Bendis' Big Twist Revealed MAJOR SPOILERS for Action Comics 1000

[titansupes]

spoilers:

Called it, I knew this is what it was. Honestly I don't really care one way or the other, but I prefer Brainiac to be the one responsible for Krypton's death if DC is so determined to have someone be responsible for it. I guess we'll see how things play out.

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The New 52 treated Lara a lot better imo so I'd be happy to see her given more agency. Wasn't she an astronaut in the New 52? I far prefer that role for her than being just Jor-El's wife like she kinda was portrayed as in the Reborn origin.

end of spoilers

I think Lara was sometimes referred to as an astronaut in Pre-Crisis, too? Am I remembering that wrong?

[The Dying Detective]

So I guess Bendis's twist was not original enough.

[RepHope]

I think Lara was sometimes referred to as an astronaut in Pre-Crisis, too? Am I remembering that wrong?

I love, LOVE, that role for her. Being the one who always dreamed of space. I also like her being the source of the S-curl hair for Supes like she was in the DCAU I believe.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

spoilers:

Disappointingly predictable. I do think there could be potentially interesting, meaningful ways of spinning it; off the top of my head, this was a long-term form of retaliation from an alien race Kryptonians had previously exploited, with Jor-El and Lara trying to warn the council of the long-term repercussions of their actions but being waved off since they wanted to ignore the past, keeping the same thematic concerns in play with an even more explicitly political edge to the idea of Krypton as symbolically a fallen nation that Superman is one of the few surviving refugees of. However, even if the rest of his run is quality, I'm not convinced that Bendis will handle this aspect with the requesite degree of craft and forethought; even if he doesn't though, I suspect this is something that will be easily retconned or ignored if it's a genuine failure.

end of spoilers

Ten bucks says in Action #1001, when we pick up where this leaves off, we see a fist off-panel pop Zarr in the face, with the next page a big splash of Supergirl.

Given the art we've seen so far, I think that might actually happen in #4, since we've seen art from that issue of Superman and Supergirl fighting Zarr in Metropolis.

[Soubhagya]

The most obvious prediction when we first heard about the new villain. I wished Bendis wouldn't be doing the most obvious one. But here we are. Its still a shocking turn.

spoilers:

-Who is this villain? Destroying whole Krypton. That makes him a very nasty as well as a really important villain. -And, i wonder this maybe the reason why we aren't hearing about Lois and Jon. At least, Jon. This villain is dedicated to destroying all Kryptonians and their existing bloodlines. Since, he is this powerful it makes sense that Jon and Lois are hidden from him. A guess.

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spoilers:

Disappointingly predictable. I do think there could be potentially interesting, meaningful ways of spinning it; off the top of my head, this was a long-term form of retaliation from an alien race Kryptonians had previously exploited, with Jor-El and Lara trying to warn the council of the long-term repercussions of their actions but being waved off since they wanted to ignore the past, keeping the same thematic concerns in play with an even more explicitly political edge to the idea of Krypton as symbolically a fallen nation that Superman is one of the few surviving refugees of. However, even if the rest of his run is quality, I'm not convinced that Bendis will handle this aspect with the requesite degree of craft and forethought; even if he doesn't though, I suspect this is something that will be easily retconned or ignored if it's a genuine failure.

end of spoilers

Something like this can be really interesting. I hope they have some good ideas. Otherwise its a waste.

[Sacred Knight]

Given the art we've seen so far, I think that might actually happen in #4, since we've seen art from that issue of Superman and Supergirl fighting Zarr in Metropolis.

Good point. Perhaps we have a lot of segues into the past that draws things out for that long?

[Superlad93]

All in all, no strong feeling one way or the other. Sucks that we basically called it as soon as we saw the cover.

That said, I think the real meat of the story is what Clark does with this information, and why it--or the fallout from it--inspires him to "look at the world through new eyes...with new ideas about what Superman could and should do for the city of Metropolis and the planet Earth." THAT'S fascinating to me. How does this come from what Zaar did? And what are the particular ways Clark wants to go about helping the world, and how does that relate back to Zaar's actions?

spoilers:

It's also super likely that Krypton's natural disaster is still in play, but it was caused by Zaar. Maybe Jor-El, following the clues of the apparent natural disaster, stumbles onto Zaar's plan. By then it's too late to stop, and Jor-El has been labeled a crackpot by his peers thus killing all credibility, so Zaar's able to gloat and explain how Kryptonian's are apparently a sickness.

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I should probably bring this up too. Don't know when this is set (I can only imagine that there are flashbacks in MOS), but it's very possible that Zaar either didn't act alone or had a blind eye turned to his actions.




spoilers:

Given Bendis' penchant for mysteries, reporting, and detective stories, we could be seeing a "who shot Krypton" sort of slow burn detective narrative. Bendis might be building up Clark Kent's reporting skills in Action Comics, so that he can blur the lines a bit when he mixes the grounded with the cosmic, and has Superman solve the mystery of the murder of his race. I think that'd be sufficiently cosmic because you'd have Superman going to Rann, interviewing Green Lanterns, and basically exposing the origins of the mass genocide of his people. This could be really interesting.

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Some food for thought.

PS do we really need spoiler tangs in a thread that says MAJOR SPOILERS? Just a question.

[Korath]

I should probably bring this up too. Don't know when this is set (I can only imagine that there are flashbacks in MOS), but it's very possible that Zaar either didn't act alone or had a blind eye turned to his actions.

My best guess is that this kind of Council oh the Universe was growing afraid of the Kryptonian's abilities, feeling that should they leave their home system (either again or ever). But Zaar probably went too far, I bet he was tasked with making sure that they would forever remain on Krypton, for instance by killing all their scientists and destroying their archives or something. Instead, he killed a world, hence why he seems to be judged in those panels.

[Superlad93]

In reality Zaar could just be a racist, zealot, patsy who this council hand the smoking gun to. The perfect scapegoat when in reality guys like Sardath and Ganthet were the culprits if not facilitators.

Makes for a rather fun "who shot Krypton" detective story that sort of blurs the lines between reporter Clark and Superman, since he'll need to be a bit of both out there.

[Miles To Go]

Yeah, this is par the course for Bendis. Not bothering much with continuity. It also means some of established Rebirth history is kind of being ignored already barely a year in...but of course, as I told Sacred in a PM last night, there's a built in story excuse via the smashing of the source wall in Metal.

[SPOIL]DGiven the art we've seen so far, I think that might actually happen in #4, since we've seen art from that issue of Superman and Supergirl fighting Zarr in Metropolis.

Did'nt Didio say "The Truth" was set after Man of Steel? If some, it might not be until the final issue (6)

[Raijin]

I'm alright with this. I never liked the fact that Krypton exploded due to 'old age' because if that's the case why is Oa and Thanagar still around? They are at least as old as Krypton.

[bat39]

As far as changes to the Superman mythos go, this is actually nothing special. Its really no more special than, I dunno, changing the identity of Thomas and Martha Wayne's killer.

But here's the bigger problem with these kinds of retcons that "change everything you know about [insert character/franchise name]."

Superman, as we know him today, is not a singular character with a singular continuity. Over the past 80 years, he has transcended any one particular telling of his story. There are certain common characteristics, certain core facts about the character that have stayed consistent and stood the test of time (and even those have gradually evolved). But beyond that, no one telling of the story is the 'definitive canon' that influences and alters all other interpretations of the character. Not even what's the 'current mainstream in-continuity' comic-book version.

So what does it matter if Krypton is revealed to have been destroyed by this Zarr character in Bendis' story? It isn't really some 'shocking reveal' that changes 'everything we knew about Superman'. No. Its a twist that affects THIS specific version of the character. The Superman in Action Comics # 1 didn't come from a Krypton that was destroyed by Zarr. Neither did the Superman we had all through the Silver Age and Bronze Age. Neither did the Superman played by George Reeves, or by Christopher Reeves, or Henry Cavill or pretty much any other actor. Much like how Marlon Brando's Jor-El never become Mr. Oz.

Back in the days of Morrison's Batman run, when Simon Hurt claimed to be Thomas Wayne and claimed that Alfred was Bruce's biological father, it was honestly difficult to think of these as being 'THE shocking secret that changes Batman's history FOREVER'. Because, even if those had been true in the context of Morrison's story (spoiler: they weren't), they wouldn't really retroactively change the entirely of Batman's mythos. No one would believe that the Batman who first showed up as 'the Bat-Man' in 1939 was Alfred's son (hell, Alfred didn't exist as a character for a good four years after that, and was only retroactively inserted into Bruce's childhood and early life in 1987!)

It's the same with the Court of Owls, and how it affects the history of the Wayne and Grayson families. The Court of Owls weren't really lurking in the background back when Batman and Robin were fighting aliens and what-not in the comics of the 50's! And the Robin that Burt Ward played in the TV show wasn't descended from a Talon! Doesn't mean that Court of Owls wasn't a great story and concept to add to the Batman universe. It just means that its a story that affects one particular version of the Batman mythos that happens to be dominant in one medium. But the collective canon of Batman is something FAR more widespread and cannot be changed by one retcon!

[jimmy]

spoilers:

So... Basically Superman:Earth One or Pre-Crisis Black Zero is now canon.Just a different character is responsible. Well at least the big twist isn't Lois and Jon being killed off or erased and Superman is still a Kryptonian. The big change is that an external force destroyed Krypton. Been there done that. I'm okay with this.

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Switch-a-ro So, does this mean that Pre-crisis is back in some way - if this is so, That is RADICAL!!

end of spoilers

Oh man!

[jimmy]

As far as changes to the Superman mythos go, this is actually nothing special. Its really no more special than, I dunno, changing the identity of Thomas and Martha Wayne's killer.

But here's the bigger problem with these kinds of retcons that "change everything you know about [insert character/franchise name]."

Superman, as we know him today, is not a singular character with a singular continuity. Over the past 80 years, he has transcended any one particular telling of his story. There are certain common characteristics, certain core facts about the character that have stayed consistent and stood the test of time (and even those have gradually evolved). But beyond that, no one telling of the story is the 'definitive canon' that influences and alters all other interpretations of the character. Not even what's the 'current mainstream in-continuity' comic-book version.

So what does it matter if Krypton is revealed to have been destroyed by this Zarr character in Bendis' story? It isn't really some 'shocking reveal' that changes 'everything we knew about Superman'. No. Its a twist that affects THIS specific version of the character. The Superman in Action Comics # 1 didn't come from a Krypton that was destroyed by Zarr. Neither did the Superman we had all through the Silver Age and Bronze Age. Neither did the Superman played by George Reeves, or by Christopher Reeves, or Henry Cavill or pretty much any other actor. Much like how Marlon Brando's Jor-El never become Mr. Oz.

Superman "The Face and the Voice" yeah that is the same, but he's not the Superman you know? Regardless, A Very intriguing path or, should I say, web being spun for the Universe..

[manofsteel1979]

spoilers:

Switch-a-ro So, does this mean that Pre-crisis is back in some way - if this is so, That is RADICAL!!

end of spoilers

Oh man!

Well I'm not saying they're going back to pre-crisis per say, just reformatting an old idea from an obscure Pre Crisis story ,I.E. spoilers:

A being or entity destroying KRYPTON. In that case it was a guy called Black Zero and I believe he was used once or twice and eventually was forgotten

end of spoilers and bring it into current canon. As others have pointed out it's not a new idea and other versions in other media and comic incarnations used this idea, and Geoff John's played around with it during his run and never pulled the trigger, but it's never really been part of mainstream​ ongoing continuity. That is sorta new. Not really as Earth shattering as the hype would have you believe.