Crimebuster
CCF Podcast Guru
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Posts: 3,958 
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Post by Crimebuster on May 19, 2016 11:30:13 GMT -5
Hey guys. I am working on an article about characters - both heroes and villains - who have defeated Superman. I could use some help coming up with a good list.
Now, lots of people have defeated Superman. it's necessary for storytelling reasons that he be defeated very regularly. usually, though, he comes back later in the story and wins in the end.
That's fine. Optimally I'm looking for people who have defeated him cleanly and decisively, but some ambiguity is fine. More important is that I have an interesting mix of both heroes and villains who have taken Supes down, along with references to the issue/story where they did it.
So, who has defeated Superman? And where/how did they do it?
Thanks.
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Post by Prince Hal on May 19, 2016 13:13:52 GMT -5
Well, there was the "Death of Superman" at the hands of Doomsday in the 90s.
There was "The Death of Superman" in 1961 (Superman 149) at the hands of Lex Luthor, which was an imaginary story, but showed Luthor pretending to reform, curing cancer, paroled thanks ot Supes and then lring Superman to his death by Green K, with Supergirl taking her late cousin's place as protector of the world.
Virus X and old age almost killed him in two series in Action Comics. But you want people as his vanquishers.
Muhammad Ali TKO'd Superman in the famous tabloid.
In Superboy 85, he tries to save Abraham Lincoln form being assassinated, but is foiled by Luthor (and Fate).
He gets owned in the "Interplanetary Olympics" in Action 304, which of course turns out to be part of his plan, but for a while there, Superman looks pretty bad.
He fought the Superman of earth-1 in JLA 74, but I can't recall if either actually beat the other in the fight.
(Wrestler Antonino Rocca took it to him in Superman 155, supposedly thanks to Mr Mxyzptlk, but Supes and Rocca actually switched places, so he really wasn't defeated.)
Apparently both sides have adherents in the Superman vs. Thor fight in the JLA-Avengers mini-series.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 19, 2016 14:12:44 GMT -5
Victory!
Ah, no, that was Batman...
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2016 15:14:06 GMT -5
In Action Comics #495 - A character named Gnmod defeated Superman!  and a wacky character by the name of Zha-Vam defeated him too.  He appeared in Action Comics #351 |
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Post by Icctrombone on May 19, 2016 17:26:33 GMT -5
Mongul really beat him bad in DC comics Presents #36  |
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Post by Warmonger on May 19, 2016 19:04:17 GMT -5
"Death of Superman" against Doomsday in the early 90's and "Muhammad Ali vs Superman" from the mid-late 70's are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Not a huge Superman fan. Oddly enough, the only time I actually enjoyed the character was during John Byrne's run (which I know a lot of die hard Supes fans despise). I personally liked a more human, less powerful Superman.
The way I always looked at it, you have to make this guy vulnerable in some way, otherwise...what the hell is the point in reading this every month? He's just going to smack the hell out of the bad guys, save the world and fly off into the sunset with a smile on his face every issue. Granted this is what a lot of superheroes do, but at least the outcome isn't totally set in stone before the fight actually happens.
I get that tons of people adore the character, but Byrne was the only guy who could make him somewhat relatable IMO.
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Post by Phil Maurice on May 19, 2016 19:44:17 GMT -5
The Flash (Wally West) beat him at running in AoS #463.  |
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 19, 2016 20:40:26 GMT -5
He was pretty soundly defeated by Parasite in 2000 (throughout the triangle books) when Parasite was able to kidnap and impersonate Lois.. it required Batman helping him out to save the day. Of course, he was also poisoned at the time, but still.
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Post by dupersuper on May 19, 2016 21:06:15 GMT -5
He's just going to smack the hell out of the bad guys, save the world and fly off into the sunset with a smile on his face every issue. Granted this is what a lot of superheroes do, but at least the outcome isn't totally set in stone before the fight actually happens. It...really really is.
For all the Superman/Silver Surfer/Thor/Wonder Woman/Spectre/etc. being too powerful arguments, Batman/Green Arrow/Black Canary/Daredevil/Nightwing/Hawkeye/Mockingbird/Moon Knight/etc. are every bit as invulnerable, at least as long as they're reasonably popular.
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Post by Phil Maurice on May 20, 2016 17:05:41 GMT -5
Metallo (John Corben, brilliantly voiced by Malcolm McDowell) handed Superman more than one devastating defeat on Superman: The Animated Series. In the episodes "The Way of All Flesh," and "Steel," a cowed Superman was spared death only by Corben's distraction and the interference of others. Close proximity to a tanning bed was also helpful.  |
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Post by chadwilliam on May 20, 2016 17:54:20 GMT -5
I believe that the first time Superman was ever knocked out was in Action 57. It was a pretty pathetic showing for Superman though - he threw a punch at The Prankster who ducked and then proceeded to punch himself in the face. Pretty fortunate for the Prankster when you think about it - if Superman's blow was strong enough to inflict that kind of damage upon himself, imagine what it would have done had he connected with Loomis.
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Post by chadwilliam on May 20, 2016 18:43:12 GMT -5
I hope I'm not being pedantic here, but it occurs to me that Superman has been fairly decisively defeated in areas not involving his physical strength.
World's Finest 149 Concerned that his secret identity can be too easily deduced, Superman asks Batman to wipe his own memory of his Clark Kent persona to then see if The World's Greatest Detective can figure out Superman's alter ego. When Batman succeeds, a jealous Superman gloats that if the situation were reversed, he could learn Batman's ID just as easily. Taking him up on his offer, Batman erases Superman's memory and continually outsmarts Superman's attempts at figuring who he is. Interestingly for a silver age story, the story doesn't end with fans of both characters being appeased that "their guy" is just as clever as the other fellow. Batman has to actually trick Superman into thinking he is just as good a detective as himself by feigning ignorance of a fairly obvious trap set up by Superman and letting Superman learn that he's Bruce Wayne. The reader however, can clearly see that compared to Batman, Superman is a washout as a detective.
World's Finest 199 I think this was the third Superman/Flash race but the first one that established that The Flash is faster than Superman.
Oh, and though it's not that well known a story, Superman actually died in continuity back in 1967.
Superman 188 had the Man of Steel murdered by intergalactic villain Zunial only to be revived by a robot duplicate who restored his life at the cost of its own. So he got better, but make no mistake, Superman was successfully killed. |
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Post by berkley on May 20, 2016 21:29:58 GMT -5
I hear Brainiac beats him at Scrabble all the time. Even X-ray vision isn't enough to make up the difference.
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Post by Prince Hal on May 20, 2016 22:25:05 GMT -5
From Superman 164. Luthor takes it to Superman with a nasty left-right-left combination. Who knew he was a southpaw?  |
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Post by tingramretro on May 21, 2016 0:39:31 GMT -5
"Death of Superman" against Doomsday in the early 90's and "Muhammad Ali vs Superman" from the mid-late 70's are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. Not a huge Superman fan. Oddly enough, the only time I actually enjoyed the character was during John Byrne's run (which I know a lot of die hard Supes fans despise). I personally liked a more human, less powerful Superman. The way I always looked at it, you have to make this guy vulnerable in some way, otherwise...what the hell is the point in reading this every month? He's just going to smack the hell out of the bad guys, save the world and fly off into the sunset with a smile on his face every issue. Granted this is what a lot of superheroes do, but at least the outcome isn't totally set in stone before the fight actually happens. I get that tons of people adore the character, but Byrne was the only guy who could make him somewhat relatable IMO. Couldn't agree more. A story has to have real drama in order to be interesting, to me, and there's no real drama if the lead character is invulnerable and unbeatable. Then again, I know it might sound a bit odd coming from a superhero fan, but the fights and super feats are by far the least interesting thing to me, most of the time. |
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