There’s an argument for not having superpowers.

He should be struggling – his son has a gift, and he can help people, but at the same time exposing that gift is going to make people afraid of him, and it’s going to make life very very hard for young Clark. If this is the first time he’s thinking about it, I want him to struggle before he comes down on the side of “no, you have to help them, no matter what”.

A lot of people look to Hero myth (and superhero myths) for a reason, they want some moral clarity. Does it make Pa Kent less of a moral person? We won’t know until we see the whole story. Maybe that “maybe” is something that is really out of character and he comes back later and talks about how best to use his power in a stealth way.  I’m thinking about Dexter’s dad and the way he gave him a “code” one part of the code is “don’t get caught” So maybe Dexter and superman have something in common. 

They are both adopted.
They survived a trama as children
Their father gave them a code to deal with their power, “Only go after bad people, Don’t get caught” 
Dexter of course kills and Superman doesn’t but they both use their powers for “good”as a way to help others.

Wow. I’ll have to think about this some more. Scary parallels! 

Less good: Pa Kent saying that “maybe” Clark should have let a busload of kids die. The Pa Kent I know would never think self-interest could trump the lives of others. I could see him saying “no, of course not” while not having a clear answer for what Clark should have done differently, but a “maybe” just feels… wrong.

Is it strange that I have such an immediate, visceral reaction to one word from a fictional character?