Superman (2011), or Superman (Volume 3), is a comic book series published by DC Comics from November 2011 to July 2016. The rebooted sequel series to Superman (1939), it was launched as part of the New 52 branding initiative alongside Action Comics (2011). However, Superman is set in the present day DCU, whereas Action Comics' three first storylines took place during Superman's early days.
The title was intially written by George Pérez with art by Jesús Merino. Subsequent storylines were penned by writers such like Scott Lobdell, Geoff Johns and Dan Jurgens.
Following the ''Flashpoint event reboot, the series introduced a new and drastically different Superman as part of an attempt to bring the character back to his Golden Age roots. Hence, Clark Kent was younger, cockier, more impulsive and kind of an angry loner.
Unfortunately, sales collapsed during the 2015 storyline Superman: Truth, leading DC to take drastic measures. The Post-Flashpoint Superman was jettisoned and his book was cancelled after fifty-two issues, three Annuals, and several specials.
Superman (2011) was followed by Superman (2016), featuring the Post-Crisis Superman and his family.
Storylines in this run that have their own pages:
- H'el on Earth
- Superman: Doomed
- Krypton Returns
- Superman: Truth
- Superman: Savage Dawn
- The Final Days of Superman
Superman (2011) provides examples of:
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Brainiac calls his bottled cities "Kan-Dor" and "Met-Trop-Ol-Is".
- Adaptational Heroism: Lex is more morally nuanced, but ends up genuinely becoming a hero by the events of Forever Evil where he discovers that Good Feels Good and ends up becoming a Justice League member after saving the world from the Crime Syndicate.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: Brainiac created Cyborg-Superman.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Averted, as Titano's only slightly larger than an average gorilla.
- Bring My Brown Pants: In #6, Supergirl saves an obnoxious reporter from falling out of the sky. When she brings him to the ground, Jimmy Olsen and the other reporters complain and order in a change of pants for him.
- Broad Strokes: The Flashpoint 2011 event rebooted the DC Universe, but some older stories are considered to have still happened. A few background pictures also seem to mention that The Death of Superman also happened in some manner, but most likely not the way it did in the original universe.
- Catch a Falling Star: In #6, a Superman doppelganger drops Jimmy Olsen off a building. However, Kara -who had come to Metropolis to talk with her cousin- catches Jimmy
◊. - Composite Character: Brainiac is also apparently known as Computo, previously a separate individual created by Brainiac 5.
- Costume Evolution: Superman's signature red briefs were scrapped, and his yellow belt became red and more detailed instead. The texture of the suit changed as well, being more like some sort of armor with seams all over it, and the general color scheme became a bit darker.
- Court Mage: Mister Mxyzptlk was a 5th-dimensional king's mage and made a major enemy out of the previous mage he replaced.
- Death by Secret Identity: General Lane finds out Superman's secret identity as his daughter's husband, motivating a complete 180 on his belief that Superman is a threat waiting to happen. Soon after he dies during the Event Leviathan story arc.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Martha died in a car crash caused by Mxypytlk's son, as part of his pre-emptive revenge on Superman, with Jonathan passing very soon after.
- Eloquent in My Native Tongue: Averted, as Superman's attempts to calm down a freshly-arrived Supergirl backfire because his Kryptonian speech sounded to her like he'd learned it from a book, not someone who actually speaks the language.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Lex plays this straight with the first Bizarro, whom he sees as a son and is devastated at his death, and with his sister.
- God Couple: Superman is in one with Wonder Woman.
- Hates Being Alone: Post-Flashpoint Supergirl was a lonely, angry teenager. Her family and friends were dead, she could not bring herself to trust her cousin, she didn't manage to make friends or fit in with humans, and she was frequently attacked or betrayed by people she put her trust in. Her issues of alienation, grief and anger got worse until she finally flew off the handle.
- Heel–Face Turn: Lex is a member of the Justice League after defeating the Crime Syndicate in Forever Evil. Despite maintaining his somewhat snobby attitude, he seems to genuinely want to help Metropolis this time around in honor of the Post-Flashpoint's Superman death. It doesn't last, though.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Lex includes a helmet with the Lexo-suit.
- The Hero Dies: Superman suffers a fatal case of Kryptonite poisoning and dies.
- I Have Many Names: Each civilization that adopted him assigned Brainiac a different name.
- Interspecies Romance: Superman (Kryptonian) and Wonder Woman (Amazon/demigod).
- Invincible Villain: Doomsday. Superman makes numerous efforts to halt, and finally kill, the rampaging monster, but all of them fail, with one even seeing Superman possessed by Doomsday.
- Karma Houdini: General Zod's second major appearance as a member of the Superman Revenge Squad was a ploy to retrieve his family from the Phantom Zone. During this he believed he shot down Superman's family and also bails on his allies once he got what he wanted. Later he's conquered a primitive planet with two yellow suns, worshipped by natives as a god. When Hal and Kyle pick a fight with him on principle of his reputation, he's defended by the Guardians of Oa as being the aggrieved party, while justifying himself as merely wishing to rebuild his critically endangered culture with his family. In summary he colonized an entire planet but the implications of that are never examined and he ultimately comes out on top whenever confronted about it.
- My Suit Is Also Super: Superman wears skintight Kryptonian armor that is as nigh-invulnerable as he is.
- Mythology Gag: Issue #50 ends with Clark, Lois and Jimmy eating at the World's Finest cafe (referencing the title of the original World's Finest (1941) comic), at the corner of Siegel and Shuster.
- Official Couple: Superman and Wonder Woman.
- Planet Destroyer: Superman's more of an implicit example, never being shown to destroy anything larger than a moon but still being able to survive galaxy-level attacks from the Void Hound or massive supernovas and have the strength and ability to fight beings on this level like Nebula Man, Dominus, or Darkseid.
- Psychological Projection: Lex presumes Superman is the one obsessed and conspiring against him.
- Psychic Powers: Brainiac takes this up a notch and can only really be defeated by a mental battle with Superman.
- Reality Warper: Brainiac (circa the Doomed arc) is an enormously powerful version of this, as his scientific advances are such that he's now seeking to remake the entire universe in his image.
- Ret-Canon: Brainiac's much like the Superman: The Animated Series version, which is also what most other adaptations' Brainiacs are based on. Apparently he still got started on Colu, but he also was the Kryptonian AI, and exists in many places under many names (including Earth, as the Internet).
- Stable Time Loop: Mxyzptlk got a job as a Court Mage for an old king and married his daughter. He eventually grew up to be the king and gave his past self the job which is apparently normal in the 5th Dimension.
- Tragic Villain: According to Superman: Doomed, Brainiac's homeworld and family were destroyed in an invasion from another dimension and Brainiac has been kidnapping species from across the universe to harvest their Psychic Powers in order to recreate his lost home and see his family again.
- Trauma Conga Line: In the space of around two years of published stories, Superman (among other things) got nearly killed by kryptonite poisoning, dunked in a Apokoliptian Fire Pit, had his identity revealed to the world and became a social pariah, lost his powers, and got more kryptonite poisoning which ultimately proved fatal and painfully killed him.
- Underwear of Power: Averted, as Superman traded the red trunks for a red belt.
- Undying Loyalty: In Superman: Truth, Jimmy Olsen stands by Superman's side after Lois Lane blows his secret identity to the entire world (it probably helps that Supes revealed his identity to him just prior to the shit hitting the fan). Jimmy also shows that there's an entire neighborhood who is happy to have Superman around and renamed their area as "Kentville".
- Walking Wasteland: Doomsday's mere presence causes everything around him to die. Attacking Krypton decades ago, he was exiled to the Phantom Zone, but inadvertently freed in the present day.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Brainiac was out to save the universe from destruction by invaders from the 5th dimension.
