World's Finest #178 is an issue of the series World's Finest (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1968.
Synopsis for "The Has-Been Superman! - Exit Superman-Enter Nova!"
While on an intergalactic mission, Superman is dosed with a strange chemical and upon returning to Earth, he realizes that he has lost his powers. His friends, Batman and Robin try to help Clark Kent lead a normal life, but the restless hero can't give up his crime-fighting crusade. Inspired by The Dynamic Duo and Green Arrow, Clark adopts the secret identity of "The Nova", a human hero who uses his special cape to fight crime.
The Nova has his first encounter with Batman and Robin but he is easily defeated by the Caped Crusader, but after learning of Clark's honest purpose, Batman and Robin allow him to continue his work as The Nova. Unfortunately, during one of his heroic activities, Nova is unable to defeat some criminals, as he can't bring himself to use his full strength, due to the force of habit. This mistake costs Nova a great defeat and as he lies unconscious, he is taken to the secret hideout of the criminal mastermind called Mr. Socrates. The villain informs Clark that he knows his secret identity as Superman and also as the Nova and Socrates blackmails Clark into working for him against Batman and Robin, leaving Clark no option but to agree.
Appearing in "The Has-Been Superman! - Exit Superman-Enter Nova!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- Leaper (Single appearance)
- Mr. Socrates (First appearance)
- Lew
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Rip Van Superman!"
This story is reprinted from Superman #107.
A cyclotron accident in which Kryptonite is involved puts Superman in a coma. He is placed in a tomb, and sleeps until the 30th Century. Upon awakening, he learns that "vitamins and hormones" have given all Earth people powers similar to his own. But the people of Earth are overly-dependent on robots to do their work, and fall prey to a villain named Drago. Superman rallies the people of the 30th Century to defeat Drago. As repayment, two men of that time send Superman back to his normal era with an experimental time machine. He awakens in his glass tomb only minutes after he had been placed in it.
Appearing in "Rip Van Superman!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Drago
Other Characters:
- Batman (Mentioned only)
- Kylle
- Rip Van Winkle (Mentioned only)
- Yaddo
Locations:
- 1956
- Krypton (Mentioned only)
- Metropolis
- 2956
- Earth's Moon
- Moon-Prison
- Metropolis
- Earth's Moon
Items:
- Cyclotron
- Kryptonite (Mentioned only)
- Time-Machine (Mentioned only)
- Vulcanite
Vehicles:
Notes
- The Imaginary Story continues in World's Finest #180.
- The Has-Been Superman! was originally published as an imaginary story, a story outside of regular continuity. In Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium, it was retconned as having happened on another Earth, (Earth-178).
- The Kingdom #2 revealed that Earth-178 was also a Hypertime reality.
See Also