Superman Just Revealed a Major DC Plothole That Needs Explaining

The DC Universe has always been a world that exists halfway between hyper-advanced technology and the real world. While superheroes and villains use technology and science that embody all the extremes of the science-fiction genre, the common person uses technology that is indistinguishable from what we have access to in the real world. Despite all the advances that humanity and alien races have made in the history and depicted adventures of DC, humanity is still in exactly the same position as its real-life counterpart. Now, DC is finally taking steps to close that gap, but at the same time brings up questions that can ruin the very foundations of belief in DC.

Superman Unlimited’s inciting incident saw a massive Kryptonite meteor crash-land on Earth. With sudden, nigh-unlimited amounts of the incredibly powerful mineral on hand, the people of Earth quickly found all sorts of ways to make use of its incredible properties. So far, the series has shown Kryptonite as one of the most efficient and powerful fuels ever created, and unlimited energy opens the floodgates for infinite scientific leaps forward. Issue #8 has humanity take that massive leap, then makes us question exactly what the scientific situation in DC is.

Catching Up With the Rest of the Universe

Superman Unlimited #8 centered around billionaire and known villain Sebastian Stagg leading the first commercial faster-than-light space flight. The Stagg Starliner was created by the inventive Toyman, who designed its Kryptonite engines. Given that Superman couldn’t reasonably keep the ship safe if anything went wrong, Green Lantern Guy Gardner was elected to guard it. Although Guy argued against babysitting a bunch of rich snobs on a relatively simple rocket, Jessica Cruz convinced him that this was necessary for their position as Sector 2814’s Green Lanterns. If humanity mastered faster-than-light travel, then they could begin to expand beyond Earth, and thus join the greater galactic community.

Read Next

DC K.O. Is a Fight Between Superman and Darkseid, and Darkseid Is Winning

Of course, there are plenty of interested parties who are against that idea. Unbeknownst to everyone, Sebastian had already sold out humanity to a group of aliens intent on setting Earth’s space travel back by decades. Shapeshifting Durlans snuck aboard the ship, and once it was past Saturn, an entire fleet of ships arrived with the supposed goal of destroying the Starliner, although their real goal was to create chaos so the invaders could replace the originals and take over Earth from within. Superman and Green Lantern easily dispatched the enemy ships, and Superman uncovered their invasion plan, saving the day. Still, the space travel plans were sunk, meaning humanity was back exactly where it was before, which is confusing.

Stepping Back to a Questionable Status Quo

As I said before, the levels of technology in DC vary wildly between the empowered groups and the normal people. It makes sense that the heroes and villains would keep some of their advanced tech to themselves, but this doesn’t explain the massive disparity. Sure, this singular instance of FTL travel being delayed can be attributed to the aliens and Sebastian, but it does nothing to explain why the more benevolent rich folk in DC have not stepped up to close the technology gap. This problem becomes increasingly frustrating when those good companies, such as Wayne Enterprises, Queen Industries, Steelworks, and the like, are shown to be developing this advanced technology and spreading it, but it never sticks around.

Almost as quickly as advanced technology is introduced for the average person, it is discarded. It’s obviously not realistic that humanity would just ignore their clear ability to create FTL engines simply because Sebastian Stagg was arrested, and it doesn’t have to be. DC wants its fictional world to be almost exactly like our own, only populated by superpowered people and advanced tech in limited capacity. Still, the more prevalent this technology becomes, the harder it is to ignore its lack of impact on the normal people of the world. 

I’m not saying that this is breaking all immersion and that every bit og tech or wonder has to be explained, but a little focus or consistency in the technology department would go a long way in making the DC Universe feel even more real and lived in. 

Superman Unlimited #8 is on sale now!

What do you think? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!