This Is Superman’s Best Origin, But Nobody Talks About It

Everyone knows Superman’s origin. He was a baby launched from a dying planet, eventually landing on Earth and being raised by the Kents. After being brought up by kind, loving people, Clark would move to the big city and use his gifts to serve humanity and defend the innocent. It’s a timeless and classic origin that can resonate with everyone, and has been so since its abridged first appearance in Action Comics #1. Even though everybody knows it, that doesn’t mean there is no story to tell within this origin. Superman’s backstory has been retold plenty of times, usually being updated every so many years to account for DC’s sliding timescale. In that vein, there are a few that fans latch onto as their favorite or most definitive version of the story. When you ask what the best interpretation of Superman’s origin is, you’ll typically find that people answer either Superman: Birthright or The Man of Steel, and both have really strong cases as to why one is better than the other, but without a doubt Superman’s most underrated backstory comes about in Superman: Secret Origin.

Superman: Secret Origin is a six-issue miniseries published between 2009 and 2010, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Gary Frank. It was in response to Infinite Crisis altering the history of the DC Universe, replacing Birthright as the “official” origin story for Superman. It covers multiple prominent moments in Clark’s life, from learning to harness his powers in adolescence to his debut as Superman, following a theme of self-discovery and having all the information about his origin shown only as Clark learns it. In that sense, the reader discovers who Clark is and what he can do alongside the hero. One of the most important things this series did was reintroduce concepts from the classic Superman mythos since the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot. These include Clark’s career as Superboy, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Krypto being from Krypton, and Lex Luthor being from Smallville. It touches on all of these concepts just enough to let the reader know what they are, which validates fans of these aspects of the lore, but never overloads new readers. It gives enough to feel complete in the story while inspiring the reader to dig deeper into the concepts they like on their own, outside of this work. Of course, no matter what an origin offers to the lore, if the story it tells is bad, nobody will want to remember it. Thankfully, Secret Origin tells a great story.

Secret Origin Shows Clark Grow Up and Change the World

The first two issues of Secret Origin focus on Clark in Smallville as he learns to come to terms with his alien nature. Even after saving Lana Lang and discovering all of his powers, he still feels isolated. He constantly has to keep what he can do a secret, and even those that know can’t understand what it’s like to see the world like he does. Still, his parents are always there to support him, and he eventually finds friends who can empathize with his situation in the Legion of Super-Heroes and Krypto’s arrival. At the same time, Lex bemoans his drunkard father and life trapped in Smallville, eventually murdering him and using the insurance money to escape to Metropolis and begin his life there. Just as Clark finds companionship, Lex forges his own destiny alone.

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The rest of the series depicts Superman’s earliest days in Metropolis. Clark is a wide-eyed farmboy who arrives in the big city with dreams and wonder, but finds it a cynical dystopia that seeks to beat the hope out of him. Lex Luthor presents himself as a savior to the common people, lording over them like a deity to be worshipped, and Lois Lane is convinced that everyone is hiding three skeletons in their closet. The Daily Planet is on its last legs as a dying paper, and the city truly feels like a place that has lost itself to greed and cynicism. Even after he makes his miraculous first appearance to save Lois and a falling helicopter, Superman is immediately set upon by people demanding a piece of him. They want him to save them from their sad lives, and Superman is overwhelmed by it all. He considers leaving Metropolis entirely, but after talking with Jimmy Olsen, he decides to keep fighting. He still believes in other people, even when they don’t believe in themselves.

Naturally, even as Superman’s actions begin to stir sparks of hope inside of those who will soon be his closest allies, those in power despise the movement that Superman could inspire. Lex Luthor and the US Army consider him a threat, and do everything in their power to bring him down and figure out what dirty secrets he’s hiding. Of course, he’s not hiding anything. By the end, Superman stands up against the villain Metallo and makes a plea to everyone to stop looking up for saviors, and start looking to each other to help. The ending shows a recreation of Clark’s first time coming to Metropolis, a man staring up in wonder, and the old woman who previously berated Clark tells him that Mertropolis is a City of Tomorrow, and everyone looks up now. 

Secret Origins is a great story that works as a phenomenal way to get into Superman’s character. It perfectly understands what makes the Man of Steel tick, and builds up the mountain of mythos around him without ever feeling like it’s overbearing. Almost no comic book is perfect, but Secret Origins understands Superman and how he impacts the world, and shows how the world comes to understand him too. It’s all a journey of self-discovery. First with Clark figuring out who he is, and then with the people of Metropolis seeing that there’s more than darkness inside of all of them. For anyone who wants to find a good spot to start reading Superman, I highly recommend giving this short series a look.