For our Superman coverage, the ‘bots thought it’d be a great idea to discuss one of the most pivotal Superman stories ever told. The Death of Superman. We had some… differing opinions on the matter. You’ll see what I mean once we start our roundtable.
Shaz-Bot: The Death of Superman!? I loooooove that story! One of the very first back issues I ever bought was Superman #193, it was already a good twenty years when I got it, but I couldn’t not get a story that promised so much silver age goodness!
Of all the stories presented in this 80-page giant, the best was definitely the lead story, The Death of Superman. In this seminal tale, Luthor discovers a new element called “Element Z”. OK, well I guess if you’re an evil super-genius your creativity isn’t spent naming things. Anyway, with Element Z, Luthor hatches a new scheme, only this time, it’s completely uncharacteristic. He cures cancer!
After that bombshell, Luthor professes he wants to make up for his villainous past, and even gets Superman to vouch for him at a parole hearing. Luthor continues his good works, but the underworld now sees him as a rat. Luckily, his new best friend Superman goes the extra mile to protect him.
Eventually, things escalate to the point where Superman has to build Lex a satellite laboratory, with a special signal device in case there is any more danger. Months later, Luthor sets off the device and Superman rushes to his aid. Then we get to the real meat of the story.
Luthor stays true to type and catches the off-guard Superman with a deadly Kryptonite beam! Then, he straps him to a medical table with Kryptonite buckles! Then, to add insult to injury, he reveals a hidden panel to reveal that all of Superman’s friends have been kidnapped to witness Luthor’s triumph!
In the aftermath, there is a funeral for Superman attended by absolutely everyone. From various alien races, to JLA members to the Legion of Super-Heroes, everyone pays their respects to a fallen hero.
Except for the criminal element. Luthor is the man of the hour for the crooks of the world. On his ornate throne, he gloats to his fellow criminals with absolute glee, as he relives his ultimate triumph.
Luckily for the world, Supergirl breaks her stint as Superman’s secret weapon (trust me, it’s a Silver Age thing). Luthor is captured for his crimes and is sent to the Phantom Zone for all eternity. The story ends on a melancholy note however, with Supergirl vowing to carry on for her deceased cousin.
So yeah, Death of Superman, one of my favorite Superman, not to mention Luthor stories, ever! What do you guys think?
Swank-mo-tron: Well, the Death of Superman I’m most fond of is the ‘90s version by Dan Jurgens and crew. I’ll wholeheartedly admit that the story was a little weak. Basically an enemy no one has ever seen or heard of is unearthed and literally starts punching his way across the world toward Metropolis. He’s a mad dog and has eyes only for destruction, laying waste to the entire Justice League until Superman takes it upon himself to lock in mortal combat with the out of control creature we now know as Doomsday.
Sure, the story is so basic and superficial that it might have turned a lot of people off, but reading it is one of the most moving and satisfying experiences I’ve ever had. Superman is finally faced with a foe that can match him punch for punch and the only thing they can do is beat the hell out of each other.
But no matter how silly that story may seem, I can’t help but get the chills every time I read and turn that last page and see Superman’s head fall, his corpse in Lois Lane’s sobbing embrace, the American flag torn and tattered, flapping in the wind… It makes me a little weepy.
And it wasn’t just that moment that makes the otherwise preposterous ’90s Death of Superman arc for me a home run, it’s the stories in that universe that took place in Superman’s absence. It was so interesting to me to see all of the various characters in the DC Universe mourn for Superman. Their reactions to his death were so real and raw. It wasn’t until after the experience of 9/11 that I understood the magnitude of what national mourning was, and the thing that helped me understand and contextualize it before I ever experienced it was that Death of Superman arc.
It had a profound effect on me and I still go back and revisit it.
Citizen-Bot: Yup, that’s exactly what I think of. Doomsday. Huge fight. Levels blocks of the city. Superman dies. Huge public funeral for Superman. And then a team of replacement Supermen.
I’ll be honest. I thought this was all relatively boring. Other than the fact that Superman dies, it is pretty thoroughly unremarkable.
What I thought was most interesting was how this almost got turned into a movie. Yes. A movie. Warner Brothers had gotten Tim Burton, director of their Batman films, to sign on as director.
Nicholas Cage had even been cast as Superman, Courtney Cox as Lois Lane, and Kevin Smith had written a script. Yes, Kevin Smith. From Clerks. If you’ve never read his script for Superman Lives, it’s worth a gander.
There’s parts of it that are brilliant. There are parts that are god-awful. Smith himself explains the script development process and how the meddlings of producer Jon Peters ended up making Superman fight giant Spiders, polar bears. . . and. . . yeah.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk
I’m morbidly curious how this would’ve turned out if it had actually made its way on to the screen. I kinda think it would’ve been the snarkier, more modern sibling of Superman III– lots to love, but some of it just laughably terrible.
Shaz-Bot: Oh you guys meant that Death of Superman!? Yeah, that was OK, I guess. I didn’t like the story itself, but like Swank said, what came out of it was really great and creative. And hey, we got the modern Superboy and Steel out of it, who were both great characters. The very fact that we’re still talking about it 21 years later is definitely saying something!