If Superman exists and went bad....

[MechaPilot]

Not the version who flies through suns and pushes planets around.

Has that version ever been hit by one? So far as I know, the only time Superman has been hit by one is in the Dark Knight Returns.

 

[MechaPilot]

Edit: Double-posted for some reason.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

1) I believe he had

2) even if he hadn't, flying through stars- as he did- involves many orders of magnitude more energy than a mere human nuke.

 

[MechaPilot]

1) I believe he had

2) even if he hadn't, flying through stars- as he did- involves many orders of magnitude more energy than a mere human nuke.

More energy, yes, but not necessarily the same kind of energy. I'm not terribly knowledgeable about the differences in the energies given off by the fission and fusion processes, but I assume there is some difference.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Mainly in how it is produced and the byproducts of fission vs fusion.

(The whole red sun energy vs yellow sun energy is pure comic book science, look too closely at it, and that way lied madness.)

 

[MechaPilot]

Mainly in how it is produced and the byproducts of fission vs fusion.

(The whole red sun energy vs yellow sun energy is pure comic book science, look too closely at it, and that way lied madness.)

Sure, but since the OP ruled out kryptonite and other superheros, I was going with the only thing I know of that is man-made and that has nearly killed Superman in one of the comic sources.

You could also try to fight him with magic. The OP assumes that kryptonite and other superheroes do not exist, but he did not specify that we do not live in a comic book reality where magic and the supernatural may exist. Or, to put it more bluntly, the absence of superheroes doesn't mean the inability for those things which enable them to exist.

 

[Morrus]

Hm. Now I wish I had read "Favored Son" which is "What happens if Superman came to Earth in Communist Russia....

Red Son, you mean? I have it; it's pretty good.

 

[Umbran]

He could hand-pick all the people he needs to run things his way to make him happy.

He could... if he wants the planet to be run very poorly. It isn't like his circle of friends is loaded with good, but toadying, administrators.

So long as he gets what he wants, he'd be better off letting the planet run itself, like normal.

 

[Umbran]

Red Son, you mean? I have it; it's pretty good.

Yep. Already corrected. Thanks.

 

[Ryujin]

Hm. Now I wish I had read "Favored Son" which is "What happens if Superman came to Earth in Communist Russia....

In the modern day? The "kill all the world leaders, upload it to YouTube, barge into the UN to make a speech" approach is pretty good.

Except... well, it has a major flaw. You are Superman. You are good at kicking butt and chewing bubblegum. Administration on a national scale is not part of your skillset. You need to have human world leaders running things for you. So killing them all, while dramatic, is not a great move.

So you don't kill the leaders. You kill all the *media* figures. All the movie and TV stars. All the top reporters. Oprah and a few others get handled in very flamboyant style, just because. And tell the world leaders that they'll be next unless they give in to your demands. Oh, and take out all the nuclear weapons, just in case they want to try a scorched Earth approach.

Not that I understand what your demands are. You are Superman. What can these humans do for you? You are already more powerful than anything these humans can build. What is the *point* of domination? Lex Luthor can want to dominate because there are things that humans under his dominion can do that he alone cannot. But that's not so for Superman.

No, you kill the leaders. You need the bureaucrats, because they actually keep things running. The leaders are relatively immaterial, but killing them would make for good theatre.

Since we have absolutely no way to defeat a "Superman", the only way to win is to deny him victory. That means dying. I doubt that everyone would have the willpower to kill themselves, just to deny him his victory.