#Superman Secundus

[davidmann95]

Momentarily returning to Tumblr for my SKYROCKET thoughts, in total:

I think the pitch is kinda overstuffed with blorbo-bait for what amounts to a really extended misdirect, but those are MY blorbos so excellent chance I would've enjoyed it on a month-by-month basis. Having on a mad whim recently read about half of the 90s/early 00s Superboy ongoing along with a few subsequent greatest hits, I think the actual core character arc and reconceptualization of Conner is smart and thematically justifies itself. I recognize this is reading stuff into the character that was not previously intended to be there and does not square 1:1 with every prior appearance, to which I say, welcome to figuring out new shit to do with collaborative open-ended characters who have been around for entire human lifetimes.

Skyrocket is a pretty dopey name though.

The look though? The look goes hard.

Sucks not to get a rare entry into the canon of high-profile queer superhero titles that wouldn't have been about the lead immediately finding a cool-but-not-in-a-threatening-way love interest and fighting a mystery evildoer trying to take over the world by doing A Homophobia.

How was it ever in question that Superboy: Man of Tomorrow was 'in continuity', it establishes that on the first dang page. And then still running the Action 'prelude' to this story that isn't happening? Some real nonsense.

"Conner Connie Kent is the Jason Todd of the Superfamily" is totally understandable, but nah, they're the Damian if Damian wasn't handled by Morrison and therefore a giant mess, as evidenced by 99% of non-Morrison Damian. If we as a society had guts and integrity, Kara would be the Jason, and then she would finally be cool. This has been my fandom hot take for the day.

My brand has been so cultivated that when "Superman Secundus" got a namedrop someone messaged me about it, lol.

[blanddcheadcanons]

Jon Kent has always had a boyhood crush on dick Grayson with the expectation that it would never happen between them

But when Ultraman stole his childhood and made him return to earth as an 18 year old, it took him 3 years of dick being his mentor while Jon took on the mantle of Superman Secundus(21 years old) before he realized that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity that couldn’t be passed up

Jon and dick kissed after a stressful situation as Jon admits all of his feelings for dick, as dick Grayson decides to embrace it

Jon and dick are dating now

‎

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

The Cyborg Superwoman, Secret Weapon of the World Army of Universalis Secundus, recreated from a Kryptonian Sunstone Total Mind Back-Up by Commander Amar Khan and General Sam Lane.

Her shell was a spare Red Tornado gynoid body that's since been scrapped and entirely replaced by K-Metals and pseudo-organics. Her new body both approximates Kryptonian abilities and allows for technopathic interfacing with non-sentient (and some sentient technologies).

Her early interactions with Earth-2's Superman Family were incredibly difficult. She found a surprising ally in another of the World Army's experimental attempts to create their own Kryptonian weapon, Paige Stetler aka Galatea, a clone of Power Girl.

As the barriers between universes begin to weaken under the endless assault of Anti-Matter Shadow Demons, Dark Matter Monsters, and the Knights of Sorrow, The Cyborg Superwoman would find herself face to face with the one person she could never truly confront on her own Earth: Lois Lane, her long deceased original self, alive and everything that her Earth-2 counterpart always wanted to be.

[eyefocusing]

honestly the most interesting part about superman's kids after reading through all of them

(well almost all of them, iirc he basically takes care of Karen on all the Earth 2s, & I didn't read all of their appearances)

is that the main canon ones can be separated into duos easily:

Tommy & Jimmy: normal humans who get a happy ending even though superman isn't their dad anymore, they have 2 human parents. Both debut (at least in main canon in Jimmy's case) in Superman

Johny & Gregor: metahumans who sacrifice something, they're both from Action Comics. Johny sacrifices his powers & Gregor sacrifices himself. they're both adopted by Superman due to their father saying that Superman should take care of them. Plus they both know one of superman's secret identies (though in Johnny's case, it wasn't Clark, it was a new one)

Cir & Jonathan Lane: Both time travelers erased from existence. Both of them are raised by a villain. Both of them are biologically Clark's

Chris & Jonathan Samuel: kryptonian, get aged up, abused by a kryptonian or kryptonian like (idk if the newest Ultraman is kryptonian). Get non-kryptonian* powers after the age up

*well electric blue is something Clark did & Nightwing is a kryptonian god so it's not exactly true to say non-kryptonian

Super Twins: ...well they're twins so it's pretty much most things

Ariella & Secundus: both debut in DC one million (well main canon Secundus), both biologically Clark's

Superman Jr & Vol: both from some insane bronze age superman plots; both stories have the non-native to the universe character cause changes to that character (Jr is much more like Clark in his lost 100 years then he is like Vol, but at least the story itself has similarities)

Skyboy & Boy Thunder: not officially adopted by Clark, both from World's Finest, both have Batman being hrmmm-like to them.

you can extend it a bit to the other ones that interact with the main canon universes but it doesn't work out as well I think:

Pre-crisis Earth-Two Power Girl & N52 Earth 2 Power Girl: actual focus on these characters, their planet gets destroyed due to something to do with the multiverse

Post-Infinite Crisis/Earth-2 Power Girl & Hyperman: only show up for a crossover in main canon, both appeared in JSA

yesssss anon we love spotting patterns in this house.

sorry i dont have much to add bc its been ages (re: a year probably) since ive read a cape comic and im fully tf brained right now so im just

[orange-s-mario]

I would add a bunch of Superman's kids back into canon (bringing back Johnny Kirk, Gregor Nagy, N52 Kon, Jon Lane, Secundus, Chris and Cir-El)

I'd also split Kon into Kon-El and Conner (lex will be revealed to have been lying about the Johns retcon but he DID make a Conner at a later point. Conner will take more after YJA Conner

Secundus basically has Kon and Jon's insecurities dialed up to 1000

Cir and Mia will split and Mia becomes a villain because "Cir stole her life away"

Johny Kirk will be revealed to have been raised by superman robots so he'll have a chip on his shoulder about that and how Clark didn't really tell him everything and he'd greatly dislike how everyone else has powers

Gregor Nagy will be revealed to have been semi-alive due to his last thoughts being "I wish I had lived" but now he's in a state of pseudo-death and is made out of dust

Then I would make all of those characters interact.

I'd also bring back the AI Faora, Post-crisis Eradicator (post-development where he has David's menories) and make Eradicator Composite/Kem-L AI into an eradicator villain. AI Faora would accidentally do with David's wife what Eradicator did to David and so now they have to deal with that and David Connor's kids

Add an adaptation of the Maws intergang into recurring superman villains

Make Matrix, Comet, Blithe, Linda Danvers, and Twilight (the new god) into a polycule that are raising Ariella. Linda has the fire angel powers and Twilight uses her shadow powers in similar ways that the earth angels use their powers (wings)

Ar-Val will be revived from his stone death and he now teams up with Chris Kent - who after wandering through the phantom zone sees that Zod and Ursa named another kid with his original name

Van-Zee and Ak-Var and Pre-crisis rokyn survived the crisis due to them living in a planet that phased in between dimensions

Rokyn gets a whole focused arc on it that focuses mainly on Eradicator, Linda Danvers, and Clark/Kal. After this the original Kara Zor-El is brought back to life. this arc takes place an unspecified time in the past

Thara Ak-Var will be split into Thara Ak-Var (powers, friendship with Kara) and Thara Vol-Don (relationship with Chris, Thara Vol-Don and Chris are the same age)

Chris keeps a bit of Nightwing the god's powers but he and Thara Ak-Var aren't influenced by the gods anymore

Kathy Warren will be mentioned to have worked at Cadmus.

Jimmy Olsen, Kathy, and Kon live in the wild lands with the hairies

Mighto and H'el will also be brought back - kind of as an inversions to one another - H'El respects and loves Kal's kryptonian parents while Mighto loves the Kents so on days celebrating their life or mourning their death they'd not attack

Mighto gets his powers back

the unpowered linda clone made of 6 supergirl clones lives her own life and interacts with linda's friends and colleagues but also has her own group

A little legion made of a group of legion kids, xtc, the little legion from 5YL, and some more exist. This group interacts with the superfam but Jonathan Samuel kent is disillusioned with them (a different version of Jonathan Samuel Kent is on the team)

Aliens! Kara survives and lands on Earth, she has a golden age superman power set so she still uses her big guns

Judy/Equila lives with Kara again and gains her powers back. She interacts with XTC as well

A time traveling version of Martha appears who uses Pre-crisis gemworld aesthetic for her stuff

Speaking of gemworld that's now more in line with the pre-giffen issues

A lot of characters from adaptations get introduced into the comics

Just Ice League, Rubber team, and another team consisting of both black Lightnings, Juice, Sparky, Static, Soul Power, and Black Vulcan get series

Kral of Titan gets several backups in a superman title dealing with his revolution on Titan making it a better place

A Nightwing and Flamebird title; These alternate between focusing on Rokyn and focusing on New Krypton (which will be brought back). Rokyn mainly focuses on the Zees and Vals with some Don-El or Kandorian Lookalike Squad focus while New Krypton focuses on Zod, Chris, Thara, and others

Another story dealing with the growth of Kandor with various groups wanting to do their own thing (Red Sun camp, Yellow Sun camp, Bottle Camp, Yellow Bottle Camp, Jay-ree and Joenne Camp (Jay-ree and Joenne do not know about this))

Sensor Girl 2 joins the legion of super heroes, Sensor Girl 2 is a kryptonian descendant who only has the super senses and super Ventriloquism powers

Manhunter Laurel and non-manhunter Laurel coexist, Manhunter Laurel becoming an antihero who is usually seen around Dev-Em

Luthors series dealing with Lena Thorul, Val Colby, Lena Luthor II, Project Alien Farm, Lex Luthor, and the last survivor of Lexor, Lex Jr. Lex Jr joins superwatch but later travels to Earth and he has to deal with learning what type of person Lex is. Lex Jr also has a superhero name, Defender. Lex is also brought back to being an intergalactic menace with Lexor having been his only place as a hero

Lucy's son with Ron Troupe is also reintroduced

This poses a common but never dull question... Tell me what the first thing YOU would do if you became a writer at DC with no editorial backlash? What would you make canon? What story would you write? What would you retcon?

[motherwasapapafucker]

Convinced the unnamed blonde that shows up alongside Superman Prime and Secundus is intended to be a version of Kara, especially with the almost Legiony approach to her costume. 

[yoshimickster]

I really gotta ask, what is DC comics’ fetish with making Superman NOT raise his children?

Like, with Conner it was at least SEMI-justified in that he was his clone and thought he WAS Superman, and when he realized he WASN’T he went to do his own thing for a bit, until finally being accepted as Clark’s brother(even though he’s his SON via cloning but that’s neither here nor there). 

But with Chris and Jon, BOTH of them got whammyed by interdimensional nonsense that made them BOTH age up to teen years! Why? Why does DC comics hate childhood? This isn’t even JUST a Bendis jab either, its a “Let’s murder this terrible trope” jab.

AND THEN there’s Cir-El, poor POOR Cir-El. To say that Jon and Chris got off LUCKY is disturbing to say the least, as Supergirls have a REALLY bad habit of either dying horribly or being sent to hell (poor poor Linda).

On THAT subject, anyone else hoping they nut up and let Lois and Clark have a damn daughter? They’ve been teasing it for a WHILE but still nothing. 

[thevindicativevordan]

What are your full opinions on Jon Kent (Superboy) from his first appearance to now?

Was going to wait a bit to see how things shake out with Taylor, but screw it I can always make a follow up post. Short version is I like him in both of his incarnations. But both incarnations have major problems too.

Superboy

As a kid Jon quickly acquired fans. Jurgens may have been his father in terms of creating him, but Tomasi was his daddy in terms of fleshing him out. While I really enjoyed Jurgens Lois and Clark run (it's still his best work since the highs of the Triangle Era), Rebirth is where Jon really started to explode in popularity. Meeting and becoming friends with Damian, going on adventures with his dad, Superman Rebirth is the era of Jon more than anything. Tomasi's best work was when he was focusing on the father-son relationship between Clark and Jon in much the same way as he focused on Bruce and Damian in Batman & Robin. Whenever he tried to do solo Superman stories he fared very poorly.

Jon was a likable character, sunny and cocky, eager to test the limits of his powers. Very much in line with your typical shounen protagonist in personality, which Jimenez's manga influenced art only highlighted further. In many ways he was a chip off the old block, he was born on one world that was now dead but raised on another. He came of age in a small rural town, Clark was his "Pa" who worked on the farm, and had to train Jon since he couldn't pawn him off to an orphanage like Kara or ignore him like Kon. Like Clark, Jon was earnest, upbeat, optimistic, and had a temper when pushed (especially if it was by Damian). His best friend was the son of his dad's (second) best friend. His first crush was Kathy, the girl next door who was very much an expy of Lana. Clark's background and adult status quo was more or less recreated for his son beat for beat in a very familiar manner to Pre-Crisis Superboy. In a way Jon was basically a return of the Pre-Crisis Superboy, one being trained by the Post-Crisis Superman.

You may have noticed that I didn't mention Lois at all in this which leads into the big problem: Jon didn't feel like Lois' kid at all. There was nothing of her in his character, personality, or appearance (why not give him purple eyes at least?). She never had any real input on Jon's heroics, never offered an alternate opinion about how his upbringing or proposed a different outlook on being a hero than Clark did. Does Lois have the same opinion about killing that Clark does for example? No clue she never got to really interact with Jon on her own without Clark. How come that was never explored? Feel like that would be a very interesting conversation given it's her son who now has to risk his life throwing down with supervillains. Not a fan of Jon being Clark Jr. which is why I was not as up in arms as others were when Bendis arrived to shake things up.

Superman Secundus

His debut as Superman has been much more controversial. People were pissed Bendis aged him up, about how he was aged up, pissed he didn't just pal around with Damian anymore as the "light" to Damian's "darkness". So DC tapped the new golden boy, who had already written a successful take on Jon in DCeased, Tom Taylor. Taylor is someone who has had success at connecting fans with characters before, so he was the one tasked with making Jon palatable to the new audience DC wanted. Despite not enjoying Taylor generally, I've been enjoying Superman: Son of Kal-El enough to keep reading.

Now there was more of an effort to make him a character who could stand on his own while still continuing the trend of incorporating concepts made for Clark originally. So Jon got the Legion of Superheroes connection continuing the Pre-Crisis Superboy parallels. Now under Taylor he's billed as the Superman who will deal with "real issues" like Golden Age and the New 52 Superman did, one issue has him linking arms with protestors in a manner that's straight out of that cover of Pak's Action Comics run. For better or worst he's clearly being built to incorporate ideas that were meant to make Clark more relevant but were tossed aside when Rebirth reset Superman to a mix of the Post-Crisis and Pre-Flashpoint takes. Personally I'm ok with that much as I wish things had gone differently for New 52 Superman.

Know what you're thinking: "Didn't you say you hated Jon being Clark Jr.? Why are you talking about him taking all of Clark's stuff like it's a good thing?" I still feel the same way but I do have a reason why I think giving Jon some of his dad's things yet differentiating him from Clark can still work. The reason why is a mix of realism and hypocrisy when it comes to these kinds of legacy heroes.

Realistically there have been such a wide range of takes on Clark that all of the Superfamily members are overlapping with different takes, so none of them are wholly their own. Kara is the one who remembers Krypton, considers herself Kryptonian, and has a temper? Silver Age Superman considered himself Kryptonian and remembered Krypton, Golden Age Superman had a huge temper. Kon is the brooder? Bronze Age and Post Crisis Superman did that as often as they smiled. Steel is the genius? Superman has been shown to be no slouch in the brains department himself across his various incarnations. Kenan is the one who breaks the furthest away from the mold Clark has established in terms of character, but his development is all about how he becomes more like Clark over time. There's really no escaping the basic template Clark established (which makes me want to do a whole post on the limitations of legacy heroes).

Yet they all have attributes that make them distinct since Clark never shared them. Kara is a woman, who was supposed to raise her cousin but instead ended up in his shadow, and has to adapt to a new life as a teenager instead of a baby. Steel is human, a weapons builder before his change of heart, a native of Metropolis, and black. Kenan is human, Asian, not an American, his powers come from a mystical/magical source, and he starts out as an asshole with a good heart buried deep underneath. Kon is a hybrid clone, half Luthor, and loves the spotlight. There's storytelling potential with each of them that's different from what can be done with Clark.

So Jon having similarities to Clark isn't a deal breaker anymore than it is for the other members of the Superfamily. Deal breaker is when Jon has the same backstory/upbringing as Clark, all his friends are the kids of Clark's friends, his personality is the same, his methods as a hero are the same, and his personality is the same. One of my greatest fears for Jon is that they'll have him want to be a journalist, really hope that's not where Taylor or DC choose to go with him in terms of a career. Jon needs ideas that aren't just "junior version of his dad's career, friends, enemies, and LIs".

But the hypocrisy side of things is that I like a lot of ideas tried with Clark that have been retconned out. If Clark can't have that connection to the Legion, if he can't express a stance on social issues, if he can't go wild and crazy with the storytelling occasionally, then there should be a Superman who does offer all that. Why shouldn't it be Jon? Born in a parallel dimension and then raised on an Earth with two versions of his dad, Hamilton being a haven for alien refugees that were watching him at the behest of Manchester Black, travelling the Multiverse with Kathy as a kid, his grandpa coming back from the dead to take him on a trip through the cosmos, Jon has craziness baked into who he is as a character. Jon offers a new storytelling opportunity in that he's someone coming of age at the tail end of the "Greatest Age of Superheroes" and he can clearly see where they've fallen short. Who better to critique his father's style of superheroics, to not just blindly follow in Clark's footsteps but try to forge his own path? To attempt to do things differently?

Bringing in Wildstorm concepts like the Weatherman, Gamoora, and the 5G plan to pair him and Jenny Quantum together (something I still hope happens regardless of whether they're a couple or not, Jenny is awesome) is a great start to building Jon up as his own Superman. Taylor is uniquely suited to mine the Wildstorm Universe given he was the last one to write the Authority book before the New 52. Know some Wildstorm fans are unhappy about that universe being mined for the DCU, wishing they could get standalone books again, but just look at the Milestone books! Personally I think all three are great, but they're selling like crap apparently. Just don't think Milestone and WS can survive on their own outside of the DCU, so if you like those characters you should root for them to succeed in being integrated. Taylor has also said that he plans to showcase the Jon/Lois connection more, so far he hasn't, but I've seen art teases that suggest more content between the two is coming. Hopefully the two can finally have a big conversation with each other without Clark's involvement. Would love to see more Lois in his personality (I'm of the opinion Jon should shittalk his opponents the way Lois rips people like Lex verbally and in her writing),

Hard to say what the future holds for Jon. He's made his liveaction debut on Superman & Lois (with both of the sons containing some of his comic incarnation's traits). Young Justice is where he debuted in animation, so I think he'll be a player in future YJ seasons (assuming there are any beyond S4). Yet the film side seems to have cut off any possibility of his showing up there and both Conner and Val will be competing with him as the heir to the Superman mantle on HBO Max. Jim Lee has said that a lot of their recent moves have been made with an eye towards adaptation, and I 100% believe what's been done with Jon has been part of that. My guess? After Sasha is done as Supergirl, the next main universe DCEU Super will be Jon taking over as Superman. Everything done so far has done with the aim of making sure there's material to use for when that happens. Time will tell if I'm wrong but that's my guess for why things have happened as they have.

[orange-s-mario]

prev tags:

"The clone market is dying reblog to add another clone to the super fam lore"

ok we're bringing back "Number 2" and giant kryptonite jimmy clone with this one.

and Superlad is dead but he's mentioned more know

and also all those abominable kara clones are now back

And the Kara clone that's made of 6 depowered Kara clones.

And every version of Bizarro is back now

We're bringing back the DNAlien clone of Westfield origin to Kon but specifically so we can bring in a Lex retconned Conner and like that we get both Match and Bizarro Superboy Match

And we're bringing Superman Secundus to the present. That's right now we have like 8 Young Adult Supermen

Let's Make a golem clone of Ar-Val while we're at it

and more jimmy clones. Nothing wrong with another jimmy clone uprising

We're cloning some more Lanas and Loises now too. Some Nats and Johns as well.

I think Earth Angel Supergirl had no clones so we're cloning her (besides scorch is heroic now so we need a new evil earth angel supergirl)

EVEN MORE NEWSBOY/GIRL/KID CLONES. This time at least enough to adapt the versions of then from MAWS & YJA

still not enough clones. We're cloning every version of Zod and every version of Ursa and Faora

We're bringing back Zod's Bizarro army

And also Secundus siblings with different parents. Lana, Lori, everyone

If Conner counts as a w clone than Project Alien Farm does too

CLONES CLONES EVERYWHERE

We're introducing all 999,999 Superboy clones before Superboy OMAC

STILL NOT ENOUGH WE NEED MORE

We're bringing back Post-crisis Composite Superman and introducing Composite Batmen

MORE CLONES

MORE

have i mentioned clones

speaking of things canon in other adaptions other than mainline, you can have one thing, from another adaption, it can be an elseworld comic, tv show, video game ect. to bring into main comic canon who or what are you choosing?

[recentanimenews]

The Faraway Paladin: The Lord of the Rust Mountains

By Kanata Yanagino and Kususaga Rin. Released in Japan as “Saihate no Paladin” by Overlap. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by James Rushton.

I’m reviewing this as one giant book, but it actually came out as two books here, called ‘Primus’ and ‘Secundus’ – in fact, Amazon thinks that those are the titles, and forgot about the whole Rust Mountains thing. It works better to see them as one big book, though, which is what the author intended. The first volume simply stops, and the second picks up right where it left off – there’s no real attempt to separate them. As for the plot, our square-jawed hero and his elf friend are here to take down an ancient dragon, helped out by some old friends and some new dwarves, including one who becomes Williams’s squire, despite being of royal blood. He is told repeatedly that if he fights the dragon now he will die, and he should gain more power and influence by letting a few people be killed so he can take it down more easily. As you might imagine, that is not how William rolls.

William is the star of this series, and the narrative fits itself around him, meaning it too tends to be like he is – straightforward, a bit humorless, and painfully, PAINFULLY earnest. This is actually the main selling point of The Faraway Paladin, which is miles away from any other fantasy light novel we have out there – there’s not an ounce of cynicism or irony in it. William is Good and True, and he can do impossible things thanks to the help of his friends, the training of his parents, and MUSCLES, which he points out are awesome several times throughout the book. The closest we get to cynicism is the villain, who is a very well-done ancient dragon, and would very much like to tempt William into allying with him to that he can sow chaos. He should know better.

The book reads quickly, and the action sequences are very well done, with no confusion about what is happening at any time. I was a little annoyed with the introduction of a tsundere elf girl, whose sole purpose seems to be to get rid of the ho yay that existed between William and Menel (there’s a lot of teasing of William for not having found a girlfriend yet, further driving the point home). Al is a good addition to the cast – it fits that someone like William gets a squire that’s almost as serious-minded as he is, and the two work well together. The translation is also good, though the Kindle version I have has both the dragon and the Gods speaking in bold text, which can get very confusing when three of them are all speaking at once – perhaps one should have been italicized instead.

Again, if you want to read a light novel but are thoroughly sick of the cliches of the genre, this is an absolute must-read. It’s the Lord of the Rings starring Superman, basically. I look forward to seeing where it goes next.

By: Sean Gaffney

[orange-s-mario]

i missed three* last time

(main continuity and kids that interact with main continuity)

*Kara Zor-L/Karen Starr, Jonathan Kent II, & Kara Zor-El/Karen Starr)

[davidmann95]

What would you say is the difference between Clark and Jon in Future State: Superman / Wonder Woman? I would say that Clark became Superman because he thought everyone should do their best to help others, and as he was the most powerful being on the planet, that was what he should be doing. Jon, on the other hand, thinks he has to be Superman and inspire people, otherwise he fears they may fall into darkness and lose all the progress they have made. What do you think?

Two main things, in terms of their approach to the job:

1. To Jon, it is a job. Superman is just who Clark is - he puts on the suit his parents made for when he does good things because it puts people at ease, but the entire “what does Superman MEAN” question is something that was externally imposed upon this thing he created that was birthed as at heart a simple expression of self. For Jon though - and it was a friend of mine who pointed this out - this is a 9-5 gig, even if it’s one he takes very seriously. He has a routine, he’s juggling time management, he has to make and keep appointments, when he says “I’m Superman” it’s a statement of a standard he has to live up to. One of the big near-crises of the book is that he’s terrified he overslept! It’s a logical extension of his efforts at juggling everything and his stated commitment to Metropolis in his earlier solo two-parter and how he would fulfill them in the long term: it’s taking the godlike duty and iconic weight of the idea of being the successor to Superman and literalizing/grounding it in the trappings of the standard day job experience of what responsibility means.

2. His idea of ‘the end of the world’ that Superman is all about stopping is a fundamentally different one than his father’s. Kal-El never knew Krypton, but knew it had been failed and he had to do right by his new home so they could be something better. Jon Kent of Kansas - while spending many of his formative years in space or another universe or the future  - NEARLY lost his world, and while similarly seeking to aid and elevate it is keenly aware that the exact same things that led it to the brink are still there. He’s allowed from that perspective as ‘one of us’ in a way Clark isn’t (who may think of himself as human, but still when pondering humanity as a whole thinks in terms of ‘them’ rather than ‘us’, as opposed to Jon) to be wary and doubting of humanity without coming across as condescendingly alien or frighteningly domineering the way his father might voicing such sentiments, while still believing just as deeply in their ability to stay on the right course. Just as he himself grew from the guy who messed up his first solo mission to the point he was scared Metropolis could never trust him again, to the man who would be known by the 31st century as The One True Superman.

Plus all the great little details - that he feels like at last a proper combination of Morrison’s two primary Superman takes, with All-Star’s guileless good vibes and cleverness and Action’s man-of-the-people commitment and smirking self-confidence (which itself feels like an organic evolution of him being written as a little smartass on occasion as a kid). That he loses himself in Superman, likely in no small part because while he’s literally physically half-human his upbringing makes him in many ways more alien to Earth than his dad was. That even his ‘Kandor’ is something that ties him staying regularly among us. That he keeps all his mom’s super-suits in the Fortress alongside his dad’s! He feels like the truest realization of the promise of Jon Kent and of Superman Secundus, and there’s the same immediate feeling of “he could support his own ongoing that runs a hundred issues” as with Damian in Batman #666.

[blanddcheadcanons]

However…one of the strangest differences between baggage Superman’s universe from the main one is that Val-Zod and Calvin Ellis are one entity

The black son of general Zod who was raised Muslim in Georgia before becoming a senator

This black kryptonian would be trained by Superman to be his successor as the first Superboy before the arrival of baggage Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-el

Calvin Ellis/Val-Zod would go on to become Superman Secundus while Jon Kent adapted the identity of Sol Invictus

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

(Present Day, Present Time) Natasha, Jon, and Lara: Tomorrow’s House of El, , the Metropolis Kids, the New Reign

While there wasn’t a total drought of heroes between the Crisis and the New Golden Age, a few major roles lay unfilled for longer than others, and the Trinity were chief among them. Batman and the Gotham Knights were always secretive and difficult to track publicly, so no one knows when or even if that role changed hands. Some people claim the same person has been Batman since 1939, though this is largely dismissed by anyone who doesn’t also assume he’s vampire. Wonder Woman vanished to parts unknown, but her Amazon sisters--and daughters--were quick to share the mantle (literally) as best they could. By the time Jace Fox and Yara Flor (and Cassandra Cain, pulling the occasional assist) had cement their status as young but devoted members of the Justice League, all that remained was a successor to one of the superhero community’s greatest: The Superman.

Much like his previous long term disappearance, several candidates made themselves known. Like the original Reign of the Supermen, Lara Kon-El was more than happy to be a public, approachable face, even more in light of their transition and increased spotlight as a celebrity and advocate. Jon, the so-called Golden Child, was still re-adjusting to Earth-0′s culture but his experience with the New Gods and Earth-3 were valuable as rumblings became louder in those distant corners of reality. Tasha Irons was more reticent. She had always admired her Uncle John Henry, but her attempts to live up to his heroism--tainted by their toxic dynamic with LexCorp and what was almost a deadly IP dispute over the nanotech that powered them both--had been rough. After spending some time as Metropolis’s chief protector while heading up the Men of STEEL mecha unit, Tasha was ready to move on and retire. It would take a shattering personal revelation about her family history and an emotional encounter with a young Dakota City man named Curtis Metcalf to convince Tasha that Metropolis still needed her. It still needed Steel.

So, Lara, Jon, and Tasha came to share the Superman role, each representing aspects of Kal-El’s love of humanity, exploration, and science not only as concepts, but lived experiences that defined each of their lives, even as all three came to redefine that eternal Sigil to the House of El.

(note: I wrote like half of this before I realize Tasha has AzBat’s armor colors, lol, based Tasha with the controversial choice in fave Batman)

[jordangibson]

Guys, check out this drawing of Superman Secundus that Ramon Villalobos did. I liked it so much I decided to color it.