What If . . . Superman

[Asperion]

Here is a fun question regarding the great Man of Steel. What if during high school Clark Kent had looked at several different career possibilities and selected something other than journalism. Everything before remains the same - launched from dying Krypton, lands outside Smallvile, Kansas, raised by Kents, etc. However during high school CK looked at the career posibilities and decided to go for some career other than journalism.

The career could be anything. Just let your collective wild imagination go and have fun.

[specks]

I'd say private detective or ploice officer. After all, he'd be a one man crime lab with his abilities (microscopic vision, super touch, etc...).

Just my $.02

[rbezold]

It's an interesting question. When Siegel & Shuster first created him, the idea was that Clark would be a reporter so that he would know when anything was happening and have an excuse to conveniently disappear.

Of course, that was back in '39, before he had the ability to watch CNN just by staring directly at the satellite

So what would he pick? Clark would put his career as Superman ahead of any personal or proffesional considerations. So there are certain civic-minded careers that are right out:

1) Trial attorney - "Your Honor, I move for a recess for unspecified reasons."
2) Surgeon - "Hold this scalpel, I've got an errand to run..."
3) Fire Fighter - "Hold this hose, I've got an errend to run..."
4) Air Traffic Controller - "Nobody fly anywhere, I'll be right back!"

But he would want a career that would help make the world a better place:

1) Cop? At least when the bullets bounce off, he could claim it was the vest...
2) Social Worker? He could always re-arrange his schedule as needed...
3) UN relief worker? He'd like that one. He could be all over the world giving humanitarian aid and as long as he left people better off than when he found them, NOBODY would ask any questions.
4) Spy? With his information gathering abilities, he would be the holy terror of the espionage world. But could he find an employer that would live up to his moral standards?

[OddHat]

Pro-Football player. Tours the country righting wrongs before getting back in time to make the big game.

NSA or FBI. Gets paid to do what he plans to do anyway, and training and support services in the bargain.

Male Prostitute. WB Smallville version's natural career path. Also, plenty of money and an endless list of contacts.

UPS Driver. Finishes all his work in five minutes per day, can spend the rest of the day fighting crime.

[nexus]

Chippendale dancer because.....um....well.....


Ok, I got nothin'

[The Watcher]

Jeweller. He can make his own diamonds, after all.

[Blue Jogger]

I like the idea of jeweller. Don't forget the amazing precision that he would have with microscopic vision and heat vision. "Remarkable, I've never seen a more perfect gem."

Computer programmer. With his superfast typing skills and amazing computer brain, he could spit out code that he already knows work since it was compiled in his head. Flexible hours and he's not afraid to wear a suit and tie when needed. "Jimmy, you need to watch your memory allocation, it will work fine until it smashs the stack when passed invalid parameters." "Thanks Clark, I never would have seen that."

[Lord Liaden]

I would think that professional athlete would be at the bottom of Clark Kent's career choices. With his abilities there would be no competition, and with his innate fairness he wouldn't accept what amounted to cheating (as long as he maintained his secret identity).

Law enforcement is a distinct possibility, either as a police officer (preferably as a detective, since he obviously has an investigative bent) or as an attorney (prosecutor or defence - I get the impression he supports both sides of "the system.")

Any job that involved lifesaving would doubtless appeal to him: fire fighting, EMT etc. However, any profession involving putting himself in the way of "ordinary" danger would probably feel too limiting if it's his secret identity. He can simply do so much more in those areas as Superman, without having to pretend that he's less than he is.

Military or intelligence careers likely wouldn't satisfy him. He's too much of a pacifist for the former (with his powers he can afford to deal with many matters non-lethally), and his ethical scruples are probably too fine for the latter.

[megaplayboy]

Blogger--finds stuff out as it happens, and has tons of free time--money could be a problem, though...

Crime Lord--could easily enforce a no-killing rule, and steer things away from hard drugs--probably still antithetical to his upbringing, though

[Sociotard]

E-bay merchant: Extremely flexible schedule, and it's less likely his co-workers would notice the similarities to his secret ID. Because he wouldn't have co-workers.

High School Teacher: Superman stops people after they become crooks. Clark Kent could guide them before they do.

[Southern Cross]

Writer?

[Cheiro]

Crime scene investigator. He's a walking forensics lab.

[Agemegos]

Crime scene investigator. He's a walking forensics lab.

Sadly, too little of what he discovered would be admissible in court.

What he really needs is a job where only results matter, in which he could very quickly achieve enough to keep body and soul together, so that he would have a lot of time free for doing good. It would also have to be something where his very quick discharge of his duties was inconspicuous, which is to say something in which he worked alone.

Prospector, perhaps? Flight, special senses and so forth might help him to find mineral deposits that would soon make him rich.

Could he squeeze coal to make diamonds and pretend to be finding them in gem gravels somewhere? Or is profiting from the efforts of the De Beers cartel contrary to his principles?

Is there anything wrong with salvaging treasure from sunken ships?

[paigeoliver]

It makes no sense for a modern superman to have a job at all. He wouldn't need one. He could make enough money to live on for the rest of his life simply by spending a day visiting the garbage dumps and scanning for coins at super speed with his x-ray vision. I have seen silver age superman dig for gold very deep in the earth (deeper than man could ever go, that way it isn't stealing) as well. That would work nicely.

Or if he was employed than self employment would work best. Superman could complete a month long auto restoration in minutes, and wouldn't need any parts to do it. Then he could take the rest of the month off.

I don't think it is really up his alley, but superman would be an absolutely great gambler. Being able to see the other guy's cards is quite an edge.

[Intrope]

Launching sattelites. That'll be $50 million, Payable in bearer bonds, please.

Talk about 'money for nothing'!