The Man of Steel

"The Man of Steel" is a nickname often used to describe the nearly indestructible comic book superhero, Superman. The title may have been borrowed from Doc Savage, one of the character's influences (and a source for creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster); Doc Savage was known as "The Man of Bronze."

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The Man of Steel was a six-issue comic book miniseries released in 1986 by DC Comics, several months after the previous miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, and was designed to revamp the Superman mythos. Man of Steel was written and penciled by John Byrne, and inked by Dick Giordano.

Using the history-altering effects of Crisis on Infinite Earths as an explanation, it was decided by DC to give Superman an updated look and feel by completely rewriting his history, as an attempt to attract more readers. Thus, for modern comics, Man of Steel is the dividing point between the previous canon and the current one; most comic fans refer to the two different versions as pre-Crisis and post-Crisis, per Crisis on Infinite Earths being the major dividing line across DC's universe as a whole.

Some changes initiated by The Man of Steel included:

• The planet Krypton was a cold and emotionally sterile planet.
• Although all of his standard superpowers remained, Superman was effectively limited in power and scope; while the pre-Crisis Superman at his peak could easily move planets, the post-Crisis version strained at moving a commercial airliner in flight.
• While the pre-Crisis Superman's costume was invulnerable (as a result of being made from the blankets in the rocket that brought him to Earth), the post-Crisis Superman's costume was made of ordinary material. Since the post-Crisis Superman possessed an invisible "aura" that surrounded him and contributed to his invulnerability, objects held close to him, such as his costume, were protected from harm; his cape, meanwhile, could (and did) easily sustain damage in battle.
• Kal-El was not an infant sent from Krypton to Earth; rather, his fetus was placed in a "birthing matrix" equipped with a rocket engine and Jor-El's experimental warp drive, with Kal-El gestating during the trip to Earth; once the rocket landed, Kal-El was fully "born" on Earth.
• Superman was made the sole survivor of Krypton's destruction (vs. the earlier version having other survivors such as Supergirl, Krypto, etc. attached to him).
• Clark's abilities developed gradually in the yellow sun environment, starting with resistance to injury, then strength, x-ray vision, etc., with his ability to fly being the last to emerge. It took until his late teen years for all of his powers to develop; thus, Clark only adopted the Superman identity in adulthood, and never was Superboy.
• Clark's adoptive Terran parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent are alive and well in Clark's adulthood, and Clark visits them periodically. (Previously, they had died shortly after Clark's high school graduation).
• Lois Lane was written as an aggressive reporter and person from the start, and never expressed a desire to find out Superman's secret identity.
• Superman's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor was no longer a mad scientist but instead a power-hungry billionaire, "the most powerful man in Metropolis," who resented Superman's overshadowing presence. Instead of battling Superman directly, Lex would use hired minions and staff on his payroll to confront Superman directly using whatever schemes or devices Lex had in mind.
• The villain Bizarro was established as an imperfect clone of Superman, created from the superhero's DNA, rather than as a duplicate from an alternate universe.
• Lana Lang and Jimmy Olsen lost all of their superhero identities.
• Pre-Crisis, Pete Ross knew of Clark's abilities since they were teenagers, while Lana Lang suspected Clark of being Superboy; post-Crisis, Pete never learned this information. Instead, Clark revealed his abilities to Lana just before he left Smallville.
• All of the variant forms of kryptonite (red, gold, yellow, blue, white, etc.) no longer existed. Only green remained.
• Superman's relationship with Batman, which was much closer pre-Crisis, became much more tentative, as each disagreed with the other's methods and attitudes.
• Superman had no memory of his existence on Krypton, but instead identified himself as a citizen of Earth.

Two of the most important changes made to Superman's personality included:

• Superman's alter-ego Clark Kent was no longer "mild-mannered"; he became more assertive, and an important half of a double life. Man of Steel established Clark Kent as the "real" person, with Superman being the "disguise" - a reversal of the earlier canon.
• It was not known to the general public that Superman had a secret identity, since he didn't wear a mask.

Man of Steel became the official origin story for Superman from 1986 through the early 2000s. In 2004, however, a newer version of Superman's origin, a 12-issue miniseries called Birthright, was written, which DC stated was to become the new "official" origin for Superman; Birthright made use of some elements of Man of Steel (such as no Superboy career), but largely either introduced new aspects or brought back various pre-Crisis elements (such as Lex and Clark as childhood friends in Smallville). What effect this has on the canon of previous post-Man of Steel Superman stories written remains to be seen.