Should DC redeem Kal-L?

[superduperman]

One of the biggest travesties of Superman and far and away the worst thing Geoff Johns ever did, was pull Kal-L out of limbo, turn him evil, kill him off, and then turn his CORPSE evil! This has bothered me for over a decade now. And with Rebirth undoing so many things, is it time to redeem Kal-L? Let him have his happy ending once and for all? Ever since New 52, it is unclear if the events of IC and Blackest Night even happened. But I would hope, with them hinting Conner is out there somewhere in the ether, that maybe this is a chance to undo this travesty as well. What do you think?

[Sacred Knight]

I doubt it. Everything Johns has written, including Blackest Night, is back in continuity. His stuff is untouchable unless he himself wants to tinker with it. Blackest Night in fact might even be a point of reference in May in Wonder Woman, as it features the Star Sapphires and the solicit makes mention that she's worn their ring before. Under this regime, what happened to Kal-L will never be undone. The most one could hope for I suppose is a revival of some kind, but not a reversal.

[Buried Alien]

I'm 100% behind bringing Kal-L back, but not just to go back into Limbo again. I'd like to see him as an infrequent, but momentous grandfatherly presence...the beacon of wisdom and experience in the DC Universe, but only very rarely getting directly involved into the action (because the spotlight should be on the younger, main Superman). He'd essentially be the "Jay Garrick" of the Kryptonian gang.

I also disagree that Kal-L was turned "evil" in INFINITE CRISIS. He was briefly an antagonist, yes, due to a conflict of interest with the Post-COIE heroes, Kal-L could never be truly evil (that would be Superboy-Prime and Alexander Luthor of Earth-Three). The Black Lantern doesn't count because it's not as if a Black Lanterned dead individual has any knowledge/control over what his/her possessed corpse does.

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[DragonPiece]

Kal-L was a good guy in convergence, wasn't he?

[Kuwagaton]

I think we're best off with a restraining order effect where they stay away from him for a while longer, until we all forget about that stuff

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

Let the past stay dead.

[Lukmendes]

I doubt it. Everything Johns has written, including Blackest Night, is back in continuity. His stuff is untouchable unless he himself wants to tinker with it. Blackest Night in fact might even be a point of reference in May in Wonder Woman, as it features the Star Sapphires and the solicit makes mention that she's worn their ring before. Under this regime, what happened to Kal-L will never be undone. The most one could hope for I suppose is a revival of some kind, but not a reversal.

Imagining Blackest Night back in continuity and having Kal-L on it is slightly headache inducing lol.

[Jon Clark]

I'd love Kal-L to come back and be redeemed, but it isn't anything that really needs to be done.

I can live with Infinite Crisis since Superman in that story seemed more misled than evil. Other than his battle with Superman (which happened just as his Lois died) nothing Kal-L did was malicious. He seemed to believe that other than overwriting their history no one was being harmed by Alex Luthor's plan. Kal wasn't aware of Alex's kidnapping the other heroes to power the device. He had no idea Prime had gone batshit crazy. And once he saw the error of his ways he took the right actions to correct the situation.

And I just totally overlook Blackest Night as having anything to do with Kal-L or his Lois. They were imposters . Probably that energy Superman that came back in New 52,

Besides I still hold that the Golden Age Superman, Lois, Alex and Superboy went somewhere after the original Crisis that was beyond Geoff Johns' reach. What he brought back in his stories were Hypertime variants with only superficial resemblance.

[TruthAndJustice]

I'm sure Blackest Night is canonical again but that doesn't mean that all of the tie-ins are.

Best to not think of Kal-L at all. He was never "really" the 1940s Superman anyway -- that Superman worked for Perry White at the Daily Planet, not George Taylor at the Daily Star.

Probably some simplified/abbreviated version of Infinite Crisis is canonical but there's no reason to dwell on it. I gather that Johns regrets some of the decisions he made -- why else bring Ted Kord back to life?

[Ascended]

I'd say no, actually.

Lets say DC did redeem Kal-L. Let's say they put him in a story where he got to be the big hero and save the day and DC actually pulled it off without making him look bad, or making other versions of Superman (and his supporting characters) look bad.

Is that going to make us forget Blackest Night or Infinite Crisis? No. Will it make those stories any better in retrospect? No. Not for me, at least.

They try to fix this mistake, they could easily make it worse and throw more dishonor on the character. And nothing they do will make me forget (or forgive) what they did in the first place.

Better to just move on.

[Flash Gordon]

The brutal end to Kal-L and his return as a brain eating zombie? I'd like to see it burned out of existence. I'd like it burned from my memory, too.

[Kuwagaton]

I don't find it unforgivable, because it's just a fictional character. But it was pretty lame and indeed, won't go away even if we get content that more than makes up for it. But trying to save Kal-L?

[victorsage]

You'd need a writer who could do the classic story. I'm not sure if anyone could to where it would be decent. Unless they really just want to do him on another "universe" again, but that hasn't worked in the past few years either.

I'm just not sure who'd be able to pull it off to make the effort worth it.

[SuperCrab]

The problem is that the Superman who they are using in the main Superman titles is on the old side for Superman, married to Lois Lane, and has a kid. He's like Kal-L, but with a kid. It no longer would be a sharp distinction for readers with the two Supermen representing different sorts of characters in different sorts of situations anymore. Back when they did the Earth 1/Earth 2 stuff with two Superman, the main one on Earth 1 was younger, single, and childless, with Lois not knowing his secret identity.

Basically, the current Superman *is* Kal-El, in a figurative sense. If you wanted to do an alternate universe Superman on a new Earth-2, you'd make him a bit younger, single, childless, without Lois knowing his secret identity, and so on and so forth- like the New52 Superman, or just someone meeting that vague description. Otherwise, it'd just be two of the same guy with almost no distinctions (One works for the Daily Planet, the other the Daily Star, big whoop).

Now, I realize what you're saying- the literal actual character of Kal-L may still be out there somewhere unresolved. I just think because he's so close to the mainline Superman they are using now, in a narrative and a sales sense, bringing him back serves no purpose.

[Buried Alien]

Now, I realize what you're saying- the literal actual character of Kal-L may still be out there somewhere unresolved. I just think because he's so close to the mainline Superman they are using now, in a narrative and a sales sense, bringing him back serves no purpose.

Kal-L does have a few things that set him apart:

1. His advanced age...still multiple decades older than the current Superman.

2. His origins in the Golden Age, making him a contemporary with the Justice Society generation of heroes (he was a member) and lived through the Great Depression and World War II eras.

3. His unique experiences, which are not shared by other versions of Superman.

4. A survivor of the Pre-COIE Multiverse.

He has a perspective and body of experiences/memories shared by no characters in the modern DC Universe and thus, provides a valuable alternate perspective.

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