Bendis' Big Twist Revealed MAJOR SPOILERS for Action Comics 1000

[Dr. Banner]

My best guess is that this kind of Council oh the Universe was growing afraid of the Kryptonian's abilities, feeling that should they leave their home system (either again or ever). But Zaar probably went too far, I bet he was tasked with making sure that they would forever remain on Krypton, for instance by killing all their scientists and destroying their archives or something. Instead, he killed a world, hence why he seems to be judged in those panels.

That's exactly what I was thinking about.

[Agent Z]

I'm alright with this. I never liked the fact that Krypton exploded due to 'old age' because if that's the case why is Oa and Thanagar still around? They are at least as old as Krypton.

Um, it exploded because the Kryptonians abused their natural resources and heated up the planet. Which version said it blew up because it was old?

[bat39]

Um, it exploded because the Kryptonians abused their natural resources and heated up the planet. Which version said it blew up because it was old?

The earliest Siegal/Shuster version.

The explanations have varied, but its usually been some kind of natural calamity that destroyed Krypton. Even the TAS version - though there, Brainiac played a part by making sure the Council didn't act on Jor-El's warnings.

[Last Son of Krypton]

I thought there was an unwritten rule over the Superman sub-forum to not post spoilers before the issues are published.

I'll wait for the mods for clarification before expressing my opinion on Bendis' twist.

[DragonPiece]

Yeah, this is par the course for Bendis. Not bothering much with continuity. It also means some of established Rebirth history is kind of being ignored already barely a year in...but of course, as I told Sacred in a PM last night, there's a built in story excuse via the smashing of the source wall in Metal.



Did'nt Didio say "The Truth" was set after Man of Steel? If some, it might not be until the final issue (6)

Doesn't seem like he is ignoring continuity, so much as adding to it. At least for this 10 page story.

In reality Zaar could just be a racist, zealot, patsy who this council hand the smoking gun to. The perfect scapegoat when in reality guys like Sardath and Ganthet were the culprits if not facilitators.

Makes for a rather fun "who shot Krypton" detective story that sort of blurs the lines between reporter Clark and Superman, since he'll need to be a bit of both out there.

That makes the most sense, based on his dialogue. He clearly didn't act alone and his dialogue is too cheesy for him to be some elaborate genius. I'm guessing it's not necessarily Rogal Zaar that changes his opinion of the world, but learning this council of gods did this much shady business regarding his home planet that his him messed up.

[KC]

As retcons go, it could be worse.

[Frontier]

All in all, no strong feeling one way or the other. Sucks that we basically called it as soon as we saw the cover.

That said, I think the real meat of the story is what Clark does with this information, and why it--or the fallout from it--inspires him to "look at the world through new eyes...with new ideas about what Superman could and should do for the city of Metropolis and the planet Earth." THAT'S fascinating to me. How does this come from what Zaar did? And what are the particular ways Clark wants to go about helping the world, and how does that relate back to Zaar's actions?

spoilers:

It's also super likely that Krypton's natural disaster is still in play, but it was caused by Zaar. Maybe Jor-El, following the clues of the apparent natural disaster, stumbles onto Zaar's plan. By then it's too late to stop, and Jor-El has been labeled a crackpot by his peers thus killing all credibility, so Zaar's able to gloat and explain how Kryptonian's are apparently a sickness.

end of spoilers

I should probably bring this up too. Don't know when this is set (I can only imagine that there are flashbacks in MOS), but it's very possible that Zaar either didn't act alone or had a blind eye turned to his actions.




spoilers:

Given Bendis' penchant for mysteries, reporting, and detective stories, we could be seeing a "who shot Krypton" sort of slow burn detective narrative. Bendis might be building up Clark Kent's reporting skills in Action Comics, so that he can blur the lines a bit when he mixes the grounded with the cosmic, and has Superman solve the mystery of the murder of his race. I think that'd be sufficiently cosmic because you'd have Superman going to Rann, interviewing Green Lanterns, and basically exposing the origins of the mass genocide of his people. This could be really interesting.

end of spoilers

Some food for thought.

PS do we really need spoiler tangs in a thread that says MAJOR SPOILERS? Just a question.

spoilers:

It could be that Zarr brought up the issues with Krypton, and why it had to be destroyed, but the Quintessence denied him from destroying it so he went off on his own to do it himself. It would be an interesting parallel to Jor-El getting denied by the Kryptonian Council for his own warnings.

end of spoilers

[Dispenser Of Truth]

spoilers:

It could be that Zarr brought up the issues with Krypton, and why it had to be destroyed, but the Quintessence denied him from destroying it so he went off on his own to do it himself. It would be an interesting parallel to Jor-El getting denied by the Kryptonian Council for his own warnings.

end of spoilers

I'd dig that.

[Patrick Gerard]

The bar for this sort of thing is TAS. Because it did it without really doing it. That kind of subtlety made it work. Now, on the other hand, Earth One was more in-your-face literal, but I don't think that's what made the idea not work there. To me it was an underwhelming motivation. So I guess what I'm saying is that ultimately, motivation will be key.

I’m not even a huge fan of TAS but I liked that bit. As I recall, wasn’t it that Brainiac suppressed the truth? Why did he do that again? Because he’d decided it was futile and would interfere with his priorities?

[Patrick Gerard]

I will say I’ve never bought into Kryptonians being solar powered (the amount of power storage just isn’t there in their body volume without exotic matter) but always saw it more as solar triggered.

And in my head, they lost a war and their genes were programmed to shutdown or suppress their powers under red sunlight.

[RepHope]

I will say I’ve never bought into Kryptonians being solar powered (the amount of power storage just isn’t there in their body volume without exotic matter) but always saw it more as solar triggered.

And in my head, they lost a war and their genes were programmed to shutdown or suppress their powers under red sunlight.

Hey I've often toyed with the same idea! It could be an interesting Elseworld story for sure.

[Sacred Knight]

I’m not even a huge fan of TAS but I liked that bit. As I recall, wasn’t it that Brainiac suppressed the truth? Why did he do that again? Because he’d decided it was futile and would interfere with his priorities?

I think that was it, along with basically his whole thing was that the knowledge was more important than the actual tangible planet and people, so who cares.

In fact I still wouldn't mind an ultimate reveal by the end of all of this that Rogal-Zarr had a puppet master and it indeed is Brainiac.

[rward777]

I think that was it, along with basically his whole thing was that the knowledge was more important than the actual tangible planet and people, so who cares.

In fact I still wouldn't mind an ultimate reveal by the end of all of this that Rogal-Zarr had a puppet master and it indeed is Brainiac.

Perhaps Kal El hid his wife and son when this new villian arrived.

[manofsteel1979]

Perhaps Kal El hid his wife and son when this new villian arrived.

Just what I was thinking. That explains the solicits, but also the pages we've seen from DC Nation #0.

I'm wondering if Clark himself doesn't know where they are at because he and Lois agreed on a plan that protects them from,say, Brainiac or some other being able to read minds. This way if worst comes to worst if Superman is captured or defeated, the bad guy can't read his mind and find them in order to use them as some sort of further leverage, but also to protect his identity.

I mean, he once accidentally sent a significant portion of Earth's population including Lois,to the Phantom Zone before and it was based on a contingency plan he concocted and then made himself forget. He could have done the same or something similar here.

[mr_crisp]

Let me guess. Jonathan never existed and Superman is going to go crazy and destroy the Justice League.