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[ WARNING : This clause turn back SPOILERS for " Justice League : Rebirth " # 1 and " Superman " # 2 ]
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Now that we ’re well into the companionship wide initiative have it away as DC Rebirth , we can confirm that the stories palisade the Man of Steel have gotten … weird . As in , ' this is some next - point crazy ' weird . First came the not totally surprisingdeath of the New 52 Universe ’s Superman , soon to be replaced by the older interlingual rendition fan recognise from the nineties and 2000s ( having escaped the rewriting of history and hiding in this strange raw world ) . Before long , the former hero take up the office leave vacant - but not beforeLex Luthor could take it for himself(and not as part of some evil program , either ) . Oh and also , the New 52 Clark Kentsurvived somehow .
Thankfully , this week brought with it two spotlight coming into court for the Man of Steel that cast off these small mysteries for hint and teases of a far larger one : the veridical campaign of the New 52 Universe ’s sweeping changes to the condition quo . They pack pile of action themselves , but with the release of"Justice League : Rebirth " # 1and"Superman " # 2 , it ’s well-defined the writer and editors are try out to tell fans … something . But all we can state so far is that whatever the mystery , it ’s tied up in the"Watchmen"world .
The First Hints of Watchmen
On the off luck that there are some fans who missed out onthe massive bombshells dropped in " DC Universe : Rebirth"- the comic that kick off the revitalisation of nostalgia and conspiracies in the DCU - we ’ll catch you up to speed . We ’ll cut over the existent plot of the comedian for now , since it was really the small hints put up along the way , leading to the conclusion of the issue that fans are talk about . In short , the ten - class - young premise of the New 52 Universe was n’t some editorial move ( split second ) , but the deed of an unsung entity ; someone , orsomethingthat require Earth ’s Hero to be younger , weaker , and less unified when they decided to finally … well , that ’s still the secret .
But the identity of the entity behind the Brobdingnagian conspiracywasrevealed , thanks to a bright yellow clit fire out of the fabric of another reality as Wally West tried ( successfully ) to inform the Justice League of this new threat . The clit hail from the worldly concern of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons ' " Watchmen " - and it ’s Dr. Manhattan himself who ’s pulling the DCU ’s strings . Not in a cloudy elbow room , either : both " Rebirth " and the " Justice League " return that precede it implied he has taken a strong-arm form to pop the openhanded threats on this world ’s Earth .
So , the villain has been revealed ( to us , at least ) . But with his program unknown , and comportment still a closed book , we continue with our unconstipated programming : the long - awaited and highly - coveted " Justice League : Rebirth " # 1 by Bryan Hitch .
Justice League: Rebirth #1
The comic squander no time stick into the fight , even if the threat the League is facing is on the absurd side of things : a city - sized , crustaceous / hemipteron - like alien monster establish massive tentacles , and relinquish psychical , mind - ascertain parasite out of , and leading people into ( ? ) its gape yap . Weirdly enough , the demon is entirely impervious to the superheroes ' tone-beginning : Cyborg ’s transonic implements of war ca n’t harm it , it ’s too big for him to Boom - Tube - it away , and it ’s somehow impervious to the charming implements of war of both Aquaman and Wonder Woman . If one were so disposed , they might even think that this creature had beendesignedto be unbeatable by the League ’s heroes .
But , as Lois Lane reminds her hubby : there ’s no League without Superman ( even if he ’s not the edition that they first met ) . After biding his time , Supes arrives on the scene with a shockingly straightaway solution to the problem . His factual cerebration processes or onset is noticably maintain unavowed : he merely flies into the puppet , determines it is of a " techno - constituent " nature , and " pinpoints " of the essence area for the team to set on . The creature ’s plan is thwarted , and it heads off into space .
That may sound like standard cannon fodder for the Justice League ( and is more than a little bit of a recall to the squad ’s very first proceeds , battling a giant squid - like monster ) , but it ’s the glimpses into the minute lead up to the attack that seem the most important for the large mystery of the DCU .
We should mention here that when Barry Allen / The Flash retrieve his memories of Wally West , and the world that was before the New 52 rewrote it , he first attempt out Batman to help him work the case . Yet psychoanalysis of the button only point radiation , no concrete resolution . Still , when Bruce Wayne believes that something is not right , it ’s usually best to listen . So the panorama in " Rebirth " # 1 that highlight his hunch are key : he does n’t know who ’s behind the changes to the timeline , or what they ’re after … but he knows this new Superman is somehow involve . And the Man of Steel seems to sense it , as well .
Whether or not the men are right , and they ’re being used as pawns in an unsung game , thereadersare ( or should be ) find out a different level unfold . For those unaware , the captain design of " Watchmen"s main villain also involved an engineered , techno - organic , psychic squid - corresponding monster , being used ( through serious deception ) to merge mankind against an nameless , but presumably border on exotic menace ( all a lie ) . And in " Justice League : Rebirth " - with " Watchmen " and Dr. Manhattan purposefully placed on referee ' minds - we get the precise same premise : an engineered , psychic , city - killing behemoth that can only be contain when Superman join the Justice League .
Again , how Superman really vote down the creature is unknown . He simply name all-important target area , the squad attacks as they have been , the intellect - mastery cease , and the monster leaves , anticipate that more of its kind ( Reavers ) will be on the manner . It ’s a littletooobvious a latitude to take it as the same trick over again , right ? fortuitously , it ’s not the only Superman write up we have unloose this hebdomad .
Superman #2
While it ’s the " Action Comics " serial that ’s trade with Superman ’s showdown with Lex Luthor over the statute title of Metropolis ' protector , the " Superman " serial publication is dealing with the Man of Steel ’s son , approach puberty to find that his Kryptonian powers are beginning to emerge . The taradiddle being state by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason is a refreshing one for Clark Kent , as he ’s draw to put himself in the shoes of his own Earth parent , resolve to do things a turn otherwise than they did .
Instead of telling Jonathan to hide his powers , Clark decides to take him along on a mission , to learn why the family business is so of import , not just how to prevent your heating system vision from vaporizing the family cat ( too soon ? ) . So it ’s off to the Arctic they go , to respond to a distress signal from a Coast Guard iceboat . A slight warming of the propeller , and the job is done . UNTIL …
That ’s proper , yet another calamari - like creature attacks when least suspected , ostensibly attend to harm the Man of Steel ( or his Word … ? ) . The bulging heart of this creature makes it a routine clearer of an allusion to the creature created in " Watchmen , " but it ’s the monster ’s reason for assail that drives home the analogue . After delivering a few stiff punches , Superman realizes that there is actually a " crystal contraption " that ’s " controlling the misfortunate puppet . " In other words , somebody obviously immix yet another tentacled fauna with nameless technical school for their own purposes .
Presenting itself as every flake the opportunity for teamwork as it did in " Justice League : Rebirth , " Superman state his Word to use his heat visual sensation to handicap the technical school harnessing the squid , and after a few failed endeavour , he hits a bullseye . Although he begins to realize that somebody rigged the squid to drag one’s heels the icebreaker , draw him to the site , Superman soon forgets about the commission to concentrate on his son ( again , just as he did with the League ) . So if the creatures are associate ( and that seems like a monumental happenstance ) , meaning they ’re supposed tobothdraw comparison to the master plan of " Watchmen , " then the person pull in the strings is wasting no time - a person who the referee , we assume is to the full mindful of by now .
The Answer…?
We would wish to come up with a polished , nuanced , and intricate hypothesis sire to the bottom of what DC ’s author are up to . Unfortunately , the true nature of both the New 52 Superman and this return champion is being kept by design vague . That is n’t to say it’sunclear , just a mystery that the writer are patiently unravel . In the pages of " DC Universe : Rebirth"a mysterious mankind known only as ' Mr. Oz ' arrivedto admonish Clark that neither he , nor the version that had been killed were really what they thought they were . That ’s about as obscure a statement as it cause , but when the cryptic man - who had been monitor Superman ’s actions for months from an unknown positioning via massive video screen - revealed his name , buff had one theory . ' Mr. Oz ' may be Ozymandias a.k.a . Adrian Veidt , the aforementioned villain of " Watchmen . "
The shot involve Mr. Oz and his servants were cryptically dust through Book over the course of calendar month , by and large implying that this unsung man was keep a tight eye on Superman ’s progress , almost in the way a distant parent might a son . So , combine the fact : Mr. Oz is looking to see Superman develop as a hero , and now monsters exchangeable to the sort Ozymandias construct to unite the world ’s regular army are now appearing to link up the Justice League , and do … somethingwith Superman ’s Word .
For those who believe that the simplest response is the right-hand one , Mr. Oz is Ozymandias , perhaps having emerged in the New 52 reality to assist usher Earth ’s heroes towards integrity , as a means of foiling Dr. Manhattan ’s plan to keep them infirm . It ’s definitely a serviceable theory for now , and the grounds does corroborate it . But if " DC Universe : Rebirth " laid bare the genuine come baddie of the history ( Dr. Manhattan ) and his military mission ( to damp and deprive Earth ’s heroes of love and long suit ) , the genuine enigma that ’s touch on thepresentnarrative is Mr. Oz , and just what he think Superman and his predecessoractually are .
While we ’re on the subject , there ’s one other consequence from the early days of " Superman : Rebirth " that remains a confusing ( but obviously of import ) contingent . In the " Rebirth " issue , old Superman attend to this world ’s Lana Lang in deposit her Kryptonian friend ’s ashes with his parent , on the Kent Farm . It was the moment that the last Man of Steel bequeath standing was squeeze to have that this New 52 embodiment was n’t croak to be resurrected like he was ( in the notable " Death of Superman " arc ) .
But in the issue that followed , Clark returned to the young humans ’s grave accent , and something … weird happened once again .
Pressing his hand into the dope over the ashes of the New 52 Superman , Clark finds the handprint glowing with a blue irradiation ( one he ’s evidently not encountered before ) . Unfortunately , he immediately blank out this potentially - world - changing revelation and leaves the panorama . But he does make the link for the consultation between the claims that he ’s something more than he know , and this strange phenomenon so close to the remains of the New 52 Superman .
Is it a planetary house that either he , or the late young torpedo encountered Dr. Manhattan straight without their knowledge ? Is it a sign of a strange ( perhaps Manhattan - aid ) resurrection finally taking spot ? It stay completely unclear , but if the comer of two backbreaking - to - miss " Watchmen " nods so betimes in the " Rebirth " history is anything to go by , more reveals and plot twists may be coming a lot rather than anticipated .
NEXT:Lex Luthor is DC Comics' Brand New Superman
Superman # 1andJustice League : Rebirth # 1are available now .
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