The entire DC universe is better off for having Superman in it, he has undeniably improved the lives of just about every citizen and hero, but all of that heroism may've only been made possible due to the failures of The Plutonian, a Superman from another universe, who took a much darker path.

Superman landed on Earth from the Planet Krypton, where he was found by Martha and Johnathan Kent who took care of him and raised him to be a good person. It was only because of his rearing, that instilled in him strong moral values, that he was able to go on to become one of the greatest heroes the world had ever seen. It was because of the stable love the Kents were able to give Clark that he grew up to be the hero that he is, but not everyone was so lucky. Dan Anderson was the name of someone who would eventually grow up to become the greatest hero on his Earth, he took the name of the Plutonian and did everything he could to be a hero, but eventually, he'd end up being the darkest villain his world had ever seen, all because he never had what Clark did.

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The Plutonian was like Superman in a lot of ways, he had near invulnerability, super strength, flight, and a whole host of other abilities. But unlike Clark, everything went wrong for the Plutonian. No matter what he did it always turned out poorly, or people continually feared him despite him doing his best. When he revealed his secret identity to the love of his life, his version of Lois Lane, she immediately rejected and outed him to their coworkers, claiming he was a manipulative person to keep interacting with her while pretending to be two separate people. When the Plutonian was criticized by a local scientist for hoarding all the Alien tech he retrieved, the Plutonian thought these criticisms were made in good faith and had value, so he allowed the scientist to tinker with the latest piece of technology the Plutonian had acquired, only for it to release a virus that melted the skin off every child in a five block radius, which Plutonian was then blamed for. Despite everything the Plutonian tried to do, he was treated with fear and called a monster, so eventually he decided to act like one. He went on a rampage that would make Injustice Superman blush.

The Plutonian Was Far Darker Than Any Evil Superman

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Eventually, the heroes of his world managed to defeat the Plutonian, but they promised to redeem him and in the end they did. They managed to change the Plutonian back into his base form, being that of pure energy, and they sent that energy out into the multiverse, hoping that somewhere, this idea of the Plutonian could realize its full potential, instead of becoming corrupted like he did on their world. This energy was shown to be entering the house of two young friends, who were drawing up their idea of an amazing superhero, a hero called Superman. While readers may hate the evil Superman trope, in universe it's the reason there is any Superman at all.

In the end, Plutonian did everything he could to be a hero. Despite his own darkness, he wasn't irredeemable, and he found his redemption in another universe, in the form of the idea that would become Superman.

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