Who killed Superman? Every time the Man of Steel died in DC Comics

No comic character really stays dead, but Superman keeps trying, as multiple villains have nearly succeeded in their attempts to kill Superman over the years.

Death is something of a revolving door in comics. Even characters who infamously stayed dead over the years, like Bucky Barnes and the second Robin, Jason Todd, have found their way back to the land of the living. 

Superman changed that, though. The Death of Superman would make death a story beat, a massive event that could be used to raise the stakes. Sure, characters had died before, but few were as monumental as the Man of Steel. 

Of course, Death of Superman wasn’t the first time he faced death, and it definitely wasn’t the last time, as the notion of “killing” Superman would become a huge dramatic beat over the years. In fact, Superman has perhaps faced the threat of death more than any other character. 

Every time Superman died in DC Comics & who killed him

Whether it’s fighting an alien warlord or trying to save the universe, here’s every time Superman was killed in DC Comics.

Fakeout Deaths

The Golden Age and Silver Age of Superman stories are already rife with just absolute nonsense. Superman had had a seemingly endless array of powers, be it shooting tiny Supermen from his fingers or Super-Ventroloquism. 

These stories also touch on the idea of Superman dying, but they do so in a way that can be quickly handwaved by the ending. Most of these are fakeouts or swerves, with Superman either swiftly resurrected or revealed to be faking. 

Perhaps the most famous of these is in the all-time classic Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, where Lois Lane gives an interview about the final days of Superman. According to Lois’ story, Superman is grief-stricken after being forced to kill Mister Mxyzptlk. He enters a room of Gold Kryptonite to strip himself of his powers and then disappears into the Arctic. Superman is assumed to have died, but the story’s twist ending reveals he’s actually married to Lois under a new secret identity, Jordan Elliot. 

The Death of Superman

The Death of Superman changed comics, for better or for worse. Back then, characters as high profile as Superman just didn’t die, and they certainly didn’t always come back. Doomsday killing Superman is a moment that shocked everyone.

The story made the news worldwide, and fans came out in droves to pick up the landmark issue where Superman died. It made it sting all the more just a few months later when Superman was brought back to life in Reign of the Supermen. 

Today, the story is the source of a pretty big question: did Superman really die? The implication of the story is that he was merely drained of his power to the point that he entered some form of a coma, which he recovered from in a Kryptonian Regeneration Matrix. Regardless, even in-universe, the story addresses the matter as if Superman actually died. 

Final Days of Superman

The DCYou era saw the New 52 Superman at an incredible new low. His powers were reduced to the point that he was just barely above superhuman, his damaged cells unable to process solar energy. In a final effort to save himself, Superman exposes himself to Kryptonite, hoping it will function like chemotherapy and kill the dead cells. 

It doesn’t work. Superman’s cellular structure becomes unstable, and he finds himself at death’s door. The Final Days of Superman saw him push his body beyond its limits, as his cells broke down and his body turned to dust.  

The returning pre-Flashpoint Superman would try to revive his New 52 counterpart but was unsuccessful as he never found the Regeneration Matrix in the new timeline. A later story teased the New 52 Superman’s resurrection, but instead merged his timeline with that of the pre-Flashpoint Superman, smoothing out their history and effectively killing the New 52 timeline for good. 

Infinite Crisis

A sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths, Infinite Crisis saw the return of the Silver Age, pre-Crisis Superman, who had spent the past two decades watching Earth from a sort of multiversal heaven. Seeing the new Superman losing his faith, he broke the barrier between worlds and set about saving the world. 

It was all a lie, though, as he was being manipulated by Alexander Luthor and Superboy-Prime, the superpowered Clark Kent of the “real world.” Realizing the betrayal after his Lois dies, pre-Crisis Superman teams with his modern, post-Crisis counterpart to save the multiverse. 

The three would ultimately be depowered after flying through a planet made of Kryptonite. The pre-Crisis Superman would not be strong enough to hold his own, brutally beaten by Superboy-Prime. His last act is to lay down his life to give the modern Superman the opportunity to take down Superboy-Prime. 

The Kingdom

On July 10th, 2031, Superman dies. He also dies on September 19th, 2038. And March 1st, 2033. And December 24th, 2022. And October 9th, 2027. And on and on, over and over, until there’s a room in the afterlife full of dead Supermen. 

Superman is being killed by Gog, a religious zealot whose faith in the Man of Steel was broken. Gifted powers by an array of DC gods, Gog sets about the task of killing Superman not once, but every day.

Gog thinks he’s traveling through time, but he actually breaks Hypertime, the then-current DC explanation for how the multiverse worked, killing the Supermen of different universes. It falls apart when he reaches the Kingdom Come universe, whose Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman ally with their past selves to stop Gog, preserving their timeline. 

All-Star Superman

When Lex Luthor sabotages an exploration mission on the sun, Superman saves the scientists without a second thought. It’s a plot by Luthor, who knows that overexposure to solar radiation will overwhelm Superman. He’s stronger than ever, but he’ll be dead in one year.

All-Star Superman is perhaps the definitive modern Superman tale. Faced with the prospect of an actual death, Superman doesn’t spend the story moping or fretting. Instead, he sets about completing all the things he never got the chance to do, striving to leave the world a better place. 

The story doesn’t end with a definitive death; rather, Superman becomes a solar consciousness, sacrificing his life and loved ones on Earth to repair the sun. However, it also ends on a hopeful note, as the world is inspired by Superman’s apparent sacrifice while his friends hold out hope that he’ll return someday.

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