as he States in Justice League Unlimited during his final confrontation against dark side I feel like I live in a world made of cardboard always taking constant care not to break something to break someone the reason I opened the video with this line is because it perfectly Blends Superman's strength with his characterization Clark was adopted by two people who were the best that Humanity had to offer and they in turn raised him to be the Pinnacle of human goodness being the epitome of Humanity's inherent goodness means that you have the strength to fend off evil for sure but it also means that you should try your hardest to mitigate harm to others as someone who can destroy a city block if he sneezes wrong Superman has a really hard time not hurting people by just existing so when he is presented with an antagonist he will always try to reason with them first he will even eat a few hits to try his hardest to find a peaceful solution with his villains he knows that if he gets into a fight it could lead to unintended casualties but it would also mean that he would have to personally bring harm to someone which is something he hates having to do a battle will always be Superman's Last Resort unlike Goku who will abandon his family in a heartbeat to train The Reincarnation of his strongest enemies so that he could give him a good fight in the future if Superman were to enjoy fighting and if he were to be motivated to seek out battles to test his strength just like Goku he would no longer be Superman the Man of Steel only puts his fist up when given no choice sure Goku and Clark are both deemed Earth's Mightiest protector but Goku's Saiyan nature forces him to seek out stronger and stronger opponents this sayyan Nature has on multiple occasions jeopardized the entire planet his friends and his family on the other hand Superman's human nature makes it so that he will always choose the most peaceful and Humane alternative to conflict whenever he can even though humanity is capable of immense cruelty Superman represents the human potential for goodness Goku is defined by his strength his love for battle and his constant pursuit of self-improvement Superman is not defined by his strength he is defined by his Humanity Superman is altruism incarnate and presents to the world a model to Aspire to be he is the quintessential superhero now I'm not saying that one character is better than the other but it is pretty clear when you consider their characterizations beyond the surface level similarities that Goku is definitely not anime answer to Superman I would say that Gohan has more in common with Superman than Goku does considering he does actively avoid conflict seeks the most Humane Solutions and puts the well-being and safety of his loved ones before anything else we also shouldn't forget the great Seaman era no matter how hard we try to forget so if Goku isn't the Superman of anime then who is well there is really only one real answer here in fact in the past decade and a half the only onscreen character that ever came close to accurately portraying Superman to portraying Clark Kent was this guy on this all day and also this guy but I'll go down that rabbit hole another day that was a snippet from the first video I ever uploaded to my channel an entire year ago back when I had a whopping zero subscribers I really wanted to revisit the video that began this channel so to all 184 of you who watched that Superman video this is a sequel you probably weren't waiting for but are getting anyways let's dive into why all might is anime's perfect Superman one of the biggest ironies of this entire video is that the author of my hero Academia KO Hoshi said that his inspiration for all might is none other than Son Goku despite the character being the best anime Superman we've ever seen it's no secret that my hero Academia takes a lot of inspiration from the likes of Marvel and DC Comics there are a lot of volume covers of mha that horac Koshi has drawn that are direct homages to Marvel and DC comic book covers I wouldn't put it past Hoshi to have been inspired in some part by the character of Superman when writing the manga and especially when creating all might the entire superhero Society in my hero is upheld by the broad shoulders of its number one hero the balance of the world is maintained by all might whose altruism and willingness to save people are his defining character traits Toshi nor yagi is driven by his unending desire to become a pillar of Hope in an increasingly chaotic world he wanted everyone in the world to ease their worries as long as he was around he wanted to be the light that vanished the fear from the hearts of all people in this world he wanted to become an example of what being a true hero is supposed to be essentially he wanted to become Superman and he achieved it before before the story even began toshinori became the archetypal representative of human goodness and heroism that Superman represents the Signature Smile that he flashes to the people that he saves serves the same purpose as the S on Superman's chest it is a symbol that lets the world know that they will be okay it announces to the public that his strength and power will be used to protect the innocent it reminds everyone that goodness and justice will always triumph over Evil all might's smile is intrinsic to his character and invokes the same feeling in the world of my hero Academia that Superman does in the DC Universe and that feeling is hope this is what it means to be the symbol of peace to hold up a society with not just your strength but with your pure presence and Aura when you radiate so much hope through your act s attitude and power that you can calm down anyone even when they're in life-threatening danger that's when you've perfectly captured the essence of Superman there is one other quality that makes Superman that makes Clark Kent who he is this quality is what the entire series of my hero Academia is built upon all might is not only the strongest hero but he also serves a certain role in the lives of everyone in the story from Endeavor to bakugo and especially to isuku midoria he gives them all something that Superman gives to the civilians of metropolis and every other hero in the DC Universe inspiration my hero Academia was built on the inspiration that all might gave deu to become a hero he shows the world what true heroism looks like the entire story of MA shows that deu following the shining example that all might set in order to become the world's greatest hero with or without his powers all might hangs on to his altruism and his desire to save others saving people is as natural to toshinori as it is breathing Deku is very much the same way his body moves on its own to save others as if being a good person is inherently tied to his personality which was molded and influenced by the heroism that all might inspired in him inspiration is a big theme in my hero Academia Hiroshima was inspired by Red riots Hawks was inspired by Endeavor and even villains like Dobby toga and Spinner were inspired by stain but all of them in one way or another all looked up to all might as the true unadulterated Pinnacle of heroism much like how in the DC Universe and in superhero literature as a whole almost everyone looks up to Superman as the definition of a true superhero within the confines of his own story all might represents and embodies the two qualities that make Superman who he is Hope and inspiration while I believe that Goku can certainly give hope to his friends and Inspire many others this isn't Goku's primary character trait Goku's role role in his story is to battle and get stronger at infinitum to demonstrate the value of persistent selfimprovement the role of Superman and his true anime counterpart is to be a Beacon of Hope and to inspire others to be heroes themselves thank you all so much for watching the video all the way to the end let me know in the comments down below what other videos you want me to make and as always don't forget to like And subscribe and I'll catch you next next time with more lukewarm takes

Channel: Lukewarm Takes

Views: 156,607

Keywords: All Might, Superman, Anime, Goku, My Hero Academia

Id: eUpj-Jji7QI

Length: 15min 52sec (952 seconds)

Published: Sat May 04 2024