How smart is Superman?
I finished reading It’s Superman! by Tom De Haven, and one of the things that struck me in the book is that Clark thinks he is dumb. He mentions it briefly at first:
Especially since he’s not smart the way that he feels he should be, all things being equal. Intelligence to match his physical powers: is that too much to ask?
Later he thinks about it again:
Because no matter how strong he is or how fast or how far he can see, he is still a farm boy, as Lois rightly called him, a twenty-year-old wheat from Kansas who never figured out the mysteries of the slide rule, who can’t fathom electricity or the principles of music theory, much less radio transmission, and who is utterly mystified by the atom, the X-ray, and the salinity of the ocean. So just how is a guy like him supposed to take on and best somebody like Lex Luthor, a grown-up, a millionaire, a genius who evidently can snap his fingers and make whatever he wants or doesn’t want vanish into thin air?
I took Superman’s intelligence for granted. He is super strong and super fast. I thought super smart was a given, especially since his Kryptonian brain should be able to process thoughts faster and remember more than the average human brain. I still think that’s the case, and the key point is that Clark in It’s Superman! isn’t really Superman yet—he is Clark Kent running around town in a movie costume.
It makes sense that Clark Kent, new to the big city, still discovering what he is capable of, doesn’t realize his full potential. Maybe it’s just a matter of him trying to learn something new on his own, and then he’ll be able to pick it up quickly without a problem.
I’ve always been interested in Clark Kent’s story, pre-Superman, and It’s Superman! does a great job showing us what Clark is like when he is figuring out what kind of person he is and what he should do with his power. I’m glad Tom De Haven specifically points out Clark’s intelligence, because a Clark Kent who doesn’t think he is smart is not something I’ve seen in other Superman stories.