Superman was fast becoming a man of two minds. In the extra sized Superman Red / Superman Blue one-shot, the former Man of Steel was stretched beyong his limits when he split in half to form two separate heroes. It paid homage to the classic Silver Age story in Superman (1st series)#162 (July 1963), an "imaginary story" in which two versions of the Last Son of Krypton patrolled the universe. The special was written by Dan Jurgens, Stuart Immonen, Karl Kesel, and Louise Simonson, with pencils by Immonen, Ron Frenz, Tom Grummett, Paul Ryan and Jon Bogdanove. Appropriately, a red and blue 3-D cover drawn by Dan Jurgens was released along with a regular full colour newstand version of the cover. Packaged with a pair of 3-D glasses, the issue came with a separate reprint issue entitled Superman 3-D.

Still getting used to h is energy based powers and his blue containment suit, Superman was annoyed to learn his old foe the Toyman had broken out of prison. To make matters worse, the Toyman soon joined forces with the Cyborg Superman and the two captured Metropolis' guardian, locking him in a machine designed to disperse and contain Superman's energy. However, the device overloaded and Superman was split into two different individuals: an aggressive red version and a more contemplative blue version.