10 Awe-Inspiring Superman Moments That Prove He's DC's Greatest Hero
1. What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, & The American Way?
Action Comics #775 should be required reading for anyone about to create a Superman story in any medium. In a single issue writer Joe Kelley and artists Doug Mahnke & Lee Bermejo distill the essence of the character.
The Elite, led by Manchester Black, are a team reflecting the newer edgy heroes of the time who kill and maim with reckless abandon. They fight fire with greater fire for fast results, trying a dark appeal to the frustration of a world where it feels like decency just doesn't win. The youth within the story, as well as some of the reading audience, ask is Superman's morality still relevant? The Elite call him out to see who are the true heroes of tomorrow.
The battle that follows is one of the bloodiest in a Superman story since Doomsday. At one point it seems Superman breaks down to using lethal force, but it ends up being a trick to show Black how it frightening it feels to witness raw power so unchecked by morality.
Black rails at Superman at the end that his moral code keeps him living in a dream land. Ironically, years later the man tasked with developing the modern cinema Superman, director Zack Snyder, offered a very similar diatribe that fans who think heroes don't kill are "living in a f-----g dreamworld". To that cynical charge, Superman lays down a resounding rebuttal.
"Dreams save us. Dreams lift us up and transform us. And on my soul, I swear... until my dream of a world where dignity, honor, and justice becomes the reality we all share... I'll never stop fighting."