Demolishing a Neighborhood: 10 Times Superman Went Too Far in DC Comics

Control in Kingdom Come

In Kingdom Come, Superman returned from retirement after Magog and his followers caused a nuclear disaster in Kansas while fighting the Parasite. He rebuilt the Justice League and tried to bring volatile metahumans under control, increasingly using force against those who rejected his authority.

Superman’s captured opponents were held in the Gulag, a rehabilitation complex built in the Kansas wasteland. Overcrowding and hostility among inmates led to a deadly uprising that killed the facility’s warden, Captain Comet, exposing the dangers of Superman’s approach.

Ordered to Fight Batman

In Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, an older Superman worked for the United States government under President Ronald Reagan. As Batman regained influence in Gotham, officials became alarmed, especially after the city recovered during a nationwide crisis.

Reagan ordered Superman to take Batman into custody. Though Superman hoped to avoid excessive violence, he broke Batman’s wrist and three ribs in Crime Alley, where Batman’s parents had been murdered.

A Soviet Superman’s Rule

Mark Millar’s Red Son imagined Superman’s spacecraft landing in the Soviet Union. After Stalin’s death, Superman took leadership and pursued a society without poverty, crime, or widespread suffering across the expanding Soviet sphere.

His government also monitored private lives through Superman’s extraordinary senses and suppressed opposition. Political dissidents faced brain surgery that turned them into obedient Superman Robots, stripped of their independence and ability to resist.

Raised to Serve Darkseid

In Superman: The Dark Side, Metron redirected Kal-El’s spacecraft to Apokolips, where Darkseid raised him as a son. His upbringing taught conquest and obedience rather than compassion. Kal-El served Darkseid in a war against New Genesis and delivered a doomsday bomb that devastated the planet. He had also killed Kalibak in combat before Highfather intervened and eventually helped him rebel.

Destruction in the Name of Reform

In a 1939 story, Clark Kent saw Frankie Marello sentenced to a reformatory and heard his companions blame racketeer Gimpy. Superman stopped Gimpy’s next robbery scheme, protected the boys from retaliation, and persuaded them to leave crime behind after a dangerous confrontation.