When one thinks of Superman, the image that immediately comes to mind is that of a pure-hearted and infinitely powerful alien sworn to protect humanity and inspire the best in us. One might associate Superman with such heroic acts as defeating supervillains both of human and alien origin. Others might think a little more simply, like the Man of Steel putting out a fire in a burning building and pulling the occupants to safety. And for many, the quintessential act that defines Superman is pulling a kid’s cat out of a tree.
How many times has one come across the trope of Superman saving cats from trees in movies, TV, comics, or simply as a meme intended to encapsulate the essence of Superman as the ultimate superhero? Probably a lot. In fact, it’s hard to imagine anyone familiar with Superman not being familiar with him saving cats from trees as an act of kindness immediately associated with him. However, decades since Superman pulled his first cat out of a tree, the concept of him doing so is starting to do more harm than good to the Last Son of Krypton’s longevity as a superhero, especially in a cinematic context. As hard as it may be to believe, the time has come to permanently retire Superman saving cats from trees – here’s why.
Superman Saving Cats From Trees Is A Shorthand For His Innate Kindness & Great Power
It should be made clear upfront that the image of Superman pulling cats from trees is not a nefarious idea, far from it. Originally shown in a heartwarming scene in 1978’s Superman: The Movie, the scene of the Man of Steel kindly pulling a child’s kitten from a tree showed both Kal-El’s inherent warmth and the contrast of his might and kindness. For all his power to save crashing aeroplanes, lift impossibly heavy objects, and even fly fast enough to reverse the rotation of the Earth, Superman wields his power with maturity and kindness that embodies pure heroism at both the macro and micro levels.
Superman saving a cat from a tree also showed how small acts of kindness are just as essential to who he is as his ability to defend the Earth from supervillains. If someone as powerful and invincible as Superman can take a little time out of his day to do something as simple as rescue a cat from a tree and put a smile on a kid’s face, surely the people of Earth can learn to follow his example. With all of the above stated, the concept of Superman saving cats from trees has become a problem not because of the act itself but what it has come to represent in the larger context of the Man of Steel’s cinematic career.
RELATED: Injustice 3 Should Stop Making Superman A Villain And Give Us A Hero
Superman Faces A Fan Checklist In Every New Movie, Including Pulling Cats From Trees
Superman has often been looked upon as the hardest superhero to write for, either in comic books, movies, or TV, and that’s often attributed to his vast strength and invulnerability, which makes it difficult to create challenging scenarios for him to overcome. While that might seem to be the case on the surface, it’s truthfully not that much more difficult to write Superman into a challenge than it is for most other superheroes. Villains like General Zod, Brainiac, Doomsday, and Darkseid are more than a match for Superman’s strength, while villains like Lex Luthor and Morgan Edge know how to stay one step ahead of Superman at all times (the real issue Superman movies have faced, frankly, has more to do with how seldom his rogue’s gallery has been exploited to its fullest potential, but that’s another discussion.)
The real challenge Superman faces in every new incarnation is the checklist fans have prepared and ready to grade him on. And far too often, the boxes to be checked aren’t whether the movie or show itself tells a unique Superman story or presents a fresh perspective on him, but rather whether he performs a series of pre-determined acts of kindness viewed as deal breakers for any Superman movie or show to omit. Did Superman save a cat from a tree? Did Superman smile enough? Did Superman disguise himself as a clumsy doofus in his Clark Kent persona? Did Superman wink directly at the camera and drop enough whimsical one-liners? Did Superman attend a kid’s birthday party?
In isolation, none of these are inherently bad things to show Superman doing, but they’re also not storytelling devices either. They’re cosmetic elements that can add a little fun or whimsy to a Superman movie, but their presence or absence doesn’t make or break a Superman movie, either. Even still, the notion that a Superman film doesn’t live or die on how much the Man of Steel drops what he’s doing to smile or perform a random act of kindness is clearly a tough sell to many die-hard Superman fans. And unfortunately, the OG big-screen Supes has a lot to do with that.
RELATED: John David Washington Must Be Black Superman In Ta-Nehisi Coates Movie
Superman Fans Keep White-Knuckling Onto Christopher Reeve’s Legacy – & Saving Cats From Trees Is Part Of That
It’s fair to say that Christopher Reeve’s iconic portrayal of Superman set the bar for all future Supermen to meet and quite arguably remains the gold standard of superhero movies and performances for many. However, Christopher Reeve’s Superman performance is, unfortunately, also a classic case of a good thing working too well. All too often, new Superman actors aren’t judged fairly on their own merits by many Superman fans and even general audiences but simply by how closely they capture what Christopher Reeve brought to the role.
Moreover, since Reeve’s Superman set the concept of Superman saving cats from trees in motion, the act itself has become a kind of shorthand for how much a new take on Superman is valid or invalid in the minds of many fans. Obviously, there are other aspects to why Reeve’s Superman has paradoxically become an albatross to Superman as a character, but few are as emblematic as the act of Superman pulling a cat from a tree and returning the cat to their human owner. “If a Superman movie doesn’t show him doing that, he’s too far removed from Christopher Reeve’s version. And if he’s not enough like Christopher Reeve’s Superman, he’s not an acceptable Superman, so please reboot and make a Christopher Reeve-style Superman, WB!” is the mantra far too many Superman fans are prepared to adopt.
RELATED: Why Smallville’s Clark Kent Is the Most Powerful Superman – and It Isn’t Even a Contest
The Superman Checklist Is Holding Him Back – Retiring Saving Cats Can Finally Help Him Move Past That
Of course, Superman Returns is proof positive that simply recreating Christopher Reeve’s Superman for modern times is hardly a winning formula (with Brandon Routh’s Superman later allowed to go his own on Crisis On Infinite Earths to much greater effect and overall reception), and that discrepancy highlights how much Superman in all media needs to compartmentalize Reeve’s Superman performance as a product of its time, but not the be-all and end-all of the Man of Steel.
That isn’t to say that Superman movies can’t or shouldn’t make an effort to show the kindness within Kal-El’s heart, but there are an infinite number of ways to do that. Indeed, something like Superman intervening in a bar fight, talking to a distraught unemployed person after a layoff, or simply telling someone he just saved to “live a life worth saving” – as he once said to John Henry Irons – might fall into the perceived taboo of putting Superman into a “dark” story, but they’re every bit as valid acts of kindness on Superman’s part as saving cats from trees, and one’s that don’t repeat an act that has begun a literal cliché.
Superman has a heart of gold, but how that can be and has been portrayed can take many different forms. Let’s not reduce Superman’s innate kindness to him temping as animal control.
RELATED: The Top 10 Best Superman Comics of All Time
Tell us, do you think it’s time to retire the Superman saving cats from trees cliché?
