When did it become standard practice to show Superman creating a sonic boom when flying? I read the comics until around 1984 and saw all the Chris Reeve films and don’t remember it ever happening, but it seems to be de rigueur now.
This may seem absurdly specific, but in Superman Family #217 (April 1982), there’s a passing reference to how the Erath-2 Superman (Kal-L) avoided making sonic booms by using a “vibration trick” taught to him by the Flash.
But basically a sonic boom is only included if the writer remembers to do so, or wishes to do so.
Can you give examples, because I can’t think of a single one.
He doesn’t do it accidentally, or deliberately with any regularity, in any of the DCU Original Animated Movies he’s appeared in, nor in the comics, even the ones where he hasn’t been powered down. Supergirl, Power Girl, and Superboy do not, either.
I only saw a couple episodes of Young Justice, none of which included Superman, and haven’t rewatched Man of Steel recently, nor seen the Dawn of Justice trailer, but even if he does do it in them, doing it in 3 of the at least 11 different titles* he’s appeared in in the last few years is hardly an example of it being ‘de rigueur’.
- 2 live action movies, 2 animated movies, 1 TV series, 6 different ongoing comic series. This is limiting it to his post 2011 appearances, and sticking to ongoing series featuring the Kal-El Superman. Not that Lor-Zod, or the versions of Kal who appeared in the various limited series do, either…I don’t know if Dru-Zod in Gods and Monsters does since the movie’s not out yet.
Perhaps he’s been consulting with Tony Stark. A recent Cracked article points out that, in Iron Man 3, Tony summons his suit from Tennessee to Miami, a distance of over 700 miles. It takes a minute to arrive, which gives an average travel speed of mach 60, which is probably enough to obliterate any building the suit happens to pass over.
Not Superman, but in Thor, when he summons his hammer at the end of the movie, it lifts up and takes off with the lenticular cloud around it that shows around jet fighters as they pass the speed of sound. Also, in Heroes, when Nathan Petrelli evades capture, he does the same thing.
One of my favorite such pics: http://citpt.lcsc.edu/marvinemry/Fall2013/CITPT475A/mock/picplace/flight/images/f4.jpg
It happens in, and my question was prompted by, Superman Returns, which was on cable this morning, but I didn’t note the time or exact circumstances, because I got started thinking about having seen it also in Man of Steel, and then I thought to ask here.
OK, that’s earlier than I figured prompted the question…
That brings us back to 2006, which adds 8 more animated movies, several more comic series, a live action series, and regular appearances in 2 cartoon series (and at least one guest appearance on a third)… None of which feature sonic booms. (Smallville has a distortion of the air, and a ‘boom’ noise on his first flight, but it starts before he takes off, and seems to be associated with building his power.)
So, they’re restricted to recent live-action movies…not really an anomaly, as the conditions required for their inclusion are apparently predictable, but hardly something that can be considered an inherent part of the character.
Well, I confess to no longer being as immersed in the character as I was when I was 14. 
It happened in both the recent big-budget films, and I have dim memories of it happening in Lois & Clark, and that’s really what I was drawing from. I guess we’ll just chalk this up to (spins wheel) observational bias.