Superman’s First Adventure Was a Lot Weirder Than You Rememberent

Superman is the world’s most recognizable and first superhero, having created the genre that all other heroes have spawned from. He shocked the world when he first debuted in Action Comics #1, and became an instant sensation. Even people who don’t read comic books have at least a vague idea of what Superman gets up to on the daily through cultural osmosis. However, as awesome and iconic as Superman is, he’s certainly changed a bit since his first ever adventure. In fact, the story of Action Comics #1 is very different from what’d you’d expect, and far more wild than the average Superman story today. 

Champion of the Oppressed 

When Superman first started his heroic career, he didn’t fight villains or monsters like Brainiac and Bizarro, but societal injustices. In fact, the very first thing we see Superman do is arrive at the governor’s house with a tied-up woman in his arms, who he leaves in the yard while he goes inside. The butler attempted to keep Superman out, but the Man of Steel simply tossed him away and ripped his way through the governor’s excessively secure steel door, although in this instance I guess it wasn’t enough. Superman actually did all of this to bring the governor evidence that the woman in the yard had committed murder and framed someone else, who was about to be executed. After saving the innocent woman’s life, Superman leapt away. 

This introduction perfectly set the stage for who the Superman of the Golden Age was as a character. He would stop at nothing to deliver justice to those who need it, and he could be particularly mean about it to the people who got in his way, be they evil or not. He was outright a hero, but a wee bit harsher than the boy scout we all know and love today. Case in point, the rest of the issue.

Superman Was an Actual Menace (It Was Hilarious)

Having saved the woman, Superman makes a quick detour to terrify an abusive husband into unconsciousness before he could kill his wife. After returning to the Daily Star, mild-mannered and cowardly reporter Clark Kent asked Lois Lane to go out with him. She agreed, but only out of pity. The two went out dancing, only for some ruffians to harass and make passes at Lois. She demanded Clark stand up to them, but he had to act spineless as to not risk his secret identity, so Lois slapped the man and marched out on her own, which Clark secretly praised her for. The men abducted Lois to get revenge for their wounded pride, only for Superman to arrive and smash their car to smithereens, which gave us the classic scene on the cover. After making sure that Lois was safe, and asking her not to print this little adventure, he hopped away. 

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The next morning, Clark was given an assignment to go to the war-torn South American republic of San Monte, but instead headed directly to the Senate Building in Washington, D.C., where he overheard the corrupt lobbyist Alex Greer trying to convince the US to get into a war in Europe, which Clark figured meant he was connected to the people propagating war in San Monte. Superman proceeded to kidnap Greer and race across the city with him, running along telegraph wires that would shock Greer to death if they touched the poles, and leaping to the top of the Capitol Building and threatening to let the man go splatt if he didn’t tell Superman who he was working for, which would get resolved in the next issue.

Superman, like he always has, stood up for the little guy and fought to save the day, but back when he first started he didn’t care at all about being nice. He had four whole adventures in this first issue, in which he proceeded to; smash through the governor’s house and toss his men like baseballs, threaten to beat a man so badly he passed out, positively wreck some villains’ car and leave it in the middle of the street, and kidnap and psychologically torture someone. Now, all of the people Superman messed with were clear bad guys, but still, the modern Superman wouldn’t go anywhere near as far as his past self did. Golden Age Superman wasn’t going around killing people, but he was certainly way harsher and way less caring for the wellbeing of the villains he fought. Superman was a downright menace to the bad guys, and believe me this is nowhere near as crazy as some of the other things he would get up to in just a few issues. Some include forcing a man to join a war and constantly reminding him how close he was to death, and trapping dozens of rich partygoers in a mine for a full day to teach their host a lesson about not cheaping out on the safety measures.

In Superman’s first adventure and most of his earliest ones, he was an outright beast, and it’s hilarious to look back on. It was definitely all for the right reasons, however, and even when he was at his meanest, he was indisputably being a hero to everyone, even the guys he was tossing. Don’t worry, they’re fine, just stunned a little. Superman has changed a lot over the years, mostly for the best, but his start will always be awesome, no matter how much time has passed. Which era of Superman is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!