Superman: Birthright

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The Chosen One: Mikey Rhodes was thought to have been a chosen hero that would destroy Lore and liberate Terrenos. It turns out to be a subversion not only because he failed his role and ended up siding with his enemy, but because he was never the chosen one in the first place - rather Lore himself was. Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen’s Superman: Secret Identity may be the best Superman comic not set in the DC Universe. The Clark Kent featured in this limited series lives in a world with no superhumans, and where Superman is nothing more than a comic book character. So you can imagine Clark’s surprise when he begins to manifest the powers of his namesake. That same day, Mongul arrived on Earth seeking help from Superman to deal with a threat facing the entire galaxy — the threat of Imperiex. Superman began special training with Mongul. Concurrently, Jimmy discovered a photograph of Superman wearing a wedding band. Superman confided in Jimmy that he was actually married (though he did not say to whom) before going off into space with Mongul to battle Imperiex near Jupiter. The two succeeded in destroying the construct Imperiex was building to destroy the solar system. Predictably, Mongul then double-crossed Superman, but Superman had anticipated this and turned him over to Lobo. Unknown to Clark, the being defeated near Jupiter was not the true Imperiex but merely one of his thousands of drones. [120] Winged Humanoid: The Gideon are a race of human-like beings from Terrenos that oppose Lore's rule. Mikey's protector (and love interest) Rya is one of them. Clark talked to Lana again about stopping her divorce, but she had made up her mind. When Superman finally captured Ruin, he unmasked the villain to discover it was none other than - Pete Ross! Pete was taken to prison and beat up by other prisoners.

One impostor, the artifact known as the Eradicator that had battled Superman in the past, had actually returned and went to Superman's tomb to try to use his body as a new vessel. Sensing Superman's soul was still lingering inside, the artifact fashioned a new body from concrete in Superman's image and placed Kal-El's body in a regeneration matrix that was bombarded with sunlight, in hopes of controlling him once he was revived. Despite this plan, the Eradicator accidentally convinced itself it really was Superman. [64] Clark went to talk to his friend alone and learned that Pete knew he was Superman (having learned the secret from Lex before it was wiped from his mind). Pete swore he was not the real Ruin and that he had been set up. Superman vowed to prove Pete's innocence, but, when the prison suddenly suffered a power outage, Pete Ross disappeared. [150] The Supergirl From Krypton To protect his secret identity, Superman has constructed a persona in his civilian identity as Clark Kent. To the world at large, Clark is a mild-mannered and clumsy person. Only Lois Lane, his wife, knows that this attitude is just an act. When Superman recovered, he finally was face to face with the true Brainiac, who had been studying, shrinking, bottling and collecting civilizations throughout the galaxy in his quest for knowledge. [172] Brainiac planned to bottle the Earth, but his invasion was stopped by Superman and Supergirl. Superman restored Metropolis and the stolen bottled city of Kandor to their normal sizes, with the latter being placed in the arctic away from civilization.Enemy Within: Mikey has a Nevermind inhabiting his body. Its a evil spirit that serves as an extension of Lore's will, which causes pain when the host does something Lore doesn't want them to do, and when forcibly extracted from him, it's revealed to be have a very twisted physical similarity to the host.

After a menace from Know Man and an invasion by the White Martians, Superman was one of the seven charter members of the newly reformed JLA. [100] Superman Red and Blue Issue #41 reveals the heroes' secret weapon against Lore: the trio of witches responsible for turning him into what he is, that are revealed to have been captured by the US government to research magic.Energy Matrix: The radical mutation that had taken over Superman had turned him into an energy-based life form that didn't normally exist wholly within this plane of reality. Telescopic Vision: The ability to focus his vision to see something at a great distance, without violating the laws of physics. From Earth he saw a million-mile scar on the Sun. [328] He can see to the edge of the universe. [156] With the battle won, Zod attempted to kill Brainiac, but Superman intervened, arguing that Brainiac should stand trial for his crimes. Despite this, Brainiac 5 grabbed Braniac and teleported away. Shortly afterwards, Superman and Supergirl discovered that Lex Luthor was never even present at Kandor; instead it was one of his robots. [196] War of the Supermen

Face Death with Dignity: In spite of his previous actions and behavior, Kylen has more grace in death than he did in life, not pleading when Mikey is about to kill him and telling him he understands why he would want to do it. Pedagogy: Throughout Clark's time as a superhero, he has good history of train Hard times fell on the Daily Planet, and the owners reluctantly sold the company to Lex Luthor — who promptly closed its doors and fired nearly everyone. [109] Out of work, Clark decided to resume his book-writing career but was horrified to find that the fictional situations he wrote about were actually coming true. [110] [111] Superman essentially abandoned his life as Clark Kent, patrolling the Earth 24/7, paranoid of his own prophetic thoughts. Believing even this dedication wasn't enough, Superman built an army of Superman robots to help him with his goal. Invincible Villain: Deconstruction with Lore. Not only is he an extremely powerful mage, but he commands seemingly endless resources and armies that never seem to run out. Many heroes spent years fighting non-stop against him, but they never seem to make any progress - on the contrary, their fighting led to many innocents getting caught in the crossfire and making things worse. In the end, the ones that opposed him have either fled Terrenos or willingly sided with Lore to stop the carnage. And as it turns out, being an invincible villain also takes a toll on Lore himself, who also wants to stop the fighting so he can establish peace in this realm.

Superman: Year One - A God Among Mortals

Superman and Zod clashed in Metropolis, with Zod planning to terraform the Earth into a new New Krypton. Just as Zod was about to kill Superman with a Kryptonite knife, Superboy, Krypto and Lor-Zod jumped in to save him. Superman prepared to sacrifice himself and drag General Zod into the Phantom Zone to finally end the war, but Lor-Zod volunteered in his place, saying goodbye to his foster father Clark and ending his biological father's reign of terror. Unspoken Plan Guarantee: When Mikey reveals his gambit to Rya, it's by whispering in her ear so quiet the speech bubbles can only show a scribble.

Issue #20 shows us God-King Lore's true form. A tall, strong, heroic-looking man with a sword who looks just like Mikey. A race of monsters known as the Millennium Giants were summoned on Earth that began to march over the world, causing havoc and destruction, obliterating the city of Thiena Na Oge and most of the nation of Markovia in their path. The JLA rallied to take up the fight, and the two Supermen were finally able to destroy the giants, risking their lives in the process. [106] Not only was the Earth saved, but Superman was restored to his original singular form with all his original powers. [107] King of the WorldSuperman reluctantly accepted that their relationship was over and went to Smallville to deal with his feelings with his parents. [88]