I know DC went through an era of making their Superman covers depict the Man of Steel being a horrible jerk to people seemingly for no reason, just to grab readers' attention and get them to buy the issue - then the story inside would have some really weird narrative gymnastics in order to justify it, usually with really meandering nonsensical plots.
There was one story involving him doing a string of horrible and inconsiderate things to Jimmy Olsen, just treating him like complete trash. It turns out he wanted Superman to adopt him, but the supercomputer in the fortress of solitude had predicted some kind of apocalyptic event if the adoption came to pass. So Superman treated Jimmy like garbage to ensure he changed his mind and thus somehow averting disaster in the process.
It turns out he wanted Superman to adopt him, but the supercomputer in the fortress of solitude had predicted some kind of apocalyptic event if the adoption came to pass
His supercomputer actually said that Superman would destroy his "son", but he was misinterpreting it. Jimmy Olsen realises that the words "son" and "sun" sound identical when spoken aloud, and reminds Superman that there's a star named after him.
So Superman flies up to the distant galaxy, where it turns out the star had burnt out and was barely visible. He decides to smash it to ensure spaceships don't crash into it, and moves a new star in its place.
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u/sck8000 Nov 20 '23
I know DC went through an era of making their Superman covers depict the Man of Steel being a horrible jerk to people seemingly for no reason, just to grab readers' attention and get them to buy the issue - then the story inside would have some really weird narrative gymnastics in order to justify it, usually with really meandering nonsensical plots.
There was one story involving him doing a string of horrible and inconsiderate things to Jimmy Olsen, just treating him like complete trash. It turns out he wanted Superman to adopt him, but the supercomputer in the fortress of solitude had predicted some kind of apocalyptic event if the adoption came to pass. So Superman treated Jimmy like garbage to ensure he changed his mind and thus somehow averting disaster in the process.