I've mentioned before that I found it interesting that Danny is one of the few Superman Expies that ISN'T evil. Personally I've grown tired of the "What if Superman Was EVIL" idea for a while now and frankly didn't much care for it when it was originally brought up. Hell I didn't care for it when the DC Animated Universe did it in the Cadmus arc as it felt like Superman was being needlessly aggressive to the point that I thought the show was going to reveal that someone was screwing with his mind again or he was replaced with an Evil Version of himself.
I'm not against the idea as a whole, the DCAU has one of the best examples with the Justice Lord 2 parter, but it has been over done and most writers just tend to default to "Just make Superman Basically a Nazi in everything but name" my making all of them raciest, sexist, homophobic (likely while making him a closest gay who does horrible things to teenage boys) or just making him Jason Voorhees only with less personality.
Arguably the most famous, or infamous rather, take on this idea is Homelander from The Boys. Personally I'm not interested in The Boys mostly because of the source material being Garth Ennis' not so subtle Take That against Superheroes which is a genre he openly hates (and frankly his dislike of Captain America is petty and childish given that he's claimed it's an insult to real soldiers and veterans when Cap was CREATED by Two Veteran Soldiers and is LIKED by real Soldiers and Veterans).
However, Homelander is interesting as Ennis has stated that he actually likes Superman but one thing I remember being said (and I can't find the clip and can't remember if Ennis even said this) is that if someone like Superman did exist he would be a violent sociopath and that no one with that much power could be good.
The problem I often have with Evil Supermen is that the writers often rig the game so that there is no way for Superman to end up evil by altering his origin story. If I remember correctly Homelander's backstory was that he was created in a lab and wasn't given any real love or affection and was abused as much as humanly possible and this is the first real problem.
The reason Clark is such a good person was because he was raised by good people who loved him and valued him as a person and instilled the core ideas that are at the heart of his character. He is, as Chuck, Linkara and others have pointed out, the most Human member of the Justice League. There's that this scene from All-Star Superman -
Is seen as The Greatest Superman Moment Ever. Superman is dying and yet he still takes the time to tell a girl about to commit suicide that she is stronger then she thinks she is and that things are never as bad as they seem.
THIS is what many writers don't understand about the character. He's not a god and he'd be the first to tell you that he's just someone with great powers and uses those powers to help in a way that cannot be done by normal people.
As weird as this sounds but Frank Miller actually summed up Superman perfectly when he wrote a origin story for him a few years ago. Superman isn't a judge, jury and executioner. He's a fire fighter. He helps out people who need it and comes only when he's needed. He only goes where he is needed and will do everything he can to avoid hurting anyone, even his enemies.
Thus we come to Danny. Danny is different kind of Superman Question, that question being "What if Superman was a transgirl?"
What's interesting about Danny in contrast with Homelander is that Danny DIDN'T have a good life before becoming a Superhero. Her father was emotionally and physically abusive towards her and her mother, whom was overall supportive, allowed this to happen. And when she got her powers her problems didn't just go away and saw the flaws of the Superheros she always looked up to and that many of them have dark secrets or are more interested in getting good publicity.
However, what's interesting about this is that while the Legion (the Dreadnought equivalent of the Justice League or the Avengers) is flawed we see plenty of people who live up to the idea of what it means to be a hero and see in Danny the potential to become a great hero herself. And Danny herself is a flawed person as she finds she likes the violence of being a Superhero, likes the fight, likes being able to use her powers against those who wronged her or are just a good means of letting her anger out on them.
But what's great is that when Danny is forced to confront these flaws she's ashamed or herself. For not living up to what it means to be a Superhero, for realizing that she's becoming what she's suppose to be standing against and for failing to measure up to the name Dreadnought. But she doesn't just dwell on these flaws, she instead works to improve herself. To get help, to step away from her duties until she is better and to grow and change.
And what's great about these books is that, unlike The Boys or like minded comics or TV shows that damn Superheroes for the crime of existing Dreadnought instead goes "If we're going to be damned let's be damned for what we really are."
One of the reasons I love Dreadnought so much is the fact that it's take on "Superman" as a flawed but ultimately good person who does what she can to live up to the legacy left to her but to also improve herself when she's forced to confront her flaws.
