"Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" Part 1 Quiz

Answer: Alan Moore

Veteran DC editor Julius Schwartz conceived the idea for the story. The September 1986 issues of "Superman" and "Action Comics" were to be his last as editor before John Byrne would take over with a revamped version of the character. He decided that to give the character a grand send-off, he would make believe that his last two issues were actually the final issues featuring Superman ever.

Hence, the story aimed to wrap up the character's mythos and answer all unresolved questions about his story arc definitively. Schwartz initially approached Superman creator, Jerry Siegel, to write the story. Siegel said he would love to do it but was unable to do so because of legal issues that could not be resolved in time. Schwartz recounts that he was having breakfast with Alan Moore, who he told about his difficulties.

He claims that Moore then grabbed him and said, "If you let anyone else write it, I'll kill you." Not wanting to be murdered, he agreed. Of course, it also helped that Moore already had a reputation as one of the best writers in the field. Moore's work on "Saga of the Swamp Thing" and "Watchmen" has been acclaimed as groundbreaking and he has remained highly-regarded to this day.

Answer: Parasite and Terra-Man

The Parasite was a purple-skinned villain who had the power to drain off others' life energy through touch and could even gain a fraction of Superman's powers this way. He often partnered with the Terra-Man, a sort of space cowboy who used futuristic weapons with an Old West design and rode an alien winged horse. Lois also notes that the body of Brainiac had been destroyed, apart from the head, which was missing, and that Lex Luthor had gone into hiding. Lois notes that Superman had nobody left to fight so he spent most of his time doing research in space for the government.

Although General Zod is a long-time enemy of Superman, he is not mentioned by name in the story; it is noted in Part 2 ("Action Comics" #583) that several Kryptonian supercriminals remain imprisoned in the Phantom Zone. Ultraman was an evil counterpart of Superman from an alternate Earth. Darkseid is an evil god who rules the Planet Apokolips with an iron fist. He debuted in "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" #134. The monster Doomsday debuted in "Superman: The Man of Steel" #18 in 1992. Sinestro and Black Hand are both enemies of Green Lantern, Hal Jordan.

Answer: Kills himself

In her interview with the reporter, Lois notes that for years, Bizarro's activities had been characterized by harmless stupidity, so his sudden and extreme outburst of violence was all the more incredible. When Superman demands an explanation for his behavior, Bizarro first explains that his actions are part of a "genius self-improvement plan" to become a "perfect imperfect duplicate" of Superman by ensuring that he is opposite to Superman in every conceivable way.

For example, Superman never kills, so he decides to kill many people, starting by destroying the Bizarro home world. To Superman's mounting horror, he goes on to state that since Superman is alive, he must be the opposite, at which point he takes out a piece of blue kryptonite (which is harmless to Superman but lethal to Bizarro) and quickly dies.

Answer: Superman action figures

While at work at the TV news studio, Clark receives a package containing a bunch of Superman action figures, which his colleagues initially assume are ordinary toys. However, they soon start moving of their own accord and attacking the studio with heat vision. Clark is caught in their attack and his clothes are shredded, revealing his Superman costume underneath, exposing his secret identity publicly.

Answer: Pete Ross

In addition to the small package containing action figures, Clark receives a large lead-lined box. Toyman and the Prankster communicate with Superman through one of the action figures, which is radio controlled and dare him to open the box. To his horror, he finds the body of his close friend and confidante, Pete Ross, who is one of the few people he entrusted with his secret identity. Toyman and the Prankster state that they decided to torture his friends to expose his secret, starting with poor Pete. Superman quickly tracks them down by tracing the radio signals from the action figure and apprehends them without difficulty. They surrender immediately but are unable to offer any explanation of why they decided to start murdering his friends, looking dazed and confused. Like the incident with Bizarro, this turn of events is particularly shocking because these two had never before been killers and it is unclear what drove them to do something so terrible. At Pete's funeral, Superman expresses a sense of foreboding that since minor nuisances from his past have returned as killers, actual killers will return to threaten his friends too. (Almost as if he can sense the plot unfolding...)

In this version of Superman, Lana Lang, Clark's childhood sweetheart, did not know his secret identity until it was publicly exposed. (In the later revamped version of Superman, he confides his secret to her instead of Pete Ross.) Lori Lemaris, who does not appear in this story, is a mermaid who was once a love interest for Clark and knew his secret because she had telepathic powers, although she promises not to reveal it to anyone. Kenny Braverman debuted in 1994 and was a childhood friend of Clark who later became his bitter enemy and figured out his secret using his personal knowledge of Clark's life.

Answer: Brainiac possesses Luthor's body

Luthor uses some kind of tracking technology to locate Brainiac's head, hoping to open it up and study its alien technology. However, Brainiac is not dead as Luthor had assumed, and is able to attach part of himself to Luthor and take possession of his body, while accessing all of his knowledge as well. Luthor remains alive and conscious but is unable to resist Brainiac's will. Brainiac soon assembles enough technology to build a new spaceship to replace the one that Superman had previously destroyed and decides it is time to seek his revenge.

Answer: Metallo

A group of apparently ordinary people gather outside the building and as if on cue, reveal themselves to be identical looking cyborgs. Metallo is usually depicted as a single individual who has had his brain transferred into a mechanical body, but in this case, there are multiple Metallos who attack the Daily Planet with a singular purpose.

They begin by climbing up the outside walls of the building and breaking in through the windows of the floor where Lois, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White are working. (Why they couldn't just go inside and use the elevators or stairs is not explained.) One of them explains that they are coming to kill Clark Kent's friends as revenge on Superman for killing their brother. Lois is thrown out a high window and rescued by Superman, which she describes as a 'familiar scene.' Superman manages to defeat the Metallo army using a giant magnet.

In her interview, Lois notes that most of the Metallos were successfully rehumanized.

Answer: Kryptonite Man

The Kryptonite Man is an ancient Kryptonian of a different race than Superman's ancestors, who somehow gained the ability to absorb and emit kryptonite radiation. He blames Superman's race for the destruction of the planet Krypton and wishes to kill Superman in revenge. The newly revived Brainiac arrives in Metropolis at the same time as the Kryptonite Man and abducts him, as he can use the latter as a weapon in his upcoming battle with Superman. Meanwhile, in the Fortress of Solitude, Superman and his friends are joined by Krypto the Super-Dog, who has apparently been wandering the stars for several years. Although everyone is happy to see him, they find Krypto's unexpected arrival somehow ominous.

The Human Bomb and Captain Atom are DC superheroes, while Radioactive Man is a comic book character featured in "The Simpsons."

Answer: In his current era, she has been dead for several years

Kara Zor-El, known as Supergirl, famously met her untimely end in "Crisis on Infinite Earths" #7, the cover of which features an iconic image of a wailing Superman holding her broken body. As a teenager, Supergirl had a number of time travelling adventures in the 30th century with the Legion of Superheroes, and in the current story has accompanied them into her own future to visit Superman.

Naturally, she is unaware of when her own death will occur. Superman is shocked that the Legion would bring her to the current era when they must know that she had already died by this time.

Their leader, Brainiac-5, apologises, acknowledging that this must be distressing for him and explains that she insisted on coming. Supergirl mentions that the laws of time travel would prevent her from visiting an era in which she currently exists, and innocently inquires if her future self is in "another time period or something." Superman simply states that she is currently in the past. Additionally, when she asks what she is like as a grown woman, Superman tells her that she grew up to be beautiful. Poor Supergirl - as if it wasn't enough that she died, in the subsequent rebooted "post-crisis" DC universe, she never even existed!

Answer: Superman holding a mechanical device

Brainiac-5, the Legion's leader, explains that they came to this era to give him this gift on behalf of the Legion, but does not elaborate further about its significance. In the second part of the story, the figurine turns out to provide a vital clue that Superman needs to defeat his ultimate enemy who is responsible for his recent troubles. Superman asks why they came to see him at this time specifically, and Brainiac-5 explains that their histories mark this date as a special time in Superman's life and therefore they came to meet him to salute him. To this, Superman adds grimly, "and to pay your last respects. Is that it?" When the Legion and Supergirl say their goodbyes, Brainiac-5's colleague Saturn Girl states that her eyes are watering, which she says, "must be some twentieth century virus." This reflects the sad tone at the end of this issue.