WHY IS SUPERMAN IMMORTAL?

     I don't know why Superman doesn't age. I've seen comics in which he survives thousands, if not millions of years, into the future. For the sake of the story, I can accept the the light of our yellow sun bestows Superman with his immense powers but I don't see why he shouldn't still be subject to aging.
     On top of that, Superman seems like a dated character. He makes sense in the 1930s-1950s but I have a harder time seeing him remain relevant later on. His methods seem tailor-made for a time when people were looking for and needed big solutions. It was the Prohibition Era, the rise of organized crime, the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, etc. Around the world, it was the consequences of World War I and the rise of various fascist states. I have a difficult time imaging someone who's basically a living god dealing with problems like Civil Rights, Feminism, and Environmentalism.

     As for origin stories, Superman does have a convenient tie-in with actual world history.

     Superman was obviously not born of Earth despite looking every bit as much like a human. He was born on a planet named Krypton at a time when the world was doomed. Their sun, called Rao, was going to die spectacularly. As to why a mass evacuation was not planned or even attempted, I don't know. Personally I wouldn't want to venture into that question (even though the comics certainly have). I think it better to suggest a story rather than actually depict it in this case. As it has been said about art: to define is to kill. We don't need to know why Krypton and all its inhabitants were destroyed, just that it did and that Kal-El, the last son of Krypton, managed to escape that Holocaust and arrive to a good family on Earth.

     I figure, like the Thundercats, baby Kal-El was placed in a state of suspended animation for his long journey to Earth. How long the journey took should not be revealed. It could be anywhere from a few weeks to thousands of years. I figure Kryptonian technology must have been advanced but it's not important to know its details. I'm happy to go with the strange crystal ship we saw in the movies and its related crystal-based technology which we see working even though we don't know how it works.


     Something else I wonder...did the writers know of the gaseous element or, because everyone on the planet died, was it supposed to be a pun "Crypt + -on" and they changed the C to a K?

     As for when Superman arrives, however, that much can be said with certainty. In 1908 on June 30th over Siberia in near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River there was a massive explosion from an airburst made by a comet. While it left no crater it destroyed a large section of the forest in that area: over 750 square miles. It was only luck that this explosion did not occur over a very populated area. This seems to me as good a time as any to have Superman arrive on Earth.

Trees flattened by the Tunguska explosion. Imagine if we had better aircraft then so it could be photographed from high up?

     Superman's crystal ship would have landed in Smallville and the explosion over Tunguska would have actually been a fragment of Krypton itself laced with the mineral kryptonite. Since this was before the Great War, perhaps in a spirit of scientific cooperation, samples of this meteorite would be sent all over the world, including the United States which would allow Lex Luthor to come into contact with the mineral and successfully hypothesize its effects on Superman later in this story's timeline.
     I'm happy to have Smallville be located in Kansas, where it was in the iconic 1978 film, rather than have it be a mysterious Anytown, USA. It seems especially necessary for Superman to be "out of the public eye" in his formative years, raised and cared for by his adoptive family, the Kents, who are eternally grateful (and willing to keep his secret, even from Superman) for their literal gift from the heavens of a child whom they would christen Clark since they were incapable of conceiving on their own.

     I'm not going to speculate here how Clark grew up here but it's obviously incredibly important that it be done right. Other superheroes have to learn the message of "With great power comes great responsibility" and no one more represents this message more than Superman given what he, as a living god, is capable of doing. Fortunately for the world he found himself being raised by a wholesome Kansan family who taught him right from wrong, about justice and fairness, about believing in your fellow man, and about idealized American values. It's very "Aww, shucks!" but without it, Superman could easily have become a fanatical dictator (which I believe he does in "Red Son")

     I have no desire to see "the Adventures of Superboy". As far as I'm concerned, Superman did not set out to be a hero and had a regular childhood. I don't even know if I would want it revealed why he turned to superheroism either: as with Kryptonian culture and technology, it seems better left unsaid and implied. However, he should definitely come out wearing his trademark uniform on April 18, 1938 (when Action Comics number one was published) and declare himself to a curious public/press in June of that same year (that issue bore the date "June 1938" despite being published prior).

Dated June 1938; published April 18th

     I think the newest movie suggested it took some time for Superman to gain his powers under our yellow sun so perhaps Clark Kent was effectively "just a man" until at least puberty and afterward, as his powers started manifesting, Ma and Pa Kent's teachings would take on an especially heavy importance. I think of the exchange from the movie spoken by Pa Kent:

     The Superman story in my version also benefits starting in 1908. It was easier to hide back then and start fresh. There was no Social Security administration. The Kents, especially if they moved, could probably get away with claiming Clark to be their own child and if not, I'm sure no one would demand proof of adoption back then.
     Clark would be nine years old when the United States entered World War I: maybe he knew friends who lost their fathers to the war. He'd be adolescent during Prohibition: perhaps organized crime affected his life in some way. He'd be 25 when Hitler came to power and when the Great Depression hit the hardest: did the Kents lose their farm? How did Smallville handle the despair? I don't know how Superman would have handled World War II though that war did scream out for heavy-handed solutions. Does he stay out of it? Does something force his hand? World history is already changed by his mere presence but how far does it go? Were the Kents progressive folk or did Superman carry with him attitudes that may have kept him from being concerned about the rights of black people and the plight of Jews in Europe?
     When does Lex Luthor enter the scene? Maybe for the sake of the movie, Luthor gets his start in real estate schemes before the war but as a soldier in the war, he is the only one depicted showing concern, even horror, that Superman ended it so quickly and decisively in favor of the Allies. As was already stated in some of the comics, Luthor sees in Superman potential menace rather than blindly accepting him as an American hero like the rest of the public. His role was to take on the thankless task of stopping a god, or at the very minimum, containing him, before Superman realizes humanity is virtually incapable of stopping him (Superman) from doing what he damn well pleases.

Does Superman steal Capt. America's thunder and punch out Hitler himself?

     Going by my timeline, Clark Kent would be 30 years old when he debuts as Superman and about 70 years old when he dies on December 10, 1978 (the date when "Superman: The Movie" first premiered) giving about a forty year run.
     As for what causes Superman's death, which I'm assuming will have an air of heroism to it rather than simply the fading of a light, I don't care to speculate (although the Khmer Rouge was in power, actively genociding the Cambodian population at the time). However, I figure his end would be something like that of Avatar Wan, the very first Avatar from the Last Airbender universe in which Superman laments that he was unable to make the world a better place because there's still crime, corruption, war, and supervillainy. There simply wasn't enough time...

[With his eyes closed.] I'm sorry, Raava. I failed to bring peace. Even with Vaatu locked away, darkness still surrounds humanity. [Opens his eyes.] There wasn't enough time...

     However, in his death, he becomes an inspiration for many other heroes. So, in a sense, like Avatar Wan, his spirit remains on Earth and continues to do good in the face of the entropy of evil.
     The first of such heroes would be Batman whose comic debuted in 1939. Batman could have declared himself, a year after Superman did, in response to what he was seeing in Metropolis. Knowing that Superman could not be everywhere at once and still deeply affected by the loss of his parents to crime in Gotham City, Batman would be the first "copycat" hero even if his methods would not necessarily gain the approval of Superman.

     I could go on, but I think I've already said enough...

[On a side note, I don't see Batman as a modern hero either. He feels dated as well, like he would benefit from a time with less invasive technology. I imagine the internet would be as much a bane to Batman's secret identity and staying at least one step ahead of both criminals and law enforcement as would the loss of telephone booths and omnipresent security cameras be to frustrating Superman's quick costume changes and desire for anonymity]