Discarded Superman Continuity You Still Accept as Canon

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Even with the suit and Johns' "The Men of Tomorrow" arc being kept, evidently far too much of Superman's Post-Flashpoint personal continuity was still discarded. including the excellent Grant Morrison origin.

They kept things vague enough in the Superman Reborn recap, it's entirely possible to keep as much or as little as you'd like. I think a good chunk of Morrison's origin is still there, taking place immediately prior to Johns's origin, with Waid's origin mixed in there as well. Basically, any New 52 story or Pre-Flashpoint story or any other story can fit in that broad strokes history with a few tweaks here and there.

And, unless some future comic decides to contradict this belief, there's nothing standing in the way of this.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

unfortunately I think he and Perry both bought into the fake Mxy Clark thing like everyone else (kinda lame but I think we're supposed to roll with it). So I think Jimmy is no longer in the know. I wonder if all that murkyness is part of the reason why Jimmy's quietly slipped back into the background.

We haven't really seen much of Jimmy at all since Rebirth, so I don't think there's any evidence either way about his current knowledge of Superman's secret ID.

So, in the absence of any new information, I am going with the most recent status quo, which had Jimmy being in on the secret.

[FishyZombie]

We haven't really seen much of Jimmy at all since Rebirth, so I don't think there's any evidence either way about his current knowledge of Superman's secret ID.

So, in the absence of any new information, I am going with the most recent status quo, which had Jimmy being in on the secret.

That's not the most recent status quo though. The most recent was him and Perry buying into the idea that Clark and Supes can't be one and the same, because they think they saw them together at the same time. I'm pretty confident he doesn't know anymore. Which is waste I think, since I think they coulda done more with that before reverting to the traditional dynamic.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

That's not the most recent status quo though. The most recent was him and Perry buying into the idea that Clark and Supes can't be one and the same, because they think they saw them together at the same time. I'm pretty confident he doesn't know anymore. Which is waste I think, since I think they coulda done more with that before reverting to the traditional dynamic.

I am going to pretend Jimmy was just playing dumb the whole time

[Jim Kelly]

Personally--and this thread seems to be all about what we personally prefer to believe--I like it if nobody knows that Clark and Superman are the same person. Or at least, very few people. If you look at the CW shows, it gets pretty tiresome when more and more characters know the secret identity of Flash or Supergirl or whoever. It gets to a point where any characters that don't know are the odd one out.

It's hard to say where to draw the line on just who should know, but if there's no compelling reason for a character to know Superman's i.d. then that character shouldn't know. I could see in WORLD'S FINEST why Batman had to know that Superman is Clark, becaus otherwise the WF stories would just get impossible and there was some fun in having the two characters cover for each other--to throw other people off the scent. Yet if Batman is going to be antagonistic toward Clark and not really a trusted friend and partner, then I would rather Bruce didn't know.

I'm not a big fan of the marriage--I see these as just possible what-if stories of Superman, like the old Super Sons or Superman of 2965 stories. So in my best case Superman reality, Lois is not married to Clark and doesn't know. Nor does anyone else at the Planet. Most of the JLA don't know. It's only really Supergirl, Krypto and the Kandorians that need to know the truth. I'm not sure about Phantom Zoners--I guess if anyone in the Phantom Zone can observe Superman in his private moments, then it's hard to write around that. But if Phantom Zoners are observing every private moment of every human being on Earth--there are more important things we need to talk about.

[Soubhagya]

Who shall know of secret ID? It shall be really few. Lois shall not learn right away. I want her to discover this by herself. Or better she knows but does not care. I like Rebirth. Superman revealed the secret but suspected that she always knew.

About Jimmy i am more conflicted. I want that story to be in canon. I loved that issue Superman #39. Who else can do the job of Jimmy? Maybe Lois? It is better if he does not know. But if he knows it can be good because at present he is Superman's Pal in name. This does not seem right.

Supergirl shall know.

I am not a fan of anyone else knowing his ID. At best Batman. Even JL shall be in the dark. Eventually they learn each other' ID after years. This New 52 where Batman revealed himself to Hal Jordan is among the dumbest things i have ever read. ID reveal shall be about trust. It has to be built over years.

I can't honestly see any benefit in letting so many people know the secret id. It may appear an old trope but it is not just a trope. It is a necessity. The more people know the secret ID it more prone to be leaked to a villain. Somehow people think secret ID is dumb. They consider themselves smarter. Common sense is becoming rarer nowadays. No offence to the fans here.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I think, right now, in Metropolis, only Lois, Jon, and Jimmy know. Steel didn't know at first, but he certainly knows by now. Supergirl clearly knows.

From Smallville, I'm cool with them swapping Lana for Pete being Clark's childhood confidant, along with Ma & Pa (who I think should remain dead).

The entire core membership of the Justice League would know, but a lot of the second stringers probably haven't been told yet.

That's pretty much it. Don't think anyone else should know.

[Flash Gordon]

I prefer nobody knowing about Superman's private life. It's nobody's business what Superman does in his personal life.

Eventually Lois Lane would have to know, if you want to get them married or in a relationship. I like them together, even if the marriage kind of kills so much of the drama and tends to not be written well. To be honest, Batman doesn't need to know. Neither does Wonder Woman. Knowing Superman's name is Clark Kent isn't really important to the mission of the Justice League. If Batman and Superman are rock solid pals, sure- but they haven't been portrayed like that in a while.

Supergirl is family so obviously she knows. I'd say Lana Lang knows since she grew up with Clark and would have seen some weird stuff. That's about it. When he traveled the world, he didn't really use the name "Clark".

Hell, maybe "Clark Kent" is just one identity and he has a few?

[TruthAndJustice]

Hi, I'm new here.

As someone who disapproved of the New 52 idea from the get-go, I'm pretty much happy with the new status quo, although Clark and Lois having a ten year old son is still kind of odd to me (and yes, I like Jon, he's a good kid, but still...).

Anyway, most of what I want re-affirmed could be shoehorned into the current continuity pretty easily:

Ma and Pat Kent did NOT die in a car crash when Clark was a teenager. It's a false memory, like Barry Allen not remembering Jay Garrick. Pa died as he did in the Johns/Frank "Brainiac" story and Ma died shortly after, we just didn't see it.

Connor Kent/Kon-El still exists...somewhere. We just don't know where he is. A prisoner of Mr. Oz? In the 31st century with the Legion?

The "Last Son" story with Chris Kent still took place, though earlier in the lives of Clark and Lois than we thought it did. At some point in the near future, Superman and Lor-Zod will remember each other, I hope.

A very abbreviated, altered version of the "New Krypton" story took place. Zor-El was killed by Reactron, Allura and the other former Argo City/Kandorians created New Krypton, but very quickly afterward Brainiac attacked it and Sam Lane and Lex Luthor used Reactron to blow up New Krypton and no one survived. Brainiac took Zor-El's body before the explosion and turned him into the second Cyborg Superman. Supergirl played a significant role in all this but Superman was too busy raising Jon Kent with Lois. No one was able to definitely prove that Luthor and Sam Lane were responsible for New Krypton's destruction.

Lana Lang and Pete Ross were married and then divorced. Same with Lucy Lane and Ron Troupe. Nobody had any kids, though. (Nobody went to the White House either. Lex was never president although he did run.)

Luthor was once married to the Contessa but they had no kids and she is, in fact, dead.

The Matrix-Supergirl did exist. She was created by the Luthor of the mainstream DCU to be his "pet superheroine" but proved to be difficult to control, and instead of being a rival to Superman she became his ally. Later she merged with Linda Danvers and the Peter David Supergirl stories happened essentially as written. Clark, Lois et al remember her but don't talk about her.

Kara originally wore the costume that first appeared in SUPERMAN/BATMAN until the Rebirth run began. When Clark discovered her in Siberia that's what she was wearing. That awful New 52 costume never existed.

Krypton blew up because of a terrorist group named Black Zero, not because of Brainiac, as Johns/Frank implied in their "Brainiac" story. Clones were still a "thing" in Krypton's history.

Lois became pregnant at the end of the year that followed INFINITE CRISIS, during which Clark had lost his powers.

Superman and Wonder Woman were never a "power couple." They just deliberately gave that impression to the world so that the press would never ask "is Superman dating anyone? Does he even date?"

And of course "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes" is still part of Clark's past, though I think this is going to become clear in future issues of SUPERMAN and ACTION COMICS. (Supergirl was also in the Legion and Brainiac 5 loved her and all that.)

If there were ever points in his life during which Clark didn't remember things that actually did happen, blame the Time Trapper if you can't blame Doctor Manhattan (or Pandora working for Manhattan).

[Kuwagaton]

Truth and Justice of NYC, that just sounds legit. Welcome!

The first few things you mention I like, mainly because I can see them happening. The kents deserve a more impressive fate (for realistic impact of fatal crashes we already have Brubaker) and Superboy will definitely be back, if he ever left in the first place.

And though I totally loved Supergirl 0-13, the whole time I thought about how they replaced a pretty great costume with something totally random. You can't draw the S shield in two different ways and still pretend it's not an S, haha.

[K. Jones]

My big one that I still accept as canon is actually New Krypton. With all the Brainiacing involved in Convergence, as "discarded" itself as Convergence is (count that as another one that I accept as canon), I feel like all the post New Krypton fallout with it failing and everything could still have more or less happened after Superman fought Brainiac Prime and Kandor was reembiggened.

Now there's serious timeline hijinx - New Fifty-Twoed and then Rebirthed and then Reborned. Supergirl, central to that story, got "once again" "for the first time" brought to Earth during the New 52, rendering all her friendship with Thara Ak-Var and interaction with her parents there kind of impossible. Lor-Zod is a kid again, although I believe that happened at the end of New Krypton anyway. Somehow, the failed New Krypton would've had to have been "Re-bottled". This all notwithstanding a lot of the characters involved (Zod, Ursa, Superman, and on and on and on) basically forgetting that version of history.

But I feel like it still may have happened - a lot of its strong influences are sort of still there, permeating the fringes of the Superbooks. Convergence could've provided a way in which Kandor was "re-bottled" before New 52 started (and again, Convergence was an event that happened, but was "forgotten" to history). Brainiac might semi-sorta-still-remember because he was the Convergence Guy. And Zor-El's death by nuclear man, when Neutron killed him, coupled with being found by a post-Convergence crazy Ur-Brainiac, could be how "Cyborg Super-Zor" came into existence.

All this, plus Manhattan monkeying with the timeline.

Not that New Krypton was ever like, pulled off successfully to the point of it being "The Superman Story" that you have to include in canon, but there was a TON of stuff in there.

[TruthAndJustice]

Honestly I didn't like the whole gigantic multi-authored "New Krypton" story very much at all. But throwing ALL of it away, if we really have an "amalgamated" canon (pre- and post-Flashpoint) seems like a bad idea. Especially since it CAN be amalgamated with some of the newer stuff.

I think I'd also establish that Kara was physically a bit younger than we all thought when she landed on Earth. Around 14 years old, rather than 16 or 17 or whatever it was.