Alexander Joseph “Lex” Luthor is one of the smartest people in DC Comics and Superman’s most emblematic villain. Initially depicted as a mad scientist and narcissist, the character was reimagined in the mid-late 1980s (following Crisis on Infinite Earths) as the powerful CEO of LexCorp, willing to do anything to rid the world of Superman.
Although Luthor has no superpowers per se, he considers his genius to be his gift—and with good reason! Luthor is not only a mad scientist but also a criminal mastermind, expert tactician and manipulator, ruthless businessman, and formidable leader. His ability to survive any scandal underscores his cunning. Luthor is the master of complex, multi-layered plans to destroy Superman, with his primary weakness being, as is often the case for men like him, his arrogance—and his inability to truly understand his enemies.
Like Cyborg Superman, the supervillain Doomsday made his debut during the “Death of Superman” story arc. If everyone knows his name, it’s because he is the character who killed Superman! That’s certainly one way to make an impression.
Created by Dan Jurgens, the first appearance of Doomsday is a cameo in Superman: The Man of Steel #17, before making his full appearance in the following issue, Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992). As Jurgens wrote on his website, “When we first started talking about Doomsday, he didn’t even have a name. We talked about him in terms of “living rage” or “force of nature”. ”
There is no better way to define Doomsday, an unstoppable force of destruction engineered long ago by Kryptonian scientists to be the ultimate weapon. Devoid of emotion and shaped by an unforgiving environment, Doomsday was forged through a brutal cycle of deaths and forced evolution. In the end, he became an unkillable machine filled with primal rage.
After escaping Krypton and embarking on a killing spree across many planets, Doomsday was finally defeated and buried on the primitive planet Earth. But Doomsday always comes back to life, and he returned, once again evolved, more unstoppable than ever, becoming one of Superman’s most iconic foes.
Since his creation, Doomsday has made several appearances on live-action television and in animated series, though his most mainstream incarnation is in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Discover the ultimate Doomsday reading order, guiding you through the essential comics and many epic battles involving The Destroyer!
Since his creation, Superman has inspired many other characters including different versions of himself such as Bizarro, the “mirror image” of The Man of Steel. Among the alternative versions of the superhero is also Cyborg Superman, a character whose origin story is more of a dark homage to what happened to the Fantastic Four.
Created by Dan Jurgens, Hank Henshaw made his first appearance in The Adventures of Superman #465 (May 1990). The astronaut was on the LexCorp space shuttle Excalibur with his wife Terri and two other crew members when it crashed, supposedly at first from a solar flare created by Superman which also exposed the crew to a fatal dose of radiation. As Hank’s body deteriorated, he transferred his consciousness to LexCorp’s mainframe and transformed into a cyborg resembling Superman. His wife didn’t survive the whole ordeal and with time, Hank became delusional and paranoid, blaming Superman for Terri’s death — even though she herself established what happened was simply an accident.
From the rubble of this freakish accident was born Cyborg Superman, also called The Cyborg (not to be confused with Cyborg!). With the ability to control machines and computers, as well as physical strengthsimilar to Superman’s, Cyborg Superman became one of the Man of Steel’s dangerous foes and a Green Lantern villain.
Now, learn more about Cyborg Superman with our reading order, guiding you through the essential comics and story arcs featuring DC Comics’s evil twisted version of Superman!
“Up, Up, and Away!” Superman is one of the most iconic comic book superheroes who dedicated his life to truth, justice, and the American way. The creation of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster made his first appearance in Action Comics #1 (May 1938). Sent to Earth from a distant planet as a baby, the child (now named Clark Kent) grew up and discovered he had super abilities. As an adult, he decided to become Superman, “champion of the oppressed” and “had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!”
A page of history was written as the debut of Superman is now considered the beginning of the superhero genre. While Action Comics started as an anthology, the title would eventually become dedicated to Superman Stories. It didn’t take long for the Man of Steel to headline more than one title as he soon came to live adventures in newspaper strips as well as in the new Superman title! During the next decades, the Kryptonian would team up with Batman and other superheroes while living some wild tales in Metropolis as Clark Kent/Superman, working as a journalist for the Daily Planet with his love interest Lois Lane and photographer Jimmy Olsen, and facing enemies such as Lex Luthor, Brainiac, or General Zod.
From the 1940s to the mid-1980s, there have been many Superman adventures, and DC Comics has reprinted some of them in different collections (there are many more stories to be collected yet). This article is here to help you navigate all those collections (some only available second-hand, very pricey or not), and explore those old colorful times!
Fifteen years ago, The World of Superman was shaken up by a big crossover story arc involving all the Superman titles in what is called The World of New Krypton – more often reduced to New Krypton. Following the events of Geoff Johns’ Brainiac arc and James Robinson’s Atlas arc on Superman, The Man of Steel must deal with the death of his adoptive father and the fact that 100,000 Kryptonians are now living on Earth, seeing the planet as the New Krypton!
To be more specific, as DC Comics’ official synopsis said ‘The Man of Steel learns that a piece of his home planet Krypton survived – the shrunken, bottled city of Kandor! And when the city is grown to normal size, it looks like Superman finally has the connection to his past he’s been missing all his life as thousands of Kryptonians are suddenly able to walk the Earth. But his happiness soon turns to dread as relations between the Kryptonians and humans dissolve, and the two cultures face a massive clash!’
The 1950s were another time, especially in the pages of comics like Superboy where strange things happened regularly for our young superhero. As the decade concluded, things would not become more conventionally heroic by today’s standards. Yesterday’s standards, that’s another story. Anyways, Superboy met The Super-Creature of Steel named Bizarro in Superboy #68 (October 1958).
Often portrayed as a distorted and imperfect duplicate of Superman, Bizarro had different origin stories through the years, but he has chalky white skin and distorted features–and is often depicted with a backward “S” symbol on his chest. His actions and speech are often opposite or inverted compared to Superman’s. As a result, he became the source of humorous situations or, on the contrary, tragic ones.
Credits for the creation of the character are often given to writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp, but Bizarro came from the mind of another writer, Alvin Schwartz. He was going to introduce this distorted mirror version of the Man of Steel first in the Superman daily newspaper strip. However, editor Mort Weisinger had reviewed Schwartz’s work and passed the idea to Binder to use in Superboy. The newspaper strip ended up published later and that’s why Alvin Schwartz is not the credited creator of Bizarro.
DC has teased that something evil was coming during Dawn of DC. Something called the ‘Trinity of Evil’. The infamous Amanda Waller took over in her way following the events of Titans: Beast World while Zur-En-Arrh has been a big part of Chip Zdarsky’s Batman run. A Trinity would be incomplete without a third member who happens to be… Brainiac!
The crossover event story House of Brainiac, marks the return of Brainiac as well as the introduction of the Brainiac Queen, the newest adversary in Superman’s rogues gallery! This story is also part of the year-long initiative Superman Superstars, in which a pair of writers and artists tell a mini-arc in three issues in Action Comics and then hand over the title to a new creative team.
As DC Comics explained, House of Brainiac starts with “Brainiac’s Czarnian army invading Metropolis! The Super-Family and all the superheroes of Metropolis join the fight, but will they be enough to hold off Brainiac’s lethal and crazed soldiers?! Can Superman and Lex Luthor learn what Brainiac is searching for? He’s not bottling Metropolis, so what is he collecting instead?”
It’s no secret that Superman is nearly indestructible, except when he’s in the presence of Kryptonite. But, like all other comic book characters, he is not immune to death. On the contrary, killing off Superman is a popular notion that has been explored several times over the years.
Readers are naturally intrigued by the stories dealing with Superman’s death. Because he is one of the most popular and powerful superheroes, his death has a significant emotional impact as well as a mythical meaning. Those storylines may also have high stakes and epic conflicts in order to create a spectacle based on what Superman means to the readers, his allies, and his foes.
Whatever attracts the readers towards Superman’s death, it is a subject that has been explored throughout the years, from forgettable tales to iconic stories.
Warning!As this article discussed how Superman died in several stories, it is full of spoilers. Tread carefully.
Almost a decade ago, the Superman Family expanded with the introduction of Jonathan “Jon” Samuel Kent, the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, bringing a refreshing change to the Superman legacy. Created by Dan Jurgens—who also created Doomsday, Cyborg Superman, and Booster Gold—Jon Kent made his first appearance as a baby in Convergence: Superman #2 (July 2015).
When your father is Superman, chances are you’re not an ordinary kid. Jon inherited incredible powers, including solar radiation absorption, invulnerability, superhuman strength, speed, hearing, flight, X-ray vision, and more. As Jurgens explained in a ComicBook.com interview, “Lots of people might expect Jon to be something like his dad’s younger self, but it would be a bit of a mistake.” Instead, he described Jon as “looking like Clark but with Lois’ spitfire attitude and inquisitiveness” (Newsarama).
That description of Jon fits him best as a child. Writers Dan Jurgens and Peter Tomasi brought life to the character, making it feel like a normal kid trying to do his best, making mistakes while learning how to be a responsible person and how to use his powers, whether he was with his parents or living some adventure with his best friend, Damian Wayne/Robin!
While it can take decades for some DC Comics characters to grow up, Jon’s childhood was cut short when Brian Michael Bendis aged him up—a controversial decision among readers. Since that event, Jon has joined the Legion of Super-Heroes, taken up the mantle of Superman, and been revealed as bisexual.
Despite being a young character in the DC Universe, Jon Kent has already found his way to the screen and has been played by Jordan Elsass (in seasons 1 & 2) and Michael Bishop (from season 3) in the series Superman & Lois. Jack Dylan Grazer has also voiced the character in the animated film Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons.
Now, let’s explore the many adventures of Jon Kent, Son of Superman, with our Complete Jon Kent Comics Guide!
Following recent events (with Dark Nights: Death Metal, Generations, and Future State), the DC Multiverse has expanded into a larger Omniverse, where everything was now canon. It was a way for DC to continue what was launched with Rebirth, meaning re-establishing popular past stories and relationships while retaining the new characters and simple backstories from the modern era. DC simply wants the best of both worlds!
This situation leads us to the Infinite Frontier era, where Clark Kent and his son Jonathan Kent are both Superman. Each one of them is the star of his own title, with Clark starring in Action Comics by writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist Phil Hester, and Jon Kent starring in Superman: Son of Kal-El by Tom Taylor and John Timms.
During this period was also published the ongoing series Batman/Superman (vol. 2), Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, and the limited series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Superman ’78, Superman and the Authority, and Superman: Red & Blue.
