Action Comics #480

Superman bursts through a wall of flame at the center of this striking 1978 cover, his expression one of anguish as a dark-haired woman and a purple-suited figure tumble through the chaos around him — while panicked bystanders scatter across a crumbling Metropolis street below. The tagline asks pointedly, "Is the man who has so often saved Metropolis about to destroy it?" — a question that gives the whole scene a genuine charge of dramatic tension. José Luis García-López and Dick Giordano bring real kinetic energy to the composition, making Action Comics #480 a vivid snapshot of Superman caught between heroism and something far more unsettling.