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    100 Things Superman Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
    100 Things Superman Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
    100 Things Superman Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
    Ebook415 pages5 hours

    100 Things Superman Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

    By Joseph McCabe and Mark Waid

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    Whether you're a die-hard comic book fan from the Golden Age or a new follower of Henry Cavill and Zack Snyder, these are the 100 things all fans need to know and do in their lifetime. Joseph McCabe of Nerdist.com has collected every essential piece of Superman knowledge and trivia, as well as must-do activities, and ranks them all from 1 to 100, providing an entertaining and easy-to-follow checklist as you progress on your way to fan superstardom!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIndependent Publishers Group
    Release dateApr 1, 2016
    ISBN9781633194953
    100 Things Superman Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die
    Author

    Joseph McCabe

    Joseph McCabe (1867–1956) was a Catholic priest and scholar who abandoned his faith in the 1890s and became one of the most active advocates of secularism and rationality in the early twentieth century. He wrote hundreds of books and pamphlets on a wide range of subjects and published translations of dozens of texts.

    Read more from Joseph Mc Cabe

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      Book preview

      100 Things Superman Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die - Joseph McCabe

      way.

      Contents

      Foreword by Mark Waid

      Introduction

      1. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

      2. The Genesis of Superman

      3. Superman’s Suit

      4. Superman’s Powers

      5. Clark Kent

      6. Lois Lane

      7. Lex Luthor

      8. Jor-El and Lara

      9. Jonathan and Martha Kent

      10. Be a Hero

      11. Krypton

      12. The Superman Logo

      13. Kryptonite

      14. Celebrate Superman Day

      15. The Adventures of Superman Radio Show

      16. The Daily Planet

      17. The Fleischer Studios Superman Cartoons

      18. Superboy

      19. The Fortress of Solitude

      20. Lana Lang

      21. The Superman Film Serials

      22. The Adventures of Superman TV Series

      23. Superman: The Movie

      24. John Williams’ Superman March

      25. Christopher Reeve

      26. Support the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation

      27. Visit the Daily Planet

      28. Supergirl

      29. Brainiac

      30. Bizarro

      31. George Reeves

      32. Mister Mxyzptlk

      33. Superman II

      34. Perry White

      35. Superman and Batman: The World’s Finest Duo

      36. Darkseid

      37. Visit Superman’s Home

      38. The Superman Newspaper Strip

      39. Metallo

      40. The Phantom Zone

      41. General Zod

      42. Wayne Boring

      43. Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

      44. The Death of Superman

      45. The Five Greatest Superman Spoofs

      46. The First Superman Novel

      47. Krypto the Superdog

      48. Al Plastino

      49. Superman: The Animated Series

      50. The Legion of Super-Heroes

      51. Smallville

      52. The Bottle City of Kandor

      53. Lori Lemaris

      54. Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen

      55. Titano the Super-Ape

      56. Nightwing and Flamebird

      57. The Parasite

      58. Curt Swan

      59. It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman

      60. Superman Returns

      61. Filmation’s The New Adventures of Superman

      62. The Superman-Flash Races

      63. Superman and Wonder Woman

      64. Kryptonite Nevermore

      65. Tour the Super Museum

      66. Man of Steel

      67. Superman vs. Captain Marvel

      68. Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man

      69. Superman vs. Muhammad Ali

      70. The Supergirl TV Series

      71. Power Girl

      72. Superman III

      73. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

      74. The Top Five Superman Action Figures

      75. The Supergirl Movie

      76. Visit Superman’s Birthplace

      77. For the Man Who Has Everything

      78. Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

      79. Superman: The Parade Balloon

      80. The Death of Supergirl

      81. John Byrne

      82. The Ruby-Spears Superman

      83. The Superboy TV Series

      84. Steel

      85. Superman: The Wedding Album

      86. The Top Seven Songs about Superman

      87. Kingdom Come

      88. Superman For All Seasons

      89. Superman: Peace on Earth

      90. Superman: Birthright

      91. Justice League and Justice League Unlimited

      92. Superman: Secret Identity

      93. All-Star Superman

      94. It’s Superman!

      95. The Five Greatest Superman Pastiches

      96. Tour Geppi’s Entertainment Museum

      97. Superman Lives

      98. The Living Legends of Superman!

      99. Fly with Superman

      100. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

      Acknowledgements

      Bibliography

      Foreword by Mark Waid

      When I was a kid, Superman quite literally saved my life.

      I have always been a devotee. Captivated by superhero comics when I was no more than four years old, they became the foundation of my existence. They always buoyed me in times of trouble, but even they couldn’t elevate me when I was hitting high school. I was from a broken home, I was incessantly bullied in school, I wasn’t handling any of it well, and the darkness of my depression had me—and I am not exaggerating, forgive me—suicidally depressed that no one really gave a damn about me and no one ever would.

      And in that mood, on a January afternoon in 1979, I went to see Superman: The Movie, and it changed everything. I sat through it twice, full of a joy I have rarely experienced since. I knew Superman was a fictional character. I knew Christopher Reeve was an actor. But together, alchemically, magically, they communicated something profound to me: Superman cared. He cared about everyone.

      Even me.

      When I left that theater, I still wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with the rest of my life, but the one thing I did know was that Superman had to be a part of it.

      Since that day, I’ve read and re-read and watched and listened to every Superman story ever spun, from every comic book and graphic novel to every available radio broadcast of the 1940s and every film and cartoon and TV show, from the novels published as early as 1942 to the impossibly rare, read-by-maybe-10-people-in-the-world Superman in the Jungle story trading card set from 1966. And along the way, I’ve been lucky enough to have been allowed to add tales of my own invention to that vast canon. I’ve written, proudly, dozens of comic books starring the Man of Steel over the past 30 years. In fact, my very first assignment as a comics writer, in 1985, was a Superman story, and that published credit remains my greatest professional thrill.

      Someday, hopefully soon, the author of this book and I will challenge one another to an epic Superman trivia throw-down. Based on what he’s written, it seems stunningly likely that he’d prove a worthy opponent. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of Kryptonophiles who have plumbed the depths of Super-research as deeply as has Mr. McCabe, and the knowledge he’s about to lay down upon you is as entertaining as it is uncommon. But until he can prove to me that he, too, knows Lana Lang’s mother’s maiden name or can tell me the names of both of Mister Mxyzptlk’s wives, he will writhe in the ashes of defeat. No one loves Superman more than I do. No one.

      But by the time you finish this book, you might be close.

      —Mark Waid

      Mark Waid has written a wider variety of well-known characters than any other American comic book author, from Superman to the Justice League to Spider-Man to Archie and hundreds of others. His award-winning graphic novel with artist Alex Ross, Kingdom Come, is one of the best-selling comics of all time.

      Introduction

      They say you can’t please everybody. Yet somehow, in his 77-year career, Superman has.

      While little about his appearance and personality has changed since he was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, the Man of Steel has served as a 20th century Moses, a social reformer, a patriot, a Big Blue Boy Scout, a Christ figure, an Action Ace, a Man of Tomorrow, a romantic hero, a teen heartthrob…even a peanut butter pitchman. No fictional character provides a better lens through which to view sociological and technological change than Superman, having inspired newspaper strips, radio shows, cartoons, novels, film serials, TV shows, blockbuster movies, hit songs, theme park rides, and enough action figures to fill the Fortress of Solitude.

      Most importantly, Superman has been a dream. A vision of how life should be. In the 1950s, at the height of his popularity in the Silver Age of Comics, the Man of Steel had three principles in his moral code: don’t lie, don’t kill anybody, and help people when you can. Simplistic? You bet. But there are worse codes to live by.

      Superman himself, however, has never been simple, forever teetering on the brink between alien and human, solitude and community, desire and obligation. Internal conflicts have informed his mythos as much as any battle with Brainiac. And this book attempts to examine all facets of that mythos, while offering a series of conversations with the men and women—writers, artists, actors, filmmakers—who’ve built his world. Dreamers all, they’ve made it as fully realized as any in popular culture. Long may it spin. Long may he soar. Up, up, and away.

      1. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

      Superman had two fathers, Jerome Siegel (born October 17, 1914, in Cleveland) and Joseph Shuster (born July 10, 1914, in Toronto). The two met in 1931 at Cleveland’s Glenville High School, after the latter’s struggling family had moved to the northern Ohio city. Siegel, a passionate devotee of pulp magazines and an amateur science fiction writer, and Shuster, a nearsighted bodybuilding enthusiast, shared a love of movies and newspaper comic strips. That love inspired them to create their own hero for the funny pages. From the start, however, fate worked against them.

      In 1932, Siegel’s father suffered a heart attack and died as a result of a robbery that occurred at the family store. The teenager published a short story called The Reign of the Superman, about a megalomaniacal telepathic villain, in the third issue of his fan magazine Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization (published in 1933 under the pseudonym Herbert S. Fine, with illustrations by Shuster). Shortly thereafter, he spent a sleepless night brainstorming ideas and ran to his friend’s home the following morning, where the two created a comic story called The Superman and sent it to Consolidated Book Publishing. But Consolidated had already stopped publishing comics. Joe, heartbroken, destroyed all but the cover of their story, while Jerry re-envisioned it as a newspaper strip. Despite their persistent efforts to sell it, no one was interested.

      Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson finally gave the boys their big break when he purchased several of their comic book stories for his National Allied Publications in 1935. Siegel and Shuster’s career in comics had begun. But in 1936, Wheeler-Nicholson partnered with his distributors Harry Donenfeld (a former pulp magazine producer) and Donenfeld’s business manager Jack Liebowitz. The two proceeded to wrestle control of National from the Major. Max Gaines of the McClure Syndicate—via National’s associate editor Vin Sullivan—brought Superman to Donenfeld’s attention. Encouraged by Sullivan, Donenfeld agreed to publish the story, and Shuster reformatted the strip’s art into 13 comic book pages for publication in June 1938’s Action Comics #1. Siegel and Shuster were paid $10 for each page and signed a contract granting National all rights to the character. The superhero comic book was born.

      Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster introduced Superman, one of the most recognizable fictional characters of all time, in 1938’s Action Comics #1. Here they are with their later comic book creation, the short lived Funnyman. (Getty Images)

      Superman proved to be a massive hit, and a flood of imitators followed. The character won his own comic book with June 1939’s Superman #1 (also by Siegel and Shuster), as well as, at long last, a newspaper strip on January 16, 1939. Shuster opened an art studio in Cleveland to keep up with the demand for more Superman, while Siegel married his 18-year-old neighbor—and fellow Glenville High School grad—Bella. The two had a son named Michael in 1944. Shuster, meanwhile, bought his family, with whom he still lived, a new home.

      Jerry created other comic characters during this time, including the Spectre (introduced in February 1940’s More Fun Comics #52). But although the two creators were making a decent living, they’d lost a great deal of merchandise money, while National was netting millions from the character they’d invented. In 1943, Siegel was drafted, and the company began taking control of Superman’s production from Shuster, who was always the more acquiescent of the two men. By the time Siegel returned, the company had, without notification, introduced Superboy—an idea he and Shuster had pitched in 1938. In 1947, a lawsuit was filed for $5 million, as well as the rights to Superman and payment for Superboy. But in 1948 the New York Supreme Court upheld the original Superman agreement, though it agreed that compensation was owed for Superboy. Siegel and Shuster agreed to a settlement of $94,000, and National kept the rights to the Boy of Steel. Immediately afterward, the two were fired and lost their creator credits in National’s comic books.

      Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1, the most famous and valuable comic book in history. (Cover art by Joe Shuster)

      One bright spot occurred after Siegel’s wife filed for divorce. Though she held on to most of his savings and kept custody of their son, Siegel was then free to marry Joanne Carter; as Jolan Kovacs, she had modeled for Shuster when he was designing Lois Lane. The couple remained married for the rest of Jerry’s life. Jerry went on to edit, albeit briefly, Ziff-Davis’ line of comics. Shuster too found some additional comics work, as well as a job drawing S&M illustrations for a series of under-the-counter magazines published in the 1950s called Nights of Horror (reprinted in author Craig Yoe’s 2009 book Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-creator Joe Shuster, published by Harry N. Abrams). But Shuster’s vision soon deteriorated to the point of blindness.

      When Ziff-Davis folded, Joanne Siegel told National of the bad press the company would receive should Superman’s creator die penniless. The company took Siegel back, and he penned a series of memorable Silver Age Superman stories, though for considerably less money than he’d been paid when he left, and with no printed credit. He again tried to win back ownership of Superman, but National fired him once again. In 1968, Jerry and Joanne Siegel moved to Los Angeles, and he took a job as a file clerk for an annual salary of $7,000. In 1975, with a Superman feature film in the planning stages, National implied it would offer Siegel and Shuster some form of financial compensation. But when the company dragged its feet, Siegel issued a press release condemning their actions, which put him and Shuster in the public eye once more. Warner Brothers, which now owned DC (the official name for National as of 1977), agreed to a $20,000-a-year pension and medical insurance, as well as the restoration of their byline as Superman creators. About as much as a well-paid secretary, says comic book artist Neal Adams, who’d championed their cause.

      Shuster eventually joined the Siegels in Los Angeles. He died there on July 30, 1992, at the age of 78. Jerry Siegel died on January 28, 1996, at 81. Though the compensation they received for their creation was far below even the stingiest miser’s definition of fair, the two lived long enough to see Superman become the most popular fictional character in Western culture; the character who gave his very name to the word superhero.

      2. The Genesis of Superman

      Superman’s name was first used by Friedrich Nietzsche in his 1883 book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, in which it was referred to as Übermensch, an ideal the German philosopher believed mankind should ultimately strive for. It’s doubtful that writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster—both the sons of Jewish immigrants—embraced a concept frequently referenced by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in creating Superman. But the Man of Steel wasn’t born in a vacuum.

      Siegel and Shuster’s Jewish background came into play with Superman’s origin, that of an immigrant orphan destined to save his adoptive people, reminiscent of the Bible story of Moses (though other mythological figures like Samson and Hercules, both known for their extraordinary strength, also came into play). Additionally, the two men were tremendous fans of pulp magazine heroes like Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze. Created by Street & Smith publisher Henry W. Ralston, editor John L. Nanovic, and writer Lester Dent, the character’s first appearance was in March 1933’s Doc Savage Magazine #1. In this issue’s story, Doc was said to have an arctic retreat called the Fortress of Solitude. Another pulp hero, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter, gained super strength and the ability to leap tremendous distances when he was transported from Earth to his adoptive home, the planet Mars.

      Superman’s creators were also huge movie fans, particularly of Douglas Fairbanks, the swashbuckling silent film star, who frequently stood with hands placed firmly on hips, laughing in the face of danger. While Fairbanks’ influenced the Man of Steel’s design, Superman’s secret identity, Clark Kent, was based on bespectacled silent film comedian Harold Lloyd. Clark’s first name was derived from film legend Clark Gable, and his last from B-movie idol Kent Taylor. His city, Metropolis, took its name from the titular locale in director Fritz Lang’s 1927 science fiction classic Metropolis.

      Siegel and Shuster were also devotees of newspaper comic strips. Shuster’s drawing style in the 1930s owed a great deal to strip artist Roy Crane, best known for his Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune. Superman’s cape was most likely inspired by that of master draftsman Alex Raymond’s ’30s hero par excellence Flash Gordon. Shuster has said that the cape helped convey a feeling of motion when the Man of Steel burst into action. And Siegel, like most of America, admired the super-strong sailing man of the strips, E.C. Segar’s Popeye.

      But the biggest influence on Superman may have been reality itself. Siegel and Shuster were children of the Great Depression, and Siegel’s own father died of a heart attack in the wake of a robbery at his store. It’s no wonder then that Superman’s early years were spent in the service of social reform, fighting for underdogs against war profiteers, abusive husbands, and corrupt politicians. On radio, he would even take on the Ku Klux Klan. Even after decades of fighting supervillains, this reformist Superman would return, most notably in the 1998 graphic novel Superman: Peace on Earth and the 2003 limited series Superman: Birthright.

      3. Superman’s Suit

      As befitting a character of unwavering virtue, the Man of Steel’s suit has, compared with those of most superheroes, changed very little since it was designed by Superman co-creator Joe Shuster.

      Shuster modeled the outfit after the boots, briefs, and tights of circus strongmen. A cape was added to give it a sense of motion, and his shirt sported an emblem, originally an S contained within an oversized police badge, to give Superman an immediately recognizable sense of authority. As seen on the cover of June 1938’s Action Comics #1, the super suit featured a blue shirt and tights, red briefs, belt, and boots, and a yellow emblem with a red S. Inside the issue, however, Superman wore blue boots (reminiscent of Roman gladiator sandals), a yellow belt, and a yellow S inside his emblem. By June 1939’s Superman #1, he had red boots, and his emblem consisted of a red S inside a triangular yellow shield. In the years that followed, the shield widened and curved, while its background color changed to black (a look used when the Man of Steel made his first screen appearance in the 1941 Fleischer Studios animated short Superman), and then back to yellow.

      By the mid-1940s the suit’s colors stabilized (though its shade of blue, and the size of its briefs, continued to vary), and the shape of its shield settled into that which is best known today—a large diamond with a slim red border. By the ’50s, a yellow S inside a yellow shield was added to the center of Superman’s outer cape.

      Superman’s S shield usually resided atop his chest but in the 1986 limited series Man of Steel, writer-penciller John Byrne enlarged it so it occupied half of his torso, a detail continued by most comic artists since. Following the 1992 Death of Superman storyline, the Last Son of Krypton returned in a capeless black bodysuit with silver S shield, wrist bands, and boots, as well as a Samson-like mane of hair. Fortunately, neither this look, nor the electric-blue-and-white design of 1997’s Superman Blue energy being, lasted long. Nor did the S shield belt buckle of 2006’s Superman Returns, also employed for a time in the comics.

      The most radical change made to Superman’s costume in recent years has been the super suit designed by DC Comics co-publisher Jim Lee for the company’s New 52 reboot of the character in 2011. Lee removed Superman’s briefs altogether, gave him a red belt, and added an unnecessary matrix of piping to his costume, as well as—the most controversial of choices—a high military collar.

      4. Superman’s Powers

      Superman has demonstrated a stunningly diverse array of powers since he first appeared, from super ventriloquism (established in January-February 1950’s Superman #62) to Superman II’s amnesia-inducing super kiss (introduced in November 1963’s Action Comics #306). Many of these powers are simply extensions of normal human abilities, such as super intelligence, super hearing, and telescopic vision. Their levels have increased and decreased over time (the most significant reduction came with the 1986 limited series reboot Man of Steel). All of Superman’s powers can be inhibited by the presence of a red sun, magic, or kryptonite. Nevertheless, here are seven of the most essential.

      Flight

      In June 1938’s Action Comics #1 (written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by Joe Shuster), Superman could only leap one eighth of a mile. But the filmmakers at Fleischer Studios found leaping awkward to animate, so his power of flight was established in their Superman animated shorts of the 1940s.

      Invulnerability

      Again in Action Comics #1, it was stated that nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate Superman’s skin. In January-February 1946’s Superman #38, he survived an atomic bomb explosion.

      Super Strength

      Like his invulnerability, Superman’s strength increased exponentially. Initially able to lift tremendous weights (Action #1 shows him hoisting a steel girder over his head with one hand), he could, by 1951—as Les Daniels points out in DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes—toss a skyscraper into space, and a few years later he was pushing planets.

      Super Speed

      Superman’s ability to run faster than an express train in Action Comics #1 gave way to running faster than a speeding bullet in The Adventures of Superman radio show of the 1940s. Eventually he surpassed Mach 1 and the speed of light.

      X-ray Vision

      Introduced in November 1939’s Action Comics #18 (Superman’s Super-Campaign, by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Paul Cassidy), it was first called Superman’s X-ray eyesight. It cannot be used to see through lead.

      Super Breath

      Superman’s super breath made its debut in January 1940’s Action Comics #20 (Superman and the Screen Siren, by writer Jerry Siegel and penciller Joe Shuster). It led to his famous freeze breath.

      Heat Vision

      The solar energy today’s Man of Steel emits from his eyes began as a byproduct of his X-ray vision in July 1949’s Superman #59. It was established as a distinct superpower in April 1961’s Action Comics #275 (The Menace of Red-Green Kryptonite! by writer Jerry Coleman and penciller Wayne Boring). In April 2015’s Superman (Vol. 3) #38 (The Men of Tomorrow, Chapter Seven: Friends and Enemies, by writer Geoff Johns and penciller John Romita Jr.), an extension of heat vision, called a super flare, was introduced. The result of solar energy stored in every cell of Superman’s body, he’s powerless for 24 hours after using it.

      5. Clark Kent

      Superman’s secret identity is more than a mask behind which he sometimes hides when he wants a break. The mild-mannered Clark Kent often serves as the human heart of the Man of Steel, the personification of his adoptive parents’ values, and a constant tether to the world he’s chosen to call home.

      Kent—and Superman—first appeared in June 1938’s Action Comics #1 (Superman, Champion of the Oppressed, by Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, who, like the character he designed, wore glasses). The two based his appearance on bespectacled silent film comedy star Harold Lloyd. Initially portrayed as a milquetoast, Clark’s fellow reporter Lois Lane agrees to go on a date with him out of pity. But that night, as they’re dancing at a club, a thug named Butch tries to cut in. Lois slaps him across the face; Clark whispers to himself, Good for you, Lois! while saying aloud, Lois—don’t! Butch turns to Clark and demands the weak-livered pole-cat fight. Lois storms out, telling Clark, You asked me earlier in the evening why I avoid you. I’ll tell you why now: because you’re a spineless, unbearable coward! Soon after, Butch abducts Lois, and Superman flies to her rescue, prompting her to fall madly in love with him. Thus begins the most famous love triangle in comic books, a love triangle between two people.

      Throughout most of the 1940s, Clark was portrayed as a competent reporter but also a nebbish who longs for Lois, who in turn only has eyes for Superman. The persona was strongly felt in The Adventures of Superman radio show and the Superman cartoons of Fleischer Studios, both of which featured actor Bud Collyer. The high point of Collyer’s performance was his ability to drop the pitch of his voice mid-sentence when transforming from Clark to Superman, announcing, "This looks like a job—for Superman!"

      As the screen’s first live-action version of the character in the Superman film serials, Kirk Alyn also portrayed a timid Clark Kent. But in the 1950s Adventures of Superman TV show, George Reeves played a much more confident and assertive version of the character, one who could be almost as dynamic as the Man of Steel. Reeves’ interpretation slowly filtered into the comics, and Clark’s personality grew stronger throughout the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. October 1962’s Adventure Comics #301 featured a Private Life of Clark Kent story (Lex Luthor and Clark Kent: Cell-Mates! written by Edmond Hamilton and pencilled by Curt Swan) that served as the springboard for a series of such tales that ran as a backup feature in the pages of Superman (starting with #186 in May 1966) before moving to Superman Family (in June 1979’s #195). In these stories, Clark would demonstrate his ability to solve problems without changing into Superman.

      In 1978’s Superman: The Movie, Christopher Reeve won praise for returning Clark Kent to his socially awkward roots. In his 1999 autobiography Still Me, Reeve admitted to basing his Clark on Cary Grant’s submissive paleontologist in director Howard Hawks’ 1938 screwball comedy classic Bringing Up Baby. The battle between Reeve’s innocent Clark and a synthetic kryptonite-corrupted Superman is the highlight of Superman III.

      When Superman was rebooted in October 1986’s Man of Steel #1 (From Out the Green Dawn, by writer-penciller John Byrne), George Reeve’s interpretation was used as inspiration for a Clark who was a football star in high school and a take-charge newsman after moving to Metropolis. Prior to Man of Steel, Superman’s identity was known only by a few trusted allies like Batman and Supergirl. But in the rebooted mythos, it was known by his high school friend Lana Lang, and—years later, after they’re engaged—Lois Lane. In one of the best post-reboot stories, found in February 1987’s Superman #2 (His Secret Revealed, by writer-penciller Byrne), Lex Luthor’s computer learns of the secret identity, but Luthor’s ego prevents him from believing someone with Superman’s godlike abilities would disguise himself as Clark.

      Man of Steel’s Clark Kent has been used in most versions of Superman since, both in print and on screen, including Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. As that show’s Superman, played by Dean Cain, explains to Lois Lane in the episode Tempus Fugitive, Superman is what I can do. Clark is who I am. Superman: The Animated Series, Smallville, and 2013’s Man of Steel followed suit in their approach to Clark.

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