For Lois's birthday, Superman gave her powers like his temporarily; he took her along for some crime-fighting; he solved the riddle of the unstoppable force and the immovable object to save her; he defeated Samson and Atlas at arm-wrestling simultaneously to "win" her affection; he took her to dinner in Atlantis, then finished up by making out with her on the Moon. All in one day, one issue.
The riddle scene alone is its own Crowning Moment of Awesome:
Ultra-Sphinx:Question: What. Happens. When. The. Unstoppable. Force. Meets. The. Immovable. Object? Superman:How about this? They surrender. Ultra-Sphinx:Response. Acceptable.
A young Superman takes on his counterpart from the future:
Kal Kent: I'm faster! Stronger! Able to leap from world to world in a single bound! ...Your solar powers are in their infancy! You're not as strong, as smart or as fast as you will be... Superman: Oh, yeah? But I have my dog!
Luthor gets a fitting if somewhat inauspicious one in issue 10: when Superman visits him in prison and issues the 'save the world while you still have time' bit, Luthor simply walks up to the glass and spits on it and gives Supes an A-level Death Glare. 70 years of continuity and rivalry boiled down to one hocked loogie and two implacable foes.
Issue 1, Luthor controls a living remote probe. It's on the sun's corona, Luthor is on Earth. It takes at least 9 minutes for his signal to travel between the two points so he has to essentially coordinate its movements blind.
All-Star Jimmy swings a punch at Super Luthor. It didn't do jack, but still.
In his A Day in the Limelight issue, he gets a few but the best is beating an out of control Superman by becoming Doomsday and arranging to have "I Love Lucy" carved into the moon for his date with Lucy Lane.
Superman punches out Solaris, the Tyrant Sun:
Solaris:MERCY
Superman:You'll live.
During the battle, Superman's robots join him. As the tyrant sun destroys one after another, Superman yells at them to save themselves. The robots are steadfast, and Robot 7 rips of one of Solaris' spikes.
Solaris invaded neural net. Solaris stole formula SKKZZKK Solaris stole from robot 7. Stole formula. Robot 7 must atone
When Jor-El tells Kal that he's dead and being converted to living solar consciousness, he states, "You can stay and play in the fields of consciousness. Or you can turn and face evil one last time." Guess what he chooses?
Superman defeating a temporarily super-powered Lex Luthor.
Superman: You were right, Lex... brain beats brawn every time! Luthor:No! No! You're supposed to be dead! I had it timed! And... and you think I'd be stupid enough not to make more of this for myself? [reaches into his coat] Superman: This? [holds up the vial] Luthor:[trying to lunge at him] I saw how to save the world!note Referring to the scientific advances possible with the understanding of the universe gained from super-senses. I could have made everyone see. I could have saved the world if it wasn't for you! [Superman knocks him out] Superman: You could have saved the world years ago if it mattered to you, Luthor.
Even better in the film adaptation. Superman doesn't knock Luthor out. so when Superman tells him the above statement, Luthor falls to his knees and admits that Superman was right, which is the greatest victory Superman could possibly achieve. Luthor finally saw the universe as Superman sees it, and at long last, realized that he was the villain, and that he could have done so much real good in the world, had he not been thinking only of himself.
Superman's character perfectly summed up in a single scene. A man capable of moving billions of tons, flying through space, and creating life out of nothing... yet he still takes the time to stop a single teen girl from committing suicide. Many comic experts consider this to be the single most powerful comic page in history.
Steve Lombard might be an obnoxious alpha-male, but he did manage to throw a Bizarro invader out of a window of the Daily Planet, saving Lois, Jimmy and Perry's lives in the process.
There's something awesome and Heartwarming about the fact that in spite of being a universe specifically engineered to not have Superman, Earth-Q defied its purpose and still managed to at least come up with the idea of him, and eventually even create him as a fictional character. The story of a child rocketed from a dying planet is very powerful indeed.
Luthor's epiphany at the end when he realizes having Superman's powers will do the opposite of turning someone into a mass-murdering tyrant or an inhuman god. Instead, it'll make you see how valuable humanity is, making you an altruist dedicated to saving all lives.
A man capable of moving billions of tons, flying through space, and creating life out of nothing... yet he still takes the time to stop a single teen girl from committing suicide. Many comic experts consider this to be the single most powerful comic page in history.
