What if Superman created a Secret Empire?

[GreatKungLao]

I can only imagine. Any hints?

You can see for yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZGjqEXXdoE

[DochaDocha]

Even more importantly though, there are stories where Superman takes over the world which handle the topic much better than Injustice.[i]Superman the Animated Series[i]'s episode Brave New Metropolis probably bears the most superficial similarities to Injustice, as Lois is killed by criminals and then Superman makes a pact with Luthor to turn Metropolis into a police state- but when Lois-Prime shows him that Luthor's brutal cops treat the citizens of Metropolis like crap, he turns on Luthor and re-dedicates himself to freedom over security. In A Better World from the Justice League cartoon, Superman and the Justice Lords also take over the world, but it's implied that it was only after President Luthor almost blew up the world, and Lois is still alive and kicking, and mad as hell at Superman, too!

While I would agree these two DCAU examples are both better than Injustice, I think they're relatively lazy attempts at turning what's supposed to be a "normal" Supes into a megalomaniacal villain. If I had to describe Superman's descent into villainy in three words or fewer, it would be "That escalated quickly." I would not describe either story as a way to explore Superman's character. Rather, they are the result of an impatience to accelerate Superman from good-ish guy to over-the-top villain. I probably liked "Brave New Metropolis" the first time I watched it, but every time I see a fridging story to get Superman to turn to the dark side, I just get annoyed, and can't help but think "Brave" was one of the forefathers in this awful movement. "A Better World" was one of the most popular episodes, but I would also argue that it's similarly rushed through the cascade or downfall of Superman. For one, I always laugh when I think of how Luthor and Superman decide that the only way for him to stop Luthor from pressing a button was to kill him. But more to the point, it's almost like they have to make Superman a mustache-twirler just to get their point across. So he's willing to deal harshly with villains because not doing so with Luthor led to various problems. I suppose that makes me understand why he would no longer be in favor of democratic elections, as well as the First Amendment, but I thought that was overreaching. It's as though the writers thought it wasn't acceptable to give Justice Lord Superman any redeeming qualities.

I do argue that both are better than Injustice, and the fact that both predate Injustice by more than a decade makes Injustice seem a lot worse (or maybe makes the DCAU episodes seem more forgivable), but I certainly don't think they hold up all that well and really aren't that well thought-out compared to other "evil" Superman stories.

Injustice does get one thing right, though. Who gets to kick the ever-living crap out of Regime Superman?

[victorsage]

Could be an interesting What If/Elseworld story, but you'd need a different kind of Clark Kent to make it work.

Traditional Clark would fight and kill bad guys, but had no interest in actual power. Which is what made him so different from the Ultra Humanite, and Luthor when they showed up. Especially Luthor who started as an international arms dealer who wanted to take over the World, a world he would make peaceful under his boot.

Other versions of Clark are slightly different, but none have had any interest in political power in any meaningful way.

[Atomic Man]

I don't see the point in taking a character and stripping away their personality, morality, and values and saying it's still a story about that character.

That's like cake, you don't purposely burn your cake and stomp on it to show the difference between good cake and bad cake. You just make good cake.

I wish Zack Snyder and David Goyer saw things as you do.