Mongul: Do you know before whom you stand?
Superman: What I know is that very soon... only one of us will be left standing.
— Action Comics #1035
Luv, Warworld's a radioactive hellhole where the head despot in charge brainwashes his slaves into thinking their chains are "empowering" and endless war is "for the greater good." Trust me, we're all gonna feel right at home.
— Manchester Black, Batman/Superman & The Authority Special
My name is Clark Kent. I am the son of farmers and of scientists. I am a husband and a father. I am a journalist by trade and, as such, feel compelled to document my time in this place. But on some days... days like today... I am called upon to fight.
— Superman, Action Comics #1039
Everything Mongul and his bloodpriests preach here is a lie. He means to keep you weak and slow to fight back... with his words, and with those chains he taught you to value. Protecting others doesn't make you weak it makes you strong.
— Superman, Action Comics #1040
Should we do what's right only when we're stronger than our enemies? When we're at our best? When we're hurt or outmatched or we've lost a step, should we sit back and do nothing? I know you O.M.A.C. you're better than this. But if you're really willing to betray us all for a promise from Mongul... give it your best shot.
— Superman, Action Comics #1042
This is your culling day! The weakest among you will be exiled and the mother also! You were given a choice between your enemy's life and your own, and you chose his! This is cowardice! I'll not be condemned to the waste by your weakness! FIGHT!
— Mongul's Mother, Action Comics Annual 2022
You get in a fight, best that happens is he breaks his hand on your jaw. Real strength isn't about knocking things down remember that. Real strength is getting back up, Clark. And - even more than that? Real strength is showing folks how to stand tall.
— Martha Kent, Action Comics Annual 2022
Don't talk about that alien like it's one of us. You only give a crap because it's easy on the eyes. If it was green and scaly and had flippers for hands, you'd see it the way the rest of us do. That goes double for Kent and his freakshow 'family'.
— Conduit, Action Comics #1045
Unliving Child: You would give your life for an unliving child? A thing of graven light and memory?
Superman: You don't seem "unliving" to me.
Unliving Child: You are worthy of your name Superman. And a worthy soul bearer of Olgrun.
— Action Comics #1046
Mongul: You would waste such a treasure on a worthless stray? Knowing that your strength is now lost forever? That you will surely die? You would choose weakness and death? WHY?!
Superman: This is why you could never have won. Now get up... and fight.
— Superman - Warworld Apocalypse
If I have learned one thing from my experiences in the United States justice system, it is that the law does not apply to everyone. It does not apply to people of extraordinary means... or of extraordinary talents. And you John Corben, were a man of extraordinary talents. The law has never applied to men like Metallo.
— Lex Luthor, Action Comics #1047
Manchester Black: Want to know what [Superman] thinks about you? What he says about you in his darkest moments? You won't believe it, honestly, but if you ask me I'll tell you.
Lex: What Manchester? What does he say?
Manchester Black: Nothin'. All your years obsessin' over him like a lovesick tween and the trillions you've spent trying to kill him or make him look a fool... And he don't think about you at all. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Lex: Thank you, Manchester.
— Action Comics #1050
Before I left for Warworld, Jon asked me a question I've thought on every day since. He asked why I don't do more. I've always trusted humanity to find their own way. I still do. But it's become clear to me that Earth is in a critical time, and that it is time to do more. We've seen alien worlds, cultures, and technologies... even alternate futures. Earth needs to see what we've seen. When Steelworks Tower opens tomorrow, Metropolis will be a world leader in scientific innovation... and John and Natasha will be the faces of that progress.
— Superman, Action Comics #1051
DON'T DO THAT. Try'n... get me confused! This is YOUR FAULT! You're NO HERO. Nothin' like us EVER COULD BE. NO LIVIN' THING'S supposed to have power like this! Don't you KNOW that?! No matter that GOOD-GUY act you put on... How pretty your stupid FACE is... How many people cry for you to SAVE 'EM... You're just as much a MONSTER as ME!
— Metallo, Action Comics #1054
I don't know if you guys had guns where you came from. But here they're everywhere, and they change everything. Like a magic wand that can make any weakling feel strong. I never knew that was something I needed... till I knew what it felt like. (...) I found a place where the gun behind my eyes wasn't just accepted... it was valued. Needed even. I felt myself getting closer and closer, to the thing I always wanted to be.
— Metallo, Action Comics #1055
Cyborg Superman: You poor, dead thing. You've only ever been a tool wielded by your betters. A sad discarded little gun that dreamt it was a man.
Metallo: No. I know what I am. You're the one who forgot.
— Action Comics #1056
Thanks to Superman, this is our city now, as much as anybody's. We're part of it. My kid lives in a city of heroes. My job's hard some days sure, but that's 'cause I get to build things now. I get to help build the city my family lives in. A place where people care about each other. Not because they want somethin' from you or even because they know you... But because we've decided that's how it should be. A place of big ideas, full of people you can learn from or who can learn from you. So... no, kid I don't miss those days at all. This wasn't my city back then I was just hiding in it, trying not to let it see me. Now we belong here... in the greatest city in the world. The City of SUPERMAN. And thanks to him... it's better with us in it.
— Glen, Action Comics Annual 2023
