Alternative versions of Superman establish a new continuity for DC, affecting not only Superman, but all of the DC Comics characters. The versions of Superman from this time period are traditionally divided into three main periods. The first version of Superman began being published by DC Comics in 1938 appearing in "Action Comics" #1. To explain discrepancies in the aging of Superman across several decades, his earliest stories were retroactively portrayed as having taken place on an alternative world called Earth-Two. These stories take place from 1938 until the late 1950s, although the exact dividing line is unclear and some stories happened identically to
The Death of Superman arc references Siegel and Shuster's first Superman story, "The Reign of the Superman". It crosses into the larger DC Universe, with "Green Lantern" #46 (October 1993) featuring a tie-in story. Despite the gap between the releases of "Funeral for a Friend" and "Reign of the Supermen!", no time passed within the continuity of the comics. "The Death of Superman" concluded in October 1993 with "The Adventures of Superman" #505, in which Superman returns to Metropolis. Doomsday emerges from an underground bunker and encounters the Justice League International. He easily defeats them, but Superman arrives and the two fight across America.