As the legendary mind behind Marvel superheroes like Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men and more, DC fans can only dream of what Stan Lee could have created for the Justice League universe. Unfortunately, when he was given the chance to relaunch his version of Superman, the story Stan Lee actually imagined for the Man of Steel fell very, very short of his Marvel hits.
Stan Lee’s Superman: A Controversial Change, From The Very First Page
The Man of Steel is Re-Imagined as ‘A Kryptonian Clint Eastwood’
This apparent ‘dream come true’ became a reality thanks to a special project from DC Comics, recruiting Stan Lee for a dozen one-shot comics, re-imagining some of DC’s most iconic heroes. And in 2001’s Just Imagine Stan Lee with John Buscema Creating Superman, a drastically different concept of the Kryptonian was unleashed upon the public… bearing almost no resemblance to the original, in any conceivable way.
Not necessarily an indictment on that premise alone, Lee’s alterations are difficult to take at face value. Instead of the last child of a lost people, the facially-scarred “Salden” makes his first appearance obsessively lifting weights. Not for vanity, but because he is smaller and weaker than his fellow, augmented police officers. Caring less for heroics than “mopping up the slimeballs” of his homeworld, and reassuring his lover Lyella that “you, baby, provide all the excitement I need,” the story begins off the expected course, and only picks up speed.
When a gangster named Gorrok breaks into Salden’s home for some revenge, he instead finds Lyella, and perpetrates what might be the record-holder for shortest “fridging” of a female character in comics history. When describing the design process of the character in the same issue, artist Adam Hughes calls out a “Kryptonian Clint Eastwood” as Stan’s concept for the hero, and this origin story checks every box.
As a cop who likes to get violent with “slimeballs” who deserve it, and with his lover murdered as revenge, Salden pursues Gorrok onto an experimental rocket. Despite Lee’s tendency towards truly tragic origin stories and formative trauma, Salden leaves Krypton very much intact, with both hero and villain riding the rocket to Earth on a one-way trip. And things only get stranger from there.
Superman is Anything But A Heroic ‘Boy Scout’ in Stan Lee’s Reboot
The Story Remains a Rare Miss From One of Comic’s Greatest Creators
Some latitude or flexibility can be affored here, with Lee best known for creating superheroes in a world several decades’ old at the time of Just Imagine. But the odd narrative really can’t be understated: committing violence against almost every threat he encounters, and looking down upon humanity for its limited technology, it is cynicism, not hope, that defines Stan Lee’s Superman.
After performing at a circus to earn some cash (naturally), Salden realizes money can’t buy him a journey back to his home. He then decides to fight the forces of evil on this “planet of of clowns,” so governments can commit money and resources to technology, instead. Redefining Superman’s heroics as entirely self-serving is an odd choice, but it’s one doubled-down upon when Lois Lane enters the picture. Not as a journalist pursuing the story of an alien visitor, but an agent eager to get him on The Tonight Show.
It would be an understatement to say that in 2025, re-imagining Lois Lane as a fame-minded talent agent (who knows her real challenge will be “keeping other girls away”) is a problematic, even backwards idea. But even in 2001, much like Gorrok using his physical strength to dominate a primitive tribe of spear-wielding Pacific Islanders, eyebrows must have been raised (if not explicit concerns). Making it unsurprising that this project is not as well-known as a casual Marvel fan might assume.
A hero like the Man of Steel is legendary, iconic, and universal enough to demand reinvention, inviting even controversial reboots of who ‘Superman’ really is. But in the case of Stan Lee’s Superman, the less said about it the better.
- Birthdate
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December 28, 1922
- Birthplace
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New York, New York, USA
- Height
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5 feet 11 inches
- Professions
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Writer, Editor, Publisher, Producer, Actor
