When I was a kid I read Superman comics(this was around 1990) There was a storyline going on about Gangbuster and Superman, the last one I remember reading Superman found out he was Gangbuster and flew into space. I never found out what happened?
Also there was a ad for a comic called Superman Unchained, it showed Superman with a beard dressed up in some weird outfit and tearing it off. Whatever happened with that?
Those two are connected. Superman went into space and ended up on some godforsaken planet where he was captured and forced to fight as a gladiator by an alien dictator. That’s when he was bearded and chained.
On that planet, there was this alien priest who had started a cult on Krypton a long time ago and attempted to bring his adherents offworld, but it turned out Kryptonians have a genetic flaw that stop them from travelling off Krypton, so they all died in some nonspecified but unpleasant and messy manner. The priest has spent his time since then being wracked with guilt.
One of the priest’s current followers (possibly the only one) worked for the dictator, discovered that Superman was a Kryptonian and tipped the priest off, who at first did not believe it but later accepted it. Apparently, Jor-El tinkered with little Kal-El to remove the genetic flaw I mentioned.
Superman and the priest had a chat and then Superman went back to Earth, if memory serves.
You forgot to mention that is where Superman picked up the Eradicator, which has at various times tried to a)remake the Earth into Krypton b) destroy Earth c) replaced Superman after he died d) been an extremely violent superhero and I believe was also responsible for the creation of the first Fortress of Solitude in the Antarctica.
I didn’t so much forget as ignore, since I haven’t read those stories. The Eradicator is the little handheld thing that looks like the pod that brought Kal-El to Earth?
Yup. Nasty thing designed to preserve Kryptonian culture, but what was what saved Supes from Doomsday.
When I first head about the plot of Superman Returns, I kinda hoped it would be a film adaptation of this story. IIRC, the whole Gangbuster identity emerged as a reaction to guilt over having de-powered and executed a trio of Pocket-universe Krytonian criminals.
And is now combined with a human for the superhero type stuff.