Superman: For Earth (1991)
Superman: For Earth (1991)
We take a break from Superman’s excellent time-traveling adventure for this very special special in which Superman punches pollution in the face. Lois Lane is feeling bummed about the sorry state of the enviroment, and the fact that a regular person can’t do much to save it. Luckily, her fiancee isn’t a regular person. (Spoilers: It’s Superman.)
Superman (with some help from Professor Hamilton) goes on a Captain Planet-like quest to save the world: he busts some guys pumping toxic shit into the air, spends weeks cleaning up all the crap at the bottom of Metropolis’ Hob’s River, and flies to Brazil to whoop the asses of a bunch of jerks trying to burn down a forest. However, he feels like this still isn’t enough, as symbolized by the nightmare he has in which he’s once again unable to stop Krypton’s destruction (he was a fetus the first time around, but that’s no excuse).
Superman wakes up from the nightmare… into another nightmare, where he sees the Earth getting flooded by trash until he’s the last person left standing. After he’s woken up for real, Superman makes a surprise appearance at an international ecology symposium Lois is covering and makes an impassioned speech that basically boils down to “Hey, you know, you guys could put in a little effort, too.”
The next day, Lois and Clark walk around their neighborhood and see little positive changes in the people around them, because when an alien supergod who can shoot lasers from his eyes tells you to do something, you fucking do it.
Plotline-Watch:
This could have easily been an educational pamphlet starring Superman (it was made for Earth Day 1991), but there’s stuff about Lois and Clark’s relationship that makes it continuity-relevant. The story is set sometime after the Clark = Supes revelation (and probably after “Time and Time Again!” too, since Lois doesn’t seem freaked out about it anymore), and it shows the moment when they first talk about having children. Or, more accurately, not having them:
Lois isn’t sure if she wants to bring children into this world… and also, Clark’s an alien, so there’s that. Later on, Clark visits Ma and Pa and tells them “I hope you didn’t have your hearts set on being grandparents,” but they feel lucky enough just being parents, considering it took a rocket falling from space to make that happen. Plus, let’s not forget my “Ma hates Lois” fan theory.
“You aren’t? Shit.”
In the end, despite Superman inspiring the human race to end pollution forever and ever, Lois and Clark are still not sure if they should have kids, though they talk about sponsoring a bunch through foster parents programs. I think they should totally have a kid at some point – the Lois/Clark relationship is the only part of the Superman mythos that’s allowed to progress, and this would be the next natural step. And if it’s too dangerous to mix his genes with hers (as explored in an annual we’ll see soon), just have Batman act as the surrogate dad. Problem solved! I’m crossing my fingers that this is exactly what will happen in Dan Jurgens’ upcoming Superman: Convergence issue.