A superhero called Mental Man rivaled Superman in both the 1950s and the 1960s, without ever actually managing to exist.
The Adventures of Mental Man in Action Comics 196 (Sept. 1954) was revamped as Superman’s Rival, Mental Man! in Action Comics 272 (Jan. 1961).
Comics historian Michael E. Grost noted that the earlier tale, written by Bill Finger and drawn by Wayne Boring, “… is about a Daily Planet comic strip artist who creates a Mental Man comic strip that comes to life. Finger’s tale is pretty decent. It has the ingenious ‘comic strip within a comic book story’ idea, a nice twist about Mental Man and the same superpowers for Mental Man, those involving pure mental will.”
Finger took care to parallel the cataclysmic origins of both Mental Man and Superman. Mental Man purported to be an Atlantean scientist who created a clear “indestructible bubble” that kept him in suspended animation for centuries as the sole survivor of the sinking of his continent.
When he took time off from writing Batman to pen Superman stories, Finger frequently explored the themes of elaborate hoaxes and new superheroes who suddenly popped up to rival the Man of Tomorrow.
The latter story is by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Curt Swan. “Siegel has kept all of Finger’s good ideas in his version,” Grost observed. “He has added several good ideas of his own, and I think that Siegel’s version is considerably improved over the original. Lois Lane is now the artist, and reflected in the comic strip by a Lois Lane double. The mystery ideas are greatly extended. And there is much satire and comedy in Siegel’s version.”
“Siegel’s dialogue throughout this tale is excellent. It is one of the most sharply written of his stories.”
In both cases, “Mental Man” turns out to be Superman himself (with an assist from Aquaman in the later version).
As a young reader, I was a little disappointed by that hoax. Superheroes were still thin on the ground then, and I was always hoping for a new one.
Adopting some third identity beyond Superman and Clark Kent was, in fact, a favorite ruse of the Man of Steel’s.
As comics historian Michael Fleisher noted, “Superman has employed numerous aliases and alternate identities in the course of his career, including those of Tom Daly (Act No. W, Mar ’39), Kenneth Clarkson (S No. 42/3, Sep/Oct ’46: The Death of Clark Kent!), Bud Mack (S No. 77/2, Jul/Aug ’52: The Greatest Pitcher in the World!), Charlie Kendall (S No. 89/2, May ’54: Superman Of Skid Row!), Mental Man (Act No. 196, Sep ’54: The Adventures of Mental Man!), Lightning Man (WF No. 89, Jul/Aug ’57: The Club of Heroes!), Kirk Brent (S No. 124/3, Sep ’58: The Steeplejack of Steel), Kent Clark (S No. 130/3, Jul ’59: The Town That Hated Superman!), … Tigerman (WF No. 119, Aug ’61: The Secret of Tigerman!) (and) Nightwing (S No. 158, Jan ’63, Superman In Kandor, etc.).”
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