John Deegan (Earth-1: Pre-Crisis)

For other uses of Superman, see Superman (Disambiguation).

John Deegan
Biographical Information
Aliases	Codenames Superman (Elseworlds)
Status	Alive
Citizenship	American
Died	December 10, 2019 (reverted) Arkham Asylum, Gotham City
Home Universe	Earth-1
Physical Information
Species	Metahuman
Gender	Male
Associations
Home	Gotham City; Illinois
Occupation	Psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum (formerly) Professor of the American Psychiatric Consortium (formerly) Vigilante (Elseworlds) Director of S.T.A.R. Labs (Elseworlds)
Affiliation	Arkham Asylum S.T.A.R. Labs (Elseworlds)
Appearances
Portrayed by	Jeremy Davies Tyler Hoechlin (as Superman)
First Appearance	Elseworlds, Part 1
Last Appearance	Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Four (in the Speed Force)

“	My name is Dr. John Deegan, and I, like most of you, I'm a psychiatrist. Do you know what my patients tell me the most? They feel inferior. I'm here to tell you, whether we admit it or not, some people, they're just born lucky, which leads us to the real problem, imperfection. How can we ever hope to feel like supermen or superwomen without first becoming super ourselves?	”
— Deegan's monologue[src]

Dr. John Deegan, Ph.D., M.D., is a former psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum and later the wielder of the Book of Destiny. In one of his Elseworlds, he became the vigilante Superman using the only history record of Kal-El while the latter was fighting AMAZO.

Biography

Early Life

Deegan was born and raised in Gotham City and gained degrees of psychometrics. Later, he became a psychiatrist and worked at the Arkham Asylum. He later used excessive measures including torture and experiments on his patients. However, he was able to escape from legal actions, but his medical license was eventually revoked in 2013 as well as being fired from the medical board.

Due to his inability to perform medical procedures, he became a professor at The American Psychiatric Consortium.

Gaining the Book of Destiny

In 2018, Deegan gave a presentation about how experiments can turn patients into Metahumans. However, the audiences thought it as an insane idea and left before he could elaborate. He then walked to the parking lot where he was approached by Mar Novu. Deegan thought Mar is a prankster trying to get some laughs until the latter crushed Deegan's car. Deegan asked who he is and Mar told him that he is beyond his understanding. Mar then gave him the Book of Destiny to allow him to alter reality as he sees fit.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Powers via the Book of Destiny

Abilities

• High-level Intellect
  • Psychology
• Peak of Human Physical Condition

Weaknesses

As Superman

• Kryptonite

Equipment

Former Equipment

• Book of Destiny
• Superman Suit

Appearances

Appearances
	Elseworlds, Part 1	Appears
	Elseworlds, Part 2	Appears
	Elseworlds, Part 3	Appears
	Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One	Vision
	Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three	Mentioned
	Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Four	In the Speed Force

Notes

• It is unknown what happened to Deegan during the Crisis as he and Roger Hayden are aware of the event being moved to December 10, 2019, due to timeline alterations.

Gallery

• 
  Current Form
• 
  Former Form
• 
  Superman

Promotional Images

• 
  Elseworlds Comic Book Cover
• 
  Elseworlds, Part 3
• 
  Elseworlds

References

Other versions of John Deegan