Worst Superman Elseworlds

[LordUltimus]

What are the worst Superman Elseworlds, or at least alternate universe Supermen, that you have read.

I don't know if it's bad in the traditional sense, but I'd put in Superman: Last Family of Krypton. Take an idea that would practically change the entire DCU and have Superman's entire life play almost EXACTLY the same. Also, he gets his name from some guy saying "That was super, man!" Ugggghhhh.

[Buried Alien]

There was one in which Superman (and all the other heroes) permanently lose their super powers, and Superman becomes a depressed drunk. That was absolutely AWFUL.

In a similar vein, and only slightly better, was SUPERMAN: A DISTANT FIRE.

There seemed to be a vogue in the 1990s, at least in the ELSEWORLDS titles, for depicting Superman as the Man Who Couldn't...the Man Who Fails.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[adkal]

There was one in which Superman (and all the other heroes) permanently lose their super powers, and Superman becomes a depressed drunk. That was absolutely AWFUL.

Act of God

meh

In a similar vein, and only slightly better, was SUPERMAN: A DISTANT FIRE.

He was more of a survivor in that one - and at least he took on a few giant mutant rats

[superduperman]

I actually liked Last Family of Krypton. Of course it might have something to do with the fact that him and I would be around the same age. It had all the elements from all the different versions. I would say perhaps the worst, or close to it, is At Earth's End and Secret Society of Super-Heroes where Superman kills anyone who doesn't join his secret team. Picture Injustice without the interesting backstory. Instead of a good Superman who becomes corrupted, he was raised to always keep his powers a secret at all cost. They also made him responsible for the deaths of Bruce Wayne's parents because, of course he was.

[LordUltimus]

I actually liked Last Family of Krypton. Of course it might have something to do with the fact that him and I would be around the same age. It had all the elements from all the different versions. I would say perhaps the worst, or close to it, is At Earth's End and Secret Society of Super-Heroes where Superman kills anyone who doesn't join his secret team. Picture Injustice without the interesting backstory. Instead of a good Superman who becomes corrupted, he was raised to always keep his powers a secret at all cost. They also made him responsible for the deaths of Bruce Wayne's parents because, of course he was.

The elements of the various origins are good... if this was a classic retelling of the origin. Instead, this is supposed to be a brand new reality where we could see a whole new change to the earth, and Clark just gets railroaded into the exact same pattern as before, only with Jor-El saying "I don't like it" alot.

Secret Society of Super-Heroes, Superman didn't kill anyone, he put them into the Phantom Zone (still not a good thing, but not murder.) I actually had more of a problem with Green Lantern and Flash getting derailed in wanting to be public solely for fame and personal gain.

[Last Son of Krypton]

At Earth's End...
Superman vs. two twin clones of Hitler... Wtf?

[dancj]

I kind of like At Earth's End. The story isn't great by any stretch, but the whole thing - art included - is just so silly and over the top that it winds up being quite fun.

The biggest crime for me in a story is being drab so for that I'd go for Speeding Bullets.

[Adekis]

Agreed on Speeding Bullets. It's just so mediocre compared to how much potential the concept had.

[DochaDocha]

Hard to pick a single one as the worst. Off the top of my head:

Speeding Bullets wasn't good, but it probably was more disappointing than it was awful.

At Earth's End was just pretty silly.

I just watched the Linkara (I'm not a big fan of his channel, but sometimes I get entertained) review of Distant Fires, and I agree with the bulk of his complaints.

I tried to get into Superman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy, but I ended up just putting it down and never looking back.

I'd say Whom Gods Destroy among books that made me lose interest and gain contempt quickly, and At Earth's End for books I actually finished.

[superduperman]

Hard to pick a single one as the worst. Off the top of my head:

Speeding Bullets wasn't good, but it probably was more disappointing than it was awful.

At Earth's End was just pretty silly.

I just watched the Linkara (I'm not a big fan of his channel, but sometimes I get entertained) review of Distant Fires, and I agree with the bulk of his complaints.

I tried to get into Superman/Wonder Woman: Whom Gods Destroy, but I ended up just putting it down and never looking back.

I'd say Whom Gods Destroy among books that made me lose interest and gain contempt quickly, and At Earth's End for books I actually finished.

I only read the first issue of Whom Gods Destroy but by the look of it, it's a bit too wordy, which is a trademark of Claremont. From what I understand, Superman gets turned into a minotaur and never changes back. Not exactly a selling point. He did have a cool moon fortress, though.

[Sacred Knight]

I remember feeling Whom Gods Destroy was just weird when I tried to read it when I was kid, lol.

[Francisco]

I hated New Frontier and his shorty Superman.

[DochaDocha]

I hated New Frontier and his shorty Superman.

He wasn't short, it's just that Wonder Woman was HUGE. It was like Shaq standing next to Yao Ming, heh.

[Francisco]

He wasn't short, it's just that Wonder Woman was HUGE. It was like Shaq standing next to Yao Ming, heh.

Really? I think he looked really shorty even when standing next to Batman and Green Lantern. More than that he was so irrelevant to that story.

[DochaDocha]

Yeah, the scene in which WW is staring down on him is very, very intentional on Cooke's part. I remember there's an interview, I think on the New Frontier DVD, when Cooke muses out loud what if Wonder Woman was taller than Superman, and how would that change the dynamics of the scene.