Maester Steven, may I please ask if you have any thoughts on how the original Clark Kent’s time (1938) and place of origin might have shaped his way of thinking? (In the same way as your excellent article on Steve Rogers helped put Captain America in a historical context).

Well, I’m not as well versed on Superman as I am on Cap, but…

It’s not an accident that two second-generation Jewish guys from Cleveland create a character whose backstory heavily borrows from the Moses story, as Superman is an alien refugee who lands in the American Midwest and becomes the greatest adherent of “the American Way.” And it’s not an accident that in an early issue, Superman arrests Hitler and Stalin and hands them over to the League of Nations to be put on trial. 

It’s also not an accident that in the Great Depression, Superman’s initial foes aren’t Brainiac or Lex Luthor but war profiteers, wife beaters, crooked politicians, and gangsters. The whole point of Superman is that he’s a supremely powerful person who uses his powers to defend ordinary people.