Superman Projects That Almost Were

[The Frog Bros]

You just reminded me that Andy Diggle had a big Superman run planned before editorial drove him away. Bailed before his first issue even released I think. But he’s back at DC with Lazarus Planet, maybe there’s a chance he could write Superman again.



Wasn’t this promo for it supposed to be teasing Superman fighting a vampire foe? I vaguely remember that.

Yes, a vampire from the future (the last man on earth or something similar), when the sun would have become a red giant, or something like that. And Superman would have had his arm chopped and he would have had to find a way to hide his secret identity.
Bizarre, but not the worst idea I have heard of.

I'd have read it just for that outfit alone.

[Thor-Ul]

Here is where the Superman identity reveal was supposed to go in 5G

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/how-...s-chapter-two/

The reaction of Batman in this alternate take have a lot more sense than what was finally published. But with a break up of the Justice League I can't stop thinking than Bendis had his hand on this development.

[Matt Rat]

In 5G, Lois and Clark would have moved to Africa as Clark's powers continued to fade

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/clar...s-chapter-six/

[Vordan]

Here is where the Superman identity reveal was supposed to go in 5G

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/how-...s-chapter-two/

Such as initial plans for Clark Kent's Superman with Superman Revealed. Son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, Jon Kent, had returned from the stars. Superman has revealed his secret identity to the world, but in Superman Revealed he would have begun pressurising other heroes to follow his lead, especially Batman. This pressure created division and dissent within the ranks of the Justice League, some intrigued by Superman's suggestions, some already out in public, some fearing for their family, and some like Batman dead set against it, the mystique of Batman being almost a superpower in itself.

This also caused division with Jon Kent as well, as Clark Kent's revelation has put a greater spotlight on him. And he continues to take refuge in the 31st century with the Legion of Super-Heroes as a means of escape. And ultimately, the division would have led to the dissolution of the Justice League.

Oh my God this is hilarious. So DC put out a comic where Superman outing his secret identity was paralled to a kid finding the courage to come out as gay to his parents, and DC let that run while they were also in the process of having Supes outing himself be the reason the JL collapsed? I don’t think you’ve thought about the implications of all the allusions here guys! But this does make it clear DC was never going to commit to Superman being outed as a “good” thing.

Oh and I guess Clark would have retired to Africa and helped out there like he did during Future’s End:

Superman: Last Days was a Superman event comic series that would have followed the events in Death Metal: Dark Crisis (as it was then envisaged) before the Changing Of The Guard event we mentioned earlier. As the new DC Timeline is established, Superman would now be in his sixties and was discovering that his powers were fading. The series would see him passing the Superman role onto his son, Jon Kent, as Clark Kent and Lois Lane leave Metropolis, and America as a whole, to relocate to Africa. Truth, Justice and the African Way? Clark Kent would have had to have become a "super" hero of a very different flavour.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/clar...s-chapter-six/

Who would have written that book I wonder?

[LordUltimus]

Well no wonder they never did anything with the reveal, they were going to retire him right away!

[Thor-Ul]

Oh my God this is hilarious. So DC put out a comic where Superman outing his secret identity was paralled to a kid finding the courage to come out as gay to his parents, and DC let that run while they were also in the process of having Supes outing himself be the reason the JL collapsed? I don’t think you’ve thought about the implications of all the allusions here guys! But this does make it clear DC was never going to commit to Superman being outed as a “good” thing.

At least they had understand that Superman without an SI is wa bad idea.

Oh and I guess Clark would have retired to Africa and helped out there like he did during Future’s End:

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/clar...s-chapter-six/

Who would have written that book I wonder?

John Ridley probably. Or Jeffrey Thorne. Maybe they even proposed the idea to Christopher Priest.

[Frontier]

The JL was going to break apart because Superman wants nobody to have secret identities? Come on.

[Vordan]

At least they had understand that Superman without an SI is wa bad idea.



John Ridley probably. Or Jeffrey Thorne. Maybe they even proposed the idea to Christopher Priest.

Ridley was going to be writing Batman and running the 5G Batbooks. Thorne was supposed to do a John Stewart book I think? Priest… hmm I doubt it, seems like he’s only back at DC because Kaminski got control of the Superbooks/extended DC line. I remember a rumor that Tim Sheridan was going to do some Superman stuff for 5G, and I don’t think he was in the running to take over Jon, so I suspect he was going to do this.

[Leancarp900]

I don't fully buy what Rich is saying here. He says Taylor was always writing Jon Kent as Superman, but we know from interviews that the 5G Superman writer was Matt Fraction.

He also claims PKJ was hired for 5G Superman, but he has said his 5G project was something cosmic that didn't involve Superman nor GL.

[Bruce Wayne]

I feel like Chris Roberson was supposed to tell a longer Superman story.

Roberson was a fill-in writer because JMS had gotten sick. They were already planning to reboot the entire thing by then. I think in retrospect some of them like Johns were hedging on a no-reboot scenario, but they pretty much lost.

[Bruce Wayne]

I don't fully buy what Rich is saying here. He says Taylor was always writing Jon Kent as Superman, but we know from interviews that the 5G Superman writer was Matt Fraction.

Totall agreed. Everything points to Fraction doing a Jon book. Bleedingcool's sources about DC has been pretty bad recently probably because their guys on the inside all got fired during the layoffs.

The reaction of Batman in this alternate take have a lot more sense than what was finally published. But with a break up of the Justice League I can't stop thinking than Bendis had his hand on this development.

No this is Didio and was the very core of 5G along with stuff like aging up Jon in that the Justice League would go the way of the JSA.

His reasoning from what I understand is that the JSA (1G), Justice League of America (2G), Justice League International (3G) and Justice League (4G) were representations of previous ages of heroes. And a new organization would rise to represent the new age of superheroes (5G!).

[Vordan]

My takeaway regarding 5G is that what we could’ve gotten there for Jon (Fraction) is better than what we ended up getting (Taylor), but what we ended getting for Clark is light years better than what 5G would have done for him. We even got the only good 5G Clark projects anyway in Morrison S&tA and Russel’s Space Age books which started as 5G projects and were retooled to be standalone. For Clark things ended up working out.

[Stanlos]

Well no wonder they never did anything with the reveal, they were going to retire him right away!

Is this Fox Entertainment level rumour churning? Or is this fact? I kind of think it would be the former. I mean, who would dare?

[Bruce Wayne]

That's kind of the point. That Jon/Damian/one of the Fox kids + Yara + Andi + Boomerang Jr would be the 5G Heroes. That's not rumor mongering. Bendis aging Jon, Fraction being the next writer, Deconnick introducing Andi, it's clear they were going to replace the older generation of heroes. That was the whole point of the project.

[Stanlos]

That's kind of the point. That Jon/Damian/one of the Fox kids + Yara + Andi + Boomerang Jr would be the 5G Heroes. That's not rumor mongering. Bendis aging Jon, Fraction being the next writer, Deconnick introducing Andi, it's clear they were going to replace the older generation of heroes.

So Supes, Wondy, Bruce, Jonn, et al. Would just up and leave?