Heartwarming / All-Star Superman

"You're much stronger than you think you are. Trust me."

• The cover of Issue 1 was inspired by Grant Morrison seeing a guy relaxing in a Superman costume sitting on some stairs; Morrison stated that it embodied all the chillness that Superman would have despite having omega-level powers.
• The scene where Superman stops the goth teenager from committing suicide really punctuates the soul of the character.
  Superman: You're much stronger than you think you are. Trust me.
  • Even when he's dying, racing around the world, trying to finish everything before he goes... he still finds the time for a single person. Mark Waid called this the most moving moment he's ever read in a Superman comic. And he has read every Superman comic ever.
  • To make this clearer, Superman (and the audience) only overhear the barest hints about what's happening, from an interrupted phone call with the teenager's psychologist. This means that Superman has been fighting to make the world a better place for the rest of the comic, while keeping an eye out for the possibility of a suicidal person, so he can be there when she needs him.
  • POW awarded it the greatest moment in comic book history, with the author stating that his only reservation was that it was a new moment (in the late 2000's) out of a medium that's been around for 80 plus years. The author also stated that it was the only choice to make. The writer even stated that one can almost hear Christopher Reeve speaking to the girl.
  • Superman saved more than one person in that panel.◊ Also, the Reddit thread with that image is also very touching.
  • It's somehow even more touching if you know Grant's views on Superman. If you ask them, they'll say they didn't do anything, they're just the writer. Superman is an Idea that's much bigger and older than them, and just because he's a character printed on paper and written (this time) by Grant doesn't make him "not real". Superman saved people's real lives, and will always be there to do so again.
  • If you took all eighty years of the character's history and distilled it into a single pure moment containing all his best qualities, that one page would be it. He inspires strength, wisdom, kindness, freedom, value and hope in just a few words. And he saves a life.
  • A moment that often gets left out of the discussion is the page preceding this one: Superman is talking to Lois, who got herself kidnapped by a mad scientist just so she could get his attention to talk to him, because she finally knows he's dying. Superman left her to come save this stranger. Because Superman's own happiness is nothing compared to the life of another person.
  • In another medium, the setup of the scene would look like a quintessential Jump Scare, with the frail little girl alone in one panel, and the next a giant right behind her and touching her. But this is Superman. We instantly know that things are going to be okay.
  • As The Incredibles and The Boys demonstrated, it would have been really easy to cheapen this moment. A lesser writer may have had Superman swoop in to rescue that girl as she jumped, or to just parrot some stock-standard platitudes like that would fix her. Instead, he made a proper assessment of the situation and gave her a personal reason not to kill herself.
• The end of the issue, as the microscopic Kandorians have failed to save Superman from inside his body, Superman says that he never expected them to save him. The real reason he wanted their help was so they could cure the terminal illnesses of a bunch of children at a hospital, since microscopic Kandorian super-doctors could easily cure any human disease. Even emaciated and missing hair from chemotherapy, the children (and the nurse) are visibly overjoyed that Superman has come to visit them. One can only imagine how they'll feel once they realize they've been completely cured.
• Jimmy Olsen's protectiveness of Superman during "The Superman/Olsen War", especially one moment after their fight. As he cradles the beaten hero, two men approach.
  Jimmy: Don't let anyone see him like this! You hear me?
  • All of this is especially true in light of the warnings Agatha gives Jimmy about Doomsday possibly "overwhelm[ing his] mind". Jimmy unhesitatingly risks his life and sanity to save his best friend.
• A small moment, but when Clark Kent is lying on the floor of the Daily Planet, seemingly dead, Lex Luthor arrives and begins to threaten the occupants. While everyone else is standing up to Lex, Steve Lombard, a Jerk Jock sports writer who spent all his time bullying Clark is kneeling by him performing CPR.
  Steve: Come on, Clark! You can do it, buddy! Come on! I'm sorry for all those times I played tricks on you.
• The moment when the Kryptonian astronauts are lying, dying while Superman works through his options for saving them. They acknowledge the nobility Superman shows in trying to save two people who had spent the entire issue savaging everything he stands for and trying to beat him into submission. Superman points out he learned of mercy from his human parents.
  Bar-El: Kal-El. I'm proud to call you my kin. Krypton's great heart lives on in you.
  • Earlier in the issue, Bar-El callously places the half-billion ton dwarf star key to the Fortress of Solitude in the hand of one of the robots, crushing it instantly: Superman immediately dashes to its side, placing a comforting hand on its shoulder as he retrieves the key.
• In Issue 10, Superman creates an alternate Earth in a miniature universe so he can find out if a world could exist without a Superman. Even in Earth-Q, the sped-up history shows humanity at various stages of enlightenment championing the concept of a Superman. Leading up a moment one millisecond away in reality where a young man in Earth-Q's Cleveland is putting pencil to paper:
  Joe Shuster: Third time's the charm... (panel reveals an early model of 1938 Superman) This is going to change everything...
• The Superman Robots have a bit of a scene where they come to aide Superman to battle for the sun.
• The importance of Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen is a sweet moment for their fans, given that Morrison left out certain elements as "important once, but not anymore". But these two are not among those elements. Superman will always need his girlfriend and his pal.
• Lex Luthor finally gets the one thing he wanted: Superman's powers (well that and Superman lying dead at his feet). But just as he's comprehending all the powers at Superman's disposal, those powers increase Luthor's awareness - perceiving the fragile and unique nature of reality itself - to where he understands why Superman is an ultimate force for Good.
  Luthor: (wide-eyed, mouth agape as tears begin to well up) It's so obvious. I can actually see and hear and feel and taste it and... The fundamental forces are all yoked by thought alone. It's thought-controlled! Hmm? Sorry... sorry, these new senses... I can actually see the machinery and wire connecting and separating everything since it all began... This is how he sees all the time, every day. Like, it's all just us, in here, together. And we're all we've got.
  • This is especially poignant if you adhere to the theory that Leo Quintum is actually a future version of Lex Luthor who reformed and dedicated his life to actually bettering the world after this moment of super-lucidity.
  • In the animated version, instead of Superman delivering one final punch to Luthor, Lex simply admits that Superman was right. If you think about it, this is Superman's ultimate victory, and his unofficial thirteenth Labor: The redemption of Lex Luthor.
• In the prison issue, after the Parasite has been dealt with, Lex to Clark and notes, with all sincerity, that he's always liked him, noting his decidedly human flaws and qualities as "everything [Superman] isn't." Even when he insults Clark's clumsiness early on, he qualifies it by saying Clark writes like a poet. Adding in that this story takes most of its cues from the Silver Age, you can easily assume this Lex grew up in Smallville and has known Clark all his life. It's kind of heartwarming to know that even at his most cartoonishly supervillainous that Lex still has a sliver of humanity.
  • Doubling as a Moment of Funny, Clark/Superman feigns impaired vision due to having his glasses off when Lex has to quickly redraw a smudged-off eyebrow. In spite of their status as enemies, Superman is still willing to be a Nice Guy and refuses to give Lex any more insecurities or humiliation than he already has to face.
• Superman: I only have moments to save the world.^note "I only have one chance to save the world." in the animation adaptation
  Lois: That's more than you ever needed.
  Superman: I love you, Lois Lane. Until the end of time.
• The final lines of the animated film.
  Quintum: (smiling) They always said they wanted children.
  Lois: (echo) He's not dead. He's up there fixing the Sun. And when he's done, he'll be back.

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