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William "Bill" Dunn, better known as the Superman, is the titular main protagonist of Jerry Siegel's 1933 short story "The Reign of the Superman". In contrast to Kal-El's Superman who served as a beloved and compassionate superhero, this Superman was in fact intended to be a villainous protagonist hell-bent on world domination and conquest.
Bill Dunn was initially merely a vagrant who was waiting in a bread-line each and every day for food. However, he was singled out by a strange and misanthropic scientist named Professor Smalley, and took him for a hot meal which is a large toasted sandwich and some coffee. He then recruited Dunn to be part of an experiment regarding a strange meteorite. The exposure resulted in him gaining cerebrally and genetically enhanced psychic powers. However, it came at the cost of corrupting the man, turning him into a supervillain and renaming himself the Superman.
Dunn then aimed to conquer the entire world with his new powers upon experimenting with them. As preparations for the conquering of the entire world, he then proceeded to sow discord in the world via his mind manipulation abilities. Professor Smalley, however, desired to gain those powers, causing them to have a final battle. In the process, Superman proceeded to kill his "creator". Unfortunately, the victory was pyrrhic at best, since it resulted in his powers being drained and the formula for retaining said powers being gone for good. Though Dunn desperately tried to restore them by looking at the formula on the blueprints, this was to no avail due to his mental powers also disappearing.
Now back to Bill Dunn, he is forced to go back to the bread-line.
Appearance[]
Bill Dunn is a Caucasian male vagrant who looks raggedy-dressed, unshaven, and has stubble on his scalp (as seen on the official artwork). Given to him by Professor Smalley, Dunn was later clean-shaven and given a suit.
Powers and abilities[]
Enhanced Mental Physiology: Dunn to the experiment caused by Professor Smalley, Dunn gang powerful mental powers that could, as he claims dominate the entire universe.
Telepathy: Reads the minds of several people on the street and can even intercept interplanetary messages.
Mind Control: Can force ideas into people's heads as well as false ideas. His mental powers of mind control were so strong that he could send lots of hate to every world leader in hopes of starting a world conflict.
Precognition: Dunn can see 24 hours into the future and saw himself losing his powers.
Telescopic vision: Was able to spy on two aliens on the surface of Mars. Claimed to be able to see any spot in the universe.
Intelligence: States to have absorbed all known knowledge in the universe overnight. Implies that he knows every language. Created a trap chair.
Weakness: His powers are temporary without regular drinking of the serum.
Legacy[]
Although Dunn's reign as Superman was short-lived, he is remembered as being the first to use the name Superman. The name was later adopted by The Superman, and finally by Kal-El.
Creation[]
The Superman was the first version of Superman ever to appear in print. His story was told in Jerry Siegel's sci-fi short story, 'Reign of the Superman'.
This early version of Superman was depicted almost entirely different than the modern version. First and foremost, he was poor, he was bald, and he was a villain.
Also, he was originally human, while the modern version was an alien raised on Earth.
Ironically, his physical appearance by the time he gains his powers strongly resembles that of the modern Superman rogues Ultra-Humanite and Lex Luthor.
There were two primary sources for the creation of this character. The first was the advent of the Great Depression, occurring in 1932 when Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster were being affected by it in terms of not being able to find a job. The second was the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, more specifically his concept of the Ubermensch (which was German for "Superman", or more accurately "Overman") from his philosophical tract Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which both Siegel and Schuster criticized.
Trivia[]
As noted above, this is the first Superman incarnation, with most later incarnations being heroic.
Unlike the mainstream Superman, who was of alien origin and was more physical in his strength, this Superman was an enhanced human. Ironically, this rendition of Superman resembles the iconic Lex Luthor in terms of physical appearance.
His powers were mainly mental in nature, much like Darkseid's genius-level intellect, mind-control, telekinesis, telepathy and telescopic vision.
Even though he is the first Superman version, that doesn't mean he is the first Clark Kent/Kal-El, as that belongs to the Golden Age Superman origin.
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the men who wrote and drew the story and later the Superman character when he was reinvented as a superhero, conceived of the character and story initially as a criticism towards German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's idea of the ubermensch (which translates from German into either "Overman" or, in this case, "Superman") that was voiced in his work Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
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