Despite the fact that Superman’s unparalleled power makes him a potential danger, one Marvel/DC crossover proves he’s more dangerous dead than alive.
While it has been well established that Superman is not only the most powerful hero in history, but also a genuinely good person, he has been known to ‘break bad’ from time to time. Whether he’s pushed over the edge by the Joker, or somehow corrupted by Darkseid, Superman’s gone dark on more than one occasion. Everytime he does, the entire world is in unparalleled danger. However, none of Superman’s evil personas can match the danger the world would be in if he didn’t survive his trip from Krypton to Earth, something that is proven true during the ultimate crossover between DC and Marvel.
When Kal-El was a baby, Krypton was on the verge of destruction. His parents decided to send him to Earth to give Kal a better chance of survival despite the fact that they would never get to see him grow up–or even know if he made it to Earth alive. Thankfully, Kal-El’s trip across the cosmos was a success, and he landed on Planet Earth safe and sound. Not only that, but he was taken in by the best possible people, the Kents. The Kents named their adopted child Clark, and they raised him with the best possible values. When it became apparent that Clark had superpowers, he was taught to use those powers for the betterment of humankind–and Superman never wavered from that lesson. This is the origin story of Superman, and it is one of hope and heroism that anyone can feel inspired by. Unfortunately, when the DC and Marvel worlds were merged together by a couple of cosmic gods, this hopeful tale turned unimaginably tragic–though it could have been a lot worse.
Superman Died Before Reaching Earth, & His DNA was Harvested by Humanity
In the Amalgam Universe’s Super Soldier #1 by Mark Waid and Dave Gibbons, readers are introduced to Clark Kent aka Super-Soldier. In this reality, Clark Kent is the amalgamation of the original Clark Kent and Steve Rogers aka Captain America. While this new character kept Superman’s name, he and the original Man of Steel have one key difference: Amalgam Clark is human, not Kryptonian. As explained in this comic, the pod carrying Kal-El as a baby did make it to Earth, but Kal was dead upon arrival. So, when the U.S. government found the vessel, they harvested the infant’s genetic material, and found that they could refine it into the perfect super soldier serum–and they found their perfect recipient. Like Steve Rogers, Clark Kent was the ideal candidate for this serum as his heart was pure, and his valor was true. But, what if creating one heroic superman wasn’t on the agenda? What if this black-site super soldier program wanted to do something a little bigger?
The fact that Superman’s DNA can be used to effectively turn regular humans into Kryptonians–as Super-Soldier had virtually the same powers as Superman–is immensely troubling. That means that the program responsible for creating Super-Soldier could have easily created an army of supermen instead, and then used them to take over the world, or simply unleashed them upon the world. Either way, the world would be in trouble if this were to happen–and there’s a good chance that it would. The program that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America eventually molded into the villainous Weapon Plus Program, which was obsessed with creating living weapons stronger than Captain America. If an organization like this had access to a serum that makes supermen, no one on Earth would be safe.
When Superman gets twisted into a villain during certain storylines, there are few things more dangerous than he is. But, an army of supermen created and then unleashed by a Weapon X equivalent is one of those things, proving that Superman is more dangerous dead than alive.
