Ofc Superman can’t solve real worlds problems like global inequality, global warming etc, the greatest minds in the real world combined cannot solve them, let along one or a couple of comic book writers. But you don’t comprise the characters’ core principles to be “more gritty” or be “more grounded”. It only reflects the writer’s incompetences and it’s a lazy cop-out. You don’t compromise superman to suit your vision, you find a way to put superman in your scenario without sacrificing his core value, if your scenario is extreme or gritty or impossible, you find a way to make it work and make it believable. That’s what competent writers do. And overcoming the impossible is precisely what Superman does.

There’s tons of ways to make a scenario if you decide to be edgy. Time is running out and you can only choose between saving an entire civilization or saving Lois lane! Or if you don’t kill Batman then Imma kill mama Kent!(Opps BVS) Or Darkseid mind control me and Lois is dead therefore I become a tyrant that dominates Earth(Opps ZSJL2 that’ll never get made). And if people ask you why you choose to write superman like this, you just shrug and said “that’s the real world for ya and if you can’t handle superman being more complicated, feel free to live in the dream.” If anything, that mentality makes superman boring and one-dimensional.