As of right now, do the people of the DCU remember the New 52 Superman?

[Buried Alien]

As of the current state of continuity, do the people of the DC Universe still remember the New 52 Superman as a distinct entity, or has his existence been completely enfolded in the current, REBIRTH Superman?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Sacred Knight]

Outside the rare storyline reference that might generate confusion, as far as the current DCU landscape is concerned, there is and only ever was one Superman and one Lois Lane When Superman Reborn merged the two versions of each together, that was part of the timeline's change. One documentation of this right off the bat that I can think of is how Lana Lang's origin as Superwoman was retconned into something else other than New 52 Lois dying and passing on her powers (I believe now in current continuity she developed her powers because of a red Kryptonite stone she had).

[Truman Burbank]

It's hit or miss. Superman Reborn says the two Supermen were fused back together into one Superman everyone remembers, but then New Super-Man has retained the ties to "Final Days of Superman" for Kenan's origin, which would require separate versions.

I hope we get a clear answer out of Doomsday Clock, but who knows. Even if we do, Editorial may throw a wrench in things after the big linewide relaunch that appears to be coming.

[DragonPiece]

no one knows there was another version of Superman than the one they currently, when he told Kara in the Supergirl Reborn tie-in, he acted as if he was letting her in on a secret that only he and Lois knew.

[Sacred Knight]

I don't know if Doomday Clock explicitly will change much of anything anymore, especially considering its massive delays. However, I would anticipate at some point Kenan's origin being, perhaps if just quietly, tinkered to accommodate that Last Days never happened anymore, in regards to Superman dying and having an energy dispersion. That's really the last loose end.

[Lukmendes]

It's hit or miss. Superman Reborn says the two Supermen were fused back together into one Superman everyone remembers, but then New Super-Man has retained the ties to "Final Days of Superman" for Kenan's origin, which would require separate versions.

I hope we get a clear answer out of Doomsday Clock, but who knows. Even if we do, Editorial may throw a wrench in things after the big linewide relaunch that appears to be coming.

Not to mention New Super-Man had that clone doing a solar flare, a power I doubt Supes has, and Doomsday virus was used as well.

[Buried Alien]

Not to mention New Super-Man had that clone doing a solar flare, a power I doubt Supes has, and Doomsday virus was used as well.

I kind of wonder if the regular, current Superman might add that ability to his personal arsenal, or if it will forever remain uniquely idiosyncratic to the New 52 Superman (much as "face-morphing" seemed to be uniquely idiosyncratic to the Golden Age Superman).

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Lukmendes]

I kind of wonder if the regular, current Superman might add that ability to his personal arsenal, or if it will forever remain uniquely idiosyncratic to the New 52 Superman (much as "face-morphing" seemed to be uniquely idiosyncratic to the Golden Age Superman).

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Would be nice if he did have it, but I doubt he will, DC is removing Nuperman's stuff, and while that clone having solar flare and Doomsday Virus in New Super-Man were used, doubt it'll be mentioned again anywhere else.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

I kind of wonder if the regular, current Superman might add that ability to his personal arsenal, or if it will forever remain uniquely idiosyncratic to the New 52 Superman (much as "face-morphing" seemed to be uniquely idiosyncratic to the Golden Age Superman).

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

There was a reference to the Super-Flare in Super Sons recently, it's definitely still in the mix.

[The Learner]

I kind of wonder if the regular, current Superman might add that ability to his personal arsenal, or if it will forever remain uniquely idiosyncratic to the New 52 Superman (much as "face-morphing" seemed to be uniquely idiosyncratic to the Golden Age Superman).

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Superdad has the solar flare ability, that's how Jon got it. Jon's unstable solar flare was the reason future Tim came to the present timeline and tried to kill Jon (Super Sons of Tomorrow crossover). Damian also said he had read Batman's file on Superman's solar flare ability. I wish nobody will use that power ever though.

[Doctor Bifrost]

As of the current state of continuity, do the people of the DC Universe still remember the New 52 Superman as a distinct entity, or has his existence been completely enfolded in the current, REBIRTH Superman?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

As of the current state of continuity, do the people of the DC Universe still remember the New 52 Superman as a distinct entity, or has his existence been completely enfolded in the current, REBIRTH Superman?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

To the very best of my understanding, nobody in the current continuity remembers The New 52 and the "current" Superman as two distinct entities. Reality - history - has been changed. Superman (in this continuity) has one, contiguous life; everybody's memories correspond to that one life; and all the physical evidence (photos, news videos, etc.) support that history.

(Except for, I presume, characters like Dr. Manhattan and Mr. Mxyzptlk.)

This is different from the situation for Ginger Wally West. People are regaining their memories of him one at a time, as he approaches them and explains. As for photos and news videos - what history the reflect, if they all match, if they are going to change -I have no idea.

It's also different from the situation for Garth/Aqualad/Tempest. He was Aqualad, sidekick to Aquaman and member of the Teen Titans. Then he and everybody else just forgot about all that, and presumably all got matching fake memories to fill in the gaps. (For example, if Aquman, Aqualad, and Mera on one occasion fought and defeated Ocean Master, then after the "forgetting," Garth forgot he was ever there. Aquman and Mera remember just the two of them defeating Ocean Master. And Ocean Master only remembers Aquaman and Mera fighting him on that occasion. Or something like that.) Presumably any photos also changed to match the new memories. Then Garth, making decisions based on these false beliefs about his life, continued on: he joined the Silent School, belonged to an elite Atlantean force that fought Aquaman (while he didn't remember that Aquaman had been his mentor and father figure); and so on. Recently Garth regained his lost memories. But the middle part of his life, which proceeded based on false memories/beliefs, still happened. The other Titans now also remember Garth being Aqualad, but I don't know who else does. The JLA (or, some members thereof) recently confronted the Titans and insisted they dissolve the group, and it seemed like they now remembered the early days of the Teen Titans - but I'm not sure. And Aquaman and Garth were not present for that.

It's different for Wonder Woman, too. She spent the initial years of her superhero career - 5 years? 15years? Hard to tell - with fake memories imposed on her by the gods of her New 52 backstory, and having hallucinogenic Holodeck-like experiences of interacting with her New 52 supporting cast. Nobody else had those memories or experiences, though, and of course The New 52 story they correspond to never took place (in the current continuity). I wonder who she thought young teenage Donna Troy/Wonder Girl was, during that time period? Now she has her old memories back.

And, of course, some comics conflict on these details, because writers and editors aren't perfect and these details don't seem to be a very high priority for them.

This is why I refer to the current DCU continuity (or, "continuity") as a Frankenstein's Monster of a narrative, where you can still see all the seams and bolts.

It is my hope, when Rebirth, the Rebirth-like stories, and Doomsday Clock are done, most of this will be cleaned up. The characters - within the resulting continuity, and from their points of view - will have matching, contiguous lives; will have memories that correspond to those lives; and all the physical evidence will match those lives, because they are the actual history of the new timeline. Dr. Manhattan and Mr. Mxyzptlk may know a more complicated, multidimensional version of all this, but that won't affect the characters in-world very much, if at all.

Experience, however, suggests that that will not be the result.

But that's just me.

[Korath]

I don't know if Doomday Clock explicitly will change much of anything anymore, especially considering its massive delays. However, I would anticipate at some point Kenan's origin being, perhaps if just quietly, tinkered to accommodate that Last Days never happened anymore, in regards to Superman dying and having an energy dispersion. That's really the last loose end.

I think it already happened. I remember reading somewhere (either in a New Superman issue or elsewhere) that his powers now came from Omen "trapping" a part of the Solar Flare's energy. Kind of like the Solar Superman in Last Days. But as far as the DCU is concerned, nothing which happened to New 52 Superman remains canon. Ever since Reborn, we have had no mention of anything related to this era in Supes books (Metal was actually the one using most of this legacy with the Doomsday Virus for the Devastator). I fully expect all the little scraps which have somehow managed to remain (such as Ulysses' face in the Reborn issue) to be arased by Man of Steel and Bendis take on the character. One look at SUperman awful iconic" costume is enough to know that D.C will do its best to force people to forget about those 5 years.

Then again, at least they are honest and streightforward about it with Superman, unlike Wonder Woman who is left in such a mess that nothing short of a full reboot will give her any solide foundation to build upon...

[JAK]

I don't know if Doomday Clock explicitly will change much of anything anymore, especially considering its massive delays. However, I would anticipate at some point Kenan's origin being, perhaps if just quietly, tinkered to accommodate that Last Days never happened anymore, in regards to Superman dying and having an energy dispersion. That's really the last loose end.

Given how everything has been "condensed" into 5 years, they could just say that the electric "Superman-Blue/Superman-Red" culmination (when he used all his energy and dispersed it to become whole) released energies from Superman that the Chinese government was able to capture/harness, and they've been using what they could get to do their experiments.

That'd be an easy fix, I think.

[JAK]

I think it already happened. I remember reading somewhere (either in a New Superman issue or elsewhere) that his powers now came from Omen "trapping" a part of the Solar Flare's energy. Kind of like the Solar Superman in Last Days.

Ah.. or that. That works, too. lol

[Doctor Bifrost]

But as far as the DCU is concerned, nothing which happened to New 52 Superman remains canon.

Well, we (the readers) don't really know much about the backstory of the "current" Superman - just the broad strokes. (I'm not sure the writers and editors know a lot more.) It could include a storyline in which he had the solar-flare power.

Then again, at least they are honest and streightforward about it with Superman, unlike Wonder Woman who is left in such a mess that nothing short of a full reboot will give her any solide foundation to build upon...

May it be so!