10 Awe-Inspiring Superman Moments That Prove He's DC's Greatest Hero

10. Superman Ends World War II

If there is any question as to how awesome Superman is, could you imagine any other hero single handedly ending World War II in just a two page story? What is even more impressive is that Superman's fictional international crusade against the Nazis managed to actually make a real life enemy out of Adolf Hitler.

In 1940, which was before the United States entered WWII, Look magazine commissioned Superman creators Jerry Siegel & Joe Schuster to create a two page story entitled "How Superman Would End The War". The story showed Superman wading through Nazi battalions, shrugging off canon fire, until he gets to Hitler. Superman takes off into the sky with him, heading to Russia. There he swoops down and snatches Joseph Stalin too.

Their next stop is Geneva, Switzerland where the dictators stand trial for crimes against humanity. If only the real world were so easy. This flight of fantasy did strike a powerful real life chord however.

Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels, responded with an article attacking Superman, and specifically targeting his Jewish creators. Hitler allegedly threatened that Siegel & Schuster would be taken care of after the U.S. fell under their control.

The international backlash didn't stop Siegel & Schuster though. DC Comics kept the Allied propaganda coming on the covers of many of the Golden Age comics. The U.S. finally entered the war, and the books were very popular sources of entertainment for overseas troops, and boosted morale at home.

Not just any comic character could have had this level of global impact. This was a job for Superman.