“Tell me, do you bleed?” Whatever your feelings about Zack Snyder’s Batman vs Superman, you had to have chills at this point. How could it not be? Superman is the first superhero to appear in a comic book. He is the Man of Steel, and his eye has the ability to flatten bullets on impact.
He is the Son of Krypton, a cosmic creature with abilities equivalent to some of DC’s most powerful cosmic beings. He is a God among mortals, thus it is only natural that he can not die. If you are familiar with comic books, you will see where we are headed with this. The Death of Superman narrative made DC Comics a fortune in 1993, with Superman Vol. 2 issue #75 selling 6 million copies worldwide; nevertheless, Kal-El had “died” before.
Superman has gone through numerous transformations over the course of his 84-year career, from cooling out about preserving “The American Way” to coming out as bisexual, but one thing that has never failed to resonate with DC fans is his mortality. These are the Top 10 Most Emotionally Draining Superman Death Stories, according to fans — Explored
Toyman Kills Superman – “Hereafter Part 1-2” (Justice League Episode 45 & 46)
Sounds crazy, right? Toyman is the definition of a D-list comic book villain. He was created during the Golden Age, which is already character assassination for most creatures of his ilk. So the fact that Toyman gets to be the one who can lay claim to the mantle of Slayer of Superman is part-outrageous and part-vindication. How did he accomplish this great feat, though? Well, as turns out, he used one of his “toys”.
Episodes 45 & 46 of Justice League The Animated Series are titled “Hereafter”, and this is appropriate because they explore the aftermath of the Death of Superman; not the storyline, just the general event. Part 1 opens with a ragtag group of supervillains discussing how to best get rid of the Son of Krypton after the humiliation they’ve faced at his hands over the years.
These 5 nefarious schemers seal their unholy alliance by stabbing a knife into the Superman Symbol; a neat reference to the Superman Revenge Squad, though they’re never named as such. Nevertheless, Livewire, Kalibak, Metallo & the Weather Wizard have a plan. They will attack Metropolis to draw out the Justice League in a feint attack, while their real target approaches the city to save it.
Once Superman arrives on the scene, the group’s final member- Toyman- zaps him with a disintegration beam as he tries to protect Batman & Wonder Woman. And to the shock of everyone who witnessed this scene, Superman simply disappears, vanishing from existence & presumed dead by everyone who isn’t the World’s Greatest Detective. Operating on the belief that Kal-El is no more, the League arranges a funeral for the Man of Steel. Even Lex Luthor attends it, saying that he will miss his greatest enemy as well while comforting a broken Lois Lane.
Meanwhile, the villains of Metropolis have a field day now that their biggest threat has been taken care of, and the Justice League flies into action. They manage to eke out a victory thanks to Lobo’s rabid involvement and contemplate an existence without Superman.
The ending of this episode mirrors the events of Action Comics issue #300, as we see Kal-El very much alive but displaced in time and living on a planet under a red sun. Part 2 explores his journey back to the past with the help of a repentant Vandal Savage, and we know that that technically means he didn’t “die”, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that because of Toyman’s actions, humanity ended in Superman’s “absence”. Hereafter is emotionally-charged and almost primal in its depiction of the world and its belief in the Man of Steel, which makes it one of the best Superman “deaths” to ever have happened on screen.
Superboy-Prime Kills Superman – Infinite Crisis issue #7
We gotta hand it to Geoff Johns; he manages to squeeze out darkness and evil from even the purest of souls. Jerry Siegel created one of the most-iconic warriors of truth, goodness & humanity in Superman; but what John was able to accomplish with Superboy-Prime was spine-chilling in that it was a true glimpse into what would happen if Superman decided that he was going to be the end-all-be-all of everything in DC.
As it turns out, that also involves killing one of his fellow Supermen. See, Superboy-Prime came from a universe that was supposed to represent ours; where superheroes like Batman & Superman were comic book characters, not real people. And for 15 years, Clark Kent thought the same thing. He was aware of the fact that his life story resembled that of the Man of Steel at every turn of the way; he was found in the woods as a baby and was named Clark by his adoptive parents the Kents.
But that resemblance would turn out to be more than uncanny; it would turn out to be real, as it was revealed that Clark Kent is actually Kal-El, the Earth-Prime version of Superman, and quite possibly the only superhero to exist in the Prime Universe. All this came about during the Crises on Infinite Earths storyline, where the Anti-Monitor’s rampage effectively ended the DC Multiverse. Though Prime managed to defeat The Monitor’s evil twin alongside the Supermen from both Earth 1 and Earth 2, his life would change forever; and for the worse.
After the Crises on Infinite Earths were resolved, most universes in DC’s Multiverse were folded into a single reality, which meant that Earth-Prime no longer existed. Even though Superboy-Prime had escaped to a paradise dimension with Alexander Luthor from Earth-3 and the Superman & Lois Lane from Earth-2, he couldn’t get over the fact that his universe was sacrificed for the sake of “inferior others” and thus began his path down the darkest of roads.
Maddened by thoughts of supremacy and desolation, Superboy-Prime pounded his fist at the Source Wall, allowing the 4 survivors to break into the main dimension and kick start the events of Infinite Crisis. Under the influence of Alex Luthor’s manipulation, Prime sets out on a bloody rampage across the main DC continuity, killing several superheroes and villains alike before being confronted by his “heroes”.
Donning an Anti-Monitor-inspired battle armor, Superboy-Prime meets Kal-El & Kal-L in a fight to the death. The 2 Supermen are baffled by Prime’s overwhelming powers, which easily makes him the strongest Superman to ever exist, and end up paying for their mistakes with one of their lives. As Prime and the Supermen crash-land on Mogo and are sapped of their strength by a flaming red sun, the “Saviour of the Universe” seals his turn to the dark side by killing Earth-2’s Superman with his bare fists.
It was a shocking development, one that established Superboy-Prime as one of the craziest- and strangest- villains in DC history. Prime is a glimpse into what might have happened had our Kal-El given into power & delusions of grandeur, and that’s what makes this particular Superman death such an impactful one. It’s like Evil Majin Buu absorbing good Majin Buu; except a million times more disturbing and brutal.
Superman Lets His Planet, Family, And Himself Obliterated For Greater Good – Justice League Unlimited Episode 2
What does the Man Who Has Everything want for his birthday? A lavish birthday party? A brand-new species of roses bred in his honor? Or just a big, ol’ wad of cash? If you agree with any of those things, you clearly do not know Superman; the only thing that Kal-El truly desires is to re-connect with his life in Krypton. And he manages to get that gift, albeit in a very round-about manner and one that didn’t even end pleasantly.
The 2nd episode of Justice League Unlimited had a very interesting premise, that explored the deepest yearnings of a man otherwise thought to be the perfect being. Batman & Wonder Woman visit the Fortress of Solitude to give Supes his birthday present but find him standing there transfixed with a strange plant connected to his chest. While they try to figure out what’s wrong with the Man of Steel, the episode switches perspectives so we can see exactly what is going on in Kal-El’s mind; and it is a deeply tragic scene.
See, for all his humanity and his love for mankind, the irreplaceable truth remains that Superman is an alien. He came to Earth from a distant planet, a planet he has never known, and while he is grateful for his life on Earth, he cannot help but wonder how things would’ve been had Krypton not been destroyed. Turns out, the plant on his chest transported his mind to a world where that was exactly the case!
In this reality, Kal-El finally has the life that he always wanted; he’s married to a Kryptonian woman called Loana and lives on a small farm with his family. His ever-faithful pet Krypto is there and so is Brainiac, whom Superman thinks of as his family’s personal AI system. And then there is Van-El; Supes’ baby boy and his pride. It’s like everything is almost too good to be true for Kal-El, and when he visits his father Jor-El, he realizes that it is.
Jor-El has become a dejected recluse, shut off from the world after his warnings about the Destruction of Krypton turned out to be false. This is when Superman starts realizing the truth of the world he was in currently; it was all fake. His memories start rushing back into his mind, and Superman is wizened up to his situation by his best friend Bruce Wayne. Kal-El realizes that he will never have the life that he wanted to have at Krypton, and so tearfully bids farewell to his “family” and his home once again as the Black Mercy is pried off of his chest, ending that world and his existence in it.
It’s a rare glimpse into the most vulnerable part of Superman’s conscience. We’ve seen him argue on behalf of humanity, fight for humanity, and even die for humanity, but we’ve never seen what he truly desires. To see that, and then to see it taken away, created one of the most impactful moments from Justice League Unlimited; period.
Death Of Superman In DC Universe Online
This is what would have happened if DC’s Elseworlds decided to go full Mad Max Fury Road. DC Universe Online is a free-to-play multiplayer action game with an original story written by DC legend Geoff Johns; and in true Johns-in fashion, it opens with the bleakest image of humanity possible and a Lex Luthor voice-over; so you already know that whatever is about to happen isn’t going to be good news for Supes. And as Lex’s story continues filling your ears, your mind can’t help but be gripped by the haunting duality of rage & fear.
Sometime in the not-so-distant future, the head of LexCorp decided that he’d had enough of subtlety and took himself off the path of indirect sabotage and embarked on a quest of direct and total elimination of his life-long enemy. So he put together a team; a team of every supervillain on the face of the earth, all in the name of eradicating “superheroes” for good. After weeks of catastrophic confrontations, both sides suffered heavy casualties. But the big hitters remained, and as long as they were alive, Lex wouldn’t be satisfied.
Superman had been fighting on the front lines tirelessly and took a break to recharge his powers; that’s when the evil mastermind struck his final blow on the Kryptonian. And it was deliciously cerebral as well. Luthor managed to subdue the remaining members of the League, going so far as beating Wonder Woman into submission and dealing blows that would ultimately lead to her demise.
In her final moments, Diana calls out for Kal-El, who arrives on the scene with fury burning in his eyes. Superman swats Lex aside and promises to kill him before cradling Diana’s body in his arms. That was his biggest mistake. Luthor had filled her mouth with Kryptonite pellets to trap the Man of Steel by exploiting his greatest weaknesses: compassion and a glowing green rock.
What followed was probably the most-shocking Death of Superman, as Lex impaled him with a Kryptonite-tipped spear and declared that Man had finally triumphed over “God” and that he, Lex Luthor, was the one to finally beat Superman. Within the first 6 minutes of the game, the Justice League lost their strongest member, making DC Universe Online’s opening one of the grimmest and most-seismic video game opening sequences/Superman deaths of all time.
Superman Dies at the Hands of Khyber – Superman Vol. 1 issue #658
Wait for a second, is that Al Mualim from the ground-breaking video game franchise Assassin’s Creed who’s trying to kill Superman? Oh, wait, never mind, it’s just the guy he was probably modeled after. The Superman: Camelot Falls storyline was a particularly intriguing read for long-time fans of the Man of Steel; especially when you consider the fact that this is a story not about Clark Kent’s King Arthur, but his Camelot, aka Planet Earth.
Being a hero is a tale of righteousness, the victory of good over evil, and doing the “right thing”; but what happens when the right thing is paving the path for destruction as opposed to reconstruction? That’s the question that a time-traveling Arion posed to Superman when he encountered the Man of Steel to give him a warning about his meddling with Crisis events. When Supes failed to understand how doing the right thing could lead to something worse, Arion explains that sometimes, in order to survive, civilization needs to fall into nothingness.
Resisting that only brings sorrow, as Arion learned from his personal misfortune. He tells Superman the tale of his world, a world where the Justice League kept fighting the threats above and ignored the one sitting right under their noses; which kick-starts the beginning of the end for his Earth.
Khyber is the immortal head of the uber-secretive order of assassins known as the Hashshashins, which has been operating in the Middle East since before the Crusades. While the JLA busied itself with taking down freaks in costumes, Khyber consolidated his power and built alliances that put him in the position to execute a global takeover within the blink of an eye. He built himself a suit of technology so advanced; that even Superman couldn’t put a scratch on it. And speaking of the Man of Steel, Khyber confronted him twice. The first time, he let him off easy, slingshotting Supes into the Earth’s core so hard it caused a nuclear winter and turned Lex Luthor into a superhero.
Supes spent years trapped in the core, while Khyber turned Earth into something Darkseid would be proud of; a dystopia with ashy skies, smoldering roads, and hope nowhere to be found. Then in 2014, the world lost hope entirely when Khyber killed Superman in outer space. Over the years, both Lex Luthor & Lois Lane would die and be buried beside Clark’s grave, which really makes you think whether saving something that is beyond repair is even worth it in the first place. Camelot Falls is an extremely philosophical read that makes you, the reader, question not just Superman’s role in the DC Universe, but also the society you live in, making it one of Kal-El’s most-meaningful deaths even if it was “retconned”.
The Death Of Superman – DC Animated Film
The animated adaptation of the seminal 1992 issue is more hard-hitting than we’d anticipated, and that is a good thing for the purposes of this list. The Death of Superman opens with the Man of Steel finding himself adjusting to acceptance from the citizens of Metropolis while Lex Luthor seethes in anger. Luthor, if you hadn’t already guessed by now, considers Superman a threat to all of humanity and is sickened by the fact that this alien is showing off his spaceship on national TV and people are somehow just…buying it.
Luthor is determined to be the facilitator of Superman’s death; and even though he doesn’t know this at the time, he achieves his goal in a rather grand fashion. For you see, Lex has his hands in every pot available to him- he’s involved with Intergang, Hank Henshaw, and the crash-landing of a certain alien spaceship that would turn out to be carrying Superman’s bane. So even though he doesn’t directly cause Superman’s death, his actions are integral to that event. And, well, let’s talk about who kills him now, shall we?
Thousands of years ago, when Krypton was still a land of savage lawlessness, a scientist created a biological weapon that he believed would come to embody perfection in the space of weaponry and warfare. Soon enough realized that what he had created was the very antithesis of his vision, and he imprisoned his creature in a special prison cell designed to contain his awesome power.
Now, that prison cell had somehow made its way to Earth and released that creature, which is christened Doomsday by Jimmy Olsen when he first lays eyes upon it. Superman immediately meets this new foe in battle because, by the time he got there, Doomsday had wiped the floor with the Justice League. Their epic battle raged across the United States, with the final round ending in Metropolis, where both adversaries strike each other dead.
But while Doomsday’s death counts as a victory in the DCU’s books, it is overshadowed by the fact that it was able to do the unthinkable and actually kill Superman. This was the first time that the Man of Steel was definitively killed by someone, and the fallout of his death is dealt with beautifully in this film. It reminds you why Superman is a symbol to the people of Metropolis in the first place, and that kind of impact stays with you.
Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016)
Alright, you might hate us for saying this, but we objectively like Zack Snyder’s work in the DCEU; yes, including BvS Dawn of Justice. There’s just something so gritty about these films that somehow manages to rope us in, despite the fact that almost everyone else seems to hate them. Except for the Snyder Cut, that was exceptionally well done. Dawn of Justice is yet another adaptation of the Death of Superman storyline but it incorporates inspiration from other stories as well to create this gothic action-thriller that delivers big on its positives and tanks hard on its negatives. But none of that matters a lot in the grander scheme of things.
Do you know why? Because Batman vs Superman marks the first live-action movie depiction of the Death of the Man of Steel. Now admittedly, the road this movie took to get there was very convoluted and featured Bruce Wayne a bit too heavily for our taste.
And what’s worse is they went and turned Doomsday into a human-Kryptonian monster-hybrid-type thing which ruined the aura that character had built up for itself in the comics. That final CGI-heavy battle was also not the best work DC has done in the animation department. But none of that mattered when Supes died, anyway.
Henry Cavill was brilliant in this scene, really making you feel the weight of the event that had transpired with his facial expressions. Batman vs Superman might have gotten a lot of things wrong, but the one thing they got right was Superman’s death scene. It was impactful, it was emotional, and it single-handedly justified that entire movie’s existence. Well, that and Jeremy Irons, but who’s counting?
All-Star Superman dies having accomplished his 12 Labours
We really appreciate stories where you can take a character out of its regular continuity and explore it in ways that have never been attempted before. Most of the Superman deaths that have been featured on this list are confusing, tragic, or downright blood-boiling. But that isn’t the case with All-Star Superman for some reason. It begins with the life-long chess match Lex Luthor has been playing against Kal-El, and finally, it looks like he’s cornered his opponent’s king. Lex orchestrates a complex scheme that involves Dr. Leo Quintum’s P.R.O.J.E.C.T Team and our sun.
Through a series of subtle manipulations, he arranges for Quintum’s space vessel to encounter turbulence concerning enough to summon Superman. Luthor knew that being the Hero that he is, Kal-El would not give a second thought to the rescue mission and that he had clearly not heard the Story of Icarus because he wasn’t from around here. If he had, he’d know that flying too close to the sun has never worked out for anybody. His mission went without so much as a hint of a hitch; Supes rescued the ship and crew and returned to Earth triumphant and somehow stronger than before. Like, way stronger than he used to be. Like, Kryptonite couldn’t hurt him anymore strong.
But, there was a downside to this as well: Superman was going to die within a year, and he knew it. That much exposure to the sun corrupted Kal-El’s body on a cellular level and while it greatly augmented his strength, it began deteriorating his cells much like radiation poisoning. Before this moment in his life, Superman had nothing to worry about. Yes, there was a life that he wanted to lead and he was unable to work towards that because of his duties as an intergalactic protector.
Now that he knew his time frame, Clark Kent only wanted one thing from his life; to live it to the fullest extent possible and accomplish all the things that he had put aside in the first place. All-Star Superman is a beautifully-written story of reclaiming one’s own life in the face of imminent death.
And that is something many of us can relate to on a personal level. It showed us that despite his god-like powers and steadfast moral compass, there was a man buried deep underneath all that steel. And to see him come out and enjoy his time in the scene has to be one of the more surreal stories we’ve read in a very, very long time. It also ends on a rather hopeful note, which is exactly what Superman is all about; because what else does that S symbol inspire in people, if not hope?
Darkseid Finally Kills Superman For Good – Injustice 2
Man, did the Injustice franchise have some wild highs & lows? They turned Superman into a dictator and actually managed to get a decent story out of it. That was a high. They turned Kara Zor-El into his replacement but she didn’t really do a lot as a “Supergirl”. That was a low. Brainiac got his moment in the sun. That was a high. But then all the time travel stuff made the timeline way too convoluted to enjoy.
That was a low. But the biggest high of highs from that franchise has to be when you finish the Multiverse mode with Darkseid. Because the Lord of Apokolips manages to accomplish something he’s been chasing after his entire life, and he does it in a single panel with soul-crushing authority.
After eradicating Brainiac from existence with his Omega Sanction, Darkseid decides to finally rise up and claim the Earth as one of his slave worlds. And you gotta understand; it wasn’t just because Darkseid loves conquering worlds, although that was his main motivation. Supes killed Darkseid’s baby boy, and that isn’t something he could simply let slide. So after he dealt with the Coluan genius, the New God arrived with his apocalyptic armada to take over the Earth and execute his revenge on Superman for killing Kalibak.
If Darkseid from the comics was half as powerful as he was in Injustice, maybe he wouldn’t have a Man of Steel today, because, in a single screencap, Darkseid burns Superman out of existence with his Omega Beams. But that wouldn’t be enough for the Lord of Apokolips after all the slights that Kal-El had flung upon his family. So he turned Kal-El’s family against him. Darkseid captured, tortured, and mentally broken Kara Zor-El into becoming his thrall and a replacement from Granny Goodness.
He also created a brand new breed of parademons; this time, using Superman’s DNA so they would come out stronger, faster, and more durable than ever with a host of amplified abilities that made them the most-effective death squad in the history of the cosmos. This isn’t one of those deaths where the impact is more cerebral/emotional and drawn out over a long period of time with a triumphant return at the end; it is brutal, cold-blooded murder, and probably the most-chilling Superman death we’ve seen occur on-screen.
Superman Kills His Own Clone – Superman: Red Son
Hot dang, we didn’t know that Supes could pull of a Russian accent like that; and now that we’ve heard it, we’re kinda mad that the Red Son isn’t the main continuity Superman. But maybe that’s just our alternate dystopian reality-loving brain talking. Either way, it can’t be denied that Superman: The Red Son is one of the most fascinating re-imagining of the Man of Steel in his long & storied history. As you can guess from the title, in this iteration, Kal-El crashes lands in the Soviet Union instead of the United States of America. He grows up alone but learns about his powers early on and shows great awareness of his potential to hurt people; something he doesn’t want to indulge in.
As a young boy, Kal-El meets and befriends Svetlana, who encourages him to use his powers for good. So, he becomes a part of the Soviet Union’s military infrastructure, joining it as Stalin’s Red Son. The Americans simply called him Soviet Superman. Through a series of equal parts intriguing and horrifying developments, Superman ends up becoming the Premier of the USSR and helps further the Communist agenda so far into the world that US President Dwight E.
Eisenhower commissions Lex Luthor to come up with countermeasures; because guess what, Supes just ended the Korean War AND broke down the Berlin Wall. So, Lex gets to work and cultivates a clone from Superman’s cells, which he obtained when the Man of Steel saved Metropolis reporter Lois Lane from a disaster. He sends this Superior Man to the USSR to confront Superman and when we tell you the fight they had was genuinely uncomfortable to watch at points, we mean it.
Do you know how Superman used to say he stood for truth, justice & the American way back in the day and we all loved him for it? Somehow, when Superior Man says those exact words, it sounds like an ominous threat. They end up having a devastating clash that sees the Son of Krypton dig deep into his arsenal to get the job done. He also takes the time to crack a communist joke when he tells Superior Man that his actions are a result of the capitalist machine. Nice. But where things become disturbing is when Superior Man begins taking things “seriously”.
In a Dragon Ball Z-type situation, Lex Luthor commands his cronies to turn up Superior Man’s batteries beyond maximum capacity, making him break out muscles like his real name is Spopovich. But after a few seconds of dominating his commie counterpart, Superior Man dies a horrifying death when Luthor’s command causes his brain to degenerate and his body to disintegrate, transforming him from Superior Man to Bizarro to a puddle of dust and a plume of smoke in less than a minute. Talk about scenes you’ll never forget.
It traumatized Superman to the point he turned into an actual Soviet dictator and made that entire reality pay for America’s “transgressions” in blood. It’s plain scary to think of the things that the Man of Steel would be capable of doing if he hadn’t been brought up under the loving influence of John & Martha Kent. Red Son is but a taste of that scary thought.
Conclusion
There’s a saying in the comic book world; never say never. There’s nothing that cannot happen in the world of comics. A calendar-based criminal can become a critically-acclaimed serial killer, a Bat can become a God, and even Gods die in all the legends. Superman is undoubtedly the greatest God-like figure in DC, to the point that his actions led to the creation of our planet in DC continuity; aka Earth Q! But here’s the thing, Superman isn’t just a superhero. He’s the first superhero. He’s the one who made superheroes a mainstream thing in pop culture, and his death, however it might end up happening, is a seismic event.
We mentioned the sales figures for Superman Vol. 2 #75 at the start of this video. What we didn’t mention at the time was the kind of press that issue got before it was even released; because The Death of Superman was a global news piece. DC managed to create a massive buzz for themselves by announcing they were going to “kill off” its biggest superhero character.
Sure, they introduced 4 new candidates for that mantle in the same issue, but the fact remains that Superman’s death brought our world together; for real. Whenever something happens to Supes, no matter how big of a comic book fan you are, you feel hurt. You feel emotional. You feel the weight of his absence. That’s a connection very few characters have been able to establish with the audience. And we would like to think that it was this connection that inspired Jerry Siegel to give his seminal creation such a simple yet powerful name. Because after all, it isn’t a bird or a plane zipping through your night sky & keeping you safe; it’s Superman.