DC Comics have been putting out the finest superhero comics since the the first caped do-gooder began their mission against evil. Over the years, readers have been treated to some of the greatest stories imaginable. You can find every kind of story you could ever want under the umbrella of DC Comics, from superhero epics to sophisticated horror to wild sci-fi to flabbergasting fantasy to street-level crime parables to big stakes events that redefined what the superhero story could be. Over the years, the writers, artists, colorists, inkers, letterers, and editors of DC Comics have created amazing stories from the disparate pieces of the DC Multiverse, keeping readers on the hook for generations.
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There are numerous parts to a great story, but one of the most important has always been the ending. There’s nothing like a great ending, one that puts up all chairs, sweeps the floor, turns out the lights, and locks the door on its way out. DC has given readers some of the greatest endings in comics history, with some of them becoming legendary. These five DC stories have endings that have reached mythic status, putting the capstone on excellent stories with style and panache.
5) Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis is the finest event of the ’00s, a perfectly built epic that served as the perfect 20th anniversary for Crisis on Infinite Earths. The series from Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, George Perez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway paid off several years of plots, as the superhero community broke entirely, the villainous Society moved out of the shadows, Brother Eye and the OMACs wreaked havoc on the world, the magical world was in flux, intergalactic war ravaged the stars, and more all lead to the return of the greatest heroes in history. It’s an epic in every sense of the word, revealing that Alexander Luthor of Earth-Three and Superboy-Prime from the pre-Crisis multiverse had enacted a scheme to create the perfect universe, leading to them unleashing a massive war on the Earth to give them time to create the ideal world.
The final issue of the book is a massive fight issue, as the various heroes and villains battle to save existence from destruction at the hands of the insane Superboy-Prime. When the dust settled, Lois Lane and Superman of Earth-Two were both dead, Superman was without his powers, and the Justice League was gone. The book ended with the Trinity deciding to take some time off and rediscover the lives they once had, trying to find the human in order to become a better hero, all while the promises of a bold new tomorrow bloom all around them.
4) All-Star Superman
All-Star Superman has reached the level of modern myth, a retelling of the “12 Labors of Hercules” using the Man of Steel. After a trip to sun makes him more powerful than ever and sentences him to death, the hero decides to put his affairs in order and leave the world a better place than he found it, all while Lex Luthor plots the ultimate revenge with the greatest threat of the future. It’s a book that borrows from every era of the character to tell the perfect superhero story and its ending is one of the most beautiful in comics. Supes is able to save the world from Luthor, who had his powers for 24 hours, and Solaris the Tyrant Sun, who turned the sun blue.
As his powers start to devour him, he says one last good bye to Lois and flies into the sun to fix it and turn its light yellow again. Afterwards, Lois is comforted by the idea of Superman in the sun, working hard to save us all, while Doctor Leo Quintum unveils a plan to clone the hero, leading to the Superman Dynasty and the never-ending battle beginning again. It’s an ending that both puts the bow on an amazing story and leaves it open-ended, because Superman will always be there to save the day and not even death can stop that.
3) The Final Night
DC has some brilliant event comics, giving readers the kind of amazing spectacle that makes event comics so attractive to readers. One of their most unique events, and one of the most unique in comic history, came in the six-issue event book The Final Night, by Karl Kesel and Stuart Immonen. The sun is eaten by a Sun-Eater, with the heroes scrambling to come up with some way to keep the planet warm and restore the life-giving primary of the Sol System.
There’s no big battle against the Sun-Eater, no all-powerful villain ready to make a horrible deal and double cross everyone, no secret agenda, just the universe’s most powerful heroes completely unable to stop the extinction of humanity. It’s quiet and poignant, with an ending that redeemed one of the greatest heroes ever. As Earth teeters on the brink of doom, Hal Jordan returns and uses all of the power of Parallax to reignite the sun, saving the day and redeeming himself for the thousands of Green Lanterns that died at his hands and Zero Hour. At the time, it was the perfect ending for Jordan, allowing him to rest easy with his friend Barry Allen, even if his death wouldn’t last until the end of the ’90s.
2) “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?”
With Crisis on Infinite Earths about to end the old DC Multiverse, it was decided that someone would have to tell the final Superman story with this version of the Man of Steel. Alan Moore enthusiastically volunteered for the job (Paul Levitz wrote that the British scribe grabbed him by the neck and told him he was the only one who could be allowed to write the story) and readers got “Whatever Happened to Man of Tomorrow?”, running through Superman #423 and Action Comics #583, with Moore joined by artists Curt Swan and George Perez. The story is all about Lois Lane telling the tale of the last battle of Superman to a journalist, when his enemies suddenly became bloodthirsty. Bizarro went on a rampage and killed himself, Toyman and Prankster were able to reveal Superman’s identity, and Metallos attacked The Daily Planet, leading the Man of Steel to evacuate his friends to the Fortress of Solitude, where Brainiac controlling the dead body of Lex Luthor, the Kryptonite Man, and the Legion of Supervillains laid siege to them. Krypto, Jimmy Olsen, and Lana Lang are killed and Kal-El and Lois come face to face with the villain behind it all – Mr. Mxyzptlk.
Mxy reveals that he’s reached the evil part of his life, amping up the hero’s enemies, but Supes turns the tables on him, tearing him between the Fifth Dimension and the Phantom Zone, and then goes to the Gold Kryptonite room, which takes away Kryptonian powers, saying good-bye to Lois and walking into the snow. The story ends with Lois’s husband coming home, familiar man glorying in a blue collar life, as she tells the journalist they never found his body. The reporter leaves the house, as the two have a romantic moment together. Meanwhile, their young son turns a piece of coal into a diamond, ending the career of Silver/Bronze Age Superman.
1) Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on InfiniteEarth‘s ending changed DC forever. The 12-issue series from Marv Wolfman, George Perez, and Jerry Ordway saw the heroes of five Earths team up against the Anti-Monitor, fighting a battle that took them across time and space. Eventually, the heroes were fooled onto a Earth created by the Anti-Monitor, leading to their final battle. Earth-Two Superman, Alexander Luthor, and Superboy-Prime were able to defeat him as the new universe is born, with the heroes shunted off to paradise by Luthor as the universe collapsed into something new.
The book’s ending picked on the new Earth, as Harbinger, Lady Quark, and Pariah discussed the new order of the Earth, teasing readers with the surprises to come in the months ahead. The book’s final page finds the Psycho-Pirate, the Anti-Monitor’s right-hand man, in an asylum. He’s the last one who remembers the infinite Earths, talking about the comfort of nostalgia and a fear of the unknown. It was an awesome ending, exciting readers and getting them ready for an all-new era of the original superhero universe.
What do you think? Let us know what ending you feel is most legendary in the comments.
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