Superman is a beacon of hope to all of humanity, but he is also a married man with a teenage son. Clark isn’t getting any younger, and sooner or later, he is going to have to hang up the cape. This idea of Superman getting older leads into an interesting question that has rarely been touched on in comics: can Superman actually die? The answer is more complex than you might think.
Sure, he has a very famous storyline that sees him killed at the hands of Doomsday. But as we all know, he doesn't stay dead. His body is placed into a Kryptonian Regeneration Matrix, which heals his physical wounds. His soul, however, has indeed left his body to pass on to the afterlife. After encountering several characters from DC’s mystical roster, Superman’s soul is returned to his newly regenerated body. So, in effect, Superman does truly die but is resurrected through supernatural means. But what if there was no interference from outside forces and Superman was allowed to live out his days normally? In other words, is Superman immortal?
In 1998, the ever-whimsical Grant Morrison proposed a storyline that would run through all of DC’s published titles at the time. DC One Million was not only a celebration of the upcoming millennium but showed what all of the DC books could look like if they made it to the year 1,000,000. From this idea, Superman Prime was born.
Having lived into the late 21st century as the Superman we know and love, Clark has watched everyone he's ever cared about die. Ma and Pa Kent, Lana Lang and even his beloved Lois Lane. Due to his grief of having outlived everyone, he passes on the mantle of Superman to Superman Secundus and leaves Earth. He then spends the next 15,000 years hibernating in the sun’s cosmic rays, increasing his power beyond conceivable levels. He is effectively immortal, but life means little to him without anyone to share it with, so he sets about resurrecting Lois Lane.
Action Comics #1000 from 2018 saw a wide array of previous and upcoming Superman creative teams work on the character once again. In the short story “Of Tomorrow,” penned by Tom King and illustrated by Clay Mann, Superman is again portrayed as an immortal. Set roughly five billion years in the future, Clark pays his respects at the graves of Ma and Pa Kent before the sun expands into a red giant.
In this beautifully touching story, we see how much Superman truly cares for others. While Clark’s Kryptonian physiology keeps him alive, he never loses the humanity that the Kents instilled in him. Though there could technically be a limit to his longevity, both DC One Million and Action Comics #1000 essentially prove that Superman can never die of natural causes.
All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely is considered one of the greatest Superman stories ever told. At the beginning of the story, Lex finds a way to overexpose Superman to yellow sun radiation, which causes Superman’s cells to slowly fall apart. Throughout 12 issues, Superman comes to terms with the end of his life and says goodbye. At the end of All-Star Superman, Superman flies into the sun, bursting into energy to keep the star alive. In the previous issues, there were hints at the future of Superman, including a glimpse of Superman Prime. Maybe, just maybe, Superman doesn't die but ascends to a new level of being just like Superman Prime in DC One Million.
While Superman can't die of natural causes, he can be killed, so what happens when someone figures out how to take out Superman through magical means but prevents him from being resurrected? That story is surprisingly not told in the pages of Superman or Action Comics but in The Question. Written by Rick Veitch and illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards, the 2005 series sees Vic Sage travel to Metropolis to uncover a conspiracy by Lex to kill Superman once and for all. Lex intends to build a tower at the center of Metropolis that will harness the mystical energy of the city and fire it at Superman. In addition, Lex hires a Psychopomp to ensure that Superman’s soul leaves his body for good—thus preventing his resurrection.
Luckily, Vic Sage is able to magically communicate with the chi energy that flows through Metropolis. It tells him how to stop Lex's Science Spire from working properly, ensuring that the mystical energy can't be weaponized now or in the future. After disrupting Luthor's plans, The Question finishes off the Psychopomp in a rather brutal fashion and, in a twist of irony, ensures that the Psychopomp's soul will never return. While Superman is grateful for The Question's help, he deems Vic's methods to be overly ruthless and tells him to leave Metropolis for good.
Whether Superman can truly die is something that has never really been answered. We have seen him die and come back but we have also seen him become immortal. It appears that given sufficient yellow sun radiation, he is nigh immortal, and if he is killed, then there's always the potential for resurrection. Preventing Superman's soul from returning to his expired body, however, might be the only way to truly stop the Man of Steel for good. Luckily, Superman has plenty of people watching his back.