It is precisely a self-pitying nerd fantasy. (It's not necessary to read too deeply into Jerry Siegel's biography to see that.) That's the fantasy that resonated to the tune of a million issues a month, a radio show, movie serials, and an enduring icon.

Though in Avengers' case, it's true to the source material. One of the big Marvel innovations in the Silver Age was the conceit that all heroes don't get along. (In contrast to DC, where the default was to team up, and frequently trust one another with secrets they didn't tell their closest friends.) This rapidly…

And a good thing. If people did that, we might see five hundred-odd comments about a set of three-decade old movies featuring a flying man in a circus costume.

Humans also have involuntary optic saccades that imply that every time Superman uses his heat vision, he should be randomly frying nearby bystanders as his eyes shift their angle slightly. For some reason, this doesn't get raised nearly as frequently as Niven's essay.

Which is cute, but really doesn't deserve serious consideration. (If Superman is treated with that level of ironic realism, then he's not Superman. He's a dangerous menace who can't live side-by-side with humans.) Canonically, his powers are never out of his control except when the plot decrees.

The idea that a nebbish could secretly be a hero underneath was, I think, part of what made Superman a cultural touchstone. (And was, of course, lifted from precedents like the Scarlet Pimpernel and Zorro.) Even now, decades after Byrne realigned it, I'd guess that non-comics fans still associate that with Clark…

And I was impressed that they didn't take the easy way out and have his character die doing it.

It showed up on the George Reeves TV show. And it happened to Supergirl (including the duplicate being evil) as an effect of red kryptonite. (Which Pryor's artificial kryptonite is essentially equivalent to.) I'm pretty sure that happened to Superman due to red K as well at some point.

Hackman's Luthor is also a murdering malevolent guy (casually throwing the cop tailing Otis in front of a train, killing two museum guards for his kryptonite sample, plus the whole attempted nuclear destruction of Hackensack and dropping the most populous state in the Union into the sea), whose big scheme is to buy up…

That (other than Lex being involved) is how the novelization by comics writer Louise Simonson tried to explain it away.

I prefer the idea (prevalent in the comics from 1938 to 1986) that Krypton was an advanced if not quite utopian world, full of wonders both natural and invented, whose destruction was a genuine loss to the universe. I think Superman as the last son of Krypton works better when that's a heritage to be proud of and…

As is, of course, the idea that Lois might find herself pregnant with no memory of how it happened.

Superman being able to time travel by flying really fast was straight from the comics. (Though the bit where he has to turn around and fly the other way to get Earth spinning in the correct direction is… odd.) The others I can't explain. (Unless Superman was carrying some of the amnesium he keeps in his Fortress…

I'm not really a fan of Brando's Jor-El. Though I'm not sure how much of that stems from the directorial choice of making Krypton so subdued and lifeless.

I'm fine if it's a choice, but I hate the Orwellian replacement of old with new.

But Helen Slater looked perfect for the part, handled it as well as was possible, and really deserved a better script and a director who could tamp down the villains' scenery-chewing.

"Returns (consciously or not) even nicks a few parts from the less-loved sequels, like Luthor stealing key alien material from a museum (as in Superman IV)"

Both, at least arguably. In the 70s, Legionnaires started getting married (Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel, then Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl), and in the 80s the latter couple had kids. While the writers generally didn't let themselves get pinned down with exact ages, I think it's fair to say that the old-line…

My preferred team is largely disjoint from yours. But that's just illustrative of your point, which I think is absolutely correct. (And has been a problem since v.4 schismed the fanbase.)

Hey, generations of kids were fed carrots to ensure good eyesight— which was not only baseless, but actual disinformation that persisted long after the initial impetus.