Anyone could become Superman if they had superpowers.
Was that really true?
Bruce did not think so.
He had known Clark for a long time. At first, Clark had not even had the name "Superman." He had simply been a masked hero who used his abilities to help people wherever he went. Apart from having more powers, there had seemed to be nothing particularly special about him.
After all, this was an extraordinary world, already full of all sorts of strange people.
Yet Superman was special enough, and not merely because he was an alien, much less just because of his terrifyingly powerful abilities.
Batman was a pessimist who always considered the worst possible outcome. Precisely for that reason, he had to investigate everything from every angle and draw up all sorts of contingency plans, so that even when the worst happened, he could handle it calmly.
That, in turn, led to an extreme need for control.
In other words, whether someone was a superhero or a supervillain, he had to have a weakness he could exploit. Only when he could pull out a contingency plan at any moment and subdue a hero who had fallen would Batman feel at ease.
That included Batman himself.
Batman did not believe human nature would remain unchanged forever, not even his own.
That was why Bruce had been so shocked when he uncovered Superman's true abilities and identity.
Superman was a tall, handsome alien with all sorts of superpowers, every one of them powerful enough to destroy the world. And the way he replenished or enhanced those powers was simply by basking in the sun?!
Clark Kent was a small-town boy from Kansas, shy and awkward, with elderly parents whose family ran a farm. His adoptive father had already passed away. He had