Superman Projects That Almost Were

[Vordan]

"Which had fallen apart over Clark Kent's insistence they all give up secret identities" - none of that makes sense.

And then he goes back to doing hero work in secret behind Lois' back.

Isn’t that a hoot or what? Even when Didio was planning something out he was still going to drive straight from point A to point B regardless of whether or not it actually makes sense to go in that direction. If you’re going to make Clark outing himself be what causes the JL to fall apart, you probably should tell Bendis not to go out of his way to make it seem like a good thing. If you’re going to have Clark be super gung ho about everyone else outing themselves, you probably shouldn’t then follow that up with Clark going behind his wife’s back to put together a super powered hit squad.

It’s clear that Didio did have a plan in contrast to DC’s current feckless meandering, but as usual the plan for some characters was terrible. I think my final thoughts on 5G are going to end up being what I said, Jon’s stuff would have been great and Clark’s stuff would have been trash, Morrison aside. We got the best 5G Clark stuff anyway so I think we came out of it well. Rest of the DC lineup seems pretty terrible honestly.

[Stanlos]

Please, Strawberry Blonde JayeeeZusss! Please! Don't let these people anywhere near the DCU ever again. PLEASE!

[Thor-Ul]

Talking about his initial jump to DC? No Didio expected him to ask for Batman and he was shocked when Bendis passed and asked for Superman instead. He was going to do some spy books and Green Arrow for 5G however.

Really? I always had the feeling than Bendis wanted Batman but as Batman was selling good in that moment, they give him the other big icon, Superman.

Isn’t that a hoot or what? Even when Didio was planning something out he was still going to drive straight from point A to point B regardless of whether or not it actually makes sense to go in that direction. If you’re going to make Clark outing himself be what causes the JL to fall apart, you probably should tell Bendis not to go out of his way to make it seem like a good thing. If you’re going to have Clark be super gung ho about everyone else outing themselves, you probably shouldn’t then follow that up with Clark going behind his wife’s back to put together a super powered hit squad.

It’s clear that Didio did have a plan in contrast to DC’s current feckless meandering, but as usual the plan for some characters was terrible. I think my final thoughts on 5G are going to end up being what I said, Jon’s stuff would have been great and Clark’s stuff would have been trash, Morrison aside. We got the best 5G Clark stuff anyway so I think we came out of it well. Rest of the DC lineup seems pretty terrible honestly.

The problem that plan was short sighted and of limited life. The characters were send to a dead end and It would had not been surprised than DiDio was planning yet another universal wide reboot at the end of all this 5G era.

[Bruce Wayne]

Almost certainly.

What was even the point given that eventually the status quo would come back? This could easily go south like OYL, Convergence or DCYou. He is not exactly known for his competence. Did he even have a backup plan if it failed? Seems like Scott Snyder was absolutely justified in trying to stop this.

[marhawkman]

Almost certainly.

What was even the point given that eventually the status quo would come back? This could easily go south like OYL, Convergence or DCYou. He is not exactly known for his competence. Did he even have a backup plan if it failed? Seems like Scott Snyder was absolutely justified in trying to stop this.

I'm kinda thinking the real plan was to turn DC into a DC equivalent of MC2... and leave it that way... which... sounds dumb, and it's probably why it didn't actually go through.

[Quinlan58]

I wonder if we'll ever know what that cosmic book that PKJ was initially hired to do would have been. As for the rest of the plans, as far as Superman goes... Clark destroying the JL and an entire generation of heroes by insisting on public identities is a bigger burn on that concept than anyone who dislikes it could have actually come up with, lol. At least that absolutely horrid Authority pitch would have had (and did have) Morrison to make it work, because seriously, who comes up with that crap.

Current era isn't exactly spotless, either, but PKJ's been doing a good job despite some flaws, he sounds like he wants to move things "forward" at least until the next writer wipes it all out of existence, and we did get what sounds like the only good (Clark Kent) Superman content there would have been in 5G in superman & the Authority. Pity about Jon, though (not really, but you know what I mean). But then again, his Justice "League" would have been written by the dude behind Titans Academy and War for Earth-3

[LordUltimus]

Really? I always had the feeling than Bendis wanted Batman but as Batman was selling good in that moment, they give him the other big icon, Superman.

Didn't Bendis say he was visiting Metropolis, Illinois or somewhere and said he wanted to tackle the worlds greatest hero from that visit?

[Last Son of Krypton]

The Death Of Batman And Superman: The 5G Files Chapter Fifteen

LMAO, it seems the fever dream of a hardcore Jon fanatic. "Cope and sethe."

Of course, Didio would've reboot afterward and retcon out the new gen. on another timeline/Earth.

[Last Son of Krypton]

Oh well, here it is...

Dan DiDio's Big Red 5G Reset Button: The 5G Files Chapter Sixteen

[Bruce Wayne]

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/the-...apter-fifteen/

Faced with Clark Kent's growing powers threatening the existence of Earth itself, becoming the greatest threat to humanity it has ever faced, with the knowledge of the future from Jon Kent, Bruce Wayne is forced to make his own ultimate sacrifice to save the planet. And, through undisclosed means, this would lead to the death of both the original Batman and Superman. The planet saved, the future averted, and the DC Universe continuing with Luke Fox and Jon Kent as the New Batman and New Superman, part of the Justice Alliance going forward into the fifth generation DC superheroes.

My estimation of Scott Snyder just increased. This was an utter trainwreck in the making and worse than Convergence. And Snyder was the only one that had any sense to stand up to this guy and try and talk him out of it.

What were these other people doing? Goddamn cowards.

[Thor-Ul]

The problem that plan was short sighted and of limited life. The characters were send to a dead end and It would had not been surprised than DiDio was planning yet another universal wide reboot at the end of all this 5G era.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/dan-...apter-sixteen/

Well, it was as I said it. What crisis would had be then Dan? Crisis minus one?

[Vordan]

Really? I always had the feeling than Bendis wanted Batman but as Batman was selling good in that moment, they give him the other big icon, Superman.

The problem that plan was short sighted and of limited life. The characters were send to a dead end and It would had not been surprised than DiDio was planning yet another universal wide reboot at the end of all this 5G era.

Per Bendis himself he always wanted Superman, not Batman. I believe him because just look at all the freedom they gave him: both the Superbooks, the LoSH, his own imprint to run, he even did get a Batman book! If he really wanted Batman then I’m sure Didio would have given him a BL project to do, but for whatever reason… he didn’t.

Almost certainly.

What was even the point given that eventually the status quo would come back? This could easily go south like OYL, Convergence or DCYou. He is not exactly known for his competence. Did he even have a backup plan if it failed? Seems like Scott Snyder was absolutely justified in trying to stop this.

Didio’s philosophy was that every 5 years or so you needed to give DC an enema in his own words lol. To him that meant doing big huge shakeups that would attract peoples attention and get eyeballs on the books. To be fair to him the current regime is trying to be much more moderate, even trying to give people what they say they want, and we can see in the sales how it hasn’t been working.

The Death Of Batman And Superman: The 5G Files Chapter Fifteen

LMAO, it seems the fever dream of a hardcore Jon fanatic. "Cope and sethe."

Of course, Didio would've reboot afterward and retcon out the new gen. on another timeline/Earth.

Wow, the big news for me is that they actually were planning on sticking with 5G, and only leaving themselves a way out if the whole thing collapsed. Again, the plans for Clark sound terrible. He was going to be reempowered and be at risk of destroying Earth, and Batman was going to kill both of them off? Yeah even with Morrison attempting to salvage the whole thing I don’t think Clark’s send off would have been a good one. Clark dying as a result of more Batman vs. Superman shit is the most on brand thing DC could do.

Oh well, here it is...

Dan DiDio's Big Red 5G Reset Button: The 5G Files Chapter Sixteen

What a cocktease lol, but this most be the most clicks Rich has gotten in ages, he hasn’t had any real scoops anymore since Didio left - probably because Didio was the one feeding him info!

[Last Son of Krypton]

Wow, the big news for me is that they actually were planning on sticking with 5G, and only leaving themselves a way out if the whole thing collapsed. Again, the plans for Clark sound terrible. He was going to be reempowered and be at risk of destroying Earth, and Batman was going to kill both of them off? Yeah even with Morrison attempting to salvage the whole thing I don’t think Clark’s send off would have been a good one. Clark dying as a result of more Batman vs. Superman shit is the most on brand thing DC could do.

What a cocktease lol, but this most be the most clicks Rich has gotten in ages, he hasn’t had any real scoops anymore since Didio left - probably because Didio was the one feeding him info!

I think it would've collapsed in less than 2 years after the novelty and curiosity fade away.

But this is probably the most planned ahead interconnected storyline DC ever had, of course he had to be dropped, lol.

5G happening and ending with a Crisis/reboot was teased in DDC #12 back in 2019:

[Leancarp900]

5G sounds like a shitshow lmao. No wonder writers were rebelling against it. It goes well beyond just replacing all their mainline heroes (which would have already been controversial).

If this had gone forward the DC discourse nowadays would be as radioactive as Star Wars' or Marvel around the time of Secret Empire.

[Frontier]

All my concerns about 5G feel justified now .