The title kind of explains it all. I know very early on Superman was able to out maneuver Darkseid's Omega Beams and use them against him, but that is really down more to the power of the Omega Effect than Superman himself. So my question stands, how early in Superman's career would you say he is capable of standing against Darkseid alone and standing a real chance of winning.

28-32 range maybe? I'm not sure.

@mightykalel: I probably should have clarrified. I wasn't looking for a number, rather A point in time which can be explained by a particular event. Like Jason Todd's stint as Robin or the Death of Superman Story Arc.

Around the age he was during Loeb's Superman/Batman series.

@thekinfing: Based on the most streamlined set of events in Post crisis DC Comics, the Batfamily timeline, I put Superman in his early forties by this point, I estimated 42 but that was based on a couple of assumptions.

Wait, if it's during Loeb's run, does that mean he never beat Darkseid in a 1v1 before the 21st century?

Pre-Flashpoint I would've agreed with you; Pre-Superman Reborn, I would've agreed with you. But after Reborn, I'm pretty sure they split he difference and dropped him into his 30s so he could be roughly around the age of Batman again, who's no older than 36.

@thanosismad: Awesome, Pre-Flashpoint is what I'm talking about. So his relative age before the entire multiverse was rebooted (permenantly this time) applies, so early forties seems accurate in this case. I would put Batman at about forty exactly at this time too based on this very same time scaling.