5 Best Superman-Centric Crossover Events

Comic book events are one of the best parts of shared universes. They let the characters we all love cross over with each other and combine their efforts to confront a threat they could never face on their own, all while giving their own perspectives on the situation. Using multiple books to tell a single story is also a great way to tell a sprawling plot with lots of moving parts without it taking over a year to complete. Big crossover events are the ultimate celebration of DC and Marvel’s comic book formula, so it’s no wonder that they have as many as they do. Sometimes the stories focus on giant casts, but sometimes they hone in on a single character.

Today, we’re celebrating the latter type of event by looking at five of the best events that focus on the heart of DC, Superman. Before we begin, let’s briefly touch on what we mean by event and what qualifies as a Superman story. For today, we’ll be using event as shorthand for any storyline that connects multiple ongoing titles, but not ones that are only their own title. For example, “Fall of Metropolis” would count, but not the “Brainiac” storyline, as the latter only takes place in Action Comics. As for what constitutes a Superman story, we’ll be counting stories where Superman is at the center for a significant portion, not just ones in the Man of Steel’s books. With all that established, let’s rank Superman’s best events.

5) DC K.O.

The newest event on our list is DC’s big send-off to the first act of the All In era. After merging with the Absolute Universe and becoming King Omega, Darkseid returned to the Prime Universe to eradicate his enemies once and for all. This comic followed a tournament set to crown the heroes’ own King Omega, and heavily focused on Superman’s journey and struggles to fight in a game where cruelty, injustice, and evil were not just allowed, but encouraged. This event is balls-to-the-wall action, mayhem, and sheer joy in every way imaginable.

At its core, this event feels like kids playing with their action figures in the best possible way. It’s a fighting tournament that celebrates each of its contestants’ long history and deep bag of powers. There’s a genuine joy and love for the fighters at its heart, all done without sacrificing one ounce of depth or narrative power. This story is fun and nuanced in all the right ways, capturing the dual mix of mature storytelling and childlike wonder that comics have embodied for decades. 

4) “Death of Superman”

While superheroes die and return constantly, back in the day, death tended to stick a lot more. Its impact was being whittled down a bit at a time, but the final nail in its coffin was this masterpiece of a showdown. The unstoppable Doomsday arrived on Earth with nothing but destruction on his mind. The Justice League failed to even slow him down, so it fell to Superman to hold the devil back. Their fight was long, brutal, and deadly, ending in one of the most shocking and memorable panels of all, with Lois Lane holding Superman’s dead body, his cape flowing in the wind. 

The immediate follow-up, “Reign of the Supermen,” brought Clark back, along with introducing new fan-favorites like Kon-El and Steel, but the impact of this event cannot be understated. Superman had never died before, not like this. The Man of Tomorrow’s passing was like killing a part of American culture itself, with this story even ending up on mainstream news stations. Even today, knowing he immediately comes back, Superman’s bloody final moments are heartwrenching, and still stand as one of his most painful stories.

3) “New Krypton”

Superman is well-known as the Last Son of Krypton, and while he’s not the sole survivor, that sentiment of loneliness and loss of a home he never knew always haunted him. “New Krypton” changed all that by giving Superman a chance to experience his Kryptonian heritage without sacrificing his time on Earth. In the aftermath of the classic “Brainiac” storyline, the Bottle City of Kandor was retrieved, freeing 100,000 Kryptonians to live on Earth. Tensions were immediately high, with the people of Earth and Krypton constantly quibbling over rights and station. Superman was stuck in the middle, trying to help both his homes unite in what increasingly seemed like a futile effort.

This event was one of Superman’s most personal and emotional. The Man of Steel finally had a chance to live as a Kryptonian, but that wound up conflicting with his home on Earth. In the end, he was just a man trying to connect people who never wanted to do so, and his great love was turned into a blade to stab through his heart. It was the Superman epic of its era, and even nearly twenty years later, this story continues to stand as one of the greatest of all.

2) Infinite Crisis

The original Crisis Trilogy still stands as three of DC’s best works ever produced. The middle part, Infinite Crisis, makes its way onto this list because Superman stands at its very center. Not just the Superman we know and love, but the Golden Age Kal-L and the petulant Superboy-Prime took center stage as primary characters. These three pushed the plot forward in every way, battling to either save or replace New Earth with a brand new multiverse. In the end, one Superman was dead, one was jailed, and one was looking for a path forward after all the pain.

This is one of DC’s great epics and deserves all of the love it receives. The other two Crisis books could be argued to be Superman stories, but this one earns its spot because it’s the most explicit about how essential Superman is to its tale on every front, and in numerous different ways. This comic forces three different idealized Supermen to duke it out, and ultimately, nobody feels like a winner, because Supermen shouldn’t fight. It’s a story all about moving forward despite the pain, and Superman, if nothing else, has always championed a better tomorrow.

1) DC One Million

The One Million event saw the Justice League brought to the 853rd Century to celebrate the original Superman emerging from 15,000 years at the heart of the sun. The Justice League met the heroes they would inspire, the Justice Legion, who operated on a universal scale. They took inspiration from the Justice League and Legion of Super-Heroes, striving to make every world in reality a safe, happy place to live. The Leaguers interacted with their counterparts and celebrated the future, unaware that there was an insidious plot to bring Superman Prime One Million down for good. In the end, this story wasn’t just a cosmic reimagining of DC and its near-perfect future. It was a love story about a marriage that transcended death.

Superman’s heart was on full display in this event, with his essence of heroism infused into every great choice in this potential timeline. It can easily be read as a sequel to All-Star Superman, which perfectly encapsulates the idea of Superman’s final story. Superhero stories never really end, and even after his perfect ending, Superman will always return when he’s needed, and he will always love Lois Lane. These are Superman’s essential truths, and they will always be what drives his character in his best stories.

Which Superman-centric event is your favorite? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

10 Best Evil Versions of Superman