The SUPERMAN MUSEUM
A museum located in Metropolis, open to the public, which houses an extensive collection of Superman trophies and memorabilia. Founded in January 1952 by famed explorer Stefan Andriessen, it is located in the middle of Metropolis Park and attracts hundreds of visitors daily, all of whom pay an admission charge which is donated to charity.Superman #110 notes that:
There are many museums in the city of Metropolis, but the most famous is the one which is dedicated to Superman and contains sensational trophies of his amazing deeds! All of these exhibits are symbols of the Man of Steel's victories over crime!Among the museum's numerous attractions are an extensive Superman Photo Gallery, weapons and other devices confiscated by Superman from Lex Luthor and other villains, murals depicting Superman employing his various super-powers and an extensive file of Superman news stories, a gallery of souvenirs of other worlds, statuettes of the Legion of Super-Heroes presented to Superman by the Legionnaires when he was a boy, and statues of Jor-El, Lara, and Superman himself at various stages of his life, including the life-sized Superman statue carved out of solid diamond by Supergirl in commemoration of Superman Day in November of 1962. Many of the trophies are extraordinarily valuable; in April 1959, one trophy alone is appraised at $35,000.
The texts contain several references to a "Superman Hall of Trophies" and a "Superman Trophy Hall," but these would seem to be merely alternate names for the Superman Museum.
The caretaker of the Superman Museum is Joe Meach, the man who achieves infamy as the Composite Superman.
A FEW HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS:
In January 1952, Stefan Andriessen, the greatest explorer and adventurer of our times, assembles a large collection of Superman trophies and announces the dedication of a Superman Museum in the city of Metropolis. In November 1955, Lex Luthor commits a series of crimes designed to transform the Superman Museum into a memorial to his conquests instead of Superman's. In May 1957, just outside Metropolis, Superman constructs a brand new Superman Museum in the form of a miles-high structure that towers above the surrounding countryside far higher than any skyscraper. To the people of Metropolis, it appears that Superman's decision to build this ostentatious memorial to himself arises from unwholesome super-conceit, but the real function of the museum building is to serve as camouflage for a gigantic air shaft with which Superman intends to dispose of a deadly poisonous chemical gas which is seeping upward from the center of the Earth, without panicking the people of Metropolis. Once the toxic gas has been dissipated in the upper atmosphere, the Man of Steel dismantles the structure and converts it into a much-needed housing project. It is while this special Superman Museum is in operation that Superman apprehends racket-leader Jay Amery and his henchmen when they smuggle themselves into the building in an attempt to rob it. In January 1959, after Superman has become afflicted with temporary amnesia as the result of a mishap that occurs while he is experimenting with kryptonite, the Man of Steel visits the Superman Museum in hopes of finding a clue to his own secret identity. In April 1959, Superman visits a Superman Museum during a time-journey to the future year of 2000 A.D., but it is uncertain whether that museum is the same as the Superman Museum from Superman's own time. (Superman #128, "Superman vs. the Futuremen") The Superman Museum is not to be confused with the Super Museum.
Text on this page taken from
The Great Superman Book
© 1978 by Michael L. Fleisher.
entry origin: stta 1.0