Superman has been around for a very long time. He’s starred in countless storylines, both good and bad. That’s to be expected of anyone who has had at least two comics dedicated to them hitting store shelves every month. Over the many decades he’s served as DC’s de facto superhero, he’s gone through a lot of changes. Yet, even as the character changes and adapts to the times, his status quo remains relatively the same. Changes are typically so slow you can’t notice them, adjusting to the modern landscape. Massive status quo changes are rare, but they tend to leave major impacts. The best ones are Superman’s best stories.
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Of course, the inverse is true, too. Adding Jon Kent to Superman’s mythos, making the Man of Steel a permanent father, was regarded with near-universal acclaim. It made his stories fresh and exciting in a way that they desperately needed. Of course, on the flip side, unceremoniously aging Jon up just three years after his superhero career began is near-universally hated. Fans still campaign for Jon to revert to childhood, but now, DC is finally saving Superman’s most-hated modern story. Superman Unlimited #15 finally gave the age up a reason to exist, and set Jon on the path toward even greater heights.
Jon’s Path Towards Redemption and a Closing Chapter
Jon’s arc in “Reign of the Superboys” was all about saving who he thought was a younger version of himself, only to find out that it was his Earth-3 counterpart, Ultraboy. The fourth-dimensional demon, Txyz, appeared to taunt Jon and offer him a real chance to save his past self in exchange for throwing Ultraboy back in the volcano. Of course, he refused. He’d come to accept that he couldn’t get that life back or give that time back to his parents. Instead, he focused on what he could do where he was, as his own hero, Tomorrow Man. Txyz summoned Earth-3’s Superwoman, and they kidnapped Ultraboy and escaped, with Jon promising to rescue him.
This storyline was all about showing Jon and the audience that he could never go back to being Superboy. He tried to give everyone that young Jon back, even going into hiding, but he couldn’t. He had grown and changed so much since then, and his character as it is today has the potential to be just as beloved as he was before. Jon has been stuck in his own past ever since he returned. Practically every story he’s in focuses on the impact of being aged up or someone telling him that he’ll never escape his dad’s shadow as Superman. Even Lois got him a job at the Smallville Daily Planet. But what Jon needed was a way forward, and this was it.
Turning Fan’s Rage into a Fantastic Arc
Fans have been begging for young Jon back, but instead we got Ultraboy, and I love this way more than a Jon reversion. Nobody expected the young Jon to stick around, and at worst, the consensus was that he’d be a recurring villain, but this new direction for him is a fantastic parallel to our Jon’s journey. Earth-3’s Jon lives in the shadow of a more beloved character, too: his alternate self. Ultraman literally named and clothed him after the young boy he once held captive, seemingly intent on filling that void by remaking Jon. Heck, he would have had to custom-make that Superman hoodie.
Ultraboy is a tortured young man who has only known pain, with his entire identity based around another person who everyone wants him to be. It’s the perfect setup for a villain that encapsulates this entire era of Tomorrow Man’s character, but it’s also the best way forward for both Jons. By saving Ultraboy, Tomorrow Man is breaking them both out of this cycle of anger that he’s been trapped in ever since he was aged up. Jon has a new goal to save Ultraboy, and that can funnel all the ambient anger and unrest about Jon’s character into a way to metaphorically bring that chapter to a close with a tangible action.
Tomorrow Man has his work cut out for him if he wants to turn his evil-world counterpart into a hero, but that’s exactly the type of character that he is. Jon has always cared about everyone, and he embodies all the strength of both of his parents. He’s been in their shadows for years, and now he finally has the chance to break out and fix literally all of the problems most people have with his character in a single arc. He’s the true man for tomorrow, and he’s out to show everyone why he’s already a fantastic character.
Superman Unlimited #15 is on sale now!
What do you think about using one of Superman’s most hated arcs to create one of their best character arcs in years? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
