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Death of Superman?

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Vieo

Member
Remember when he got killed by Doomsday and there was this big thing in the news and everyone (even people who never bought a comic book in their life) ran out and bought the issue? Is Superman still dead or did they bring him back?
 
they brought him back like 4 times. First as a cyborg/blackdude/little kid, then with a mullet, then in some new white and blue electro costume, and now he's back as seemingly normal superman.
 

Vieo

Member
Ok, so let me get this straight... As far as the Superman who was "Clark Kent", worked with Louis Lane, and was at constant odds with Lex Luther; as far as that Superman goes, when he was killed by Doomsday, he was buried and remains buried to this day right?

And all the other Supermans running around now are clones, robots, or some guy who got Superman's powers transferred to him?

But the original Superman is still dead and buried, right?
 

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
Vieo said:
Ok, so let me get this straight... As far as the Superman who was "Clark Kent", worked with Louis Lane, and was at constant odds with Lex Luther; as far as that Superman goes, when he was killed by Doomsday, he was buried and remains buried to this day right?

And all the other Supermans running around now are clones, robots, or some guy who got Superman's powers transferred to him?

But the original Superman is still dead and buried, right?

No, Clark Kent, Superman, is back around.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Vieo said:
Ok, so let me get this straight... As far as the Superman who was "Clark Kent", worked with Louis Lane, and was at constant odds with Lex Luther; as far as that Superman goes, when he was killed by Doomsday, he was buried and remains buried to this day right?

And all the other Supermans running around now are clones, robots, or some guy who got Superman's powers transferred to him?

But the original Superman is still dead and buried, right?

I don't think so. I followed it at the time, but the details are kinda hazy. I think he was just in some coma state. I remember "Motherbox" was involved. Superman came back with a new device and a new suit...god only knows where they went with it, I stopped reading comics shortly after that.
 

Vieo

Member
OK, if the original Superman is still alive, why did they make this big fuss and act like he was dead? I mean, there were psycologists and philosophers who wrote articles and had discussions about how it was a metaphor relating to something like.. 'he died because the america he protected in the past isn't the same america today thus he was no longer needed', etc. or some bs like that.

Does that make people less sympathetic for if they really do kill him off?

What's next? "Son of Superman" ?!
 
IIRC Superman never actually died, he simply entered into a death-like state. Long story short, Superman's a living solar battery, and in his fight with Doomsday his energy levels were so heavily depleted that his body entered a comatose state as an act of self-preservation. When the Eradicator (Visor Superman) broke into the crypt and stole Superman's body, he brought it back into the Fortress of Solitude and put it into a kind of solar-energy collector that he could siphon energy from. The collector, of course, had the unexpected side-effect of reviving the original Superman.

EDIT: They did "Son of Superman." It was an Elseworlds story IIRC.
 

LakeEarth

Member
Vieo said:
OK, if the original Superman is still alive, why did they make this big fuss and act like he was dead?
money.jpg
 

android

Theoretical Magician
Darn when did this happen. I wonder if CNN has their article up about it yet. R.I.P. First Johnny Carson, now Superman.
 
It was a marketing stunt, and it worked.

DC Comics had done something similar I think about 5-6 years earlier in the late 1980s by killing off the 2nd Robin (Batman's sidekick), but they gave readers a chance to call in and decide Robin's fate via a 1-900 phone number.

The fans narrowly chose death for Robin even though the character was generally unpopular.
 

MC Safety

Member
soundwave05 said:
It was a marketing stunt, and it worked.

DC Comics had done something similar I think about 5-6 years earlier in the late 1980s by killing off the 2nd Robin (Batman's sidekick), but they gave readers a chance to call in and decide Robin's fate via a 1-900 phone number.

The fans narrowly chose death for Robin even though the character was generally unpopular.


The interesting thing about that stunt was that even though the vote wasn't rigged, the outcome certainly was. Writer Jim Starlin said regardless of the outcome of the vote, Jason Todd was out as Robin. If he died, no problem. If he lived, he would have been crippled or hospitalized or otherwise put out of action.

Pretty sneaky, sis.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
android said:
Darn when did this happen. I wonder if CNN has their article up about it yet. R.I.P. First Johnny Carson, now Superman.

I don't know the exact date, but I couldn't have been older than 10. So let's say about 8-9 years ago.

Found the date, it was 1993.
 
I was heavy into Superman from '93-'95, when did he start cutting his hair short again? The mullet rocked hard.

And is crazy redheaded Lex Luthor still around??
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
soundwave05 said:
It was a marketing stunt, and it worked.

DC Comics had done something similar I think about 5-6 years earlier in the late 1980s by killing off the 2nd Robin (Batman's sidekick), but they gave readers a chance to call in and decide Robin's fate via a 1-900 phone number.

The fans narrowly chose death for Robin even though the character was generally unpopular.

It wasn't narrowly close. Jason Todd was hated by almost everyone and the fans WANTED him dead. A Death in the Family was a stupid excuse to off a hated character and get some press for the comic, but it does have a simply awesome insane Joker. I mean, first he beats Jason Todd with a crowbar, THEN he blows him up.

Interestingly enough, they managed to get Jason Todd into the Batman movies. The Robin in the movies has Dick Grayson's name, Jason Todd's origin, and Tim Drake's costume.

Thankfully the third Robin wasn't as retarded as Jason Todd and people typically liked Tim Drake enough that DC did the Robin comic.
 

Matlock

Banned
ManaByte said:
Interestingly enough, they managed to get Jason Todd into the Batman movies. The Robin in the movies has Dick Grayson's name, Jason Todd's origin, and Tim Drake's costume.

Jason Todd worked in the circus!
confused.gif
 

Shinobi

Member
ManaByte said:
It wasn't narrowly close. Jason Todd was hated by almost everyone and the fans WANTED him dead. A Death in the Family was a stupid excuse to off a hated character and get some press for the comic, but it does have a simply awesome insane Joker. I mean, first he beats Jason Todd with a crowbar, THEN he blows him up.

:lol And I enjoyed every moment of it...just from All In The Family alone, I hated Todd's guts. Though I hated his bitch ass mother even more. :lol
 

DonasaurusRex

Online Ho Champ
Yeah they killed him with possibly the WORST character ever conceived. Doomsday. Who is this guy you might be asking? HA who cares he's doomsday which means in mathematical terms Doomsday > (Greenlantern Home planet + Darkside + entire JLA + Superman) wtf is that. In his debut he owns every character in the DC universe...good one. The four other supermen that basically got comic restarts was the superman clone superboy, the Cyborg which is some character from older superman comics that got indirectly fuxxored by supes when he was just human and impersonated him, Steel who was an engineer for Lex Luthors company, and the eradicator who was Kal El's protector came to earth with him but his programming was messed up perceived everythng as a threat to him superman had fought him before.
 

trilobyte

Member
DonasaurusRex said:
Yeah they killed him with possibly the WORST character ever conceived. Doomsday. Who is this guy you might be asking? HA who cares he's doomsday which means in mathematical terms Doomsday > (Greenlantern Home planet + Darkside + entire JLA + Superman) wtf is that. In his debut he owns every character in the DC universe...good one. The four other supermen that basically got comic restarts was the superman clone superboy, the Cyborg which is some character from older superman comics that got indirectly fuxxored by supes when he was just human and impersonated him, Steel who was an engineer for Lex Luthors company, and the eradicator who was Kal El's protector came to earth with him but his programming was messed up perceived everythng as a threat to him superman had fought him before.

My problem was that Doomsday just came out of no where, so know one knew wtf he was. It wasn't until...what...like a year later....that we finally got the backstory of doomsday?
 

Phoenix

Member
trilobyte said:
My problem was that Doomsday just came out of no where, so know one knew wtf he was. It wasn't until...what...like a year later....that we finally got the backstory of doomsday?

Yeah, that was probably the worst part of it. If he'd been killed by someone 'known' it would have made more suspense/sense.
 

Tamanon

Banned
I definitely didn't like the Blue/White Superman. The one with all the bizarro electric powers. He was just.......another character. It wasn't the same.
 

Vieo

Member
Remember that episode on Superman the Animated series (the series where he had a race around the world against the Flash), there was an episode where Doomsday attacked Metropolis in full force but it didn't go the way he want because instead of people fleeing, they fought back?
There was this guy there that was like a Cop or something that was ebbing the people on and organizing them. When they won, Doomsday agreed to withdraw but then he said something like "Victory has it's price.." then he shot this beam from his eyes that moved out of Superman's way at the last moment and slammed into the Cop killing him(presumably because there was nothing left but a black smuge) then he backed away into his portal before Superman could get his hands on him. Everyone started crying and so did Superman while he was punching some tank-thing in anger. I think they then went to a scene at the Cop's funeral and Clark Kent said something like "In the end, the world didn't need Superman, just men." or something like that. The screen faded to black and then they showed "The End?".

Who exactly who was that Cop(He had gray hair, a crew cut, he wore a blue blazer and gray slacks I think) and did he ever come back to life? (Hence "The End?")
 

Enzom21

Member
Vieo said:
Remember that episode on Superman the Animated series (the series where he had a race around the world against the Flash), there was an episode where Doomsday attacked Metropolis in full force but it didn't go the way he want because instead of people fleeing, they fought back?
There was this guy there that was like a Cop or something that was ebbing the people on and organizing them. When they won, Doomsday agreed to withdraw but then he said something like "Victory has it's price.." then he shot this beam from his eyes that moved out of Superman's way at the last moment and slammed into the Cop killing him(presumably because there was nothing left but a black smuge) then he backed away into his portal before Superman could get his hands on him. Everyone started crying and so did Superman while he was punching some tank-thing in anger. I think they then went to a scene at the Cop's funeral and Clark Kent said something like "In the end, the world didn't need Superman, just men." or something like that. The screen faded to black and then they showed "The End?".

Who exactly who was that Cop(He had gray hair, a crew cut, he wore a blue blazer and gray slacks I think) and did he ever come back to life? (Hence "The End?")

You are thinking of Darkseid not Doomsday. The Cop's name was Dan Turpin, and the quote was "In the end earth didn't need a Superman just a brave one. Goodbye old friend." He never came back to life, the death of Turpin is one of the many reasons why Superman hates Darkseid.
 

MC Safety

Member
ManaByte said:
It wasn't narrowly close. Jason Todd was hated by almost everyone and the fans WANTED him dead. A Death in the Family was a stupid excuse to off a hated character and get some press for the comic, but it does have a simply awesome insane Joker. I mean, first he beats Jason Todd with a crowbar, THEN he blows him up.

Interestingly enough, they managed to get Jason Todd into the Batman movies. The Robin in the movies has Dick Grayson's name, Jason Todd's origin, and Tim Drake's costume.

Thankfully the third Robin wasn't as retarded as Jason Todd and people typically liked Tim Drake enough that DC did the Robin comic.


Really? I think "Robin Dies" only won by a margin of 28 votes.
 
Vieo said:
Remember that episode on Superman the Animated series (the series where he had a race around the world against the Flash), there was an episode where Doomsday attacked Metropolis in full force but it didn't go the way he want because instead of people fleeing, they fought back?
There was this guy there that was like a Cop or something that was ebbing the people on and organizing them. When they won, Doomsday agreed to withdraw but then he said something like "Victory has it's price.." then he shot this beam from his eyes that moved out of Superman's way at the last moment and slammed into the Cop killing him(presumably because there was nothing left but a black smuge) then he backed away into his portal before Superman could get his hands on him. Everyone started crying and so did Superman while he was punching some tank-thing in anger. I think they then went to a scene at the Cop's funeral and Clark Kent said something like "In the end, the world didn't need Superman, just men." or something like that. The screen faded to black and then they showed "The End?".

Who exactly who was that Cop(He had gray hair, a crew cut, he wore a blue blazer and gray slacks I think) and did he ever come back to life? (Hence "The End?")

That was Darkseid not Doomsday. I nearly lost it when he killed turpin. That was so shocking for a kid cartoon to do at the time. In fact I though that maybe instead of killing him he teleported him to Apokolips or something. But he stayed dead. The funeral sequence nearly had me in tears. That episode, and 2 Darkseid episodes that follwed, Legacy and the Justice League episode with Darkseid, are my favorite Superman/JL episodes.

Anyway I remember the Death of Superman story. Was pretty entertaining at the time. Even the 4 Supermen story that followed. That is what got me into comics originally.

darkiguana
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
If you took Kevin Smith's Superman script and removed the polar bear guards from the Fortress of Solitude, the giant spider, and Brainiac's gay robot sidekick; you'd have the best Death of Superman movie possible.

EXT. METROPOLIS PARK - NIGHT

Governor Bree rides a cherry-picker to the outstretched arm of the
statue, where she hangs Superman's cape.

For the crowd that can't get near the tomb, the burial is
broadcast on the WGBS building giant screen TV. Then, the image of
the funeral is interrupted by a familiar symbol: The BAT-SIGNAL!
It gives way to a shadowy image of the DARK KNIGHT, deep within
the Batcave.

BATMAN
Good evening, Metropolis. It is with
heavy heart that I offer you my and
Gotham's deepest condolences. I apologize
for my absence -- but with the loss of
the sun, I am all that opposes the
criminal element in my city, who've
seized upon the cover of darkness to
further their evil purposes.

From atop the viewing stage, Lois and the others stare up at the
screen.

BATMAN (V.O.)
The guardian of your city... of the
world... held Metropolis and its
inhabitants very near to his heart.

The message continues on the screen.

BATMAN
It's been said that he fought a never-
ending battle for truth, justice and the
American way. Honor this fallen soldier
well by keeping his memory alive in the
face of this adversity. From this day
forward, we forever shoulder the burden
of a world without a Superman.

On the giant screen, The Dark Knight withdraws further back into
the shadows, until he is completely unseen. The Bat-Signal comes
up again, and then scrambles into the image of the funeral below.
 

teiresias

Member
There's a reason a new Superman movie's been in development hell for years. Judging by some of what's going on with Singer's version I'm thinking it probably should have stayed in development hell for a while longer.
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
teiresias said:
There's a reason a new Superman movie's been in development hell for years. Judging by some of what's going on with Singer's version I'm thinking it probably should have stayed in development hell for a while longer.

And that reason is John Peters. Watch An Evening With Kevin Smith 1 for the details.
 

Tamanon

Banned
The animated series really showed a great deal of drama near the end of it. Legacy was a great ending, even if the final episode was the first real fight with Darkseid. Still. They conveyed Superman's rage quite well. Not a man, I'd provoke haha.
 

SickBoy

Member
Agree with all the comments about how lame it is to kill Superman with some new character.

Seemed to be sort of the style at the time with DC though... you could argue Bane came more or less out of nowhere for Knightfall (although there was some great background for it in Legends of the Dark Knight's "Venom" story arc... and speaking of Knightfall relationships, Sword of Azrael was another solid story that got unceremoniously dragged into the big marketing machine).

Anyhow, it was a pretty sad period for comics... on the other hand, I thought "A Death in the Family" a few years earlier was pretty well-handled, despite the obvious gimmickyness.
 

Asbel

Member
ohamsie said:
I stopped reading before they did the electric blue/red Superman(men?) what was that all about?
It was just another gimmick. Storywise, I think it was because of the sun dying as a result of an entity dubbed the 'Suneater'. Since Supes' powers comes from the yellow sun, the dying sun screwed with his powers.

Btw, if anyone's looking for thorough answers, try supermanhomepage.com. Their special reports are good character/story summaries.
 

tmdorsey

Member
Doomsday is one of the greatest villians ever. Purely bred for destruction. So bad that he had to be sent to the end of time to be killed(Which I still think was pretty cheesy)
 
tmdorsey said:
Doomsday is one of the greatest villians ever. Purely bred for destruction. So bad that he had to be sent to the end of time to be killed(Which I still think was pretty cheesy)
Darkseid has him now IIRC.
 
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