DOMINUS!

Meet Dominus, the Master of Reality!

Once in line to become one of the Lords of Order, Dominus was passed over in favor of another. Swearing vengeance, Dominus used Superman to draw his replacement out of hiding.

Using his ability to manipulate reality, Dominus sent Superman on a bizarre time journey, presenting him with four separate versions of reality, set in different time periods, each of which seemed perfectly real to the Man of Steel.

In one reality, he squared off against the agents of Nazi Germany. In another, he found himself in the 1950s, where Mr Mxyzptlk had given super-powers to nearly everyone in Metropolis. In the third, Superman found himself facing the Prankster in the 1970s. And in the fourth, Superman of the 21st century banded together with a futuristic Justice League to fend of an alien attack. Each reality was completely realized and unique, and Dominus moved Superman between them with the Man of Steel none the wiser.

Dominus' plan worked. To help Superman realize what was happening to him, the Lord of Order known as Kismet showed herself, taking an innocent guise in each of the four realities Dominus had created.

Dominus attacked Kismet, but Superman (who now realized what had happened to him) fought him. In the battle he was aided by the time-travelling Linear Men, who also hid Kismet's soul away, in the body of a childhood friend of Clark Kent's, Sharon Vance. There they knew Kismet would be safe from Dominus' vengeance.

Thwarted from destroying Kismet, Dominus turned his anger on the Man of Steel. He invaded Superman's mind, giving him dreams of terrible tragedies, then causing the events in those dreams to come to pass. In response to what he believed to be prophetic dreams, Superman increased his vigilance over the world, swooping in to avert tragedy wherever possible.

As time went on, however, Superman came more and more to believe that mankind was incapable of looking out for its own best interests. In order to monitor the world constantly, and be able to respond to any potentially dangerous situation, Superman created a fleet of robots in his own image, to which he gave the task of looking over the world and reacting to situations before people could be endangered.

Everyone from Lex Luthor to the Justice League watched Superman's actions with increased alarm. The JLA even confronted Superman, and was forced to battle his super robots when they tore the Lexcorp offices in half, sending the labs on the upper floors into orbit because they contained "dangerous" experiments.

While the JLA battled Superman and his robots near the Fortress of Solitude, Lex Luthor commandeered a space ship and flew up to the remains of his lab, which he caused to fall back to Earth on top of Superman's Fortress.

When the smoke cleared, it became obvious that Dominus had been controlling Superman's actions, perverting his senses and forcing him to establish himself as de facto ruler of the planet. When Superman realized this, he and Dominus fought. Dominus sent Superman into the Phantom Zone, from which Superman escaped before seemingly blasting Dominus into smithereens.

But Superman was not convinced Dominus was destroyed. With the JLA's support, he invoked a kind of worldwide martial law, telling everyone that it would be over once Dominus was apprehended.

In short order, the JLA became world police, with Superman in the position of nearly absolute ruler. A large citadel was erected in Metropolis, from which Superman coordinated the JLA, the JSA, the Supermen of America, worldwide armed forces, and his own army of robots, ostensibly in a search for the escaped Master of Reality.

Suspicious, Lois Lane teamed with Lex Luthor and Outburst, one of the Supermen of America, to infiltrate Superman's citadel and search for answers. There, in a a deep basement, they found, in a secure cell...Dominus! The truth was then revealed: It had been Dominus, masquerading as Superman, who had imposed his rule on the Earth! In what he saw as a joke, Dominus had given the Man of Steel his own form and imprisoned him deep within the citadel he had created.

Luthor and Lois freed the Man of Steel, who attacked Dominus and disrupted his energy. With Dominus forced into a corporeal state, it was a simple matter for Superman to transport him into the Phantom Zone.

Although Superman defeated Dominus, the villain handed the Man of Steel what was probably his greatest defeat. Thanks to Dominus, the world's faith in Superman was broken, and it would be some time before they would trust him again.