10 Terrible Mistakes That Almost Ruined Superman For Everyone

2. When He Was Grounded

Straight up, Grounded is probably the worst Superman story ever written. Maybe even worse than At Earth's End. Yeah, that bad. It might be one of the worst superhero stories, period, now that we think about it. That's not to say it had honourable intentions, or a lack of talented people working on it, just that the end result is irredeemably awful. And close to character-breaking. Which is pretty impressive, for a character that's been around for almost a century and is as recognisable as Mickey Mouse, Jesus and Justin Bieber to almost every living person in the Western world.

Primarily the work of Babylon 5 creator J Michael Straczynski, it involves Superman walking across America. Not flying, walking. Strolling along. Alone. A lonely loner, walking down a lonely road. Not because he's lost his powers or anything, oh no. It's because he's spent too much time in space and feels like he needs to reconnect with the average American. This is a comic about Superman going on a campaign tour. This is a comic about Superman being Mitt Romney. It covers societal issues in the most insultingly shallow, preachy way. It's a terrible comic, and a terrible Superman comic at that. It went on for nearly a year, in the main Superman book. It still makes us want to die.