Has it been an evolution, or has it been a sell-out? A scared need to offend no one, which has made Superman degrade to the point where he stands for nothing? He was created by working class guys who knew first hand the pain of poverty. If they want to kill the perception of Superman as an establishment stooge who is too scared to offend anyone to ever do the right thing (and God forbid, bend a rule or law or two in the process), then this is their big chance. It's a young Superman at the beginning of his career, full of fire and ideals. And it's not like these tactics aren't in his resume.
True, but the Silver Age version was nowhere near the naive child that the later, Post-Crisis version was often shown to be. Not to mention he would have never endured the sneering disrespect paid to him by other superheroes, particularly Batman, who replaced him as DC's #1 character and main earning point.
But it was the Post-Crisis version-who was trapped forever in being an immature Superboy by the bad decisions to remove that from his career and also to leave the Kents alive-who also made the emotional decision to execute the Phantom Zone villains, something his more adult Silver/Bronze Age counterpart would have never had considered or had to resort to.
The current version of the character is of course, a compromise between the classic version that worked and the failed Byrne experiments that have reduced Superman to a point of near-irrelevance. If DC ever rids themselves of the wrongheaded school of thought started by Byrne and continued by Mike Carlin (who also doesn't understand the character), then they can just put those elements out to pasture where they deserve to go, and bring back a Superman who actually believes in things and stands for something, and acts like a man, not a boy.
Until DC themselves decide that Stan and the entire Marvel way of thinking is completely wrong for Superman, until they decide to embrace Superman with pride instead of shunning him in shame, the character will fail and fail hard.
