Superman: son of Kal-El

[Vordan]

Positioning Bendix as Jon’s big bald genius supervillain works great for me. Hope Taylor does a good job with it. Taylor writing Lex again does not thrill me though, he’s generally done very poor with Lex.

Don’t forget that he’s bald, his most important trait as a Superman villain

Yep, his dad had Lex, Brainiac, and Ultra-Humanite, now Jon gets Bendix lol.

[manwhohaseverything]

You should check outside DC. American comics aren't just superheroes.

I am actually...i been reading east of west...

[HsssH]

More of DC tying in Wildstorm into DC via its two biggest icons. Jim Lee must be happy. I'm guessing this issue is where him and the glasses guy become close friends. Nothing to form a close friendship like a brush with death in fiction.

Well I'm sure that this isn't happening without Lee's winks and nudges.

[Superlad93]

Something just hit me like a bolt of divine lightning!

I feel like one of these theories HAS TO be somewhat on the money.

- Jon's new friend is a Century Baby.Taylor said Jon's friend would be a very important aspect of the run going forward, and in addition to being Jon's friend that he can talk to similar to Damian, as Taylor put it, he'll also be somehow coming to Jon's aid in issue 5. Century Babies personify the time that they're born into, and it's fairly obvious that this new character is very of-the-now in his (their?) design, so that would fit.

For those that don't know about the concept of Century Babies, they are usually (but not always because of reincarnation and things like that) children born at the turn of the century. Because of this they have metahuman powers, and they are said to be born of the Earth's will and act as a form of an anti-body defense system for the planet itself. This is a Wildstrom concpet, and with the inclusion of Henry Bendix (a major WS villain) and obviously The Authority, it wouldn't at all be a stretch to include this concept. The most notable Century Baby is the former leader of The Authority, Jenny Sparks. She's notably absent from Morrison's take, and has been replaced by Manchester. Morrison explained that the point is to do Wildstrom ideas, but with DC characters, and this would fit the bill in the sense that it would be a new DC character taking this WS concept. Also Jon would literally be teaming up with the Earth in a sense if this were the case.


Or

JON KENT IS A CENTURY BABY. So this seems somewhat random at first, but then you think about it. Maybe THIS is why Jon is so powerful? Remember PKJ floated around the idea that maybe Jon being half Kryptonian as the reason was *just* a theory/assumption on Bruce's part? So what if it's because this in addition to his Kryptonian biology? Taylor also keeps stressing that Jon is the "Superman of the 21st Century". That would then take on a whole new meaning if Jon is literally a CB. This may be why Jon's focus as Superman is in part to combat the climate crisis.

But maybe the most compelling bit of info is the fact that the timeline shown by Bleeding Cool actually has Jon being born in the year 2000 aka at the turn of the century when all century babies are born. And interestingly enough, the timeline doesn't show any other notable births then aside from his.

Now, I'll grant you that the timeline is no longer in play, they've shifted from the overall concept of that, and realistically Jon couldn't have been born in the year 2000 anymore now, but similar to how quite a few of those ideas have changed shape and live on now (like Superman & The Authority), this could be another one of them. As I said before, it's not quite set in stone that they need to be born at the turn of the century. There are instances where they they're born later. The idea here could just straight up be that the Earth pulled some strings, and said that Superman's kid is gonna be a CB to help it out more directly.

The second one is kind of out there, but I think it has potential to be right. I'm leaning more towards the first one just based off Taylor's hype, but Jon being born the only noteworthy DC character to be born at the turn of the century in 5G seems like pretty compelling evidence, so I honestly don't know. Also super worth pointing out that literally no other Century Baby has been shown yet even though both the Wild CATS and The Authority are back, so that concept is very much open to be used.

[Vordan]

Lee has been making a push to integrate his WS toys into the DCU again, but making Jon a Century Baby? That would be huge, integrating Wildstorm concepts into the very core of what Jon is. Don’t Century Babies have to be born around the start of the new century though? That would put a hard date on when Jon can be born and I dunno if DC would go for that. It’s an interesting theory, but I think the new friend being a Century Baby makes more sense.

[Factor]

Positioning Bendix as Jon’s big bald genius supervillain works great for me. Hope Taylor does a good job with it.

LOL I read Bendis at first.
He definitely fits the description too.

[HsssH]

I don't think that changing the bit about turn of the century would cause much problems to the overall concept. Besides, its not like the planet operates on human time so to me it would actually make more sense if CB was born whenever the planet felt like it was time.

[Superlad93]

I don't think that changing the bit about turn of the century would cause much problems to the overall concept. Besides, its not like the planet operates on human time so to me it would actually make more sense if CB was born whenever the planet felt like it was time.

Totally agree. The Century Baby idea has its rules bent on the regular especially when it comes to really important Century Babies that the planet seems to feel are vital. Jenny Sparks was the CB for the 20th century, but she totally got reincarnated as Jenny Quantum for the 21st century, and that's not really supposed to happen. Or at the very least, it's only happened with her.

________

I think Taylor has the perfect set up for why either Jon or his friend were born after the year 2000: simply put, the Earth didn't think it was going to live long enough to see the next century. So it bends its own rules, and makes an emergency CB in the form of either Jon or his friend. This totally lines up with how Taylor really isn't pulling any punches when it comes to the climate crisis, and how urgent it is. Basically the Earth is scared for its life.

[Vordan]

That would also help explain how Jon, a natural born Kryptonian/human hybrid that was previously thought impossible, could exist. Yeah I’m warming up to the idea. Would be cool if Jenny Sparks/Jenny Quantum was likewise created and becomes a part of Jon’s supporting cast.

[Superlad93]

That would also help explain how Jon, a natural born Kryptonian/human hybrid that was previously thought impossible, could exist.

Exactly. Taylor's first issue even reiterates how precarious Jon's birth was because of him being a hybrid. He characterized it as a "risk".

Would be cool if Jenny Sparks/Jenny Quantum was likewise created and becomes a part of Jon’s supporting cast.

Okay, so it's kind of crazy that you mention Jenny Sparks/Q (safe to say, regardless she'll be Asian), because if Jon's not the century baby in this run (if there is one) then I think there's a pretty perfect role to slot Jenny in: she's the leader of The Truth!

She's roughly Jon's age, and since she's no longer associated with The Authority, this could be her thing.

And I may be jumping the gun here, but given just how interlinked Lee likely wants DC to be with Wildstrom (remember back when Halspont was set up to be Superman's ultimate foe in the New 52?) what if they dated? And it works regardless if Jon is in fact a CB because there are multiple per century. Just imagine Lee getting to anchor one of his own to the Superman of the era. That means any faithful adaption of this Jon's Superman has to use her.

I could even see her trying to light a cigarette, and Taylor paying homage to Superman The Movie by having Jon say they're not good for her.

It's a thought anyway.

[Robanker]

The cover for the upcoming annual is everything I wanted.

[Darkspellmaster]

I would think that Lee would want Jenny to be more her own thing than being with Jon.

[Superlad93]

I would think that Lee would want Jenny to be more her own thing than being with Jon.

You'd assume that, yeah, but you'd also assume that about The Authority, easily Wildstorm's most popular property. Back in the New 52 they tried to have some of the WS characters on their own, but they ended up not doing very well. The trend for this current era seems to be to hitch them onto Batman, Superman, or both and either incubate there or keep on as a mainstay. Since Jenny isn't with The Authority (because DC feels like *just* WS mainstays don't work), I imagine she'll go somewhere since she's fairly big.

I imagine ideally Lee would love it if they could just be their own thing, but he's also looking to do adaptations, and being part of the new Superman's supporting cast is a pretty surefire way to get there.

[Vordan]

Exactly. Taylor's first issue even reiterates how precarious Jon's birth was because of him being a hybrid. He characterized it as a "risk".



Okay, so it's kind of crazy that you mention Jenny Sparks/Q (safe to say, regardless she'll be Asian), because if Jon's not the century baby in this run (if there is one) then I think there's a pretty perfect role to slot Jenny in: she's the leader of The Truth!

She's roughly Jon's age, and since she's no longer associated with The Authority, this could be her thing.

And I may be jumping the gun here, but given just how interlinked Lee likely wants DC to be with Wildstrom (remember back when Halspont was set up to be Superman's ultimate foe in the New 52?) what if they dated? And it works regardless if Jon is in fact a CB because there are multiple per century. Just imagine Lee getting to anchor one of his own to the Superman of the era. That means any faithful adaption of this Jon's Superman has to use her.

I could even see her trying to light a cigarette, and Taylor paying homage to Superman The Movie by having Jon say they're not good for her.

It's a thought anyway.

It did occur to me as a possibility that the leader of the Truth organization would be Sparks/Quantum. I’m now hoping that’s the case. As for her and Jon dating, that could be fun, but wasn’t Quantum a lesbian? Don’t know if Sparks was, and of course this is a new iteration.

I would think that Lee would want Jenny to be more her own thing than being with Jon.

Lee wants his toys to get used, and the only way they will is if he can tie them to DC’s biggest properties. It’s why Grifter, HALO, and the WildCATS are in Batman, why Supes has Apollo, Middy, and the Authority, why Diana and Zealot are being linked together. The market just doesn’t support Wildstorm as a separate entity anymore alas, more people know Grifter as the guy in the Flashpoint animated movie than as the face of Wildstorm.

[sifighter]

I mean hey, the Wildstorm universe has been part of the dc universe since 2011 and it isn’t going anywhere any time soon. So if this is what they got to do to make it all work then so be it.