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Superman, since his first appearance in the late 1930's has been a symbol of Truth, Justice and the American way etc.

Looking back at his representation and the characteristics the writers have used over the years to describe Superman, this would seem a little far-fetched. But has Superman ever been depicted (in the comics) smoking cigarettes and/or consuming alcohol?

Lightness Races in Orbit
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Shreedhar
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  • Would smoking a pipe or cigar count? I don't know that it would change the answer, but I also wouldn't be surprised. – Kamil Drakari May 23 '18 at 19:31
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    Do depictions of Clark Kent meet your requirement or must he be in costume as Superman? – Josh King May 23 '18 at 19:46
  • https://comiccritter.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/17v8jehozwe1ajpg.jpg – Valorum May 23 '18 at 19:49
  • http://media.comicbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/superman-drinking-alcohol.jpg – Valorum May 23 '18 at 19:53
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    Well, i'm looking anything related to Superman. Not really restricted to him being in Superman persona only; Clark works too. – Shreedhar May 23 '18 at 19:55
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    There was the joke with the punchline, "You're a mean drunk, Superman." – Nu'Daq May 24 '18 at 01:50
  • Anyone any idea about Batman/Bruce Wayne? I think Dick Grayson attempted to smoke in the 1960's TV series Batman, but that was because he was trying to infiltrate a group of "cool kids". –  May 24 '18 at 09:02
  • @jim he avoids drinking, but has to for mundane receptions (champagne and all). He is shown drinking beer in the first pic of my answer. Not sure about the smoking - seems you have good question material :) – Jenayah May 24 '18 at 09:13
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    @Jenayah Check out the following link, pretty conclusive I think! https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=us0cbkbh&id=9B60FE11ADC6D85F0A0EC5D344EAB0B764BA55AA&thid=OIP.us0cbkbhp_8MrLfp77ySEgHaKq&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fhilobrow.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2010%2f06%2fbatman-smoking.jpg&exph=400&expw=278&q=Bruce+Wayne+pipe+images&simid=607993352243711284&selectedIndex=0&ajaxhist=0 –  May 24 '18 at 12:23
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    Back when Superman was first written, smoking and drinking were the American way. – Paul May 24 '18 at 13:20
  • I find amazing that the idea of drinking and smoking shouldn't be considered as part of the american way. The american way is about freedom, be it giving freedom to people to shoot at children, to be extremely obese, or to sell their life to corps. Plus drinking and smoking are normal activities in the USA (a little less smoking, ok, because now USA tobacco companies are exploiting East Asia), plus I don't get at all what drinking and smoking has to do with morality O_o – motoDrizzt May 26 '18 at 07:45

2 Answers2

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TL;DR: drinking yes, and willingly, smoking is debatable.

Drinking — yes

The first two images are courtesy of the answers to Can Superman get drunk?.

In this one, Superman is powerless after using the "Super Flare" power (basically unleashing all his energy, rendering him powerless for some time after). So the getting drunk part is because of the powerlessness, but Clark Kent/Superman presumably still has all the ideas about the American Way etc, and is drinking alcohol willingly. (comic: Superman #40 (2011))

Superman drinking a beer in civilian clothes with the rest of the Justice League

Then there's this one, where it's not exactly pictured, but clearly stated. Superman gets picked by a boat, the crew of which thinks he's Bruce Wayne, so he poses as him, and drinks several glasses of champagne while doing so (one of which was drugged by Deathstroke).

Agreed though, you could say that in this issue he wasn't Superman yet (as in, still "constructing" himself). (comic: Superman: American Alien #3)

Superman facing Deathstroke after having drank a spiked champagne

That's probably not orange juice:

Superman pouring a drink in a cocktail glass

That, either:

Superman in a pool with other guests, all holding glassed bottles (like a beer bottle)

Two glasses, both almost empty:

Superman lying down with a woman at his side, two glasses on the floor

There's a couple other pictures in this comic, but posting them all would be posting the entire issue (redundant).

Smoking - no, but...

Stumbling across Google Images, you could encounter this: (comic: Superman #163, 1963)

Superman lighting cigars with his heat vision

So, not smoking for the thrill of it, but merely as a cover method. But, he was also under the influence of Red Kryptonite at the time, making him goofy. (and also, it was the 60's...)

So, no smoking, and there are instances of him campaigning against tobacco ("Never say yes to a cigarette", and the Nick O'Teen villain). On the other hand, early on, he sometimes used heat vision to light up cigars: (Adventure Comics #282, 1961)

Superman lights up Pa Kent's cigar

And again in Superman #376 (1982), although it's revealed later on that the "cigar" is a power source of sorts to revive Perry White, but Superman wasn't aware of that and genuinely thought it was a regular cigar.

Superman lights up a cigar for a man on his deathbed

(these three images taken from this source)

Then again, one could argue that the first one was for show, and the second one was an act of kindness for a guy who was already dying (as far as he knew). Also, as said earlier those were earlier times, when there was not as much "public awareness" of the dangers of nicotine/tobacco/etc as today.

Bonus section: Superman drunk in movie

While not included by the question, it is worth mentioning "evil Superman" (poisoned by pseudo-kryptonite) who among other vices becomes drunk in Superman III.

FuzzyBoots
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    Awww, I wish my parents had ever called me "super-convenient." :,( – MissMonicaE May 23 '18 at 20:50
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    @MissMonicaE that's what you get when parents conceive their child the usual way, rather than wandering through Kansas, picking up stray babies who fell from the skies. :p – Jenayah May 23 '18 at 20:57
  • That was from an actual movie? I always thought it to be some sort of parody on Superman – Shreedhar May 24 '18 at 07:54
  • @Shreedhar yup, the third one with Richard Donner. To each his own, but that one always felt pretty goofy IMO... – Jenayah May 24 '18 at 08:00
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    @jim yup, "never say yes to a cigarette", and the (ridiculous) villain was Nick O'Teen. It's already on the answer, under the picture of him smoking all those cigars :) – Jenayah May 24 '18 at 09:01
  • @Jenayah Thanks, removed comment –  May 24 '18 at 09:03
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    Lighting a cigar while that guy is on oxygen... That's not an act of kindness, that's murder^^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDLIyjwtNrg – Dakkaron May 24 '18 at 11:22
  • @Jenayah Richard Donner directed (and had cameos in!) the first two movies but didn't have anything to do with Superman III... are you thinking of Richard Pryor, perhaps? – J... May 24 '18 at 12:50
  • @J... no, I just realized I mistook Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve. Shame on me. Shame on my cow. – Jenayah May 24 '18 at 13:08
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Additional - there was a cover (Action Comics #869, 2008) that depicted Clark and Pa Kent sharing what is presumed to be a beer in a father and son moment.

original cover with a bottle of beer

After publication, DC (I believe at the request of Paul Levitz, but can't confirm that) recalled the cover, and asked all retailers to destroy any stock they had. The book was re-printed a week or two after, with the label (poorly) edited to read "SODA POP".

"after and before" labels, reading Soda Pop and root beer

Needless to say, the original cover is worth quite a bit more than the second version.

Jenayah
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VBartilucci
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    Strange, because it looks like the original version actually says "ROOT BEER." – Nathan K. May 24 '18 at 15:14
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    It could just as easily say Draft Beer, or be deliberately blurry enough that it could be either. It wasn't sufficiently clear for someone in DC. It woulnd't be the first time they erred on the side of caution - Look up "Marvel douche ad" – VBartilucci May 24 '18 at 18:24