Why hello there, @ObscurityofDCClub and other members of the DC Community! Welcome to Week 85 of Obscurity of DC’s Obscure Book Club! This week will be a mini, and we’ll be focusing on…
Description from dc.fandom.com: Karl Keller was a Nobel-winning scientist. He was put in prison for speaking against the dictator of his Iron Curtain country. He spent his days in the mines and his nights in the laboratory creating chemical weapons for his captors. Keller blamed Superman for his being a protector of the weak but letting him languish in prison.
Now that that’s over with, here are some discussion questions:
What are your thoughts on Annihilator’s origin story? Did it make sense? Do you feel it fully explains his life of crime? Explain.
On the very first page of issue one, we see Superman and Annihilator fighting in both their superhero and civilian forms. What does this signify? Explain.
Superman has countless enemies; why do you think he’s more afraid of Annihilator than of any of his other villains?
Do you have an interest in exploring the unknown? Do you like discussing comics? Do you like pineapple on pizza? If so, The Obscurity of DC Club is the club for you! Join HERE if you’re interested!
This guy was so cool. One of the first people I talked about on the villains of obscurity topic. Hope you don’t mind me plugging it because I might repeat myself verbatim on some of the points.
As a Russian biochemist, in this time period during the cold war. We see a villain who is unusually sympathetic where he was imprisoned for being critical of the government but taken advantage of by his intelligence to build bioweapons. Because Superman didn’t save him, he became bitter and vengeful to seek to become Superman replacement. He has his terrible moments but his turn to villainy was entirely circumstantial. If Superman saved him or he was never in prison, he would have been a good man and in the end of his brief arc, he did become good once he lost his powers.
Well that they parallel each other as despite their similarities, Karl Keller chose a different path and to use his powers for his own benefits and personal vendetta. He’s a super-villian whose a dark reflection of Superman.
Annihilator is unique because of his unique Human-kryptonian body. He has incredible power to defeat Superman in a single punch but is walking kryptonian gunpowder. If something with incredible force attacks him, he would be destructive and blow himself along with others with explosive potential to be planetary. Superman would never risk the lives of others and for that reason, he’s Superman most dangerous foe because he is a antithesis to Superman natural altruism.
