Asperion Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specks Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rbezold Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Chippendale dancer because.....um....well..... Ok, I got nothin' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Watcher Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Jeweller. He can make his own diamonds, after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Jogger Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman 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." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Writer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheiro Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Crime scene investigator. He's a walking forensics lab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agemegos Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paigeoliver Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intrope Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Launching sattelites. That'll be $50 million, Payable in bearer bonds, please. Talk about 'money for nothing'! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yogzilla Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Farmer. I mean, would Clark really want to throw away all that Johnathon and his family (ancestors) has spent generations working at? And working the earth... That's a good and honorable profession... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MitchellS Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Farmer. I mean, would Clark really want to throw away all that Johnathon and his family (ancestors) has spent generations working at? And working the earth... That's a good and honorable profession... In our Legacy Universe game Clark retires from journalism and moves back to Smallville with Lois to have a family and takes up farming. With his speed he can still reach anyway quickly for major disasters and problems. They both author books on the side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wormhole Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman A bouncer at a Metropolis nightclub. It might be a bit out of character though, unless he goes on another Red Kryptonite trip.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vorsch Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Used car salesman with scrap yard, aint going to be anything wrong with these babys. Plus can choose his hours and scrap cars personally, just for the hell of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSword Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Astronomer. Spending all that time on the JLA moon-base would give him plenty of chances to work on new theories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandi Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Private investigator? No, really, he'd be excellent at it and the hours are very flexible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Jogger Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Launching sattelites. That'll be $50 million, Payable in bearer bonds, please. Talk about 'money for nothing'! Heck, Pre-crisis Superman could build an entire space station from nothing and put it anywhere in the solar system and beyond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitewings Posted October 22, 2004 Report Share Posted October 22, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Launching sattelites. That'll be $50 million, Payable in bearer bonds, please. Talk about 'money for nothing'! And don't forget satellite recovery: That hardware's valuable, and even when it's not valuable, de-orbitting it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted October 22, 2004 Report Share Posted October 22, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman True,but Clark could only perform satellite work if he was acting as Superman's agent or his identity was public. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Posted October 22, 2004 Report Share Posted October 22, 2004 Re: What If . . . Superman Farmer. I mean, would Clark really want to throw away all that Johnathon and his family (ancestors) has spent generations working at? And working the earth... That's a good and honorable profession... For most farming Clark would be terrible. A lot of farming is very time sensitive, can't be rushed no matter what abilities or technology you have, and can't wait until you get back from fighting Lex Luthor. What I see Clark doing is being any kind of independant contractor: web design, research, business analysis, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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