So…between this and the premise of “Hell Arisen” (ie, Luthor and the Legion of Doom versus dark dopplegangers of the heroes), anyone else experiencing the weirdest case of deja vu? Like, I know comics are built on nostalgia these days, but this is ridiculous.
https://www.newsarama.com/46940-superman-to-reveal-his-secret-identity-to-the-world-this-fall.html
I’m already taking bets on how they undo it and how many minutes it takes them.
Personally, my money’s on selling his marriage to Neron.
Actually, BatJamags, something akin to that was tried. Years before One More Day made it infamously tied to the web-head.
The premise, as I understand it, was largely identical to OMD, but it involved Mr. Mxyzptlk, and having to undo their marriage to save her life.
I’m more worried about what’s going to happen to Ma Kent. I mean, if we’re TRULY going down the OMD road…
@MrMorbach It was in a pitch created by Mark Waid, Tom Peyer, Grant Morrison, and Mark Millar to do revamp the Superman line as “Superman 2000.” The idea was that Brainiac poisons Lois’ very memories of Clark as Superman, so in order to save her, Mxy has to take it “all” away, ending the marriage and restoring the Clark Kent/Lois Lane/Superman “love triangle” of the past. The pitch ended up being rejected, not because corporate didn’t like the ideas, but because it wasn’t DC’s policy at the time to put their biggest name creators on the Batman or Superman books (Morrison says he was told “Do you honestly believe DC will ever give you the keys to the family car?”). Ironically, all 4 would get to tell Superman stories later on, utilizing different elements from the pitch.
https://sites.google.com/site/deepspacetransmissions/Resources/superman-2000-proposal
And
https://sites.google.com/a/deepspacetransmissions.com/site/news-1/superman2000-thegreatestsupermanstorynevertold
@BatJamags Ironically, DC actually already did that with Wally selling his marriage to Neron (Neron needed the “purity” of Wally and Linda’s love to take over Heaven somehow, if I’m remembering the story correctly), but the deal was undone almost immediately because Wally’s love for Linda was so pure, it actually “corrupted” Neron with pity and compassion.
People are just kind of assuming that – the idea I had when I read that was rather he would abandon the Clark Kent identity entirely, not exactly reveal himself.
I’d heard of the Wally/Linda/Neron thing (mainly by way of people using it to criticize OMD by comparison), but the Superman 2000 pitch is new to me. Sounds like it would’ve been a complete mess.
@Jay_Kay: That might actually be worse. Take Clark Kent away, and Superman is nothing more than a pile of superpowers defined by a planet that doesn’t exist anymore. It’ll be a return to the lack of personality and excessive Kryptonian baggage that weighed Pre-Crisis Superman down. When he doesn’t have the dorky farmboy persona to fall back on, he loses the sense of humility that makes him heroic in the first place. I couldn’t possibly think of a worse thing to do with Superman than having him give up on Clark.
@JayKay If he abandons the Clark Kent identity, then all that proves is that Bendis misunderstands the character.* Superman is the mask, Clark Kent is who he IS.
*To be fair, LOTS of writers misunderstand this about Superman, choosing to emphasis his “alien-ness/godhood” over his humanity.
I’ll be fair and give the story a chance.
That article sounds more like what Newsarama thinks the story will be, than what it may actually end up being.