2. Superman/Kal-El/Clark Kent (1992)
The oldest and arguably greatest superhero of them all, Superman, was seemingly killed off in 1992 at the hands of writer/artist Dan Jurgens after facing an indomitable foe from his home world of Krypton. In The Death of Superman, a Kryptonian killing machine called The Ultimate emerges from beneath the Earth and begins wreaking havoc in the American Mid-West before defeating Justice League International. Booster Gold tells Superman its like Doomsdays here! and the character became known as Doomsday. The final fight between Superman and Doomsday took place outside the Daily Planet with both characters dying of their wounds in Superman #75. The comic was presented in just 22 panels, or a panel per page, which was the culmination of the last 3 comics layouts where the comic before had 2 panels per page, the one before that had 3 panels per page, and the one before had 4 panels per page, making the final fight between Superman and Doomsday feel bigger and more epic. And of course, that was the last time we saw Superman. There were no more comics featuring Superman after he died. Ever. Oh wait, I mean the opposite. In fact, straight after Supermans death, the number of supermen quadrupled! 4 characters, each claiming to be Superman, emerged from the aftermath, among them a steel worker called the Man of Steel, and the Man of Tomorrow, a cyborg Superman! The real Superman was put in a regeneration matrix in the Fortress of Solitude to heal and, when the matrix broke open, Superman was alive again, albeit in a seriously depowered state (with a mullet which he kept for most of the 90s). The Death of Superman was an enormously successful event for DC with Superman topping the comics sales charts and making headlines around the world. The storyline was adapted into the 2007 DC animated film, Superman: Doomsday. Where can I read the (supposed) death of Kal-El/Superman? Superman: The Death of Superman by Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway et al.