Crisis at Hand is a Superman storyline created by DC Comics in 1992.
After a night on the town with Lois Lane, Clark Kent returns to his apartment for some sleep. However, his Super-Hearing picks up trouble - the sounds of domestic abuse coming from his neighbor's apartment. However, in confronting the man, Superman finds himself helpless as the man's wife calls the cops on him. As Superman struggles with the threat looming over this poor woman and her children, he's reminded of an incident from his past, one that shaped who he is now.
Crisis at Hand is one of a few cases of a Very Special Episode, running through Superman: The Man of Steel #16 and Superman (Vol. 2) #72, that comes off as very sincere and is considered an iconic storyline for the topic it handles. It's also notable for being the last storyline before the events of The Death of Superman.
Crisis at Hand Features the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Lois takes the reins in dealing with the problem at the end of the story, being the one to give Andrea the courage to finally leave Gary for her health and safety.
- Ascended Extra: Gary was a random passerby in the Time and Time Again storyline, but here, he's given extra prominence.
- Cerebus Retcon: To Superman: Champion of the Oppressed. The iconic story had Superman confronting a wife beater and roughing him up to teach the man a lesson. When the story is revisited here, it turns out that it drove him to be even more angry and he murdered his wife in retaliation.
- Domestic Abuse: Probably one of the more well-known instances discussing this, showing it isn't easy as swooping in and saving the day.
- Dramatic Irony: When a younger Clark investigates his first murder and learns it was the woman he saved from her abusive husband, he goes into a Heroic BSoD. Detective Henderson, however, thinks that this is just Clark's first murder and the brutality of it all caught him off-guard.
- Driven to Suicide: After Clark and Lois confront Gary and Andrea at the end of the story, Gary wanders off in a daze. Thankfully, Clark tags along as Superman and spots him as he's at a bridge, ready to jump.
- Police Are Useless: Andrea calls the cops on Superman, who are completely and utterly baffled at what's going on and despite the clear and present danger Andrea is in, can't really do anything without her permission. Even when Superman goes to the police as Clark, they even admit they can't do anything as she needs to be the one to make the call.
- Powerful and Helpless: An iconic example of this trope. Superman finds himself helpless as a man beats his wife and he can't do anything about unless he escalates the situation even worse. It takes Lois stepping in to make a difference.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Upon learning the first woman he saved from domestic abuse was murdered, Clark spends a few weeks hunting down the man all across Metropolis, trying to find him. Once he does, at the woman's funeral, it takes being confronted by the families of both people for Superman to stand down.
