I’m running a trivia game for some anal-retentive geeks. One question I want to ask is “Who killed Superman?” I thought the answer was “Doomsday”. However, due to the aforementioned anal-retentive geeks I researched Superman (to be absolutely sure) and there were some hints of other stories that involved the death of Supes. Is Doomsday the unambiguous answer?
To my knowledge, yes.
Moving to Cafe Society from GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Your main problem is that there has been more than one Superman. DC Comics has that whole parallel Earths thing going on. So, for example, Superman of Earth-2 died in Infinite Crisis a few years ago, while Superman of Earth-1/New Earth continues to live. (the latter being the Superman killed once by Doomsday)
I suppose one could make a case that Superman dies after “Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow”, but it’s been a while since I read that one.
Additionally, I’m pretty sure there are a bunch of obscure Silver Age stories where the death of Superman/Clark Kent is part of the plot – all reversed in the dramatic final reveal, of course. But you’re dealing with geeks here, after all…
(I once geeked a trivia contest to a halt, by answering the question “Who were the sisters of Medeusa?” with “Stheno and Euryale.” of course, they were looking for “the Gorgons” and googling had to ensue.)
Have you ever wondered why Jeopardy! clues tend to be verbose? A common technique for geek-proofing a trivia question is to add restrictive information; e.g., “Who killed Superman in a highly publicized 1992 comic-book storyline?”
It provides a hint and sometimes links the question and answer to the category.
Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding.
Sorry… Who are Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding?
That was a rhetorical question!
In a highly publicized 1992 comic-book storyline, Superman was killed by what fictional character? (It is not necessary to phrase your response in the form of a question.)
Sheesh. Geek-proofing is harder than I thought.
Geeks make the best tax lawyers. 
I mean the tax-avoiding kind, of course. Not the tax-collecting kind.
The same Superman who was killed by Doomsday was also killed by Mantou Raven (I think) in Obsidian Age - almost the entire JLA was, in fact. At the time, it consisted of Superman, Wonder Woman (who has also died twice), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner, just came back from his very brief second death), Batman (…currently dead for the second time*), Martian Manhunter (ditto), and Plastic Man (who technically didn’t die then…but it was a bad few thousand years for him).
- His soul’s on walkabout…and making its way back.
Superman-2, FTR, was killed by Superboy-Prime (who may have been using Superman-Prime at the time…can’t quite remember), another alternate-universe equivalent.
Manitou Raven.
In my experience, lawyers on both sides of a tax case tend to be geeks.
Superman was killed by Batman (Using Lex Luthor’s Kryptonite ring) in a 1991 story. The death was not imaginary, or reversed, but it took place in “The future” (2001) as seen by a time-sensitive character.
(BTW, I’m not the World’s greatest Superman expert, but wasn’t his death in the Doomsday story a fake? He wasn’t really dead, just in some form of suspended animation, or something like that?)
He was indeed dead.
He got better.
No, he was dead, and repaired - a few writers have tried to retcon it into a coma, but others have specifically called it death.
It feels more more dramatic to ask “Who killed Superman?” but I think I will have to take your advice. Damned geeks!
Well, if he was really dead, how was his resurrection explained without making him into a beardless Jesus?
What do you mean “without?”
Superman has been a literary (note: not a* LITERAL*) Christ symbol for decades.
Silly mortal. I thought everyone already knew that writers for the past few decades have used symbolism that Superman is Jesus. For example, didn’t the first episode of Smallville have Clark Kent crucified?
To be fair, he *is *Jewish.