Superman is re-imagined as the main antagonist of the 2017 DC comic Halloween special short story "Bump in the Night" - though he is not actually called Superman in the story and the events act as a twisted horror of his origin, showing him as a merciless demonic alien intent on destruction of everything he comes across.
History[]
The story begins in the Kent's farm with Martha standing in her porch trying to text Jonathan, musing over strange noises - unknowing to her an alien craft had crashed into a nearby field and Jonathan lay dead and mangled next to said craft, whose occupant was now loose.
Heading indoors Martha is quickly attacked by the monster, which crashes straight through her roof and has her running for the exit, only to charge at her and smash her through the door with such force the door shatters and breaks one of her arms.
Desperate to escape, Martha runs towards the barn, pursued by the creature - who then badly burns her with a wave of heat-vision; enraged and terrified, Martha screams at the creature that it can't be real and it flies off.
Convinced that she must have scared the beast away Martha enters the truck, only for the creature to return and throw her and the truck effortlessly: causing Martha to fall out, even more injured than before.
With her final words Martha tries to make sense of the nightmare, asking to wake up, only for the alien to blow her up and fly off into the sky, the burning remains of the Kent farm shown as well as an evil "S" mark on its chest, revealing it to be a demonic Superman.
The ending implies the monster is set to continue his rampage on a global level - most likely with the intent of wiping out all life on Earth.
Trivia[]
- The events of Bump in the Night may have acted as inspiration for Brightburn, at the very least the two stories share striking similarities - with the concept of a younger "Superman" who turns out to be evil and who basically succeed in all their evil acts.
- His origin is also very similar to that of Ultraman, though in Ultraman's case the alien infant would enslave the Kents before eventually killing them at seven years of age, having outgrown the need for "parents" (he also burned the farm to the ground).