50 Iconic and Inspiring Superman Images for Miracle Monday

How are you feeling today? Pretty good? Do you have a warm feeling inside, a calmness and lack of worry, an inexplicable sense of contentment? If you answered yes, it's not a coincidence, it's not random chance: it's a miracle. Miracle Monday is the official holiday of Superman, celebrated on the third Monday in May and introduced in the 1981 prose novel Miracle Monday by Elliot S Maggin.

In the course of this novel, Superman fights an actual demon named CW Saturn, and when he inevitably beats him, Superman is granted a wish, which he uses to make everything all right again. This wipes the world's memories of Superman's battle with Saturn, but leaves them with a strange sense of contentment and joy.

As the book itself explains:

Shortly before four in the afternoon on the third Monday in the month of May, the people of the city of Metropolis learned the meaning of joy. They had no explanation for this feeling, and there were gaps in their knowledge of what had gone on in their lives so far that day. It was as though they were all waking up, or at least opening their eyes, for the first time in an awfully long time. The first thing many of them saw was the red-and-blue figure of Superman drawing a line across their sky, and he became the symbol of their joy. It felt like a miracle, though none could say why.

To help celebrate this worthiest of holidays, we have collected a series of images from throughout Superman's history that are iconic, classic, inspiring, moving, or which just encapsulate some portion of the spirit of Superman.

To paraphrase Glen Weldon's Superman: The Unauthorized Biography, Superman is a hero because he puts the needs of others before himself and he never gives up. That is the spirit we hope to reflect here.

If you're looking for out-of-context images of Superman being a jerk, look elsewhere. That's for other websites, for other days. Today is for celebrating the Man of Tomorrow, the Champion of the Oppressed.

This gallery is only a small portion of Superman's history of moving and inspiring readers, and is by no means complete or definitive. We encourage you to share your own favorite Superman scenes and panels in the comments below.

Oh, and: maybe listen to this while you browse.