Cyborg Superman Coming to the New 52

Earlier today on their blog, DC Comics announced that the Cyborg Superman will be joining the New 52, with a new redesign by current Superman artist Kenneth Rocafort. In his original iteration, the Cyborg Superman (briefly known as just "The Cyborg," since Vic Stone was dead at the time) was created by writer/artist Dan Jurgens. After having appeared as a doomed astronaut named Hank Henshaw briefly in Adventures of Superman #466, Henshaw (along with three other "replacement" Supermen) appeared in Adventures of Superman #500 claiming to be Superman returned from the dead. How much of the character's history will be retained is unclear; when the New 52 launched, the Death and Return of Superman story (which happened just over twenty years ago now) was referenced as having occurred in the new DC Universe, and was ostensibly part of the backstory in the ongoing Superman title.

None of its events were ever referenced by writers George Perez or Dan Jurgens, though, and while two of the other "Supermen" have appeared already in the New 52, both of those (Steel and Superboy) have been reinvented to remove the need for the Death of Superman from their backstory. "Some of you might remember the last time a Cyborg Superman showed up. Would we dare revisit such a classic storyline? Hmmm. Well, never say never, right? As I've been telling you, all bets are off. Everything's on the table," said DC's Bob Harras in the blog post that showed off the new character design. Following the events of the Death and Return of Superman, Henshaw became a recurring Superman villain for a while, and then disappeared. When he returned, he had a number of battles with the Green Lantern Corps, most notably in the Sinestro Corps War, where he allied himself with the Anti-Monitor and Superboy Prime.

While the character hasn't appeared in the New 52 yet, a version of the Cyborg Superman appeared in Smallville Season Eleven. "DC always seemed shorthanded when it came to truly powerful, somewhat cosmic level villains so I'm happy to see [The Cyborg] endure," Jurgens told me in a 2008 interview, back when Geoff Johns had begun using the character as a Green Lantern villain. "It's nice to see other writers find some level of expansion with the character." With the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo underway this weekend, it's distinctly possible that DC will have a more specific announcement regarding Henshaw, as well as other recently-teased villains like The Joker's Daughter, Papa Midnight and Relic, which have been teased in similar fashion recently.