Do you think Mr. OZ was always intended to be Jor-El?

[tib2d2]

Any chance that when Mr. OZ first showed up being written by Geoff Johns, that he had a different idea in mind for the character's true identity? Or do you think it was his intention (or the editor's) to reveal him to be Jor-El the whole time?

I think it was like 4 years or something like that between Mr. Oz's first appearance in Superman, and being revealed as Jor-El in Action Comics right before Bendis took the helm.

[Sacred Knight]

I think the chances are very slim. I'd be comfortable betting the farm saying that there's no chance he was intended to be Jor-El. There's a stronger argument to be made that Johns intended him to be Jonathan, be it the "real" one or an alternate version. There was also foreshadowing to Ozymandias. One or the other probably intended to be a red herring for the true reveal as the other. But there was far more foreshadowing to those two characters in the beginning than Jor-El. Whatever the idea Johns had behind that we'll never know unless he dishes, but whatever that idea was, I theorize that it was dropped because of the continuity shift. Meaning that whatever was going on at the time it was being designed for the New 52 Superman. When that went away, the ideas no longer fit, so Mr. Oz was repackaged into something that would work with the Rebirth Superman.

[Flash Gordon]

No, not at all. I think Johns had some event plan going on that fell off when he got more involved with the feature films.

[achilles]

I certainly hope not. But I suspect so, it follows Johns' pattern. Only 4 years, huh? Felt more like 15...

[superduperman]

I don't remember where but I think I read somewhere that no, he wasn't. Rebirth clearly threw a wrench into whatever plans they had for New 52. The whole Oz thing clearly fizzled out which suggests that they either didn't think him very far out or had to change course in the middle and just didn't know what to do with him then.

[Triniking1234]

I can't recall what were Johns' plans after he introduced him in DC Rebirth #1; it was probably supposed to someone Flash related but I guess the Superman books got full use of the character, he became Jor-El.

[Man_of_Tomorrow]

The plans failed before Rebirth with DCYOU, and with DCYou pretty much being THROW EVERYTHING TO THE WALL Johns original plan took a backseat for TRUTH to take its place. Considering Truth took almost a year, I don't think the writers would follow through the dropped plot line of another writer either way.

The only reason Dr. Oz. returned with Rebirth is clearly Johns having creative role on all the rebirth launch titles.

Thankfully Bendis did something meaningful with Oz. So not everything went to waste.

[Sacred Knight]

In the end I felt what Jurgens then Bendis did turned out to be fairly meaningless. The only lasting repercussion of any of it, surprise surprise, had to do with Jon. Clark himself was barely affected in any meaningful way. Outside of a couple panels of him with a sad face you'd never know right now that his dad ever came back and was killed again. It was generally one giant waste. I mean, I feel that it should have never been done in the first place, but if it is done at least have it mean something for your main character. And if it won't, well then just reset of of the few details that should be evergreen to the mythos anyway. This is the worst of both worlds, it still was a bad idea that actually happened, and it in the end it had no affect on the main character anyway.

[Jackalope89]

The plans failed before Rebirth with DCYOU, and with DCYou pretty much being THROW EVERYTHING TO THE WALL Johns original plan took a backseat for TRUTH to take its place. Considering Truth took almost a year, I don't think the writers would follow through the dropped plot line of another writer either way.

The only reason Dr. Oz. returned with Rebirth is clearly Johns having creative role on all the rebirth launch titles.

Thankfully Bendis did something meaningful with Oz. So not everything went to waste.

Well, I suppose reinforcing that Jor-El was not only a horrible person during Rebirth, but prior as well makes something "meaningful".

[manwhohaseverything]

In the end I felt what Jurgens then Bendis did turned out to be fairly meaningless. The only lasting repercussion of any of it, surprise surprise, had to do with Jon. Clark himself was barely affected in any meaningful way. Outside of a couple panels of him with a sad face you'd never know right now that his dad ever came back and was killed again. It was generally one giant waste. I mean, I feel that it should have never been done in the first place, but if it is done at least have it mean something for your main character. And if it won't, well then just reset of of the few details that should be evergreen to the mythos anyway. This is the worst of both worlds, it still was a bad idea that actually happened, and it in the end it had no affect on the main character anyway.

Well, the main character hasn't been really been affected by genocide of his people right in front of him. Why would he be affected by a stranger who had been causing trouble since he entered his life? If i was clark i would be relieved.

[JAK]

In the end I felt what Jurgens then Bendis did turned out to be fairly meaningless. The only lasting repercussion of any of it, surprise surprise, had to do with Jon. Clark himself was barely affected in any meaningful way. Outside of a couple panels of him with a sad face you'd never know right now that his dad ever came back and was killed again. It was generally one giant waste. I mean, I feel that it should have never been done in the first place, but if it is done at least have it mean something for your main character. And if it won't, well then just reset of of the few details that should be evergreen to the mythos anyway. This is the worst of both worlds, it still was a bad idea that actually happened, and it in the end it had no affect on the main character anyway.

That's true, but the whole thing did have Clark going back to the past of Krypton and trying to find out what happened - so I think there may have been a plan in place to go further, but then Bendis had to come in, and it all got scrapped.

So I'd agree that it was meaningless, but I don't place the blame for that on Jurgens's shoulders (I say his and not Tomasi's since Jurgens was absolutely in "continuity clean-up" mode). I'd love to know what the original plan was.

[Man_of_Tomorrow]

Well, I suppose reinforcing that Jor-El was not only a horrible person during Rebirth, but prior as well makes something "meaningful".

What can I say I like it. I understand not liking it. Personally I don't feel that strong about Krypton and I always thought the less time we spend in that place the better.

Jor El trying to warn a council that doesn't listen to him doing more harm than good and jor El being in a secret council that ends up doing more harm that good is nice irony. And contrasts Superman's code.

Again I understand the distain.

[Vordan]

Nah it was pretty clearly meant to Jonathan Kent at first and then they did some hints that maybe it was Ozymandis. Jor-El would never refer to Kal as “Clark” like Oz did in his first appearance.

[qwertyuiop1998]

I would say Mr.OZ identity should have been changed multiple times.
Firstly, During the N52 he first appearance, He once said he was proud about Superman, So he meant to be someone close to Superman, Maybe is Jor-El or Jonathan Kent
And during Rebirth, There are some hints that he is Ozymandis

[Bored at 3:00AM]

In today's Word Balloon interview with Geoff Johns, he skillfully manages to dodge the question of who Mr. Oz was supposed to be by quickly shifting to effusively praising Dan Jurgens.

Well done Johns. You have certainly learned those corporate PR tricks well.