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What you reference we used to call "Mort Weisinger Stories." It was in his editorial days that we often saw "alternate realities" where Superman always turned out to be Superman.

And, you are right. Current recyclers have forgotten the basic core of the characters. That's how we get fuctup versions of Reed Richards, Charles Xavier, Captain America, and so on.

Roger Stern used to say of one writer that the guy could not do good superhero stories because he did not believe anyone could be more noble than he was -- ie, not very! Over the past several decades, we have seen that mindset become more and more obvious in American superhero comics.

(Is it just a coincidence that much of it seems to have come from British writers, who very obviously did not understand the most basic tropes of the superhero concept?)

And, rose colored glasses? Well, let's remember that these are fictional characters, and they are who their creators tell us they are. Later writers do not "reveal" dark histories, they invent and insert them.

And I'll keep mine, thank you, but we must never forget that there was very little money to be made when the Old Guard were just the Guard.   Then it was about mass producing pages, without thought of personal glory. Not even any credits on most titles!

As a friend who worked in those days told me, whenever someone asks "what he was thinking" as he crafted a particular page, he'd say "I was thinking I had to finish the %#₯€ing page so I can hit my deadline."

Comics that are still considered classics were produced in this way!

"Roger Stern used to say of one writer that the guy could not do good superhero stories because he did not believe anyone could be more noble than he was -- ie, not very!"

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Urgh! that is sooooo annoying! Why even write stories, if you have no regard whatsoever for the characters? (I guess money is the obvious answer. But it's still dispiriting..)

"(Is it just a coincidence that much of it seems to have come from British writers, who very obviously did not understand the most basic tropes of the superhero concept?)"

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Being from the UK, or at least Scotland anyway, I kind of wanted to argue that point. But then I remembered how much of a continual mess Captain Britain has always been, even though I don't think he started out that way under Claremont. It really does suggest a different mentality.

And that's before you get to all the Mark Millars of the world. (Whom on behalf of my country, I will never be able to apologise enough for!)

And yeah Greg, I absolutely agree that that kind of clearly defined character outlook is what's really missing now..

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As a lapsed Brit myself, I see it this way: the British mentality, thru its history, created heroes who were men of high social rank, kings, princes, knights. Even the heroes like Robin Hood, who were "of the people," came from or rose to the nobility. Then, over centuries, the Empire crumbled, and a kind of overarching cynicism replaced the the days when (to borrow a line from Jeremy Clarkson) "we really were as great as we still think we are." That's no place for superheroes.

America was almost the opposite. It built its heroes from the bottom up. And because we started as a poor little country bumpkin cousin to Great Britain, we had to build our heroes fast, and we had to build them bigger and better than anyone else's.

Until the rot set in. Until there came the writers who did not want to build, only to tear down. Starting with the Brits? Maybe. But wherever the boat sailed from a lot of people, fans and pros, bought tickets.

I'll admit to being one, for a while, until I got tired of sailing in circles.

Messianic metaphors aside, that sums up the ideal superhero model. It doesn't mean we can't have grumpy superheroes (the Thing), or troubled superheroes (the X-Men), or even antisocial superheroes (Wolverine), but it DOES mean they should take the high ground. Doing the right thing for the wrong reason is acceptable. Doing the wrong thing for the right reason also, as long as there as consequences. But doing the wrong thing for the wrong reason -- we have villains to do that.