superman: the future!

[crispy snax]

so i had an idea for a topic that i thought i might try writing up... it would be a look at what would have happened to superman if the crisis never happened! there were lots an lots of hints over the years, from sub characters like Klar Ken to little one shot issues where Jimmy is pulled into the future and mistaken for superman..

i was allways interested in this, the superman dynasty (doenst one of them invent the bionic eye?) and that Elliot S! Maggin issue were its revealed that lex luthor spent his last years touring the galaxy with Superman... a pretty touching idea that the criminal could reform (especially since infinite crisis, which states Superman and Luthors can "never work together" well Superman of E-1 will show them matey!)


so i guess what i would like would bea list of stories that referance supermans future fate, just to get me started... it would be my first article, and its kind of ambitious.. but i dont see anything like it on the site so..

[Super Monkey]

behold!

http://superman.nu/tales2/ghost/

[Great Rao]

In addition to those stories linked to above, more on Maggin's take of Superman's future and ultimate destiny can be found in Superman #400 (online at this site, just click on the bottom-most left-most thumb on every page) - this issue also shows Steranko's prediction on the fate of the Universe, while Superman Annual #10 (also online at this site, in the 1980s part 3 section) shows Maggin's prediction of the same.

Then there are other takes:  Like the Superman's costume story in Kamandi; Action #215 where Superman travels to the future and meets his descendent Craig King (checkout the cover at www.comics.org); other descendents like Klar Ken T 5477 and Laurel Kent (The first appearance of each is also on this site.  I've often wondered what their relation is to each other - cousins perhaps?)

Superwoman is another future character whose existence is a result of Superman.  Not a descendent of Clark, but certainly descended from the Superman Family.

I've also read various stories from the 1960s where Superman ages into a doddering useless figure and ends up in an old folks home; and there were the back-up features from the 1970s or 1980s that showed Superman's son and grandson taking up his mantle.  When taken in combination with the various imaginary stories and Earth-2 stories where Superman and Lois marry - and some where they have super-powered children - it's obvious that Lois was the matriarch of all these super-descendents.

Jerry Siegel summed it up pretty well back in 1938:  "A physical marvel, a mental wonder, SUPERMAN is destined to reshape the destiny of a world! It is not too far fetched to predict that some day our very own planet may be peopled entirely by SUPERMEN!" - which brings it back full circle to Steranko's story.

[TELLE]

Action 300 is in the future too.