Superman, as a character, has been around for over 80 years. In that time, he's been apart of some amazing comics and storylines. But he's also been apart of plenty of stinkers too. Yeah, for every stellar DC Comics Superman event like All-Star Superman or What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way, there's an At Earth's End to balance the scales.
In that spirit, we've hunted down ten of the worst stories the Man of Steel has had the shame of having his name on. We can't recommend these stories, unless you're morbidly curious. These are the 10 worst Superman storylines, ranked
10 The Sleez Two-Parter, AKA Superman's Sex Tape
So this story doesn't have an official title, but it's particularly infamous all the same. Running across Action Comics #592 and #593, this two-parter tells the story of Superman's encounter with the alien Sleez.
Sleez is a former minion of Darkseid with mind control powers who manages to get both Superman and New God Big Barda under his control. What does he do with his new thralls? Has them make a porno together. Yeah, it's a really icky story that plays like a bad joke. Less said about this one the better.
9 Superman: Earth One
DC's Earth One line of graphic novels were meant to be something like Marvel's old Ultimate line, fueled by fresh reintroductions to classic characters unburdened by continuity. Shame DC stumbled right out of the gate. Written by J. Michael Straczynski (not the last time he'll be on this list), Superman: Earth One was met with groans by fans.
Readers and Superman purists felt this new Man of Steel was too angsty, too mopey, and lacked the character's strong moral fiber. Combined with passable art and a boring villain, the whole thing seemed beside the point.
8 In The Name Of Gog
Few comics are so bad that they get the writer fired, but that's just what happened to Chuck Austen. Fans hated his run on Action Comics so much that sales dropped low enough for DC to can him. In the Name of Gog is a good microcosm of why.
Picking up on a plot line from Kingdom Come, the storyline concerned an anti-hero named Gog coming from the future to kill Superman before he could cause a huge disaster. Solid idea, but nonsensical twists like Doomsday defending Superman and superfluous subplots about a racist Superman ripoff just drowned any good ideas out.
7 For Tomorrow
For Tomorrow was a victim of its own hype more than anything else. As artist Jim Lee's next big project after the successful Batman storyline Hush, it was hugely anticipated. Sadly, Brian Azzarello's story failed to measure up to Lee's art.
Superman begins seeing a priest after he fails to save Lois Lane and millions of others in a mysterious event called "The Vanishing." The mystery intrigued readers, but the story dragged out over 12 issues that saw many other unwelcome changes like Superman destroying the Fortress of Solitude and a new version of General Zod. At least the art was good.
6 Godfall
Most of Godfall's poor quality is the result of the bad costume it stuck Superman in. The red and black with shoulder accents look more appropriate for an Injustice-style evil Superman rather than the real deal. Shoddy villains are also to blame.
None of Supes' classic foes make an appearance and instead we're stuck with an alien hypnotist obsessed with making Superman love her and a Kryptonian supremacist who performs police brutality. For a story meant to update the classic Bottle City of Kandor, Godfall is as far from the Silver Age as you can get.
5 Whom Gods Destroy
This is actually a crossover with Wonder Woman, but there's enough bad for both of them to share. Whom Gods Destroy is one of the weirdest Elseworlds ever published, which is saying something given how weird Elseworlds can get.
Here's a few things that happen in it: The Nazis won WW2 thanks to the Greek Gods helping them. Lois Lane becomes Wonder Woman so she can beat up Diana, who is a Nazi. Superman gets transformed into a centaur with a mullet, and then into a woman. Yeah, it's a crazy wild time that makes absolutely no sense. The poor art doesn't help things either.
4 Distant Fires
Here's another crazy Elseworlds tale for you. This time, Superman believes he is the sole survivor of a nuclear war. He lives in the ruins of Metropolis fighting mutant rats with the help of a giant cat he's tamed. Eventually, Supes discovers a village of fellow survivors, mostly other superheroes, and falls in love with Wonder Woman.
But Billy Batson (You know, Shazam?) gets jealous of Superman and decides to turn on all the survivors. Seriously. Anyway, this leads to another super war and Earth is destroyed. At the last minute, Superman uses a Green Lantern ring to send his and Wonder Woman's son into space. Even fan fiction isn't this nuts.
3 H'el on Earth
We had to put at least one New 52 storyline on here. This story didn't exactly start on the best note with yet another survivor of Krypton's explosion. That was already a cliche by the first Crisis. But it got worse with Supergirl betraying Superman for H'el (yes, that's really the villain's name) for no real reason.
Add in H'el trying to turn Earth into a new Krypton and Superboy seemingly being killed to up the stakes, and this story was just hackneyed. The following storyline, Krypton Returns, was almost an apology for it.
2 Grounded
Hello again, J. Michael Straczynski. Grounded became a notorious storyline before it was even published. Following the events of the New Krypton arc, Superman decided to walk across America to get back in touch with his roots.
Many thought the premise alone was stupid and the execution did nothing to change their minds. This Superman was a pontificating jerk, abdicating responsibility and acting holier than thou. Writer Mark Waid joked about this story, "You'll believe a man can walk!"
1 At Earth's End
No Superman story will ever match At Earth's End. Others might be worse, but they'll never be as bugnuts crazy. The premise? It's the far future, after a nuclear war. Superman, who now has a white Santa Claus beard, goes to the ruins of Gotham City to find Batman's body.
Instead, he finds it being ruled by twin clones of Hitler (yes, really) and ends up overthrowing their regime with an enormous gun that looks more like a massive engine bloc. Even crazier? At Earth's End has an anti-gun message. What any of that has to do with Superman is anyone's guess.