Randy Goode

*"I mean... I mean how many awards can one guy win huh? Why don't I ever get one of these prizes?" (Johnson: "Probably because you're the King of Sleaze.")*
—Randy Goode expressing his hatred and jealousy of Superman after watching a news broadcast

**Randy Goode** is a villain in the series.

He was a world famous philanthropist and sleazy tabloid publisher who was jealous of Superman's popularity and felt that the Man of Steel was winning too many awards that he felt he himself deserved, especially when Superman "stole" the Man of the Year award from him.

He was determined to ruin Superman's image so he himself would be the next Man of the Year and worked with his head undercover reporter Samantha to achieve it.

## History

Not much is known about Mr. Goode except that he became the head of a popular tabloid publishing company and a world famous philanthropist. However the stories that were published were bias but seemed to catch the eyes of the other citizens of Metropolis.

Mr. Goode was also one of the nominees for the 1996 Metropolis Man of the Year award, but lost to Superman, which stemmed his hatred for the Man of Steel.

## Biography

Mr. Goode had just come back from riding and went to his main building for a meeting with his colleagues in his conference room.

They watch a news broadcast on television of Superman winning an international peace prize that he himself had also been the runner up for. Mr. Goode mutes it during Superman's speech angrily, saying that the Man of Steel said the same thing last year when he stole the Man of the Year award from him.

He then jealously ranted to his colleagues that it was unfair that Superman won so many awards and asked why he never got any. One of them, Johnson remarks "Probably because you're the King of Sleaze." This was followed by chuckles from the others while Mr. Goode looked extremely annoyed.

Johnson saw the look on his face and added "used to be". Mr. Goode agreed saying he was now a world famous philanthropist spending billions of dollars rehabilitating his image with deeds such as building shelters for the homeless and feeding the poor so he deserved it as much as Superman. He then phoned Samantha, his top reporter who was covering the broadcast. He declared that he was through with losing to Superman and next year he would be the one receiving the peace prize.

He asked Samantha to find out if Superman had any flaws so he could effectively destroy his image and not to let him down. He then tells the rest of his colleagues to fan out and find dirt on Superman. He then punished Johnson for the King of Sleaze insult by pushing him down the elevator shaft.

Later Mr. Goode was watching another news broadcast of Superman, this time of the Man of Steel negotiating peace with the leaders of two countries, President Kasparov and General Navance. Mr. Goode grew even more jealous and remarked "Oh great, he's gonna stop a war now. I think I'm gonna puke!"

Samantha then walked in, showing him footage of Superman having his arm held tenderly by Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane. She suspects that Lois Lane who had gotten every interview with Superman ever since he arrived in Metropolis was having an affair with the Man of Steel while she is married to fellow reporter Clark Kent. But Mr. Goode told her that her theory wasn't enough and they needed strong evidence.

Sometime afterwards he was called by Samantha who said she saw Superman and Lois in bed together at the hotel Chateau Rehberge in Berlin and had photographic evidence to prove it. In a few days the whole story with Samantha's picture was everywhere saying that Lois cheated on Clark with Superman in three magazines, on the news and the internet. Many people are furious when they hear about it and lose their respect for the Man of Steel.

Mr. Goode however, was delighted and promotes Samantha to vice president. He then said that they finally have a story which is authentic and they have destroyed Superman with something much stronger than Kryptonite, a scandal. He wanted to precede with a smear campaign against the Man of Steel saying anything goes, even if was a lie to make Superman's image crash and burn even further. Superman's popularity would then fade forever and Mr. Goode would be the new Man of the Year.

After Superman was no longer allowed to run peace talks with the world leaders, Mr. Goode invited them to his building and offered to negotiate peace instead. Superman however arrived at the building as he had promised to be there to explain everything.

Mr. Goode smugly watched as Kasparov and Navance showed the Man of Steel the magazines with the scandal story on them and said that Superman had broken the trust of their people and would not allow him to negotiate peace with them unless he provided an acceptable explanation.

Superman assured them that the story was not what it appeared to be. Just the one of his colleagues told him to watch another news story. He turned on the television and it revealed Lois losing her temper with newsman Barry Dunning saying that her relationship with Superman was her business and no one else's, furthering people's belief that the scandal was true.

The world leader then threatened to destroy each other, but Superman asked them for one last chance saying that he would give a press conference the next day to explain everything which slowly wiped the smirk from Mr. Goode's face.

After they all left, Mr. Goode conversed with Samantha, saying that if Superman managed to wriggle his way out of the scandal, the Man of Steel would be able to negotiate peace again and have his popularity stronger than ever, ruining Mr. Goode's chances of being Man of the Year.

Samantha told him that she had an idea to sabotage the peace talks and make Superman responsible for it. Mr. Goode was pleased with this and promotes her to senior vice president.

They followed Lois to Hank's photo lab, a place that created forged pictures (Samantha had used the same place to develop the Superman scandal picture as the real shots she had taken had been destroyed, but Mr. Goode didn't know this). One of his colleagues grabbed her and put her into his limousine.

Mr. Goode told Lois that he wanted Superman to save her while he detonated a bomb that was planted his own building where the two leaders were meeting as no one would suspect he would be behind it. This would discredit Superman even further as he would be rescuing Lois while the world leaders would be killed and be blamed for it. Lois protested that she would not call for help. Mr. Goode then sprayed Lois with gas knocking her out, took her back to Berlin where she was gagged and chained to a bed at Chateau Rehberge which had dynamite set to go off in two minutes.

Mr. Goode then activated his bomb under the table in the middle of the conference room and locked Kasparov and Navance inside while he attended the press conference. He then sent Superman a note containing Lois' rings and press card telling him where to find her.

As expected Superman flew away to rescue her and Mr. Goode got up on the stand and assured everyone that there would be a good explanation of what Superman was doing.

Superman rescued Lois and with the help of a piece of mirror and his laser eyes, he deactivated Mr. Goode's bomb in the nick of time. Both he and Samantha were surprised by no explosion and knew that Superman was onto them. They tried to escape and leave the country, but Superman cornered them.

Lois then declared that they could prove everything that Mr. Goode had done and exposed Samantha's picture as a fake (Jimmy Olsen, another worker at the Daily Planet had downloaded evidence from the computer from the night he and Lois went to Hank's photo lab). Samantha gave an embarrassed "Oops!" and Mr. Goode was surprised and furious when he heard that their scandal story wasn't authentic after all. The police then took both him and Samantha away and it is assumed that they were imprisoned after this.