Hello everyone, Has anybody else been enjoying the Rebirth: Superman saga? Well if you haven't been, the latest revelation in the pages of Action Comics is quite the head shaker and leaves me with more questions than answers. It appears that The Pre-New 52 Superman and the "ghost" or energy of the deceased New 52 Superman have merged together and now the singular Rebirth Superman has the memories, knowledge, and experiences of both of his predecessors. What will be the repercussions of this amalgamation of these characters as Superman interacts with the rest of the DC Rebirth Universe? Will this merging of Pre-New 52 and New 52 memories start happening to some... all... none of our other favorite characters? And what role does Dr. Manhattan play in any of this? http://io9.gizmodo.com/what-the-hell-did-superman-just-do-to-the-dc-comics-uni-1793581331
A lot of people have been saying its confusing so thought I'd post a step by step of what actually happened. Keep in mind, I'll be using Dr Manhattans name here because hes being hinted at, but we still dont know if its him, its just a placeholder: Goes without saying but MAJOR REBIRTH SPOILER ALERT 1) Brainiacs "convergeance" storyline took place. Wont go through all that but every hero from every multiverse earth was meant to battle each other, this didnt work out, a bigger threat presented itself, this threat was beaten and Brainiac decided to let everyone go back to their Earth. Kal and Lois had Jon during the event and they decided to return to their Earth. 2) At the moment they were returning, Manhattan was stealing 10yrs from the DC Earth prime, Manhattan noticed them returning and split Superman into 2. Hereby known as Superman Red (New 52) and Superman Blue (Pre Flashpoint). Neither knew this had happened. A man named "Mr Oz" tells them "they arent what they think they are", and vanishes. 3) Superman Blue decides to prioritise his family in secrecy while also protecting people in secret, because there was the other, worldwide known, Superman there to save everyone else. But Superman Blue feels weaker, so much so that sometimes his powers actually fail him. Superman Red goes through some really tough battles which start taking its toll. Superman Red then dies from a mix of Kryptonite Poisoning and a massive explosion. 4) Superman Blue fails to revive Superman Red, believing he could bring him back as he was after the Doomsday battle in the Death of Superman arc. This leaves him thinking this world still needs a Superman. When he see's "a" Lex Luthor doning a suit with the House of El emblem, he thinks Lex is trying to make a mockery of Superman Reds legacy, so Superman Blue finally reveals his existence to the world and the Justice League. During this a third, human, Clark Kent shows up. He even breaks his arm when he falls while a huge battle is going on between Superman Blue and Doomsday. Nobody knows who he is. Doomsday is captured by Mr Oz. 5) Loads of really great stories continue 6) Superman Blue visits Superman Reds grave, but when he puts his hand to the ground, a Blue aura begins to glow. Superman Blue has no idea what this is. Later, Superman battles with Swamp Thing, as Swamp Thing says he needs to fix something with him as hes taking in far more Solar Radiation than his predecessor (Red). Swamp Thing and Superman Blue merge and temporarily fix the issue, but only temporarily. 7) Pre Flashpoint Lois returns to the daily planet and decides to investigate this new Clark Kent. She finds nothing but he constantly gives off a creepy vibe. She decides to accept a date from this Clark to try figure him out, but when he proposes and she declines, he flips out. He acts like things a preordained and she somehow messed everything up. Lois finds that Clarks apartment, while hes out, is barren. Theres no true sign someone lives here. 8) Great arc about killing to stop future atrocities and a bit of buddy-buddy between Lex and Superman Blue 9) Multiverse Superman story. Big bad Prophesy is captured by Mr Oz. 10) Third clark is revealed to be Mr Myxzptlk. Who was captured by Mr Oz and driven insane by the idea that his "friend" superman did not try to rescue him. He kidnaps Jon Kent and makes Superman Blue and Lois run through a 5th Dimension Daily Planet to retrieve him. Their punishment for not remembering Myxzptlk is that every second they spend trying to get to the top, where Jon is, they will begin to forget Jon exists. Jon finds 2 orbs of Red energy in his cell who communicate with him. As Superman Blue and lois begin to lose and forget Jon, Jon begs the orbs for their help. They grant him their energy and Jon breaks out, destroying the 5th Dimension Daily Planet. As everyone falls, Jon grabs Superman Blue and Lois, still embued with the Red energy, and they Transform into Superman Red and New 52 Lois. Myxzptlk leaves as the dimension begins to break apart and Jon begs Superman Red and New 52 Lois to listen to the now Blue energy orbs around them. Lois decides to listen and convinces Superman Red to, they merge with the Blue energy and are finally their original selves again (Blue and Red combined) 11) They return to Earth Prime, but now the Blue and Red histories have combined. Now, there werent 2 supermen, just one. Jon wasnt born in a batcave during convergeance, but in Supermans Fortress. Superman now never died of Kryptonite Poisoning. Superman, and the DC History surrounding him, are Reborn. 12) Mr Oz marvels at the Kents achievements. And although he admires it, he wonders if "he" will allow it. The final panel pans out past Earth, past the moon, to Mars....
I can't remember where the article I read was, but one thing that was brought up as a possibility as a result of the revelations in that story is whether or not similar "splits" might have happened to other characters and if we might see similar restorations of DC characters as Rebirth continues.
Its a possibility but I really hope not. It hasnt been set up that way at all. From the very start we had the 2 supermen, beginning in Superman: Lois and Clark. It wouldn't make sense for there to be 2 of every single hero and none of them be discovered by now. This was planned for Superman for 2 obvious reasons. 1) He's still, despite opinion, DCs number one hero. Batman is cool and all but you're talking about the very first (non-mythic) Superhero. 2) Because of New 52 Superman. Nothing against people who liked him, but he truly was terrible. He was a character spun in a complete 180°, but in the worst possible way. He had moments of familiarity, but it was too much angst and recklessness to excuse. This story, being of the 2 Supermen and culminating in Reborn, was a statement from DC. It was them admitting that character took a bad turn, and heres how we fix it. And it was awesome. Almost every other DC Character was similar in attitude to their PreFlashpoint counterparts, and so do not need a merge like this. We have "The Button" and "Batman Dark Days" coming, which will both reveal more about the Rebirth mystery, but neither needs to copy Reborn. They can reveal tid-bits in more interesting ways, without having to be a carbon copy of another story.
