10. For The Man Who Has Everything
Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman take a trip to the Fortress of Solitude to celebrate Superman's birthday, but Batman finds it awkward because, as he says, "what do you get for the man who has everything?" The story goes on to show that as much as Superman has, he had to lose everything in order to get it. The alien tyrant Mongul has broken into the Fortress and placed the Black Mercy plant on Superman, trapping him in a deep hallucination of his innermost desires, revealed to be a life on a Krypton that did not face the apocalypse, even having a wife and young son. This is a great short story which examines everything Superman wants most. Like an adopted child, they may have loving parents and a great life, but there usually always is that lingering thought in their head of what could have been had their parents not given them up. It is quite a heartbreaking scene where Superman realizes everything is a hallucination and, teary eyed, tells his young son he has to let him go because he's not real. This story is also notable for having one of the few moments Superman gets really, really pissed and cuts loose on Mongul. Though the story is excellent, it is on the bottom of the list because it was adapted in the first season of Justice League Unlimited. Very few changes were made for the episode (Robin's exclusion was the most notable) and it retained the emotional beats of the story. Lengthening the story from a 22 minute episode into a 75 minute length feature may also prove to be a difficult task.