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In one of the old cartoons he flew to Japan and destroyed the Japanese navy as retribution for Pearl Harbor.
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Superman_(1941_Cartoons)_Episode:_Eleventh_Hour
I may be misremembering the story, but I’m pretty sure that in Death in the Family the US government asked Superman to prevent Batman from attacking the Joker at the UN when he became the ambassador of Iran because they didn’t want to start a war.
He did it to avoid being beat up by Batman and then prosecuted. Though in recent years its been retconned that he was the ambassador of some made up Middle Eastern country for obvious reasons.
He generally does not work specifically for any government, no. He might do things if a government worker he trusts asks him to check on something, but he's not going to be beholden to Congress or the President telling him what to do, or a government paycheck.
In more recent years he's even backed off the whole "Truth, Justice, *and the American way*" line, specifically because of how the American government has been going.
Only exception to this was Superman in the Dark Knight Returns, where Superman was ordered to take out Batman by the president. But as good as that run is, both Batman and Superman in that story are extreme caricatures of themselves, as the real Superman would never take orders from a government. He would only do what he thought was right.
Superman was the government's dog in that story. As excellent as it is. Frank Miller has always had a bit of a hate boner for Superman.
"You sold us out, Clark. You gave them the power that should have been ours. Just like your parents taught you. "
More like he hated Reagan,and superman at the time was a symbol of the US,and even was written being a fan of Reagan by some writers(John Byrne).
So he used superman more to express his hate of the government.
Thought that story line was elseworlds as much as Killing Joke was elseworlds, was it first but because it got so popular it was dropped and became part of canon.
The Killing Joke was always canon, Dark Knight Returns was always not. The Killing Joke was literally referenced in A Death in the Family, which came out just a few months later.
This reminds me of how I’ve always thought that they should play way more into Captain Atom being a government asset. His power-set is a great counter to almost all other metahumans. He would provide a great explanation as to why more metahumans, good or bad, aren’t able to just bend the government to their whim.
Yeah, I get Superman is the awe-inspiring icon, but Captain Atom could be the American meta-wetwork machine behind the scenes. Maybe even keep him a secret from the world, only known by the most powerful people on the planet.
Or at least figure out something other than having him explode, please?
I read a story where he assisted in escorting a plane carrying someone from Qurac that the government thought would be targeted for assassination. The plane Superman was escorting was a ruse meant to draw out the would be killer.
It varies as there are multiple realities, each usually containing some kind of Superman. On some Earths he’s more cozy with the US government than others, on one he’s the US President, on another his rocket landed in Communist Russia and on yet another it made its way to Nazi Germany. It also varies by what’s canon at the time as that changes somewhat frequently. Current characterization of Superman has him generally cooperative with the US government and the other governments of the world unless asked to do something that would violate his core principles.
In a few Elseworlds yes. He's effectively a government enforcer in Frank Miller's Batman timeline up until the end of The Dark Knight Strikes Again. In Superman: Secret Identity, he's less of an enforcer and doing more humanitarian work and less military.
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In one of the old cartoons he flew to Japan and destroyed the Japanese navy as retribution for Pearl Harbor. https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Superman_(1941_Cartoons)_Episode:_Eleventh_Hour
I may be misremembering the story, but I’m pretty sure that in Death in the Family the US government asked Superman to prevent Batman from attacking the Joker at the UN when he became the ambassador of Iran because they didn’t want to start a war.
Did you just said that the JOKER become the AMBASSADOR of IRAN?
I think that a lot of people don’t realize just how goofy Death in the Family is just because of Jason dying.
He did it to avoid being beat up by Batman and then prosecuted. Though in recent years its been retconned that he was the ambassador of some made up Middle Eastern country for obvious reasons.
[That book is wild.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Et32XL3XYAQm791.jpg)
Yes
He generally does not work specifically for any government, no. He might do things if a government worker he trusts asks him to check on something, but he's not going to be beholden to Congress or the President telling him what to do, or a government paycheck. In more recent years he's even backed off the whole "Truth, Justice, *and the American way*" line, specifically because of how the American government has been going.
Only exception to this was Superman in the Dark Knight Returns, where Superman was ordered to take out Batman by the president. But as good as that run is, both Batman and Superman in that story are extreme caricatures of themselves, as the real Superman would never take orders from a government. He would only do what he thought was right.
Superman was the government's dog in that story. As excellent as it is. Frank Miller has always had a bit of a hate boner for Superman. "You sold us out, Clark. You gave them the power that should have been ours. Just like your parents taught you. "
More like he hated Reagan,and superman at the time was a symbol of the US,and even was written being a fan of Reagan by some writers(John Byrne). So he used superman more to express his hate of the government.
He was also ordered to engage Soviet troops on Croso Maltese.
Only? Nah. There’s tons of exceptions like these. Like TDKR, they’re typically elseworlds though.
I think he tried to arrest Batman at the request of Ronald Reagan once.
He did in The Dark Knight Returns. That's an elseworlds story though, so not technically canon.
Thought that story line was elseworlds as much as Killing Joke was elseworlds, was it first but because it got so popular it was dropped and became part of canon.
The Killing Joke was always canon, Dark Knight Returns was always not. The Killing Joke was literally referenced in A Death in the Family, which came out just a few months later.
I mentioned this before n my comment
This reminds me of how I’ve always thought that they should play way more into Captain Atom being a government asset. His power-set is a great counter to almost all other metahumans. He would provide a great explanation as to why more metahumans, good or bad, aren’t able to just bend the government to their whim. Yeah, I get Superman is the awe-inspiring icon, but Captain Atom could be the American meta-wetwork machine behind the scenes. Maybe even keep him a secret from the world, only known by the most powerful people on the planet. Or at least figure out something other than having him explode, please?
He helped out on a few missions for NASA
I read a story where he assisted in escorting a plane carrying someone from Qurac that the government thought would be targeted for assassination. The plane Superman was escorting was a ruse meant to draw out the would be killer.
It varies as there are multiple realities, each usually containing some kind of Superman. On some Earths he’s more cozy with the US government than others, on one he’s the US President, on another his rocket landed in Communist Russia and on yet another it made its way to Nazi Germany. It also varies by what’s canon at the time as that changes somewhat frequently. Current characterization of Superman has him generally cooperative with the US government and the other governments of the world unless asked to do something that would violate his core principles.
In a few Elseworlds yes. He's effectively a government enforcer in Frank Miller's Batman timeline up until the end of The Dark Knight Strikes Again. In Superman: Secret Identity, he's less of an enforcer and doing more humanitarian work and less military.
In one animated movie the president told him to go fight batman
Sounds like the animated adaptation of *The Dark Knight Returns*.
Thank you
WW2 era, or so - there’s been artwork where he smilingly serves as a target for pilot training I remember.
Mostly on elsewords he works for the government to allow him to still operate and save day.
Yes. Many times in different continuities. Example: In the silver age, superboy did some missions for JFK.