I'm in the process of slowly painting through a pile of Heroclix characters and started out with Superman to get my bearings. Almost every set of DC Heroclix has at least one Superman in it somewhere so there are dozens of sculpts to pick from, here are a couple I've repainted along with their costume reference.
The 1940's Fleischer Studios costume with the black back and gold trim around the shield. This figure goes great with cheaper Superman dials as the character was much less powerful than he is now. Definitely my favorite costume.
The classic suit. There's really nowhere to improve on this. Every element is perfectly balanced and fits the character. It's the most iconic superhero costume of all time and instantly recognizable. I'm trying to figure out a way of creating a Superman board game that's more than just punching robots, perhaps something involving switching between and keeping secret from Lois the Clark and Superman identities. I have some Brainiac drones and plenty of Superman villains... We'll see where it goes.
The New 52 costume is a special kind of horrendous. It misses the point of what draws people to the character, entirely dehumanizing Superman. From the ridiculous amount of seams to the removal of the red trunks it's just a horrible second-guessing of an idea that's already been alchemically refined to perfection. Morrison's run at the beginning of New52 was pretty good, though.
Speaking of dehumanized garbage. Man of Steel was a failure on several levels and most of the interesting parts are lifted from more inspired sources of material. I wanted Faora and General Zod figures so I picked up a couple packs of the MoS set and got this guy. Even the toys from these movies are miserable and unpleasant.
The MoS set had a marquee figure that looked pretty sharp which I'd been holding on to and waiting for Batman v Superman to come out before painting. If the movie was good the plan was to put effort into making a Man of Steel costume sculpt actually look good. Instead I've decided to paint him in a custom design similar to the Kingdom Come suit!
Superman is a tough figure to field in a game of Heroclix. The red cape draws a lot of attention so you either have to use him as a decoy or as a main focus the rest of your team is supporting. Even though I've got more than enough choices for any kind of Superman I'd want to use in a game I'm still always looking for a new Superman miniature to paint!
-V
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