YMMV / Superman vs. Muhammad Ali

• Awesome Art: Superman vs Muhammad Ali is one of the few Superman stories fully illustrated by legendary artist Neal Adams, and his great art is one of the reasons why this story stood out.
• Complete Monster: Rat'lar is the emperor of the Scrubb race, who one day saw Earth and humanity as a threat to his future rule, fearing that humanity might one day become more powerful than his empire. Convincing his people through lies that humans are cruel savages, Rat'lar leads his army to Earth and arrives at the planet, demanding that Earth's greatest champion faces his own Scrubb champion or else he would destroy Earth. Ordering a strike on St. Louis for the "offense" of Superman and Ali attacking him, with Superman barely being able to save the city, Rat'lar chooses Ali and Superman as Earth's champions, later having them fight to decide which one of them will face his champion. When Ali manages to beat his champion, Rat'lar decides to destroy Earth anyway, openly planning to force all humans on his ships to watch as he destroys their planet and kills off the rest of humanity.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Many decades later, "Scrub" would become an online insult for exactly the kind of person who would argue that anything anyone does to beat them in a sport or game is cheating.
• Narm Charm: The premise of real-life boxer Muhammad Ali fighting Superman (much less ultimately winning) because of aliens is incredibly goofy, but between Neal Adams putting in some of his finest work and the surprisingly sincere treatment of the whole affair, it's weirdly easy to believe in and invest in.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Thanks to coming out a bit late, the comic was dated on release to when Ali was Heavyweight Champion of the World—he had lost the title by the time it arrived on stands. The famous cover of the special also serves as something of a time capsule of celebrities and public figures who were popular at the time.

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