Superman Destroys Earth WITHOUT His Powers in Alan Moore's Dark Rewrite
The Kryptonian refugee Kal-El, aka Superman, is meant to be Earth's ultimate superhero, and yet in Alan Moore's tongue-in-cheek parody of his origin, he manages to destroy the planet without using a single one of his powers. Strangely, while this story is only a few pages long, it explores a theme which remained through the rest of Moore's work in the superhero genre.
Superman's origin is so famous, the average person can list its most important beats even if they've never read a comic. Aware their planet is about to explode, Superman's parents load their baby onto an escape rocket and send him to Earth where — thanks to the planet's differences to Krypton — he becomes a godlike superhuman, capable of leaping tall buildings, running faster than a speeding bullet, and bending steel with his bare hands. In an early story, Alan Moore takes all these hallmarks of Superman's journey and builds to a very different ending.
Related: Superman's First Words in DC History Prove He Was Originally a Jerk
The story in question is Moore, Mike White, and Paul Bensberg's 'Tharg's Future Shocks: Bad Timing,' first published in 1982's 2000 AD prog 291. Tharg's Future Shocks are short sci-fi stories from a variety of creative teams, typically running a few pages with a twist ending. In 'Bad Timing,' fans see what's effectively Superman's origin story play out, albeit with different names (the alien boy is N-Ree of the planet Klakton, not Kal-El of Krypton.) After his theories about the planet's approaching end are laughed off by the Science Council, Chief Scientist R-Thur resolves to save his baby son by loading him aboard a rocket and sending him to Earth, where he predicts he'll be able to fly and have X-ray vision. Things proceed as
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