Action Comics #974 (spoilers)

[Superlad93]

Its why I still think "Clark" could be him. Or at least, him snatched in time before the Flashpoint. And they'll coalesce when time is fixed just like Lois and Superman. Maybe Blanque "found" Cyborg Superman and mentally manipulated him to believe he was really Clark, and broke him out of Geneticron, all for some end of his.

That sort of seems like a..lot for Blanque to be able to do from in a cell. His area of mental manipulation seems to be fairly short. His only two showings of mental manipulation have happened from within the Fortress he was trapped in. I actually think Blanque is being freed just to set him up as a foe for later.

Edit: Also he never "jailed" Henshaw. Hank was unconscious from the crash, strapped to a monitor to check for anomalies, controlled by Blanque, saved Superman, then was dropped of and free to go. He was put under medical care and monitoring.

[Kuwagaton]

Blanque might not be that powerful considering how Superman was weakened at the time. But who knows?

As for hank, he's still in possession of the oblivion stone. He's been acting sneaky but I'm not sure if he would have had an intentional part in freeing Blanque. So far he doesn't really have a motive.

[Sacred Knight]

I don't know a lot about Blanque since I never read Lois and Clark outside of various snippets. It would definitely require his range to be great. If that's not his MO then maybe that's out.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

I actually think Blanque is being freed just to set him up as a foe for later.

very well could be the case

Edit: Also he never "jailed" Henshaw. Hank was unconscious from the crash, strapped to a monitor to check for anomalies, controlled by Blanque, saved Superman, then was dropped of and free to go. He was put under medical care and monitoring.

thanks, yeah I forgot he had a connection to Blanque, it is definitely suspicious that Henshaw was at the Himalayan Fortress at the same time Blanque escapes though.

He was an astronaut, this time the lone passenger of a ship that crashed. Superman found him, jailed him for a bit (I think), but eventually became convinced that this Hank was not going to turn into the madman his Hank Henshaw turned into. So he cut him loose, the two had good-bye of seemingly mutual respect but when Superman flew off Hank seemed to reveal he did indeed inherit some sort of superhuman ability.

I don't know a lot about Blanque since I never read Lois and Clark outside of various snippets. It would definitely require his range to be great. If that's not his MO then maybe that's out.

yeah I never read it outside of snippets either, but thanks for the info. And I know you don't want prime but I think he's still the most likely mystery Clarke. jury is still out on Henshaw, he's got some things going in his favor though, and I agree with you that if it were up to Jurgens it would much more likely be Hank than Prime.

[Sacred Knight]

Thanks for the claficiations on the L&C story beats. Didn't mean to give false info. I thought he was put into one of the cells for a time.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

There needs to be at least some reference to Superman having taken other heroes and scientists to his now destroyed fortress to see if they could have aided Superman in treating the people that weren't kept there as prisoners, but for their own safety.

Otherwise Dratania and Klon died with Superman not having done everything he could have in order to help them.

I haven't been reading Justice League, and have fallen back on Trinity, so maybe they've already been referenced.

[SuperCrab]

I guess that we've seen that Clark has the ability to teleport in the last issue, When Lois tracked him back to his apartment and he vanished- going in the door and not appearing on the other side (With the doorman saying he hadn't seen him in a long time), it's possible that he is new Henshaw transporting in and out- if we're just going with how can he be in two places almost simultaneously. However, Clark really believed he was who he said he was until near the end of this week's issue- verified by a mind-scan at the Fortress and a lie detector test administered by Batman, plus we as the audience got an issue from his perspective with his thoughts in blue boxes a while back.

He could be pre-52 Henshaw, altered. However, I have to say, that would be kind of lame. It's not horrible in and of itself and might have even made a nice twist- had this mystery existed for two issues. It's been on-going twice a month since June, though. We were even exposed to it a couple months before that through advanced promotion. But in the comics since June. I think they "need" to do better after stringing us along for so many issues (This isn't even the first arc that promised to find out who this mystery Clark Kent is). Make him a missing piece of the "true" Superman or an alternate universe Clark Kent or Superboy Prime. Heck, if he wasn't acting so creepy, I'd say make him New52 Superman, but I don't like this as a portrayal of that Clark Kent- they would have had to have written him more sympathetically for me to not take that as insulting as a fan of the New52 Superman (Plus, while that Clark had an attraction to and I think some feelings for Lois, where she was the road not taken and he chose Wonder Woman instead- even mind-wiped he wouldn't act like creepy Clark and feel that strong need to get that engagement done in one date.).

I think when it drags out this far, it can't just be like "Surprise! It's Hank Hershaw". Like, yeah, Hershaw isn't *that* big of a deal.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

I think when it drags out this far, it can't just be like "Surprise! It's Hank Hershaw". Like, yeah, Hershaw isn't *that* big of a deal.

yeah that's pretty much my sentiments as well, we know from the upcoming solicits that Cyborg Superman will reappear, but heck a lot of pre-flashpoint characters are reappearing in Rebirth so Cyborg Superman Henshaw reappearing isn't really that huge of a deal. I'm with ya I just kind of expected more of a reveal or relevance to the ongoing Rebirth plot, which Superboy Prime would better accomplish.

[Superlad93]

There needs to be at least some reference to Superman having taken other heroes and scientists to his now destroyed fortress to see if they could have aided Superman in treating the people that weren't kept there as prisoners, but for their own safety.

Otherwise Dratania and Klon died with Superman not having done everything he could have in order to help them.

I haven't been reading Justice League, and have fallen back on Trinity, so maybe they've already been referenced.

Doubt they'll say he had other heroes and scientist come by. I honestly think they'll just imply or say that Superman tried his level best to help them. I mean, it's not dissimilar from how Superman is depicted to normally manage his fortresses and the prisoners, guest, or creatures in it that aren't linked to other heroes books. He himself usually tries to help his guest. Not saying it's the best method, but it's the who he's regularly depicted as having.

It'd be nice if they were either alive and trapped or if Clark take a moment to morn them.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

Doubt they'll say he had other heroes and scientist come by. I honestly think they'll just imply or say that Superman tried his level best to help them. I mean, it's not dissimilar from how Superman is depicted to normally manage his fortresses and the prisoners, guest, or creatures in it that aren't linked to other heroes books. He himself usually tries to help his guest. Not saying it's the best method, but it's the who he's regularly depicted as having.

It'd be nice if they were either alive and trapped or if Clark take a moment to morn them.

It goes with the Lois & Clark premise of Superman secretly helping people that sounds like a neat idea at first but ends up a mess.

Superman helping Dratania and Klon seemed like a nice touch when it was introduced in Lois & Clark, but then when you think about it, despite Superman saying he'll continue trying to help them, the help he was limiting himself to the help he could provide by keeping his existence a secret.

Now with him going public, and having so far failed to help either of them further, you'd think he'd at least bring in some of the greater minds of the DCU to see if they could provide any help.

It's one of those things that gets overlooked and ends up turning something that should be a good Superman moment, into one that's not.

Since they did appear on panel, I'd be shocked if Superman wasn't shown mourning them. He'll probably mention them when fighting Blanque.

[stephens2177]

If it's not Prime,it will be the 2nd biggest swerve in years(the 1st was nu Kon not being Kal/lex hybrid).

[Superlad93]

It goes with the Lois & Clark premise of Superman secretly helping people that sounds like a neat idea at first but ends up a mess.

Superman helping Dratania and Klon seemed like a nice touch when it was introduced in Lois & Clark, but then when you think about it, despite Superman saying he'll continue trying to help them, the help he was limiting himself to the help he could provide by keeping his existence a secret.

Now with him going public, and having so far failed to help either of them further, you'd think he'd at least bring in some of the greater minds of the DCU to see if they could provide any help.

But that's still pretty standard procedure for modern Superman. He helps out the being in the fortress himself unless it has to deal with other hero. We normally never see the being let go or pronounced fit again, so we can only assume that they'll still just there.

This sort of thing is actually why I miss Superman's more miscellaneous "housekeeping" or slice of life issues. There we'd see him do things like hold parole hearing, tend to Kandor, check on a neighbor as Clark, or tend to the animals in the fortress. There would be some sort of slight mishap that made it a bit of an adventure, but for the most part it was more a day-in-the-life sort of thing. You'd get a grander sense of his life and how he spent his time as Superman and Clark.

I honestly think those issues tend to work better than the ones where he's stopping the end of the world with a punching contest or some made up bit of science that ends with him flying around something in a circle.

I'd like to see *far* more of these stories going forward because 1) they tend to be tighter and overall stronger (this is in the case of basically every Superman writer ever) and 2) they answer questions like the one you've asked. As a bonus, we get great character work, and you can have bursts of focused action in them without the padding.

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

But that's still pretty standard procedure for modern Superman. He helps out the being in the fortress himself unless it has to deal with other hero. We normally never see the being let go or pronounced fit again, so we can only assume that they'll still just there.

Then it's an ongoing problem with modern Superman.

I wonder if Mon-El falls under this as well, or did Superman know that the antidote for his lead poisoning wouldn't be created until the distant future.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

This sort of thing is actually why I miss Superman's more miscellaneous "housekeeping" or slice of life issues. There we'd see him do things like hold parole hearing, tend to Kandor, check on a neighbor as Clark, or tend to the animals in the fortress. There would be some sort of slight mishap that made it a bit of an adventure, but for the most part it was more a day-in-the-life sort of thing. You'd get a grander sense of his life and how he spent his time as Superman and Clark.

yeah I agree, I like that stuff too, Dc could definitely do more of that sort of thing, too many events in recent years.

If it's not Prime,it will be the 2nd biggest swerve in years(the 1st was nu Kon not being Kal/lex hybrid).

yeah I agree it would be a big swerve, lotta callbacks to Prime for sure, especially the "I remember now" and the "you ruined my life" bit, just like he referred to Post Crisis Supes in Infinite Crisis. (plus its Johns)

[Superlad93]

Then it's an ongoing problem with modern Superman.

Well, yeah I agree.

I wonder if Mon-El falls under this as well, or did Superman know that the antidote for his lead poisoning wouldn't be created until the distant future.

I'm pretty sure when Jon's brought Mon-El's 1st origin back, he also gave Clark his memories back after his Legion story.

It's really just a matter of modern stories hardly, if ever, playing with more light stories. It's always the end of the world or Superman being punched. Less room for checking on Kandor, the animals, patents, phantom zoners, or Mon-El.