Superman has been around since 1938. There have been thousands of Superman stories over the years; some of them are solo stories and some of them have Superman teaming up with other heroes (and sometimes villains). Superman can exist in basically every kind of story, from hard sci-fi to the weirdest fantasy stories imaginable, showing the character’s versatility. Over the years, some Superman stories have risen to the top of the heap for a variety of reasons. One of the most well-known Superman stories came out over thirty years ago, and has become legendary — “Death of Superman”. This story pit Superman against the monster Doomsday, and it ended with the Man of Steel falling, all to keep the beast from destroying everything he loved.
“Death of Superman” isn’t just the most well-known Superman story — it was on the evening news in the early ’90s — it’s also been counted among the greatest Superman stories of all time. Entire generations of Superman fans have grown up with “Death of Superman”, but it’s about time to admit something about the tale — it’s completely and totally overrated. Now, this doesn’t mean that “Death of Superman” is a bad story. However, there are lot of things about the story that just don’t work, and looking closer at “Death of Superman” reveals its shortcomings.
“Death of Superman” Is a Very Weak Story
“Death of Superman” has a lot going for it. It’s an exciting story; the action never flags throughout. The creators involved — Dan Jurgens, Brett Breeding, Jerry Ordway, Butch Guice, Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, Roger Stern, and Tom Grummett — are all S-tier creators, and the art and writing are highlights of the story. However, one of the biggest problems with “Death of Superman” is one that we don’t really talk about very much — Doomsday. Creating a new villain to kill Superman wasn’t really needed, because Superman already has villains that could kill him. Now, on the one hand, “Death of Superman” took place in post-Crisis DC, a more grounded place. Superman was nowhere near as powerful as he once was, and characters like Brainiac and Bizarro were quite different from what came before. However, that doesn’t mean that none of them could kill Superman. On top of that, it would have meant more if one of them killed Superman. Doomsday fighting Superman to a standstill is exciting, but him being the villain to kill Superman is a huge missed opportunity. Imagine how much more it would have meant if Lex Luthor (who was pretending to be his own son Lex Luthor II at the time) killed Superman or if Metallo or Brainiac were able to do so. DC even could have went for a group of Superman foes teaming up to destroy the Man of Steel. It would have had way more impact if one of this classic foes was able to defeat him, building all-new threats to Superman if done right.
Another problem with the story is that it’s just a slugfest for multiple issues. The action keeps the story moving, and it never gets boring, but every part is like the one before it — Superman gets beat on by Doomsday, allies come to help and they get taken down, and it ends with Doomsday getting closer to Metropolis and Superman promising that he’ll save the day. Honestly, you could just read Superman (Vol. 2) #75, and you’d know everything you needed to know about the story. There’s nothing really going on the story than Superman losing to Doomsday. This is honestly the worst part of the story. Great Superman stories usually go in a variety of directions; sure, there’s fist fights, but there’s also Superman outsmarting his enemies, and using his powers in interesting ways to save the day with as little violence possible. “Death of Superman” has none of this, and it’s why it suffers so much when it’s compared to stories like All-Star Superman or Superman: Up in the Sky. It’s just a fist fight, over and over again, with none of the interesting factors that made Superman stories work so well. It’s nice for Superman to be physically challenged, but him dying in a fist fight is the least Superman thing ever.
Why Do So Many Fans Ignore the Problems of “Death of Superman”?
I’ve grown up with “Death of Superman”; I was one of many people who waited in line for their Superman (Vol. 2) #75, who bought two of the deluxe editions so I’d have a reading and collecting copy. It’s truly a legendary moment in modern Superman, and I think that’s part of why it gets glazed so heavily. A whole generation of Superman fans grew up with this story, and they’ve handed down it to the next generations. I think most of us knew that “Death of Superman” wasn’t perfect, but it was such a huge moment in pop culture that it’s become something even bigger than it really was. It’s more spectacle than story at this point. “Death of Superman” has become an unassailable fixture of pop culture, and we’re constantly told how great it was.
Another factor is how good the continuation of the story was. One of the biggest problems with killing Superman is figuring out what came next, and this is where the various creators shined. They took the story in different directions, and it allowed us to fall in love with the concept of Superman all over again. “Reign of the Supermen” and “Return of Superman” gave readers everything that “Death of Superman” didn’t, and they sort of shored up all of the problems with the story. “Death of Superman” is a good story, and its follow ups are spectacular. However, the quality of those follow ups and nostalgia have made the story unassailable in the eyes of the fandom.
What do you think of “Death of Superman”? Sound off in the comments below.
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