4. Superman: Red Son
Another fantastic Elseworld's novel focusing on the darker side of Kal-El. In Red Son the writers pose the question - What if Superman had been raised in the Soviet Union? Writer Mark Millar takes the potentially ground breaking concept and has an absolute ball with it as he transplants the entire Superman story half way across the globe to see how different the character would have been if he'd not been raised with the 'good ol' American values' instilled in him by his adoptive Kansas parents. Transplanting the site of Kal-El's crash from Smallville to the Ukraine because the Earth had rotated further than in the original story the story covers the periods from 1953-2001 and features real life characters including John F. Kennedy and Joseph Stalin. In Red Son Batman works alongside Lex Luthor who is not only married to Lois Lane but is an American hero intent on bringing down the red terror that is Superman. After Batman is killed (lots of people die) he becomes the emblem of freedom and his guise is adopted by the resistance who restore order to the chaotic Russia at the end of the story. It is an interesting idea to have Batman, who is so often seen as dark and brooding compared to Superman, in the role of the real hero over but it seems completely natural in this classic DC yarn.