what's up with Planet Daxam?

[Superlad93]

Has anyone else noticed that planet Daxam is quite different from what we normally know it as in both the 21st and 31st centuries?

The first time we see it in this continuity is in issue 7 of Superman during Jon's flashback. The people asking for help say that they're "being tortured by a warlord off the asteroid belt nirit-do. The planet Daxam!" When Jor-El asks who and where they repeat/clarify "the Khunds. On planet Daxam." But when Jon goes to free them on planet Daxam, we see that Daxam is home to a bunch of different races rather than the strictly human looking beings we usually know to be their in past continuity.

Then later in issue 19 we see the fledgling United Planets of the 21st century settling on where to call their home base. We'll find out in issue 22 that this planet is Daxam, but one of the representatives gives us a hint by saying the planet is uninhabited because of "you know who". Starfire's dad tells them to stop it because "that's all behind us now. We are a United Planets." This seems to be talking about the fact that last we heard it was the Khunds taking hold of this world till Jon stopped them, and the Khunds are in fact part of the United Planets now.

Then over in Legion we see that Planet Daxam remains the home world for the United Planets without a classic human looking Daxamite in sight. So, it seems like Daxam is no longer the Kryptonian off shoot world it usually is. However, Mon-El's Fritchman tag says that he's from Planet Daxam, his name is Lar Gand, and that he's even vulnerable to led. BUT Bendis did say in an interview that the members of the Legion did have the ability to change what their Fritchman tags said.

________

I have my theories on why and how Mon-El has his powers, but for now I'm just interested in Daxam's history that we've been seeing unfold.

[Ascended]

Don't forget Sodam Yat showed up in a JL arc not too long ago, where the Eradicator was using Daxam to create super Super soldiers.

[Superlad93]

I remember that, but that doesn't seems to even remotely fit with what Bendis has been doing. Daxam is home to the United Planets, and showed no signs of civilization when they went to see it. They even called it a dump, and Starfire's dad offered to terraform it for the UP. And at no point do we see a hint of a red sun there.

Given how much of a filer run that this Justice League run is feeling like, I'm incline to ignore that inclusion in all honesty. Might've just been a slip up with JL's editorial?

[Robanker]

I remember that, but that doesn't seems to even remotely fit with what Bendis has been doing. Daxam is home to the United Planets, and showed no signs of civilization when they went to see it. They even called it a dump, and Starfire's dad offered to terraform it for the UP.

Given how much of a filer run that this Justice League run is feeling like, I'm incline to ignore that inclusion in all honesty. Might've just been a slip up with JL's editorial?

Yeah, that's the best way to look at it going forward. DC is just spinning the Justice League plate until Death Metal is done. It's sad how that book always has a strong start (in terms of push, not arguing quality) and very quickly just drops off after that team leaves. Always happens.

As for Daxam, it's completely in Bendis's hands between Superman and Legion. The only other book that could lay claim to it editorially is Green Lantern and DC essentially just ignores Grant until he's done, so I doubt anything he does will influence canon in the least.

I don't know if Bendis really has any long term plans for Daxam, but we'll see after Mon-El's reveal is dropped.

[Superlad93]

Yeah, that's the best way to look at it going forward. DC is just spinning the Justice League plate until Death Metal is done. It's sad how that book always has a strong start (in terms of push, not arguing quality) and very quickly just drops off after that team leaves. Always happens.

As for Daxam, it's completely in Bendis's hands between Superman and Legion. The only other book that could lay claim to it editorially is Green Lantern and DC essentially just ignores Grant until he's done, so I doubt anything he does will influence canon in the least.

I don't know if Bendis really has any long term plans for Daxam, but we'll see after Mon-El's reveal is dropped.

It's at least worth pointing out though, right? Daxam is as slave labor camp by the Khunds that seems to have all kinds of races held there, then is uninhabited and unlivable husk after Jon liberates the people and the UP is formed, and then finally acts as the UP homeworld in the 31st century (starting in the 21st). Yet not one time do we a classic Daxamite till Mon-El in the 31st century, and even then it's *just* him. Daxam almost seems like a "meting pot" world with no indigenous inhabitants.

Can't wait for Mon's reveal so we can get to the bottom of this.

[Superlad93]

My assumption is, if you're already gonna do a full on New Krypton in both the 31st and 21st centuries, then Daxam and Daxamites as the not-Krypton and not-Kryptonians of the 31st and 21st centuries becomes kind of redundant as, right?

That sort of streamlining and opting to go for name recognition would be in line with the idea that this is an "Ultimate" Legion take. It's why Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman in the Ultimate Universe is a literal clone of Peter Parker, and the recreation of and improvement of the super solder serum is the foundation and inspiration for modern superheroes in there.

[Ascended]

I remember that, but that doesn't seems to even remotely fit with what Bendis has been doing. Daxam is home to the United Planets, and showed no signs of civilization when they went to see it. They even called it a dump, and Starfire's dad offered to terraform it for the UP. And at no point do we see a hint of a red sun there.

Given how much of a filer run that this Justice League run is feeling like, I'm incline to ignore that inclusion in all honesty. Might've just been a slip up with JL's editorial?

It probably is just a slip up, I agree, but it *might* factor into things as well.

My memory might be off but either way we got a big hole here. Jon and Jor go to Daxam to fend off a Khund invasion, and we see Daxam is a flourishing society (aside from all the explosions) with many non-humans clearly visible, right? We can assume that Jon and Jor kick some Khund ass and then go about their way, leaving Daxam behind to lick their wounds. I feel like if Jon failed to save an entire planet, he would have mentioned it somewhere. So sometime between Jon's "summer camp" and the UP arriving, the planet became "uninhabited."

Well, the only thing we know of that could have happened between those times is the Eradicator using Daxam to create an army of super Super soldiers.

Let's say that Daxam was populated by the classic human looking Kryptonian knockoffs, and in this continuity they were xenophobic originally. Let's say they eventually grew out of that and various aliens found their way to Daxam, with that old prejudice gone but not forgotten. Let's say that the Khund attack, and that kicks up all kinds of old hatreds; without all the aliens living on the planet then Daxam would've been keeping to itself and not drawing attention. So an alien invasion could perhaps be blamed on the aliens living and traveling to and from the planet. Bigotry among the humanoid Daxamites returns, with the population looking for someone to blame. Then the Eradicator arrives. And what does he need with all these other aliens who can't develop powers? It's the Eradicator, and he's tried to wipe out humanity before, so why not the aliens on Daxam? And with old prejudices floating around and a Khund invasion fresh in their minds, maybe a good chunk of the classic Daxamites don't argue too hard against it all, and these are the guys who volunteer for Eradicator's army.

I don't recall the Eradicator's Daxamites being returned home. They're all, what, dead or in prison somewhere right? So who's left on Daxam? The few who survived the Khund invasion, the Eradicator's genocide and then his "mandatory recruitment." Is that enough to keep a planetary society going? Do they even want to, having just suffered two alien attacks back to back? Perhaps the remaining Daxamites decide to leave the planet, fearful of the alien invasion hat trick. And this is when the UP arrive to claim it as their own.

It's not a great theory or anything, but that League arc and the Eradicator might be an intentional part of the story. We had to get from "populated with tons of peoples" to "empty planet" somehow, and I doubt it was just the Khund attack, since Jon never talks about failing to save Daxam and we know he didn't arrive too late.

This also keeps the "Ultimate" vibe going, as it changes Daxam's history a lot and reduces their xenophobia to a much smaller role. It turns the planet into a American proxy melting pot...but doesn't completely write out the uglier parts of history. And it still allows for Sodam Yat and Mon-El to exist in recognizable forms.

Unless I'm forgetting or misremembering something anyway?

[Superlad93]

I respect your theory, but still I feel like it's more likely that JL was an error in a book that's in an obvious holding pattern. It's possible the Khunds are jerks and torched the planet, or, maybe more likely, without the slave labor see to the land, everything went to hell and the Khunds left? They did say it was the Khunds fault the planet was both uninhabited and looked like it did.

I think New Krypton replaces Daxam's function in both the 21st and 31st centuries. The idea of just calling a spade a spade and replacing them seems like the more adaption and new reader friendly option. "oh, so the evil Superman from the ghost place started a new Krypton, and it lasted for a 1000 years? Got it" is likely the level of understanding Bendis wants over having to explain Daxam's deal as not-Krypton.

In any case, the mystery of Mon-El remains the key to all of it.

[Ascended]

I respect your theory, but still I feel like it's more likely that JL was an error in a book that's in an obvious holding pattern.

Oh, I think you're right. I'm just saying it's a possibility. Not necessarily my theory above, but just the idea that the JL arc was factored in somehow.

[Superlad93]

Oh, I think you're right. I'm just saying it's a possibility. Not necessarily my theory above, but just the idea that the JL arc was factored in somehow.

I gotcha, and it wouldn't make much sense if I didn't consider the possibility you're presenting.

It's a point of interest in Bendis' run that seems like it'll pay off in some from once we get more of Mon-El and New Krypton's stories.

[Superlad93]

Fun fact: after Infinite Crisis Mon-El's origin was rebooted again. This time "Bal Gand a female Daxamite visited earth during the height of the Inca culture, there she had a child with a Human Man but soon left to avoid her child from being seen as an apparent demi-god." And during New Krypton anyone remember what Mon's secret identity was while he filled in for Clark? Jonathan Kent. Now if someone were to remix and streamline that in an Ultimate way, and Mon were born in the 31st century, Daxam doesn't seem to be a Kryptonian off-shoot world, and Mon is hiding who he is from Jon...

I'm not sayin' nothin', but I'm sayin' somethin'...

[Superlad93]

I continue to not say anything, yet also say something...

Bendis interview

Bendis: "Yeah. It’s Mon-El and it’s a mixture of… Mon-El’s perspective is my favorite of all time.

I thought you were going a different way with that question. Sorry. Mon-El and his legacy and his connection to Krypton and Earth is going to be an enormous curtain pull back on a lot of stuff about the Legion of Super-Heroes and I’m very excited about that"