Favorite De-Powered Superman stories...

[Bored at 3:00AM]

As much as I love seeing a fully-powered up Sun God Superman, I also appreciate the pleasures of the earlier, more rough n' tumble Superman who can get his ass kicked far more easily and is less elegant in the application of his powers. Bull in a China shop Superman is a lot of fun.

I think that first issue of Morrison's Action Comics distilled that down for me in my favorite form, but the Fleischer Superman cartoons do a damn fine job as well, but, even there he feels like he's on the cusp of really ramping-up power-wise.

I thought Yang & Pak made an admirable swing with Truth, but there were larger editorial issues that, to me anyways, feel like kept that story from becoming what it could have been.

The original Reign of the Supermen comics and the various adaptations since then are always fun, too. But I'm not really into Superman who needs a gun or any kind. I feels weird when Batman does it, but, somehow, it always feels wrong for me. I want to see Superman punching dudes in the face.

I liked the Fifty-Two era Clark who has completely de-powered following that savage Kal-L/Superboy-Prime fight. I like the idea of Clark getting to be human for an extended period of time and not skipping a beat. He still helps people, but he redirects his focus towards journalism. I would have read a whole book on that with Lois & Clark having adventures that Superman couldn't swoop in to save their bacon if things ever got too dicey. That felt like a missed opportunity with the whole "raising Jon Kent in secret behind the scenes during the New 52" storyline.

What about you guys? What are you favorites?

[manwhohaseverything]

I don't know about depowered.And i was never really into the sun god thing.I prefer one punch man,if we are talking about a god amongst men.it makes fun and decontructes the whole action genre without making it feel as if it's worth nothing.Using superman to say action is secondary or inconsequential,while his so called "special morality" being selling point is just idiotic for me.Because i haven't seen superman do or say anything that's of worth to me in that regard.Superman is the man of action for me.So,i like it when clark goes all out and no holds barred.Beyond plus ultra .When he is kicking ass and means it.
So, I like some zorro in my superman back.The best about that is this kinda thing is possible.Flight is overrated for me.Prefer this.Why fly when you can jump really really high and run on wires?


Superman being a strongman is the best for me.

[John Venus]

The JL two parter where he is forced to survive in a post apocalyptic earth and teams up with Vandal Savage.

[K7P5V]

I don't know if this counts, but I liked this scene from Legacy, Pt. 2 (Superman: The Animated Series)

[DochaDocha]

The JL two parter where he is forced to survive in a post apocalyptic earth and teams up with Vandal Savage.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that that's still my favorite animated Superman story.

Not coincidentally, I'm also really partial to Action Comics #300.

Those are two stories specifically about how Superman loses his powers. I group Morrison's New 52 Superman as another thing altogether. I see T-shirt/jeans Superman as regular Supes who hadn't physically matured yet, so to speak.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Hereafter Part II, and Legacy where he decks Luthor into a neck-brace are among my favorites as well.

[Godzilla2099]

For me, it happened in the Superman/Batman Series. Batman acquired Superman's Powers and Superman was a regular human. I loved this story because you saw how both sides experienced the highs and lows with the change.

Superman: At first he enjoyed spending time with Lois and felt less pressure in his life overall. Clark got involved to stop a mugging and got shot. The incident almost killed him

Batman: I loved this part of the story. Batman felt a complete rush. He decided to spread his brand of fear not just through Gotham, but he's going to take it to the entire planet. You saw him go after international terrorists, sex traffickers, etc. Eventually he got drunk on power and his allies saw he was taking things out of hand. Nightwing tried to stop him and got seriously messed up. That's when they asked Clark for help...

Now the roles were reversed. A Human Clark Kent vs Super Bat....

[I'm a Fish]

Does the animated Superman: Man of Tomorrow movie count?

He fights Parasite a lot so his powers get drained for most of the film. I also like that movie because he talks to parasite instead of punching him, (also it has my favorite Parasite backstory and design in it).

[Superfly Frankenstein]

Kase of the Krimson Kryptonite. Classic story arc from 1990. Awesome.

[Zero Hunter]

The Superman and the Legion of Super-heroes arc in Action comics in 858-864. Superman get transported to the future to help the Legion only to realize that one of the villains turned the sun red robbing him of his powers.

[Adekis]

The episode of "Justice League Action" where Kal fights Steppenwolf on a planet with a red sun, called, appropriately enough, "Under a Red Sun." He starts the fight close to full strength, and then gets weaker fast as the episode goes on.

He breaks his leg, but he manages to beat Steppenwolf and a handful of parademons singlehandedly before Batman can show up to save him, and when Bruce finally gets there, Kal quips, "That's why they call me Superman."

I think that's my favorite de-powered Superman story.

[Vordan]

Really great introduction of Superman and his world to newcomers as he gradually reacquires his powers he lost in the wake of Infinite Crisis. Would love to see an animated adaption one day.

[Jon Clark]

Does "Who Took the Super out of Superman" count? He was depowered as Clark, but not as Superman so I'm not sure.

There was a Superboy story where Clark reduced/removed his powers in an attempt to live a normal life. He then found that he couldn't restore them when Superboy was needed. That is a personal favorite.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

To be clear, any story wherein Superman is significantly weaker than he normally would be for an extended period counts as a de-powered Superman story to me.

Anything short of him flying around, shooting lasers out of his eyes qualifies as far as I'm concerned

[The World]

Superman #17.