Superman Red/Superman Blue

Superman Red/Superman Blue refers to two different DC Comics storylines featuring Superman.

"The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue!"

The original Superman-Red/Superman-Blue tale is an imaginary story that appears in "Superman" (vol. 1), #162 (July 1963). The script was written by Leo Dorfman, with art by Curt Swan. In the story, Superman has decided he wants to finish his list of unaccomplished goals, including the enlargement of the Bottle City of Kandor. In order to accomplish these goals, Superman invents a machine, powered by various types of Kryptonite, that will increase his intelligence. The machine works, increasing Superman's intelligence a hundred fold, but with the unexpected side effect of splitting Superman into two beings, Superman-Red and Superman-Blue.

The twin Supermen successfully enlarged Kandor, freeing its citizens from their bottle prison. They then bring the remnants of Krypton together, creating a "New Krypton." The two Supermen go on to create an "anti-evil" ray, which can cure criminal tendencies in anyone. They place the ray into satellites in orbit around the Earth, curing not only villains such as Lex Luthor and Mr. Mxyzptlk, but Fidel Castro and Nikita Kruschev as well. The reformed Luthor goes on to invent a serum that cures all known diseases, which he puts into the water supply.

With nearly all of the world's problems solved, the two Supermen have time to deal with personal matters. The split allows them to resolve the love triangle between Superman, Lois Lane, and Lana Lang. Each woman claims her own Superman, and they have a triple wedding: Superman-Blue marries Lana, Superman-Red marries Lois, and Lucy Lane marries Jimmy Olsen. Red decides to live on New Krypton, sacrificing his powers, while Blue remains on Earth, starting a Super-family.

Superman-Red and Superman-Blue appear in a panel in "Infinite Crisis" #5, when Alexander Luthor, Jr. is trying to fuse the many alternate Supermen, as well as in "Superman/Batman" #25 alongside an army of alternate Supermen and Batmen.

"Superman Red/Superman Blue"

The second incarnation of Superman Red and Superman Blue began as the next in a long line of 1990s storylines, including "The Death of Superman", and "The Death of Clark Kent".

Superman began to develop energy-based abilities after troubles he believed stemmed from a natural evolution of his original powers. ["Superman" (vol. 2) #122 (April 1997)] His condition was unstable and eventually forced him to adopt a blue and white containment suit. He also gained the ability to turn his powers "off," though this left him as vulnerable as a normal human.

In the "Superman Red/Superman Blue" one-shot (February 1998), a trap created by the Cyborg-Superman caused Superman to split into two beings who represented different aspects of his personality, though each believed himself to be the original. After an encounter with the planet-threatening Millennium Giants, the two Supermen merged and Superman returned to his normal powers and original costume. ["Superman" (vol. 2) #135 (May 1998)] The explanation is vague; Superman felt he was "rewarded" for saving the world, although he later claimed in JLA v.1 #20 that he returned to normal when his electromagnetic energy dispersed.

Other media

*While not identified as "Superman Red" per se, the second player's character in the vgy|1988 "Superman" arcade game by Taito is a palette swap of the regular Superman with the blue and red parts of his costume changed to red and grey respectively.
*In the "Legion of Super-Heroes" episode "The Substitutes", Color Kid changes Superman to blue and red, resembling the pre-Crisis versions.
*Also in the "Legion of Super-Heroes" episode "Dark Victory", Saturn Girl merges the minds of Superman and Superman X to combat Braniac from within his mind, when this happens, as Superman's astral form is blue and Superman X's is red, it presumably mimics the "melding" of Superman Red and Superman Blue at the end of the 1998 storyline

References