DC’s Absolute Universe is built around the single idea that hope is the underdog. In that respect, it ripped away aspects about DC’s heroes that are present, core characteristics in every other version of them. Batman had his fortune and world-traveled training taken away, Wonder Woman had her sisterhood among the Amazons replaced with growing up in hell, and Superman wasn’t raised by the Kents on Earth. This has boiled the heroes down to their fundamentals, finding the root of what they really stand for and emphasizing it to the extreme. For Superman, however, this has stripped him of something the others still have: his name.
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In the main universe, Superman’s real name is Clark Kent. Later in life, when he learns more of his Kryptonian heritage, he begins going by his Kryptonian name Kal-El as well. These three names each represent a distinct part of himself, and he wears them equally with pride. The Absolute Superman can’t do this because he was never raised by the Kents, so he doesn’t have the connection to Earth Clark Kent represents, but I think I know exactly how the Kal turned Superman will become Clark.
Clark Kent is Superman’s Tie to Humanity
Although he wasn’t raised by Ma and Pa Kent like his mainline universe counterpart, Absolute Superman did spend some time with them. Much like the original, Kal crash landed in the Kent farm, and the loving and childless couple took him in. He spent several weeks unconscious as his body adjusted to the yellow sun, then a few more awake but not being able to understand the people that gave him shelter. He only learned to speak their language a short while before the evil Lazarus Corporation chased him out of Smallville.
Importantly, while he spent far less time with the Kents in this universe, Kal still gained an important connection with Earth through the Kents. He spent over a year drifting through the cold and inky void of space, the only survivor of his world and without hope. The Kent farm gave him hope that all the good in the universe hasn’t been squeezed dry by the powers that be. It made him feel just like he did when he was on his home farm on Krypton, at peace. It is this feeling of peace and the kindness from the Kents that showed Kal the people of Earth are just like the Kryptonians were. They are being beaten down by a dark system that doesn’t care for them, but there is still good.
Kal is struggling with finding hope, something that no Superman has really ever done before. He’s seen the unlimited evils being committed all around Krypton, repeated across the universe by the people of Earth. But he is still holding onto the hope that makes him Superman, and has returned to Smallville, likely specifically to the Kent farm, to reignite that hope inside himself. The Kents revived Kal’s hope after its flame nearly died with Krypton, and that is why he will one day take the Kent name to honor them.
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Kal Will Rename Himself After the Kents
As of now, Superman is just Superman. His name is Kal, but he never tells anyone that, thinking that person died with his parents and his planet. He is only called Superman, and that is who he is defining himself as with his actions. Superman is fighting for all of humanity, to free them from the shackles the elites have locked around their necks, but he isn’t a part of humanity yet. He is still an outsider, but I don’t think he will be for long. Superman has never been someone who set himself apart from others. At his core he has always been someone whose abilities have separated him from humanity physically, while his heart has been the most human out of anyone’s. To make that final leap from being Earth’s protector to being a part of it, he will have to forge a human identity.
He’s already beginning to make reluctant human connections with Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. The upcoming issues of Absolute Superman show that Superman considers joining the extreme revolutionary group called the Omega Men, which I believe foreshadows exactly how and why he’ll make a human persona. As we’ve already seen, the Omega Men are willing to kill and throw away their own people’s lives to reach their goals, which is something that Superman is struggling against with all his might. He wants to save the world, but he wants to save it the right way.
Yet every day he holds himself back it seems like Lazarus kills more. Superman is already at an emotional low, barely holding back his all-consuming rage, and joining forces with the Omega Men could bring him to the very edge of that line. I imagine he will toe it, just barely hover over it in his fight with Ra’s al Ghul, but not cross it. He will pull himself back as Superman always does, and realize that he can’t just be anger, he must be grounded in hope. He, Lois, and Jimmy will strike out from the corrupt organizations like Lazarus and the Omega Men, and work together to make the world a better place without falling into the darkness themselves.
Superman will be frightened by how he nearly lost control and decide he needs a way to keep himself in check, to remind himself of hopeful days so he won’t ever give into despair and rage. So he’ll give himself a human name and identity, so he can live among the people he is protecting and remember how despite all the evil, there is still good in the world. He’ll choose the name Clark Kent to honor the Kents who first showed him that Earth had the same inherent beauty of Krypton. Maybe Martha would have told Superman that she would have named her son Clark in their brief time together.
Clark Kent is more than just a name. It is the part of Superman’s identity that shows his ties to his second homeworld, shows his full humanity. At his core, beyond all the impossible strength, Superman is just a good person. He’s kind, like anyone else can be.
