Superman is a DC Comics superhero and the subject of a long online tradition of parody content framing him as arrogant or petty.

Where did Superman come from?

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created him in Cleveland, with his first heroic appearance in Action Comics #1 on April 18, 1938.

What does Superman mean?

Online, the name is tied both to the earnest fan communities like Superman Homepage and to satirical takes like Superdickery, which reads old covers as evidence he is a jerk.

How do you use Superman?

Common formats include captioning vintage comic covers as jerk-Superman material, writing satirical tweets in his voice, or drawing power-limitation gags like the bullet-in-ear comic.

Is Superman still popular?

The character has stayed in wide circulation across films, TV and comics since 1938, with major online moments clustering around events like the 2013 Man of Steel release and its S-logo infographic on /r/movies.

Superman

1938character / running jokeclassic

Published September 30, 2026

Superman is the DC Comics superhero who debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938 and later became a running gag online. Fan sites, parody accounts and Reddit posts framed the Man of Steel as a secret jerk, with Superdickery archiving vintage comic covers as evidence.

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Overview

Most Superman meme output plays with the gap between his heroic image and old comic panels where he looks arrogant, oblivious or petty. Superdickery, launched in 2005, compiled Golden and Silver Age covers on which Superman appears to bully Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen or the reader, treated as a straight-faced archive of his cruelty2. Parody Twitter accounts like @JerkSuperman ran short jokes in the same spirit, imagining the character boasting or belittling civilians.

Redditors and YouTubers took similar swings. A 2011 /r/funny comic by travosas showed Superman deafened by a bullet lodged in his ear canal, since his invulnerable skin blocked the shot but did not protect the eardrum1. YouTuber darosthemovie's 2012 parody film retelling the Death and Return of Superman arc, narrated by Max Landis, spun the entire storyline into a comedy3. The TV Tropes Franchise page catalogues him as a stock example of tropes like 'Last of His Kind,' 'Physical God' and 'The Cape'8.

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Origin & Background

Platform

Print comics (Action Comics #1) / Web fan sites (meme spread)

Date

1938

Superman was created by Cleveland high school students Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Siegel first used the name in a 1933 short story, 'The Reign of the Superman,' where the character was a bald telepathic villain. He and Shuster later reworked the concept with artist Russell Keaton into a caped, superpowered hero who debuted in Action Comics #1 on April 18, 19383. Screen adaptations followed in every decade, from the 1950s Adventures of Superman TV series to Christopher Reeve's four films, Smallville, and Henry Cavill's 2013 Man of Steel.

How It Spread

Superman fan sites arrived early. Superman Homepage went up on April 28, 2001 as a news and forum hub6. Superman Super Site followed with its own blog and media library7. On February 11, 2005, Superdickery launched with a gallery of comic covers presenting Superman as a jerk to his supporting cast2.

Social media picked up the thread through the late 2000s and early 2010s. A Superman Facebook page created on November 28, 2007 collected over 4.6 million likes in its first six years. On February 11, 2011, Redditor travosas posted the 'oh superman you so funny' comic to /r/funny, where it hit around 8,500 upvotes1. YouTuber darosthemovie's Death and Return of Superman parody landed on February 3, 2012 and drew more than 2.3 million views over the next two years3.

Around the 2013 release of Man of Steel, HalloweenCostumes published an S-logo evolution infographic on June 65. Reddit's /r/movies picked it up three days later, pushing it to roughly 14,700 upvotes4. Parody Twitter accounts @SupermanTweets and @JerkSuperman had passed 52,500 and 36,000 followers respectively by that June.

Timeline

1938-04-18

Superman debuts in Action Comics #1, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

2001-04-28

Superman Homepage launches as a fan news and forum site.

2005-02-11

Superdickery launches, archiving comic covers where Superman looks selfish or cruel.

2007-11-28

A Superman Facebook page is created, reaching over 4.6 million likes within six years.

2011-02-11

Redditor travosas posts the 'oh superman you so funny' bullet-in-ear comic to /r/funny.

2012-02-03

YouTuber darosthemovie uploads a Death and Return of Superman parody narrated by Max Landis.

2013-06-06

HalloweenCostumes publishes an infographic tracing the evolution of the S logo.

2013-06-09

The S-logo infographic hits /r/movies and picks up around 14,700 upvotes.

How to Use This Meme

Most Superman meme content works by taking a straight-faced image or scene and cropping or captioning it so the hero looks like a jerk. Common conventions include pairing a vintage comic cover with a caption about him being petty, imagining a mundane power-limitation gag (a bullet stuck in his ear, x-ray vision being creepy), or writing satirical tweets in his voice.