Superman has been having a banner year in 2025, with James Gunn’s Superman driving interest in the Superman mythos. This has led a lot of new readers to the comics, where they’re quickly learning that the Superman books have been on an upswing for most of the five years. The Superman comics are some of the best on the stands, and it’s a great time for be a Superman fan. The history of Superman comics is full of high moments, and all those moments taken together have given readers some of the best superhero stories of all time, decades of factors adding together to change the way superheroes work.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Superman comics aren’t always perfect, but when they’re good, they’re the best. Over the years, DC’s creators and editors have found ways to make the Superman comics better, taking the basics of the character and using them in the best ways possible. These ten developments in the Superman comics have made them a joy to read.
10) All-Star Superman
Writer Grant Morrison is one of the greatest writers to ever work in the comic industry. Superman was the character that made Morrison love comics, and it would take years for them to get a chance to write solo adventures with the character. 2005’s All-Star Superman, along with artist Frank Quitely, is Morrison’s first major solo Superman tale, a 12-issue series that tells the story of the death of Superman in a new way. All-Star Superman is an amazing work, combining elements from across Superman’s history into a perfect modern Superman story. All-Star Superman reminded readers why Superman is one of the best superheroes of all time.
9) “Death of Superman”
“Death of Superman” is one of DC’s most important stories, and it helped revitalize the Superman titles. The Superman books had been rebooted in 1986, and by 1991 were in danger of getting stagnant because of changes made to the character. “Death of Superman” showed Superman’s greatest battle and just how far he would go to save the day. “Death of Superman” itself is a good, if formulaic, story, but what makes it so good is that it showed readers who Superman was and why he mattered. Fans started to miss the Man of Steel and what he represented after his death, and “Death of Superman” became an important milestone that means a lot to the Superman mythos.
8) The Geoff Johns Run on Action Comics
In the ’00s, Geoff Johns was DC’s most popular writer. Johns penned best of all time runs for the Flash, Green Lantern, and the Justice Society, and eventually was given the helm of Action Comics after Infinite Crisis and 52 finished. Johns went out of his way to bring Silver and Bronze Age ideas back to the Superman books. Johns brought back Superman’s past with the Legion of Superheroes, brought back General Zod and Brainiac in more classic forms, and told the first Bizarro World story in years. Johns’s run on Action Comics is phenomenal, and it was able to combine the classic and modern perfectly. Stories like “Last Son”, “Brainiac”, and “Superman and the Legion of Superheroes” are some of the best modern Superman stories of all time.
7) Lowering Superman’s Power Level
There was a time when Superman could throw planets around like we throw beach balls. He could sneeze and destroy whole solar systems. He was basically invincible and could move across space at superluminal speeds. Superman was the definition of overpowered, and that could make telling compelling Superman stories difficult. However, Superman’s power level was lowered in the post-Crisis DC Universe and hasn’t ever reached the heights of power he had in the prior years. Superman is still superlatively powerful, but his powers levels are much less than they used to be, and it’s made the stories much better.
6) John Byrne’s Man of Steel Reboot
John Byrne’s Man of Steel reboot is one of the most important changes to the Superman mythos, even if a lot of the decisions Byrne made actually made the Superman mythos less expansive than they used to be. Byrne changed Superman forever, pushing him more as a human than as a Kryptonian. Byrne made Superman the true Last Son of Krypton, doing away with the other survivors of Krypton, and lowered Superman’s power levels. Man of Steel led to a whole new generation of fans to learn to love Superman and created one of the most beloved versions of the character. While you can definitely disagree with Byrne’s changes, they were very important in making Superman popular again.
5) Lex Luthor Becoming Superman’s Greatest Foe
Once upon a time, Superman’s greatest enemy was the Ultra-Humanite, an evil mad scientist who mastered the art of body jumping. However, there was also Alexei Luthor, another evil genius who battled Superman at times. At some point in the ’40s, Alexei’s name was changed to Lex and Lex Luthor became Superman’s greatest enemy. Lex Luthor proved to be the best villain for the Man of Steel. Lex was positioned as the evil opposite of Superman and the different way the two men looked at the world has become one of the most interesting facets of the Superman comics. It’s hard to imagine Superman without Lex Luthor.
4) The Return of the Kryptonians
Pre-Crisis DC was full of Kryptonians. From Supergirl to the Phantom Zone prisoners, there was always some Kryptonian waiting in the wings and that’s before we even get to all of the times that Superman went back in time to Krypton. Post-Crisis DC would change all of this; the closest we got to another Kryptonian were characters like the Eradicator and Superboy. However, all of that would change with the Superman/Batman story “The Supergirl from Krypton”. This story brought back Kara Zor-El, and she would just be the first of many Kryptonians to appear, from the Phantom Zone survivors to the Bottle City of Kandor. Bringing Kryptonians back into the Superman mythos has paid off, showing how much was missing while they were gone.
3) Jon Kent
Superman has basically always been a father figure in the DC Multiverse, but it wouldn’t be until he became a father that we saw how cool Superman could really be. Jon Kent has become one of the best ideas in the Superman comics. It gives readers another way of looking at Superman, and shows that even the greatest hero of them all isn’t the perfect father. Seeing Superman and Jon together is always fun, and it’s a joy to watch the Man of Steel teach his son the ropes of being a superhero. The years since we’ve gotten Jon Kent have been some of Superman’s best.
2) Superman’s Marriage to Lois Lane
The relationship between Superman and Lois Lane has long been one of the most important parts of the Superman comics. The love triangle between Superman, Lois, and Clark Kent was great for years of stories, but eventually it got a little old. In the mid ’90s, partly thanks to Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Superman and Lois Lane finally got married, and fans have been treated to the best marriage in comic history. Recent years have seen the two of them work more closely together, showing just how great a superhero marriage can be when portrayed as an actual partnership. This marriage changed the Superman comics forever, and has paid dividends.
1) The Return of the Post-Crisis Superman in DC Rebirth
After the failure of the New 52, DC Rebirth was meant to make fans love DC again. DC took a page from post-Crisis DC, adding in older elements to the New 52. The most important of these was the return of the Post-Crisis Superman, along with Lois and their son Jon. The New 52 Superman didn’t really resonate with fans, so bringing back the more popular post-Crisis Superman was exactly what Superman fans wanted. Since then, readers have been treated to some amazing Superman stories and this change has paved the way for Superman to finally take back the top slot in DC’s superhero community.
What do you think? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
Most Viewed
-
image courtesy of 20th Century Studios -
Image courtesy of 2th Century Studios -
Image Courtesy of MAPPA -
images courtesy of New Line Cinema and Orion Pictures
