A never-used idea for Pre-COIE Earth-Two Superman...whose idea was it?

[Buried Alien]

Some time ago, I read that one of the original, never-used ideas for Superman during and after CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS was that the Silver/Bronze Age Earth-One Superman was to give his life to defeat the Anti-Monitor, and Kal-L of Earth-Two would survive to become the Superman of Post-COIE Earth. Kal-L would then reveal that his apparent old age was just a disguise all along (he removes his "old" makeup to reveal that he looks the same perpetual late-20s that he was during the Golden Age, and adopting the appearance of old age was just to better relate to his peers).

It's kind of a crazy cool idea that was never implemented, of course, but I forgot whose idea it was: Marv Wolfman? John Byrne? Does anybody remember where this idea came from?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[manduck37]

I've never heard this idea before. It is pretty crazy and cool. It's certainly an interesting way to restore the "original" Superman to the main comic line. It also has a kind of Silver Age feel to it, with the old age disguise and all. Now I'm curious as to where the idea came from.

[AJBopp]

Dunno, but it sounds like a Wolfman sort of idea. I like it.

[AJBopp]

Looks like a Claremont idea if Wikipedia is to be beleived.

According to George Pérez in a Wizard magazine interview in 1994, Chris Claremont suggested that Superman of Earth-One dies in the final battle with the Anti-Monitor in issue #12. After the Anti-Monitor was destroyed for good, Kal-L from Earth-Two realizes that he is now alone, without his Earth, without his Lois, and now the new single Earth is without a Superman. Then he remarks, "Don't need this anymore," and brushes the white dye off his hair and other make-up that he apparently used to make himself look aged. The other heroes are surprised by this and Kal-L simply explains that he had stopped aging when he reached the peak of his powers. He returns with the other heroes to the new post-Crisis Earth, taking the place of the Earth-One Superman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths

[Buried Alien]

Looks like a Claremont idea if Wikipedia is to be beleived.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths

Thanks. I knew I'd read about it somewhere, but didn't remember where.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[md62]

I remember Wolfman had ways for the story to be reversed if needed. Like Barry staying Flash. This idea sounds pretty cool.

[exile001]

I have to be honest, this does not sound like my cup of tea at all. Especially the disguise. I think the reboot was the right idea.

[Sacred Knight]

It would have betrayed the entire idea behind COIE in the first place, since much like this most recent reboot, majorly retooling Superman was a big focus and motivation. So while an interesting and fun idea, within the framekwork of the Crisis and its aftermath of the lone Earth, it just wouldn't have worked at all. But still, fun idea.

[Jay Dogg]

Superman tricking people into thinking he had aged...sorry, it sounds silly. Even if it's for the sake of fitting in with his peers, it just doesn't sound right. It kinda makes him a jerk because it's still a form of deception.

[stephens2177]

Take awaiy the "tricking ppl into thinking he was old" stuff,and what you got is the original superman alive from 1938 into the present day,which I have always wanted

[Superlad93]

This has to be one of my favorite ideas that was never used in comics next to Morrison and Moore ideas. So silly yet the weight that it has behind it is ridiculous. The gray and the wrinkles more so a nod to the life that the man Clark Kent could have had.

I find that usually the silliest of ideas come from a real place of emotion and weight, and when put in context and be quite powerful. I think this idea subtly falls under that category.

It would have betrayed the entire idea behind COIE in the first place, since much like this most recent reboot, majorly retooling Superman was a big focus and motivation. So while an interesting and fun idea, within the framekwork of the Crisis and its aftermath of the lone Earth, it just wouldn't have worked at all. But still, fun idea.

I'm sorry but would this not reboot Superman just as much as any reboot but in real time and in a very out of the box way? A new Superman who's lived longer and had a whole different life and perspective. So many directions could have been taken from there. Maybe he didn't like how things were done on earth 1 maybe with this fresh start he would think about reinventing himself. I can see so many different ways into this that I can't understand why it wouldn't have counted as reworking/retooling Superman. It would almost be meta if he thought to himself that he needed a "reboot" of sorts in story.

As for logistically how could it have worked in the larger format of the event? I'm assuming COIE was a different beast back then and could have accommodated for this. Doesn't seem like a stretch to me.

Missed opportunity IMO

Superman tricking people into thinking he had aged...sorry, it sounds silly. Even if it's for the sake of fitting in with his peers, it just doesn't sound right. It kinda makes him a jerk because it's still a form of deception.

Clark Kent is a form of deception since 1939. I find if you think of it in the context that it's Superman giving Clark Kent the life that he may have had if he were "real" then it makes it oddly sweet I think. But deception isn't a new thing to Superman at all.

[Sacred Knight]

No, it wouldn't have rebooted Superman, imo. Because he'd still be a Superman from a past multiversal Earth. And that's exactly what DC was wanting to remove. One could argue that they just could've ignored all his past, but one it wouldn't have changed the fact of his ultimate origns, and two if you were going to ignore that past, then you pretty much defeat the entire purpose of doing it altogether. So either way to me while a fun idea it just didn't wash with the parameters of what DC wanted to accomplish with the Crisis. They made the right decision as it was. One could argue till the cows came home whether they made the write decision in choosing their architect in recreating Superman from the ground up in Byrne, but that's a whole other can of worms.

[L.R Johansson]

No, it wouldn't have rebooted Superman, imo. Because he'd still be a Superman from a past multiversal Earth. And that's exactly what DC was wanting to remove. One could argue that they just could've ignored all his past, but one it wouldn't have changed the fact of his ultimate origns, and two if you were going to ignore that past, then you pretty much defeat the entire purpose of doing it altogether. So either way to me while a fun idea it just didn't wash with the parameters of what DC wanted to accomplish with the Crisis. They made the right decision as it was. One could argue till the cows came home whether they made the write decision in choosing their architect in recreating Superman from the ground up in Byrne, but that's a whole other can of worms.

I'm not sure it would have changed all that much - the Superman that made his last appearance in Crisis #12 was clearly meant to be the Earth-1 Superman, who had simply been supplanted into the new Universe that had been created. ERGO - this would have been the exact same thing, just a different ending to COIE. DC would still have ignored this detail anyway, and told the story of a brand-new Superman.

Remember, that's what they did in the first place. There were a ton of continuity-discrepancies with the DCU that followed, compared to the ending of CoiE, this would just have been in place of ANOTHER continuity-discrepancy.

But if they had acknowledged it... it would have been bad-ass. A true return to form for Superman, beating the bad-guys soundly, being confident, effective, and above-all, a more interesting character.

Earth-2, man... Earth-2.

[Montressor]

Byrne's idea was to have Jor El send a pregnant Lara to Earth, where she would die from Kryptonite exposure upon giving birth to Kal El (thus explaining how they know Kryptonite is lethal to Kryptonians).

It was nixed.

[Jon Clark]

I'm not sure it would have changed all that much - the Superman that made his last appearance in Crisis #12 was clearly meant to be the Earth-1 Superman, who had simply been supplanted into the new Universe that had been created. ERGO - this would have been the exact same thing, just a different ending to COIE. DC would still have ignored this detail anyway, and told the story of a brand-new Superman.

Remember, that's what they did in the first place. There were a ton of continuity-discrepancies with the DCU that followed, compared to the ending of CoiE, this would just have been in place of ANOTHER continuity-discrepancy.

But if they had acknowledged it... it would have been bad-ass. A true return to form for Superman, beating the bad-guys soundly, being confident, effective, and above-all, a more interesting character.

Earth-2, man... Earth-2.

I agree it wouldn't have been much harder to use than the original Crisis ending. We already had Power Girl surviving as an anomaly from Earth-2 in Crisis. So it wasn't as if there isn't a precedent.

You could even have had a scene done where Kal-L remarks on how similar this new history is to his own 1938 life (sole survivor of Krypton, became a hero for 1st time as an adult, etc and the fun of getting to do it all over again (win over Lois, be the ultimate hero of his time, etc...). Then end with him sort of fading into the new life as the specifics of what he has done become harder to remember leaving us with Byrne's version ready to step on stage with Man Of Steel #1.