Official : Bendis gets both books

[Vordan]

That DC has outed Superman twice with only a brief interval between the two tells me someone higher up at DC wants Clark outed.

[Mr.B]

Sounds like a story set in the near future.

[Frontier]

That DC has outed Superman twice with only a brief interval between the two tells me someone higher up at DC wants Clark outed.

I don't know if that's so true so much as it's just building off what Bendis is doing. It feels like a flavor of the month that will just continue along with the current era. Granted apparently WB execs were gung-ho for it (but they were also for 5G, so who knows).

[Robanker]

That entire rumor sounds like a complete deal breaker in-continuity, but if it's only a "kind of maybe happens?" future then at worst it's just a forgettable alternate future like when Batman Beyond goes bad (Tim as Batman Beyond).

That's key.

But that Bottled Metropolis has to go. Don't ruin Jon by making him a dick as an adult. Moreover, "Superman" and "authoritarian" are pretty much oxymoronic in nature. I can't abide it. That alone nearly sours me on the entire premise. It's antithetical to the character.

[Superlad93]

But that Bottled Metropolis has to go. Don't ruin Jon by making him a dick as an adult. Moreover, "Superman" and "authoritarian" are pretty much oxymoronic in nature. I can't abide it. That alone nearly sours me on the entire premise. It's antithetical to the character.

Interesting. Curious why you read that as an automatic bad thing, or Jon "being a dick"?

And I'm fairly sure "authoritarian" was the authors way of being clever in referencing Clark leading The Authority after he moves on as Superman.

[manwhohaseverything]

If 5g experiment is gonna be just an imprint.what will they do in the main line? Their adult jon hasn't from my view caught on. Superman's id reveal, rogal zarr.. Etc hasn't as well. Don't tell me, they are gonna bring back imps to do the dirty work again.Context of turning smallville into fortress of solitude and metropolis into a bottled city isn't revealed. So making a judgement would be jumping the gun. They could just be going inhumans route

[Robanker]

Interesting. Curious why you read that as an automatic bad thing, or Jon "being a dick"?

And I'm fairly sure "authoritarian" was the authors way of being clever in referencing Clark leading The Authority after he moves on as Superman.

I suppose that without mention of some factor where it's being bottled or destroyed (and were this the option, a Superman that has to falter and relent to the bottle instead of finding a better way works for a story, but not a status quo; it sets Jon up as someone who had to settle, which is arguably not a great look for Superman). It's Brainiac's thing, and Clark was always intending on finding a true home for Kandor.

The status quo cannot be "the world inside Superman's bottle" because it makes him our universe's jailer/warden, which he really shouldn't be. That doesn't sit right with me, at least. With respect to Kandor, there's the fear of having an entire city of Supermen loose in the galaxy when one is already so damn potent. As readers we understand the universe can't sustain it long term so we allow them to remain in a bottle.

If Jon is to succeed as Superman, he has to rise to his father's example and live up to that legacy. He's not going to if he has Metropolis bottled and never gets past that. His dad solved that problem all the time. Again, totally understand it as a story arc, but not a long-term status quo which the article implied it would be.

If 5g experiment is gonna be just an imprint.what will they do in the main line? Their adult jon hasn't from my view caught on. Superman's id reveal, rogal zarr.. Etc hasn't as well. Don't tell me, they are gonna bring back imps to do the dirty work again.Context of turning smallville into fortress of solitude and metropolis into a bottled city isn't revealed. So making a judgement would be jumping the gun. They could just be going inhumans route

It's been proven to work. Injustice brought a lot of attention to digital. Ultimate Spider-Man revitalized the IP without affecting the main book's history (which, frankly, was tortured with clones and all sorts of messes). Vertigo, Young Animal, Wonder Comics; They're designed to cast a wider net and hopefully reel people in that the main line doesn't with the intent that you stick around once hooked (by corporate if not by creators). Imprints have always been the fireworks going off beside the otherwise stable house to bring attention to that solid foundation.

[Sacred Knight]

Do any of you guys think this could have legitimately been the 5G plans for the main line Superman had Didio stayed? Jon as Superman and Authority Kal-El? He did an interview a while back where he challenged the assumption that 5G was just new heroes replacing the old ones. Well, here you have Jon taking over as Superman, but Kal-El still having this new role. I mean don't get me wrong, I think the whole thing sounds completely ludicrous, I'm just saying it could have, in Didio's head, legitimized that Kal-El wasn't just out and out being gotten rid of as he'd still have something to do. I dunno. I guess I'm getting ahead of myself anyway, first gotta find out one way or another if this idea in of itself is true.

[manwhohaseverything]

I am not saying adult jon can't work. It does work. Dceased seems to have worked. But, the implications is the Bendis's jon hasn't. Since, this 5g jon will be handled by someone else. There is a possibility that it could work. It is still being built on from Bendis's jon. So chances of that are slim for atleast me.

That still leaves the main continuity, The ultimate universe was Separate universe entirely. This thing has seeds in the main books. Hence, they are connected .Which is clearly also not being carried forward and built on. They might be going possible future route. So, what? bendis just leaves the books with main status quo as this? I don't think this status quo which was meant to lead or act as a base for 5G is appealing for most.

Do any of you guys think this could have legitimately been the 5G plans for the main line Superman had Didio stayed? Jon as Superman and Authority Kal-El? He did an interview a while back where he challenged the assumption that 5G was just new heroes replacing the old ones. Well, here you have Jon taking over as Superman, but Kal-El still having this new role. I mean don't get me wrong, I think the whole thing sounds completely ludicrous, I'm just saying it could have, in Didio's head, legitimized that Kal-El wasn't just out and out being gotten rid of as he'd still have something to do. I dunno. I guess I'm getting ahead of myself anyway, first gotta find out one way or another if this idea in of itself is true.

That's entirely what i think. This is 5G superman made into separate line.That's it.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Come to think about it, I suspect this is exactly what happened with Tom King’s Bat/Cat title. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was also meant to be in continuity setup for 5G only to end up becoming an elseworld when they had second thoughts about the initiative.

[Superlad93]

erman[/B]). It's Brainiac's thing, and Clark was always intending on finding a true home for Kandor.

I think you may be hung up on the Brainiac comparison. The write up said "kind of like Kandor" but never once does it say "just like Kandor". And if you're reading Bendis' Legion of Super-Heroes then you'll remember that in issue 1 Jon think Metropolis is bottled, but he's corrected on this and learns that it's not bad and people can freely move in and out. So when it comes to going with BC's take on what the city being under a dome means, and what the author of the books has set it up to mean, I'll go with the latter.

My guess is that this is Jon on the reason why he went to the Legion to begin with. Brainy explains that Jon needs to come back to the present with knowledge and understanding of the near utopia that is the 31st century to ensure both eras live. And given the fact that Bendis keeps having every character pat the young man on the back for coming up with the novel idea of the UP, I imagine he's gonna have some support for his upcoming forward thinking ideas such as this new city.

Based on what's been said in the books, this sounds more like the first straight up futurist take on Superman. And Bendis himself has said, in an interview regarding his Superman run, that he personally idealizes futurist heroes, and that's why Tony Stark was such a favorite of his.

The status quo cannot be "the world inside Superman's bottle"

It's worded poorly, but I don't think that's what they meant. Sounds more like it's just Metroplis under a dome, and that's the defining aspect/crown jewel of 5G in terms of setting it apart from the present and past DCU.

Have you ever read the story "Superman of 2020"? It features the newest in line for the Superman title in the year 2020 (it's being passed onto him by his dad), and the version of Metoplois is floating and in a dome.

Remember early on Bendis said that he wanted to make Metropolis as recognizable as Gotham? How because it was home to the world's most famous immigrant, immigrants would come to live there? Well, Jon advancing the city with ideas from the 31st century, and his idea of the UP making it so interstellar relations are more common seems like it'll result in those things by bring a little piece of the 31st century with him.

Again, totally understand it as a story arc, but not a long-term status quo which the article implied it would be.

The write up says it's the long term status quo for the 5G imprint/future. That status quo seeming to be Jon making Metropolis the most advanced city on Earth.

[Superlad93]

Come to think about it, I suspect this is exactly what happened with Tom King’s Bat/Cat title. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was also meant to be in continuity setup for 5G only to end up becoming an elseworld when they had second thoughts about the initiative.

King said several times in no uncertain terms that Bat/Cat is in continuity. He even re tweeted and replied to Tynion's comments when doing so. Then on Word Balloon recently he clarified that Bat/Cat will be defining continuity for Batman, and the Helena story is in continuity, but his further clarification was that it's not something the books have to react to just yet, so in that sense Tynion was right, but it remains very much in continuity.

But, the implications is the Bendis's jon hasn't. Since, this 5g jon will be handled by someone else.

Feels like the implications are that other teams will be taking over the Superman and Action Comics books and Bendis will continue his established threads in the 5G imprint/future with Jon as Superman.

[Vordan]

Do any of you guys think this could have legitimately been the 5G plans for the main line Superman had Didio stayed? Jon as Superman and Authority Kal-El? He did an interview a while back where he challenged the assumption that 5G was just new heroes replacing the old ones. Well, here you have Jon taking over as Superman, but Kal-El still having this new role. I mean don't get me wrong, I think the whole thing sounds completely ludicrous, I'm just saying it could have, in Didio's head, legitimized that Kal-El wasn't just out and out being gotten rid of as he'd still have something to do. I dunno. I guess I'm getting ahead of myself anyway, first gotta find out one way or another if this idea in of itself is true.

BC says the original plan was to continue making stories with Bruce, Diana, and Clark in Black Label when 5G hit, and that’s where the “usual” heroes would be. But I honestly think that’s bullshit, look at how they treat BL right now, it’s just a Label for Batman and Batman adjacent characters, I have no faith they would’ve actually put out anything besides Bruce Wayne Batman stories.

I don't know if that's so true so much as it's just building off what Bendis is doing. It feels like a flavor of the month that will just continue along with the current era. Granted apparently WB execs were gung-ho for it (but they were also for 5G, so who knows).

Right, but that they’d let Bendis try again so soon after the crash and burn of Truth says to me that someone there has to be a fan.

[manwhohaseverything]

Feels like the implications are that other teams will be taking over the Superman and Action Comics books and Bendis will continue his established threads in the 5G imprint/future with Jon as Superman.

Then, i don't think it will work for me lol!. Anyways, I hope whoever takes over mainline just does an overhaul.The purpose of this status quo was setting up 5G. Since, that's done. It's time for clean up of main continuity.

[Vordan]

Then, i don't think it will work for me. I hope whoever takes over mainline just does an overhaul.The purpose of this status quo was setting up 5G. Since, that's done. It's time for clean up of main continuity.

Unless whoever takes over is a fan of Bendis’ work or is a friend of Bendis like Fraction, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we see another shake up when Bendis departs the books. Wouldn’t be the first time. Doesn’t mean they’ll sweep everything out, but hell thats happened before too.