5 Worst Superman Stories Ever

by

Superman has been a popular hero for almost 100 years, and over that time, he’s been featured in countless adventures. As one of the most recognizable characters in pop culture, Superman has saved the world from many dangers, both working alone and with other heroes. Many of these stories are considered classics, enjoyed by fans for decades and often adapted into movies and TV shows.

While Superman has been featured in many amazing stories, there are also some that fall short. It’s normal for not every story to be a hit, but a few are widely considered the absolute worst in Superman’s long history. These range from stories that cost their writers their jobs to bizarre, confusing tales set in the future – here’s a look at the most critically panned Superman stories ever told.

5) Superman: Grounded

In the comic book series Superman: Grounded, written by J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Roberson, Superman returns to Earth after a time living on New Krypton. Shortly after leaving a congressional hearing, a grieving woman slaps him, upset that Superman wasn’t there for her husband who died of a brain tumor – she believed Superman could have helped, but was told he was busy with other matters. This encounter deeply affects Superman, leading him to embark on a journey across America on foot, hoping to reconnect with the everyday concerns of people.

Okay, so I’ve been thinking about this Superman story, Grounded, and it’s
 complicated. The idea of Superman literally walking across America and helping people? That actually sounds perfect for him, honestly. But here’s where it gets weird. Superman’s always been portrayed as super connected to regular Americans because of his Kansas farm upbringing, so the idea that he’s somehow ‘lost touch’ doesn’t really ring true. And it’s not just that shaky premise. The biggest problem for me is that Superman actually asks Lois to kill an article she’s working on – it was about a factory polluting the environment, and Superman wanted her to drop it because the factory was the town’s main employer. Seriously? Superman sides with a polluting company instead of the truth? That just feels so out of character, and it really brings the whole story down.

4) Superman’s “Sex Tape”

Okay, so this is a strange one! I stumbled across Action Comics #593 from 1987, and it’s
 well, it’s hilariously bizarre. Basically, this super weird villain named Sleez gets banished from Apokalips (even they thought he was too strange!), comes to Earth, and somehow manages to trick Superman and Big Barda into appearing in an adult film. They’re kidnapped and manipulated into the whole thing! It’s definitely one of those comics that’s so bad, it’s almost good – you can’t help but be fascinated by how wild it is.

Ultimately, Superman’s strong moral compass allows him to resist the machine’s influence. This buys Mister Miracle enough time to intervene and prevent things from escalating too far – beyond just a kiss, that is. While the situation is strange and unusual, making for an odd piece of Superman lore, it doesn’t really work as a story.

3) Superman: Year One

Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One remains a classic, but his recent Superman: Year One doesn’t live up to the same standard. While it offers a new look at Superman’s beginnings, most of it—aside from the artwork by John Romita Jr., if you enjoy his style—simply doesn’t work. The story includes troubling moments, like a dismissed attempted sexual assault, bizarre plot points like Clark joining the Navy and briefly running off with a mermaid, and generally feels both dull and strangely illogical throughout.

Beyond the bizarre and confusing plot, the biggest problem is that this isn’t really a fresh start story at all. It mostly just retreads old ground, quickly summarizing Superman’s life before he became a hero, which makes the whole thing feel unnecessary and ultimately unsatisfying.

2) “In the Name of Gog”

Okay, let me tell you about “In The Name of Gog,” a Superman arc that ran through Action Comics #820-825. It’s
 not good. In fact, it was so poorly received it’s often cited as a reason why writer Chuck Austen was let go. The premise – a future anti-hero, Gog, comes back to kill Superman before he supposedly causes some huge catastrophe – actually sounds interesting, but the way it played out was just bizarre and frankly, pretty terrible. It wasn’t a lack of ideas, but a severe lack of execution that really sunk this one.

“In The Name of Gog” suffered from a rivalry between Lois Lane and Lana Lang, several confusing side stories—including a problematic Superman imitation—and numerous incomplete plot threads. It’s generally considered a poorly executed story, as many of the author’s initial concepts weren’t fully developed.

1) Superman: At Earth’s End

The 1990s saw some strange comic book storylines, and Superman: At Earth’s End is a good example of one that didn’t quite work. Written by Tom Veitch and illustrated by Frank Gomez, the story takes place in a future after the events of Kamandi: At Earths’ End. It’s an alternate reality tale set in a post-apocalyptic world where a white-haired, bearded Superman learns that emotionless cyborgs plan to destroy Gotham City with a nuclear bomb, all in the name of restoring Earth to its former glory. This motivates Superman to intervene, and he also sets out to recover Batman’s stolen body.

This Superman story is unbelievably strange. It involves Superman discovering that Adolf Hitler clones stole Batman’s body and battling an army of their mutant soldiers. The plot takes several bizarre turns: Superman even accuses Hitler of starting the conflict that led to everything, and surprisingly, he’s shot and fatally wounded. In a shocking finale, Superman carries Batman’s remains into a burning funeral pyre. A young member of a street gang who helped Superman then reflects that the tragedy could have been avoided if there hadn’t been guns, turning the story into an unexpected commentary on gun violence. It’s easily the most nonsensical and bizarre Superman story ever told.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

https://comicbook.com/comics/list/5-batman-stories-that-make-no-sense/embed/#

Read More

2025-11-08 03:12