Throughout his history, Superman has had some pretty bizarre stories written about him. However, the strangest story starring the Man of Steel might be the one where he and the character Big Barda almost make porn together after being mind-controlled. In this story, readers are subjected to perhaps the sleaziest of situations for Superman to find himself in.
John Byrne’s Action Comics #592 begins with the New God known as Big Barda walking through a busy street in Metropolis. Almost immediately, she is harassed and offered work by a pimp. Insulted, she pushes the man away with ease, and while this happens, another man steals her purse. Barda quickly pursues the man into the sewers due to the bag containing an Apkoliptic weapon known as the Mega-Rod. Unfortunately, before she could retrieve the Mega-Rod, Barda is attacked and knocked out by a new villain called Sleez.
When the two reappear, Sleez is forcing Barda to dance provocatively in an uncomfortable manner through mind control. Sleez explains that he was once a servant of the Ruler of Apokolips, Darkseid, who had fallen out of favor of the powerful New God. Eventually, Superman shows up and attempts to rescue Barda; however, she uses the mega-rod to incapacitate her would-be savor, believing him to be an agent of Sleez. Capitalizing on this distraction, Sleez steals back the Mega-rod and activates a trap door beneath them, ending the issue on a cliff-hanger.
The next issue begins with Barda’s husband Mister Miracle returning to their home only to be met by his evil step-father Darkseid. Instead of attacking Mister Miracle, Darkseid shows him off-panel what seems to be a sexualized videotape of his wife created by Sleez. As this happens, Sleez forces Superman and Big Barda to strong-arm an adult film producer so that he can make a feature starring the two of them. The issue then cuts back to Mister Miracle attempting to track down his wife, only to be attacked by an angry mob, who seals him in a dumpster and throws him in a river. Then comic cuts back to Superman and Barda, who is now on a set made to look like a bedroom, with Sleez and his producer attempting to direct them.
Much to Sleez’s dismay, the producer found Superman and Barda’s performance too stiff and passionless for his liking. Sleez then reveals that he’s an empath, and has been able to control those around him by manipulating their emotions. Just as Superman and Barda kiss, Mister Miracle breaks in from the ceiling window just in time. However, before he can apprehend Sleez, Mister Miracle is attacked by an Apkoliptic known as an Ash-Crawler, who is quickly disposed of by the now-free Big Barda. Superman races to capture Sleez, who had decided to kill himself before he could.
This whole story aged pretty poorly when looking at from a modern point of view, especially when it comes to how often Barda is sexually objectified throughout. This feels even more disrespectful considering that Barda was created by comic legend Jack Kirby as a representation of his wife. The entire situation seems to come out of nowhere; Sleez’s plan just seems kind of strange for a former servant of Apkoliptic. Overall, there’s a good reason why D.C. readers would like to forget this entry within Superman’s publication history, just based on how weird and problematic the premise is.