DC Retroactive: Superman (July-August, 2011) was a three-issue-long limited series published by DC Comics as part of the DC Retroactive line, a brief event which celebrated The DCU's History prior to the 2011 continuity reboot. To that end, they published several one-shots starring their main franchises (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash and the Justice League). Each issue spotlighted one different decade in the character's history (The 70s, The 80s and The 90s), penned by a writer representative of that period, and included a reprint from a classic story.
The issues featuring Superman were:
- "The '70s" - "Death Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry": by Martin Pasko and Eduardo Barreto.
- "The '80s" - "New Day, Final Destiny": by Marv Wolfman and Sergio Cariello.
- "The '90s" - "Speed": by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove.
Tropes in "The 70s":
- Ahem: As Superman is saying goodbye to Lana Lang, who is being carried away by paramedics, he hears a firm "A-hem" behind him. Upon turning around, he comes face to face with Lois, who is not happy about Lana exploiting any excuse to flirt with him.
- Anti-True Sight: Superman is accosted by someone who looks like Atomic Skull but does not sound like him. Superman tries and fails to see through his helmet, meaning his foe indeed is trying to hide his identity by lining his headgear with lead.
- As You Know: In the first issue, Van-Zee shows Superman footage of his latest case (in order to illustrate his point about Superman running on empty), and Superman impatiently reminds him that he is aware of how it went down because he was there.Superman: "Van-Zee...Is there a point to this? I mean, I was there, remember?"
- Betty and Veronica: Lampshaded by Superman when he complains that both Lois and Lana are usually intelligent and strong-willed women who begin behaving as Betty and Veronica every time he flies by.
- Gaslighting: After betting Grbnsqz the Wagerer that he can destroy the Man of Steel, Mxyzptlk gives Superman a new power without his knowledge: the stress-triggered ability to create psychic apparitions subconsciously. Suddenly, Superman -who was previously feeling tired and irritated- starts fighting obviously fake enemies which vanish as soon as the fight is over, together with any evidence of battle damage. Superman's bewilderment increases his stress, which triggers more battles against invisible enemies, and makes him doubt his sanity until Supergirl tells him that the Fortress' cameras spotted Mxyzptlk lurking about right before the first attack.
- In Medias Res: The first issue opens with Superman being struck down by a meteorite after "a series of bizarre, impossible calamities". The next page goes back in time and starts telling the story from the beginning.
- Love Makes You Dumb: In Superman's opinion, Lois and Lana are intelligent women who forget about their brains whenever he is around.
- Lotus Position: Van-Zee uses a similar pose as practicing Torquasm Vo, an ancient Kryptonian type of meditation similar to Yoga: he is sitting cross-legged, lifting his knees and crossing his arms over his chest.
- Mundane Utility: Superman uses his strength, speed and heat vision to repair a wall previously blown up by the Master Jailer.
- Right in Front of Me: Superman winces inwardly when Lois complains to his face about spending one week co-hosting the news with Clark Kent, who will not stop giving her puppy-eyed stares.
- Sheathe Your Sword: When Superman figures out that the apparitions are subconsciously triggered by his stress, does meditation exercises to calm down and starts ignoring his visions, which causes them to vanish entirely.
- There Was a Door: Subverted when Superman and Supergirl believe to see Metallo breaking through a wall into the Fortress of Solitude. However, it turns out to be a hallucination suffered by Superman.
- Translation Convention: It is assumed that the speech of the denizens from the ninth-dimensional land of Bppkss is an alien speech which is being translated into English.
- The Unpronounceable: Mxyzptlk from the fifth-dimension Zrfff travels to the ninth-dimensional land of Bppkss and gets in trouble with Grbnsqz the Wagerer.
Tropes in "The 80s":
- Discontinuity Nod: Lampshaded by "Destiny" when he states that the Identity Crisis (2004) will be so terrible that everyone "will agree to forget it ever happened".
- Mythology Gag: As trying to dissuade him from keeping fighting, "Destiny" shows Superman images of the future: Supergirl and The Flash getting killed in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Batman getting his back broken by Bane in Knightfall and becoming the builder of the murderous OMAC A.I., Wonder Woman killing Maxwell Lord, the Amazons invading America in Amazons Attack, Firestorm and Blue Bettle getting murdered, families of heroes getting murdered in Identity Crisis, Hal Jordan being manipulated by the Parallax entity into murdering the Green Lantern Corps in Emerald Twilight, Doomsday killing the Man of Steel himself in The Death of Superman, the deaths of thousands of Kryptonians in New Krypton, the rising of the dead in Blackest Night...
- Secret Test of Character: An entity who looks like Destiny of the Endless appears before Superman to show him visions of a horrible future where his loved ones die, heroes get killed or become evil or twisted, thousands get killed... and all of it will happen unless Superman lets a race of alien giants turn humanity into their mind-controlled slaves. No matter what Destiny shows to him, though, Superman refuses to stop fighting. Pleased, "Destiny" vanishes and transforms into the Monitor's agent, Harbinger, who is looking for heroes who are powerful and strong-willed enough to fight the Anti-Monitor and stop the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- Sleep Deprivation: Superman has been unable to have a good night of sleep eight days in a row because there is always some bizarre catastrophe preventing him from going to sleep.
- Spotting the Thread: A figure who claims to be Destiny of the Endless appears before Superman in his dreams to put him through a mental test. Superman wonders why Destiny is trying to manipulate him...until he realizes that Destiny's very nature would not allow him to goad someone into not making what they are meant to do. That entity may look and even sound like him, but it is not Destiny. Before Superman can get hold of him, though, the figure fades away.
- A Storm Is Coming: Superman calls Supergirl after a bad dream has gotten him utterly shaken to ask her to be careful. Preluding the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the story ends with Supergirl gazing at the morning red skies through a window and guessing "a bad storm's coming in".
- Tempting Fate: Superman barely remembers his dream, but he is very shaken and frightened, and he calls his cousin to ask her to be careful. Kara dismisses his fears, reminding him that "There's not much that can hurt [her]"... and then she mentions that the morning sky is red...
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Tropes in "The 90s":
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: As reading the Daily Planet, Luthor grumbles he hates Superman because "The heroics! The headlines! The hair!"
- Bad Boss: Lex Luthor fires one employee only because the man is naïve enough to suggest him to see a doctor about his receding hairline.
- False Flag Operation: Lex Luthor tries to get revenge on Superman, Project Cadmus and Metropolis by recreating and unleashing the "Cruiser", a burrowing land whale-like creature originally created by Cadmus. In this way, when the Cruiser begins bringing buildings down, Luthor will spread fake information that the subterranean mutants known as the Underworlders are attacking the surface world; and should the Cruiser to be found, Cadmus will be blamed.
- Sand Worm: The "Cruiser" is a genetically-engineered, blind worm-like burrowing creature whose huge mouth, shark-like rows of teeth, tiny clawed upper limbs and corrosive skin secretions allow it to burrow through bedrock at great speed.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After figuring prominently in the two first issues, Supergirl is completely and noticeably missing here, not even meriting one mention.
