My Adventures With Superman Exposed Jor-El's Flaws in Man of Steel

Superman's animated series highlighted the character flaws in Man of Steel's Jor-El, and demonstrated his lack of understanding about human morality.

Jor-El had questionable beliefs in Man of Steel, and My Adventures with Superman highlighted just how flawed the character was. The DC Extended Universe's version of Jor-El was a major aspect of Clark Kent's transformation into Superman. However, this Jor-El had an unjustifiably biased view of his son's new home planet.

Man of Steel introduced Jor-El as Superman's paternal mentor for the DCEU. Jor-El told Clark Kent about Krypton's destruction and Clark's life purpose on Earth. But other Superman media, like My Adventures with Superman, have suggested that the DCEU Jor-El was not as benevolent as he appeared to be.

Jor-El Believed Mankind Couldn't Be Good Without Clark's Guidance

Superman's father vastly underestimated humanity's knowledge of basic morality in Man of Steel. Jor-El's flaws became apparent once his AI hologram reunited with his son, Clark, on Earth. Jor-El advised his son to guide Earth's humans to avoid Krypton's ethical mistakes. He believed that Clark would have to inspire humanity to become a force for good. Jor-El declared that Clark's strong morality would be the ideal towards which Earth's people must aspire, and humans would struggle to match the moral example that Clark set. But the animated My Adventures with Superman series offered a different perspective of mankind in Season 1, Episode 9, "Zero Day: Part 2." While Superman desperately struggled to protect Metropolis from Parasite, Lois Lane broadcast a speech to the rest of the city. She argued that even though human beings can be cruel, they are also capable of goodness. Her speech was so inspirational that it successfully rallied Metropolis' citizens to help Superman defeat Parasite.

Lois' speech in the animated show proved that Jor-El was completely mistaken about the morality of human beings. Jor-El thought that humanity wasn't capable of performing acts of selflessness without an external paragon like Clark to teach them how to behave. But Lois Lane, a human being herself, recognized that the people of Earth have always had the ability to show kindness. Metropolis' efforts to save Superman further solidified that humanity never needed to learn goodness from an outside source. Rather, the goodness present in Superman's character was already inherent to humanity's ethical beliefs. Jor-El failed to recognize that his son's inspiring goodness was a positive embodiment of human morality and its most kindhearted qualities.

Superman's Father Thought He Should Become a God to All Humans

Clark's Kryptonian father believed that he was physically and morally better than mankind, and that human beings needed to respect Clark for that. In Man of Steel, Jor-El told Clark that he was inherently different from the humans of Earth. Furthermore, Jor-El believed that Clark Kent was destined for heroic greatness outside of society's typically communal roles. When Jor-El originally sent Clark to Earth, he confidently proclaimed that his son would be a god to Earth's people. However, My Adventures with Superman presented a closer look at Superman's place in the world. The animated series showed that Clark wanted to be seen as a normal person in Metropolis, and he expressed fears that he would always be an alien outsider. My Adventures with Superman suggested that Jor-El had a particularly questionable perspective on how humans should've treated his son.

Throughout Man of Steel, Jor-El argued that Clark's superpowers and alien heritage made him a superior god to humans, and he shouldn't have restricted himself to the confines of human society. But Superman's animated series demonstrated that Clark Kent wasn't a god at all. Clark didn't see himself as separate from, or better than, Earth's people. He instead sought normalcy and belonging among the humans he protected every single day. Jor-El wanted his son to hold benevolent power over humanity, but he never accepted the possibility that his son would want to be treated as a normal human being. Jor-El demonstrated his own uneducated understanding of humanity, and his bias against Earth, when he advised Clark to become a god to them.

Lois Lane and My Adventures with Superman proved that Earth's people never needed a Kryptonian god to educate them about the value of selflessness. Rather, Clark represented a morality that was always inherent to humanity. The basic concepts of kindness and heroism were not gifts that Superman needed to bestow on human beings, and Jor-El was entirely mistaken about this personal belief.