Superman is a popular hero made famous by DC Comics and continued by Etcetera Entertainment and American Comics. The character is the star of comic books, movies and plays. He has an incredible range of powers including flight, invulnerability and heat vision. Superman has teamed up with other American superheroes, including Batman, the Green Lantern and, briefly, Wolverine.
Pre-Doomsday[]
Superman was created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. His first appearance was in Action Comics #1, which has now become a rare collectible which can fetch a high price among post-war traders. The character was given his own comic book, Superman, in 1942. The comic became more and more popular. Television shows were soon produced until, in 1978, Superman: The Movie was released. The movie was well received and a sequel, Superman II, was released in 1980. Superman III was released a few months before Doomsday. The film was highly criticized, though many people have forgotten about the movie since Doomsday.
Doomsday[]
The Man of Steel, it seems, is not invulnerable to a nuclear war. Publication of the comics ceased, though the title lived on! Stronger men were called 'Superman' sometimes. 11 years after the war, American Comics picked up the Superman comics and released the historic Issue 387, which told the story of where Superman was during Doomsday.
Post Doomsday[]
American Continuity[]
A quarterly comic known as Last Son of Krypton was released. Superman, devastated over the loss of Metropolis, fled the Earth. American Comic's premier hero, Southern Cross, was intended to be Superman's replacement, and Superman couldn't compete with the comic. Publication ceased in 1995 until 1997, when a stash of comics was found and distributed around parts of North America. This generated a new craze over Superman and the new comic series called Superman: The Man of Steel was launched.
Multiple comic lines have since been introduced. Superman: The Man of Steel, was a comic that relaunched and retold Superman's story. It was set before and up to the date of Doomsday. In 2004, the event Doomsday was introduced. The Man of Steel comic was then ended and the New Adventures of Superman and Superman: Man of Tomorrow. In the former, Superman was able to avert Doomsday, which was secretly caused by Lex Luthor. In the latter, Doomsday occurred. Metropolis was destroyed, but pivotal characters were kept alive (Lois Lane was at Superman's Fortress of Solitude and Lex Luthor had escaped to Gotham City, to name a few surviving characters).
New Adventures of Superman[]
Superman preventing Doomsday
On Doomsday, Superman rushed to stop the nuclear missiles. Many of the missiles were stopped by him. Other heroes pitched in, managing to prevent most of the missiles from hitting the cities. The fictional city of Coast City was hit by a nuclear bomb, which devastated the current Green Lantern. Seeing that Doomsday was averted, the enraged Lex Luthor created a hulking monster known also as Doomsday. After devastating much of America, Superman drew the line at Metropolis. The Man of Steel and the Doomsday Monster killed each other in Metropolis.
Since then, four people stepped in to fill his boots: A teenage clone of Superman, a harsher Superman that believed in execution, a cyborg Superman, and a man in steel suit calling himself the Man of Steel. When the cyborg revealed himself to be evil, he betrayed the executioner Superman (who was really the Eradicator). The real Superman was resurrected in his fortress and battled the cyborg Superman.
Superman has teamed up with The Man of Steel (known usually as Steel), Superboy, and the Justice League of America. Finding Lex Luthor to be behind the near Doomsday event, he searched for Luthor. However, it seemed that Luthor had been killed by the Doomsday Monster. His son, Lex Luthor II, filled the empty CEO chair and created an army to help Superman in case another nuclear arsenal was launched. The army was of use when the USSR tried invading for real. Not even Superman knew that Lex Luthor II was the first one in a clone's body. Luthor II turned out to be just as corrupt as the first one.
Superman continues to fight crime in a world without an apocalypse. Recently, Superman has teamed up with other heroes in crossover comics, such as the highly successful series Superman/Batman. Other crossovers include Blackest Night, Brightest Day, Justice League of America, and Flashpoint.
Superman: Man of Tomorrow[]
Doomsday strikes Metropolis
The Green Lantern died in Coast City, which allowed many of the bombs to hit. Lex Luthor had unleashed the Doomsday Monster DURING the Doomsday Event. Superman, distracted by the nearly invincible monster, was unable to stop the nuclear bombs. Several nuclear bombs hit Metropolis, weakening the Doomsday Monster while Superman was able to strike the monster down. However, Superman had been mortally wounded and died. His body was recovered and resurrected in the Fortress of Solitude. Superman continued the Daily Planet in the city of Gotham, even moving and repairing the wrecked globe!
New Metropolis
An entity known as the Eradicator found the ancient, shrunken Kryptonian city called Kandor. The city was released over the ruins of Metropolis and the area became a technological paradise. The Daily Planet was moved to New Metropolis. Superman fought crime in New Metropolis and helped the victims of Doomsday.
Etcetera continuity[]
Justice League[]
After the event of Doomsday, Superman would serve as chairman of the Justice League for a year. During this time, he would help oversee rescue operations in North and South America and helped greenlight the construction of the Hall of Justice in Brasilia. Clark Kent also found work as a foreign correspondent for Venevision, helping interview many American expats, such as Bruce Wayne.
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