First, the comics at least touched on these questions from time to time, of Supes being Kryptonian and being a bit of an outsider. He was an infant when he left, and those stories never worked very well.
Second, a Superman with the full array of powers had from about 1950 on would be impossible to make “real”. He is a fantasy character. The 1938 incarnation jumped, ran, punched and “nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin”. (which doesn’t imply that he couldn’t be poisoned, starved or killed with two bursting shells.)
He didn’t fly. He didn’t have:
heat vision
freeze breath
microscopic vision
no need of food or drink
the ability to stop his heart
telescopic vision
super hearing
x-ray vision
ability to go through time
no need to breath (hence, could fly into outer space)
super ventriliquism
ability to hypnotize people to see Clark Kent diffenrently
ability to pass through walls or change features (one time
use on both from 40s, later ignored)
Super wind
ability to move around the speed of light (that’s so much
faster than a speeding bullet it constitutes a new power)
Super brains (can learn languages in few hours, comprehend things read at superspeed, make complex calculations in his head, except when hit with Fuzz-Brain [see TRS-80 comic books])
No one has gotten Superman right yet. One either must raise the powers of his enemies (or make them employ magic or Kryptonite to weaken Supes), making them fantastic as well, or go back to an early 40s version, perhaps with flight, preferably before WWII, because the war would have been over before it started with him around.
Good list.
That’s why Superman doesn’t resonate with anybody over 12.
After twelve, everybody wants to be Batman (money, cars, women, mad phat ass-kicking skeelz).
They would have to make him fly, because that is the one power that everyone associates with Superman, so the audience would reject any non-flying Supes out of hand nowadays. I do think getting rid of the heat rays/x-rays/superlungs/invincibility is a good idea though. Otherwise, you know that every criminal will be walking around with a pocket full o’ kryptonite, and that is just lame.
It's far too simplistic to make it about power levels. Do you think it would be hard to kill superman? His power levels are off the chart but his weakness is also. How about shooting him with a kryptonite bullet? Bang! Dead alien superhero. Has no one ever thought of this? Superman doesn't even bother to dodge bullets. A 12 year old with a zip gun could kill him. Too afraid to shoot superman? (and I can understand that) How about a kryptonite frag grenade? Krypton gas? Let's face it for all his daunting powers he is a soft target.
Wolverine can't fly, he doesn't have heat vision, x-ray vision etc. etc. but he is way harder to kill than superman. He is way meaner too. You try to kill wolverine you are in for a world of hurt, superman will just take you to jail, but wolverine would make you scream before he killed you.