“The Death of Superman” in 1992 made national headlines, Doomsday accomplished what Lex Luthor couldn’t dream of accomplishing, the end of Superman! The creators didn’t realize what is a usual comic book tradition would turn into an event. It was followed up with “Funeral for a Friend” which dealt with the loss of Superman and his funeral. Then, we had “Reign of the Supermen” (1993), which is a nod to the short story by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster before Action Comics #1. This shocked everyone since it was not the return of Superman, but gave us four Supermen! Each Superman title featured one of the Superman; Action Comics had the Last Son of Krypton, who looks exactly like Superman, but wears a yellow visor (he is sensitive to light), his suit had a blue stripe in the middle surrounded by black, has energy powers, and no emotions. It was revealed that he was an earlier villain called the Eradicator who first appeared in Action Comics annual #2 (1989). This was by the creative team of Jerry Ordway, writer and penciller, George Perez, Roger Stern, and pencillers Mike Mignola and Curt Swan. The Fortress of Solitude activated him when Superman died. Jerry O’Connell maybe voicing the Eradicator in the upcoming Reign of the Supermen animated movie. He is the only character not to have a live action appearance. The show runner of Krypton, Cameron Welsh, mentioned that there may be a version of the Eradicator in the second season.
Adventures of Superman starred Superboy called the Metropolis Kid, he has short hair in a buzz cut, black leather jacket, sunglasses, and red tights and gloves. He has always been problematic since Crisis wiped out that Clark Kent didn’t go public until adulthood. Later, he became Kon-El, whose new image was a black t-shirt with a red Superman symbol and jeans. He first appeared in the preview of the Superman titles in Adventures of Superman #500 (1993) by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett. This version was absolutely fun, a teenaged clone of Superman, he couldn’t handle his hormones. It is clear that he is a teenager when Superboy tries to help a crashed car and he is helped by Supergirl, she gives him some advice and he finally turns and his face is framed by her breasts, we can only see up to her lips, since the top panel blocks her face, hilarious! The Conner Kent, later version, of Superboy made an appearance in live action with the “Scion” (2011) episode of Smallville played by Lucas Grabreel. He shared the same origin as a clone made from the DNA of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor and also the added power of telekinesis. Superboy was voiced by Nolan North in the Young Justice animated series. Cameron Monaghsan provides the voice of Superboy in the Reign of the Supermen film.
The star of Superman: The Man of Steel was another great character, a black Superman!, he is fully encased in iron, carries a long hammer, and later wears a cape, no capes!, and flies with jet boots. John Henry Irons is a genius at tech, and ended up trapped in rubble during the Doomsday fight. John Henry Irons first appeared in Adventures of Superman #500 by the team that took up his story in Superman: The Man of Steel; Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove. He was voiced by Michael Dorn in Superman: The Animated Series. For live action films, infamously Shaquille O’Neal played him in the Steel (1997) film, which is not bad as a tv movie. It was written and directed by Kenneth Johnson who had better luck on tv with V (1983) and Alien Nation (1989-1990). Phil LaMarr voiced Steel in Justice League Unlimited. Khary Payton voiced construction worker, John Henry Irons, in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015). Cress Williams, also known as Black Lightning, voiced Steel in The Death of Superman (2018) and Reign of the Supermen. When Superman returned, John Henry took the superhero identity of Steel, he joined the Justice League (which is a better fit than Cyborg), but retired when he wounded in the Imperiex War. His niece, Natasha took over as the new Steel, but John Henry eventually returned.
The last of the Supermen was Cyborg Superman, The Man of Tomorrow, in the Superman title by Dan Jurgens. He only partially resembled Superman, the rest of his body and face were scarred by a dark, robotic skeleton. Cyborg Superman was actually Hank Henshaw a mirror to the Fantastic Four except the rest of the crew died. Hank’s first appearance was in Adventures of Superman #466 (1990) by Dan Jurgens. He moved his consciousness into Kal-El’s birthing matrix and reformed his body with cyborg enhancements. This was in the preview in Adventures of Superman #500 by Dan Jurgens. Cyborg Superman became insane and helped the destruction of Coast City. He tries to kill the revived Superman with Kryptonite radiation, but the Eradicator sacrifices himself to convert the energy and renew Superman! It was shocking in the first season of Supergirl that David Harewood played Hank Henshaw and then we found out that Martian Manhunter, J’onn Jonzz, assumed his identity and became director of the Department of Extra-Normal Operations. Patrick Fabian voices Hank Henshaw in next year’s Reign of the Supermen. There is some interesting actors for this important Superman storyline!
#ReignoftheSupermen, #LucasGrabreel, #ShaquilleONeal, #DavidHarewood
No comments:
Post a Comment