8 Comic Book Characters That Broke Superman
8. Magog - Kingdom Come
Mark Waid and Alex Ross' Kingdom Come is a storytelling masterpiece replete with eye-catching visuals (it's Alex Ross, duh), authentic dialogue, and a brilliant commentary on the evolution of the superhero genre from the Golden Age to the ostensible 'Dark Age' of the 1990s. It also happens to feature a version of Superman who has no time for anyone's sh*t - at least after a prolonged period of soul searching.
I'll spare the details for anyone who hasn't read the story, but the basic premise of Kingdom Come involves a version of the DC Universe not all that dissimilar to the regular one - only this time, everyone is fed up with how supervillains basically get away with genocide nearly every year, and so direct their ire towards DC's old guard, exemplified by the trinity of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Said old guard are also being outmuscled by a new kind of hero, one unafraid to exercise lethal force.
Instead of rising to the challenge and proclaiming how it's not right for superheroes to, y'know, murder as and when they please, Supes ends up suffering a complete breakdown after the Joker storms the Daily Planet and murders all the staff, including Lois Lane. One of the new heroes called Magog then goes after the Clown Prince and murders him, leaving Supes to spend the next decade moping around in a simulated version of Kansas, dejected at the loss of his friends and at the fact humanity had willingly embraced a murderer as their new hero.
Wonder Woman eventually finds a way to galvanise the Man of Steel to confront the new bloodthirsty heroes, but things don't go according to plan, and he ends up imprisoning more of them than he converts. One big prison riot and a failed nuclear strike from the government later, and Supes briefly threatens to tear the entire UN down, believing all his friends are dead.
Trust me when I say that Kingdom Come ends on a much happier note than that (as long as you can stomach Batman eating his steak WELL DONE), but there's no denying Supes loses his head more than once throughout.