Superman is one of the greatest superheroes in the world, a shining example of everything great about the comic genre. Superman's mighty powers give him a lot of options but he chooses to use them to protect the world, battling the most dangerous foes in the universe to keep those weaker than him safe from harm.
Over the years, Superman has proven to be an extremely versatile character, one who can be adapted to a wide variety of stories. This has served him well as DC has always played into its Multiverse more than others, resulting in some great versions of the characters, but also some ones that are just plain bizarre for a lot of reasons.
10 Kingdom Come Superman Is Great But Still Bizarre
Kingdom Come, by writer Mark Waid and artist Alex Ross, is a masterpiece and one of the greatest stories of the '90s. The inciting incident of the story, revealed in flashback, is Superman giving up his never-ending battle after the death of Lois Lane and the advent of a more violent type of hero. This is what makes the whole thing so bizarre.
Seeing a Superman who would give up is just plain strange and while he makes up for it throughout the story, it's always weird knowing he gave up. On top of that, he spends the entire story making the wrong decisions, which is just a weird thing for fans used to a more traditional Superman.
9 Superdemon Is Superman And Etrigan The Demon Mixed
Earth-13 is the magical world of the Multiverse, where mystical forces reign supreme. However, it does have a Superman or, more accurately, a Superdemon. Superdemon is Etrigan, rocketed from the doomed world of Kamelot to Earth, where he used his power to join the League of Shadows and protect his adopted homeworld from mystical threats.
Superman's vulnerability to magic makes this whole thing weird and it only gets more so when one factors in the Etrigan angle. It's an interesting change, though, one that fits a world where magic reigns.
8 Seeing Superman Raised By Darkseid Is The Height Of Bizarre
A common thread in alternate Superman stories is his rocket landing somewhere besides Kansas. Superman: The Dark Side, by writer John Francis Moore and artist Kieron Dwyer, saw Superman land on Apokolips instead of the Earth. Raised by Darkseid, he became the God of Evil's ultimate weapon against the universe.
While he would eventually default to being a good guy, there's nothing that's not weird about seeing Superman as a servant of Darkseid, one of his most dangerous and powerful foes.
7 The Superman Of JLA: The Nail Universe Struggles With His Amish Upbringing
JLA: The Nail and its sequel Another Nail, by writer/artist Alan Davis, showed readers a DC Universe where Superman wasn't found the Kents, but by the Amish. Revealed at the end of the first story, he helped save the day and became Superman, but his Amish upbringing made the whole thing difficult for him.
He had to overcome being taught pacifism and to turn the other cheek so he could be an effective hero. While it was a very interesting take on the character, it was also just super bizarre to think of an Amish Superman.
6 The Dark Knight Returns Superman Rationalized Working For A Corrupt USA
The Dark Knight Returns, by writer/artist Frank Miller, is one of the most iconic Batman stories of all time. Eventually, the story pits the older, grizzled Dark Knight against Superman, who has been reduced to doing the bidding of the US government, embodied by Ronald Reagan. Their epic battle is one of the most storied in comics but that doesn't change how weird this version of Superman is.
He rationalizes working for a corrupt and jingoistic USA by thinking that he still gets to help people but that's hollow. His character doesn't really get much better throughout the trilogy of Dark Knight comics but there are some improvements as it progresses.
5 Superboy-Prime Was The Opposite Of Everything Superman Stood For
Superboy-Prime was a seemingly one-off character introduced in DC Comics Presents around the time of Crisis On Infinite Earths. He was meant to represent Superman's time as Superboy being put to rest by CoIE and disappeared for years until he brought back in Infinite Crisis. The intervening time changed the character a lot.
Superboy-Prime became a whiny, entitled brat, one who lashed out with his immense power and killed by accident before fully embracing his inner villain. He became a stand-in for all of the worst excesses of comic fandom and it was just bizarre to think of a Superman who was that way.
4 Superman Red And Superman Blue Will Always Be Weird
Back in the Silver Age, DC used to do a thing called "Imaginary Stories", which were basically alternate universe takes on characters. Superman starred in a lot of these, pretty much all of them actually, and one of them in Superman #162 introduced Superman Red and Superman Blue. Basically, Superman split himself into two to be a more efficient hero and the whole thing was just bizarre.
The Silver Age was full of weird Superman takes and this one is one of the weirdest and, ironically, one of the most memorable. It's a concept that has been brought back several times over the years but it's always bizarre.
3 Flashpoint Superman Was One Of The Most Passive Versions Of The Character
Writer Geoff Johns and artist Andy Kubert's Flashpoint had its ups and downs, presenting a very different DC Universe from what fans were used to. One of the biggest differences from the main DCU was its Superman. Superman was found at a young age by the government and sealed away under red sun lamps.
Kept in captivity, he was a skinny and scared man, one very different from the Superman fans were used to. He barely even played into the story other than as a McGuffin for the Flash to look for and while he played a small role in things eventually, it was weird to have such a passive Superman in a DC event book.
2 The Communist Superman Of Superman: Red Son Was Great But Bizarre
Superman: Red Son, by writer Mark Millar and artists Dave Johnson and Killian Plunkett, was a very different look at the Man of Steel. The story saw Superman land in Soviet Russia in the '30s instead of Kansas, where he was raised to be a Communist and got the attention of Stalin. From there, things just diverged farther.
A Communist Superman was a novel and brilliant take on the character, one that readers never saw before. However, that doesn't mean it also wasn't bizarre to see Superman as the ultimate Soviet partisan, battling against Lex Luthor and the USA as Soviet Premier.
1 The Superman Of Superman: At Earth's End Will Always Be Funny
Superman: At Earth's End, by writer Tom Veitch and artist Frank Gomez, is one of the most infamous Elseworlds tales ever. Taking place in the far future with a weakened and grizzled Superman, it sees the aged Man of Steel battle against clones of Hitler, rock a Santa beard, and use a massive gun. It's honestly hilarious.
It's also one of the most bizarre alternate takes on Superman ever. Old Superman is cool. Weakened Superman is cool. Superman fighting in a dystopian future can be cool. Bundling it all together and giving him the most '90s gun ever? It will never not be bizarre.
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