Tom Welling's Clark Kent returns for Crisis on Infinite Earths

[Batknight]

You’re right, but no one actually remembers that. It’s always Lois’ death that gets blamed. But it still relies on fridging her to kick off the story. It is her death that drives the narrative. Man, Kingdom Come is really a terrible Superman story though. His actions throughout are awful. It’s not supposed to be “good” take on Superman it’s a cautionary tale.

Routh looks great and that suit looks awesome. I like that it keeps the “s” texturing as well. He’s the Returns Superman. If Routh survives this I could see him ending up in the Paradise dimension with Lois and his son. Or maybe his Earth gets erased and when he dies fighting the Anti-Monitor he gets to be with them in the afterlife. This is a “coda” on Superman Returns, not a Kingdom Come adaption.

It fridges the whole Daily Planet, not just Lois, is what I'm saying. The idea it's built on 'friging' a the main female lead is fundamentally wrong. Joker murdering the Daily Planet is the inciting incident...but it's not what the story is built on. That's Magog murdering the Joker and his trial.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

This is wrong on so many levels, have you even read Kingdom Come? The story isn't built on Lois's death. Everyone at the Daily Planet dies, all of Clark's friends/co-workers like Perry and Jimmy...Lois actually goes down fighting the Joker and trying to stop him expanded material. And that's not even the thing that sends Superman into exile. It's the public refusal to punish the man who ends up murdering the Joker that finally leads to Superman turning his back on humanity, had they not turned away from his ideals of justice and chosen a murder as their new protector, he would've stayed and Kingdome Come wouldn't have happened. The major turning point of the plot, and what the story is built on, is the trial of Magog and the verdict that comes from it, not Lois's death. That's why Superman and the world end up the way they do.

Honestly I think the former is a far more sympathetic/believable reason for a hero to hang up his cape than the latter. It’s the Joker, someone SHOULD put that mad dog down.

[Batknight]

Honestly I think the former is a far more sympathetic/believable reason for a hero to hang up his cape than the latter. It’s the Joker, someone SHOULD put that mad dog down.

Well, that goes entirely against Superman's belief system. He doesn't believe superheroes have the right to murder others, they aren't the law they have no right to punish people. If the public believes the Joker should be put down, that's up to the courts and the rule of law with a proper trial. Otherwise, you just have superheroes going around killing whoever they want with no rules or system in place. Which is exactly what happens in Kingcome.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Well, that goes entirely against Superman's belief system. He doesn't believe superheroes have the right to murder others, they aren't the law they have no right to punish people. If the public believes the Joker should be put down, that's up to the courts and the rule of law with a proper trial. Otherwise, you just have superheroes going around killing whoever they want with no rules or system in place. Which is exactly what happens in Kingcome.

Oh I agree on Clark being against killing sure. Him screwing off to his fortress in protest over someone getting away with offing a serial killer.....meh. Maybe I’d be quite a bit more into it if if Waid just used Two-Face as the DP killer or something.
Though I’m one of those people who like Kingdom Come more for the art than the story.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

Another image floating around:

[Yoda]

It fridges the whole Daily Planet, not just Lois, is what I'm saying. The idea it's built on 'friging' a the main female lead is fundamentally wrong. Joker murdering the Daily Planet is the inciting incident...but it's not what the story is built on. That's Magog murdering the Joker and his trial.

Yes and no. Lois is quite obviously the focus of the emotional beats and Ross’s supplementation of it in JSA reinforces that. It also more or less started the trend of fridging Lois for AU. And in the consciousness of fandom it’s all been short handed to just Lois pushing him into isolation. Had she lived it’s doubtful even the garbage Superman he was in Kingdom Come wouldn’t have given up and ran away.

Well, that goes entirely against Superman's belief system. He doesn't believe superheroes have the right to murder others, they aren't the law they have no right to punish people. If the public believes the Joker should be put down, that's up to the courts and the rule of law with a proper trial. Otherwise, you just have superheroes going around killing whoever they want with no rules or system in place. Which is exactly what happens in Kingcome.

His actions in KC go totally against Superman’s belief system. At worst he’d publicly give up and go back to working in secret. Giving up and going to hide while the world burns around him is pretty much completely against Superman’s belief system. He doesn’t help because the public deserves or wants his help. He helps because that’s the right thing to do. To say nothing of starting a gulag and being more or less responsible for all the deaths that follow.

[Yoda]

Another image floating around:

That’s a odd angle with the feet. It looks like the boots are twisted. Still looks pretty good.

[Superlad93]

Another image floating around:

Ok......

All of the extra ass people that be starting petitions and filling change.org with nonsense......this is what you've trained for.

Seriously, Routh looks like he was genetically engineered to play Superman, and I'm over here feeling like I said no to go to prom with his Superman, and now it's 13 years later I'm lookin mad foolish.

[Batknight]

Yes and no. Lois is quite obviously the focus of the emotional beats and Ross’s supplementation of it in JSA reinforces that. It also more or less started the trend of fridging Lois for AU. And in the consciousness of fandom it’s all been short handed to just Lois pushing him into isolation. Had she lived it’s doubtful even the garbage Superman he was in Kingdom Come wouldn’t have given up and ran away.




His actions in KC go totally against Superman’s belief system. At worst he’d publicly give up and go back to working in secret. Giving up and going to hide while the world burns around him is pretty much completely against Superman’s belief system. He doesn’t help because the public deserves or wants his help. He helps because that’s the right thing to do. To say nothing of starting a gulag and being more or less responsible for all the deaths that follow.

I'm not going to say Lois and the planet getting killed in KC don't have any effect on him. Having a wife and a job at the planet gives Clark a grounding and allows him to be a normal person and further anchors him to his humanity. That be taken away from him in KC definitely plays a part in sending him into exile since there's nothing for him left with humanity allowing superheroes to now freely murder people, but it's mainly the latter than the former. I'm not counting Ross's JSA stuff here for argument's sake since that was published so long after the original story.In the original story, Lois's death isn't a major focus of the story and isn't even brought up that much. The trial is where much of the actual focus. Any trend it started is not its fault, that lays at the feet of other writers.

Yeah, it goes against his belief system...that sort of the point of the story. KC is about Clark losing his ability to fully understand what is right and wrong because of the planet being killed and humanity turning their back on his beliefs. Which would've meant him standing by while the people and goverments openly allowed villians to be murdered publicly, something he couldn't bear to see due to his love of human life and justice. But leaving takes his judgement away and he makes awful mistakes because of it because of how disconnected he's become. The whole story is about him learning to regain it and finding redemption in regaining his moral compass and ethical wisdom by setting all his mistakes right. The story holds up his ability to do the right thing as his most important aspect, and him losing it the worst possible tragedy that could happen.

Anyways, this is off-topic, I'll shut up now.

[stargazer01]

I'm not sure how to feel about Kingdom Come story and Superman 's role in it. I never said it was a great story, and I haven't read it in over a decade. I'm just very happy Brandon Routh is playing Superman again and hope the writing for him is good..

[JAK]

Another image floating around:

That’s a odd angle with the feet. It looks like the boots are twisted. Still looks pretty good.

Actually, yeah... look at his right knee (on our left) it looks pretty digitized. This might be some kind of spliced picture or something.

Ok......

All of the extra ass people that be starting petitions and filling change.org with nonsense......this is what you've trained for.

ROTFLMAO! I know, right?

And fyi, I read that in John Oliver's voice - since he said basically the same thing to all the online trolls to get them to bombard the govt about open internet.

[misslane]

This is wrong on so many levels, have you even read Kingdom Come? The story isn't built on Lois's death. Everyone at the Daily Planet dies, all of Clark's friends/co-workers like Perry and Jimmy...Lois actually goes down fighting the Joker and trying to stop him expanded material. And that's not even the thing that sends Superman into exile. It's the public refusal to punish the man who ends up murdering the Joker that finally leads to Superman turning his back on humanity, had they not turned away from his ideals of justice and chosen a murder as their new protector, he would've stayed and Kingdome Come wouldn't have happened. The major turning point of the plot, and what the story is built on, is the trial of Magog and the verdict that comes from it, not Lois's death. That's why Superman and the world end up the way they do.

Thanks for further elaborating on all the details that make Kingdom Come the absolute worst kind of Superman story.

[misslane]

It fridges the whole Daily Planet, not just Lois, is what I'm saying. The idea it's built on 'friging' a the main female lead is fundamentally wrong. Joker murdering the Daily Planet is the inciting incident...but it's not what the story is built on. That's Magog murdering the Joker and his trial.

It is not fundamentally wrong. If Lois is alive during the events of Kingdom Come, then the story plays out completely differently. With Lois in Clark's life, does he have someone to help him cope with the loss of the DP staff, find a better way to deal with the injustice of Magog's verdict, and give him a reason to keep Clark Kent alive? Does he have a better friend and source of support compared to Diana? Kingdom Come utterly and completely depends on Lois Lane's death. Although her murder is not the only tragedy and injustice affecting Superman, it is the obviously the fundamental reason why the story plays out the way it does. Put Lois back into the story and everything changes.

[misslane]

Well, that goes entirely against Superman's belief system. He doesn't believe superheroes have the right to murder others, they aren't the law they have no right to punish people. If the public believes the Joker should be put down, that's up to the courts and the rule of law with a proper trial. Otherwise, you just have superheroes going around killing whoever they want with no rules or system in place. Which is exactly what happens in Kingcome.

Rule of law? Is that why KC Superman puts all the metas he deems too dark and irredeemable for society into a gulag?

[Sacred Knight]

I'm not sure how to feel about Kingdom Come story and Superman 's role in it. I never said it was a great story, and I haven't read it in over a decade. I'm just very happy Brandon Routh is playing Superman again and hope the writing for him is good..

I like it overall. I don't like that Superman left society, in the end that's not how I'd have him respond to the events that occurred prior. "My" Superman would have said you guys can prefer Magog all you want but I'm still going to be here doing my thing. That his ways and his beliefs suddenly were no longer in vogue wouldn't make him quit. But beyond that I think its one of the best tales in the Elseworlds line.

All that said I'm still unsure just how much the original KC will play in this interpretation in the first place. I'm still expecting very little detail beyond just the general idea that this is an older Superman whose lost a lot. I don't know how much dedicated time the incarnation will get to be explored beyond that, same with all these guest incarnations, except Durance's Lois who I've heard has signed on for multiple episodes?