Should come as no surprise that the two likely choices for the Big Bad of
Testament are General Zod and Brainiac. Figured I’d write up reasons to support why it’s either of them.
Reasons why it’s Zod:
1. Hitch has said it will cover everything from Krypton to the LoSH. We already saw Krypton’s death in
Birthright, why go back there? Because we
didn’t see Waid’s version of Zod, that justifies a trip back to Krypton to see his origin and relationship with Jor-El. And the Legion? Well you’ll recall the infamous Byrne story which involved a Zod killing Pocket Zone Superboy, who has a connection to the Post Crisis Legion, with Superman retaliating by executing Zod and his comrades. Which leads into reason 2.
2. It’s been teased that
Testament will deal with Superman’s no kill rule. Waid still hates Snyder’s
Man of Steel and he also hates Byrne, both of those two had Superman kill Zod, Waid doing a big Zod story where Superman is tested but holds fast to his principles as a repudiation to those two is definitely the kind of thing he would try. Hitch also hates Snyder’s MoS and he’s the master of doing big superhero slugfests that feature a lot of urban destruction. Would not be surprised if
Testament is Waid and Hitch doing their own take on how MoS should have ended.
3. Kaminski has said Zod will play a big role in 2023, but neither PKJ nor Williamson seem set to use him. However we know Kaminski is a huge supporter of Waid and I would not be surprised if
Testament was what he was referring to, especially since 2023 is when
Testament is set to come out per Hitch.
Reasons why it’s Brainiac:
1. Waid had no problems cribbing from the DCAU, I could see him adapting the DCAU origin for Brainiac as a Kryptonian AI which would mandate a trip back to Krypton for similar reasons as Zod. And of course Brainiac 5 has a self-evident connection to both Superman and Brainiac which would justify him and the LoSH being involved
2. Brainiac is the one villain Waid has said he
really wants to do a big Superman story with to revamp him. He’s also a big enough threat to justify Superman wrestling with the ethics of whether or not to keep him alive.
3. Brainiac invading Metropolis is the perfect kind of setup for Hitch to draw, lots of urban destruction straight out of the Authority when the Skull Ship shows up over the city to bottle it
Frankly I think it’s Zod personally. Kaminski’s comments just make more sense if he was referring to Waid’s project and no one else as of right now seems to be using him. Plus Zod is set to appear in
The Flash and what better time to try to get some synergy sales than a big Superman vs. Zod story by one of Superman’s most well-known writers which is all about wrestling with the impact of
Man of Steel the same way
The Flash is rumored to? Bonus points in that both serve as a kind of capstone for Zack Snyder’s era with
The Flash erasing Cavill from the franchise and Waid doing a story that’s all about how terrible and wrong Snyder’s take is.