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Nothing can save me...But I've got 30 days left! It's my last chance to help the world, before my end!
Superman

The Last Days of Superman is a Superman story published in Superman 1939 #156 (October, 1962). It was written by Edmond Hamilton and drawn by Curt Swan.

Superman is called to prevent a strange flying object from colliding against a space probe. Superman cannot go near the object because it is made from Kryptonite, so he causes it to crash-land safely on Earth. Afterwards, he and Jimmy Olsen approach the object to examine it, and find out it is some strange-looking alien casket. As Superman translates the letters carved into the lid, and learns the casket contains one strain of an extremely dangerous Kryptonian virus, Jimmy carelessly pushes open the urn. Superman swiftly smashes a giant rock against the casket, burying it deep underground, but he starts feeling unwell immediately.

Superman fears that he has already caught the virus, so he goes to see a doctor. Unfortunately, the doctor cannot examine him due to his alien biology; but he believes Superman is right about the virus. The good news is he cannot spread his illness to non-Kryptonians. The bad news is Superman has only one month left to live.

Superman's friends beseech him to stay in bed and rest, but he refuses to. He has plenty tasks to do in order to secure the future of mankind, and he only has thirty days to fulfill them all. Nonetheless, Superman collapses while undertaking the first of them, and it is up to Supergirl to rally together all their allies and complete her cousin's works before his passing.

The concept of the Virus X -and alien plagues- was revisited several years later in The Leper from Krypton (1968) and The Plague of the Antibiotic Man (1977). Likewise, the "Superman wants to leave Earth protected before dying" plotline would be reused by stories such like All-Star Superman and The Final Days of Superman.


Tropes:

  • Apocalypse How: Supergirl destroys a planet whose trajectory is threatening Earth by moving it in the path of another empty world. The ensuing flaming explosion takes both planets.
  • Contamination Situation: Clark is infected with the X Virus, and spends the whole story reluctantly bedridden and being watched by Jimmy and Lois as Supergirl and the Legion try to accomplish his unfinished tasks and find a cure.
  • Continuity Nod: As thinking about the women he has loved, Superman recalls Lyla Lerrol, whom he met in Superman's Return to Krypton.
  • Cue the Sun: After spending one month fighting his illness, it looks like Superman is finally dying. As his loved ones gather around his deathbed to say their goodbyes, the Sun sets into the horizon.
  • Deface of the Moon: Among the preparations he made for his death was using his heat vision to write "Do good to others and any man can be a Superman. —signed— Superman (Clark Kent)" on the surface of the moon. When it turned out that he wasn't going to die after all, Supergirl and Krypto removed his secret identity from the message— the rest of it, however, was apparently there to stay.
  • Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Supergirl prevents a planet from eventually colliding with Earth by pushing it towards another empty world. As a result of it, both worlds crash into each other and die in a fiery holocaust.
    Supergirl: Superman was right! In far future times, this planet would hit Earth! Hmm... Perhaps I can make it hit something else... [...] I'm slowly deflecting it into the path I want it to take! It's going to hit that other, uninhabited world nearby!
  • Easily-Overheard Conversation: When he was a baby, Kal-El casually overheard his father and a scientist called Tharb-El talking about the Virus X. Back then he was busy playing and he hardly paid any attention, but thanks to his total recall, adult Superman can remember every word uttered.
  • Exact Eavesdropping: Justified. After examining Superman, the doctor leaves the room and tells Jimmy, Lois, Lana and Perry he cannot cure Superman. Superman hears every word thanks to his Super-Hearing, and he decides to fly through the window.
  • Extra Eyes: Supergirl and the Atlanteans fight an abyssal monster which sports an extra pair of eyes on the back of its head.
  • Failed a Spot Check: A shard of Kryptonite remains embedded in Jimmy Olsen's camera for many days without Jimmy noticing it until it was pointed out to him after nearly one month.
  • Flashback: As he is dying, Superman flashes back to his childhood in Smallville, meeting Lana Lang and later Lois Lane, and going back in time to pre-destruction Krypton and meeting Lyla Lerrol.
  • Fleeting Demographic Rule: Superman dying because of a mysterious illness which turns out to be caused by a Kryptonite pebble embedded in Jimmy's camera was a plotline used for the first time in Superman (Volume 1) #66 (September 1950).
  • Friendship Moment: Kal-El only has a few days left to live, but he still takes time to go to Gotham City and thank Batman for being a "wonderful friend".
  • Inconsistent Coloring: In a flashback scene, Lyla Lerrol is depicted as a raven-haired beauty, even though she was blonde in Superman's Return to Krypton. In For the Man Who Has Everything, she will be blonde again.
  • In the Blood: Subverted. Brainiac 5 declines to help his fellow Legionnaires fullfill Superman's pending tasks and shuts himself in his lab. His teammates -including his own girlfriend, who should know better- start wondering if he will not be a Superman-hating criminal as his ancestor after all. Finally, Supergirl confronts him, and Querl Dox reveals he has been working on a cure for Superman's illness.
  • It Only Works Once: Supergirl uses a piece of Red Kryptonite, which restores a Kryptonian's powers on planets with a red sun (found by Superboy in Superboy 1949 #81), to keep her powers when she time-travels to pre-destruction Krypton. As all fragments of Red Kryptonite, though, it only has effect on each Kryptonian once; hence, neither Kara nor Kal were able to use it again.
  • Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Superman's problems start when a strangely-shaped vault made from Green Kryptonite drifts into the Earth's atmosphere.
  • Laser Cutter: Superman uses his heat vision to carve a message into the Moon's surface.
  • Mundane Utility: One of the items on Superman's "Things to Do Before My Quickly-Approaching Death" list is to dig a system of canals for irrigating desert lands. However, he becomes too weakened to overtake the task, so it is Supergirl who carries out the project.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Jimmy Olsen finds and decides to open an unknown alien container which has just fallen from space without taking any basic safety precaution, releasing the Virus X and exposing Superman to an incurable illness.
  • Now, Let Me Carry You: Supergirl, the Legion and even volunteers from places as Kandor and Atlantis set out to fulfill all pending tasks which Superman intended to do to protect the future of mankind before his passing.
  • Planet Destroyer: Supergirl must divert the trajectory of a planetoid which will collide with Earth in the future. Kara solves the problem by pushing the planetoid into the path of an uninhabited planet, so destroying two worlds at once.
  • Right in Front of Me: When a strange object is endangering a space pod, Jimmy Olsen tells Clark Kent he hopes Superman is listening to his signal watch.
    Jimmy Olsen: Clark! Did you hear that? Only Superman can save that astronaut now! I'll call him on my signal-watch!
    Clark Kent: (thinking) Since I am Superman, it won't take me long to answer!
  • Rule of Three: The story is divided into three parts: "Part I: Superman's Death Sentence!", "Part II: The Super-Comrades of All-Time!" and "Part III: Superman's Last Day of Life!"
  • Sea Monster: Supergirl and the Atlanteans must fight an abyssal monster which has become gigantic due to radioactive pollution. It looks like a multi-eyed cross between a lobster and a Pliosaurus.
  • Time Travel: As Superman is bedridden, Supergirl flies to the future to ask the Legion of Super-Heroes for help, and later she travels back to pre-destruction Krypton to find a cure for the virus.
  • A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Superman nearly gets killed because Jimmy was so eager and impatient to open a strange alien casket and find out the contents that he did not even think of taking basic precautions, as moving it to a safe environment.
  • Unbroken Vigil:
    • As Superman is bedridden, Lois Lane sits by his side and refuses to leave. Eventually, she passes out due to a combination of hunger, dehydration and lack of sleep, and Superman asks Jimmy to take her back to Metropolis.
    • Jimmy also spends large amounts of time with Superman as he worsens. Ironically, given the twist, if Jimmy hadn't been so loyal, Superman wouldn't have gotten so sick to begin with.
  • Working Through the Cold: Superman gets infected with an incurable Kryptonian disease. Even so, he attempts to carry out his most important tasks, but he collapses before finishing the first of them.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: Superman is dying from a very rare illness and has only thirty days left to live. Superman tries to get everything done before his passing, but he becomes too weakened and must rely on Supergirl to carry out all his pending tasks.


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