DC Just Brought Back a Shocking Superman Villain

Action Comics is one of DC’s most venerable books, and has been very important to the current Superman push that actually started several years ago, after the massive success of “Warworld Saga”. Action Comics is in the midst of the “Superman Superstars” publishing initiative, where the best creators DC can get their hands on are given the chance to tell their best Superman stories. Action Comics #1085 brings in Ms. Marvel creator and current Poison Ivy writer G. Willow Wilson, teaming her with artist Gavin Guidry, for a story that takes Superman as Clark Kent to Greenland to talk to two scientists working on refreezing the arctic ice. While there, he learns that someone has been messing with the scientists’ work and Superman jumps in to save the day. Readers don’t really get many answers until the end of the issue when the attacker’s identity is revealed — Kilg%re.

Superman has battled Kilg%re in the past, as the villain has gotten around a lot over his rather long existence — almost 40 years at this point. The character’s past is rather interesting, as he’s taken a long strange road to becoming a villain in a Superman comic. Kilg%re isn’t a character anyone expected to show up in Action Comics, and there are several reasons he could be here.

Kilg%re Didn’t Start Out as a Superman Villain

Kilg%re first appeared back in 1987, in the The Flash (Vol. 2) #3. Kilg%re came from another world, one that was consumed by a planet-destroying entity. It was placed into vibrational limbo by something called Meta#sker, all while trying to find technology to take over. Kilg%ore was accidentally released by Wally West as the Flash, and it followed him to STAR Labs, where it could take control of machinery and build its own body. It quickly came to the hate the humans who were trying to stop it from assimilating more technology, and the Flash had to deal with it. Kilg%re was defeated, but its mind survived. It was found by Maxwell Lord and the two began to work together, with Kilg%re playing an important — but secret — role in the Justice League International. Kilg%re was constantly pushing Lord to greater heights, all so it could take control of more and more powerful technology. Lord would discover just how much of his life Kilg%re was in control of during the “Millennium” event, and eventually would destroy Kilg%re’s body and most of his computing power. Kilg%re survived, however, but never in any important roles.

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Kilg%ore would eventually return in a major role in Cyborg’s 2016 series, going back to his old MO of trying to gain control of the most powerful technology possible. Kilg%re was the perfect villain for Cyborg, as the technology of Cyborg’s Apokoliptian body made a tantalizing target for Kilg%re. However, the villain would never really reach the heights that he did when he was working with Maxwell Lord, fighting various members of the Justice League as muscle for a variety of villains in the ensuing years. Kilg%re showing up in Action Comics right now is a little odd, especially since none of this fits its usual way of doing things. While there are scientists working with new tech at the Greenland base, it doesn’t really feel like the kind of thing Kilg%re would go after. However, the end of the story reveals at least part of his reason for being there — Superman himself.

What Is Kilg%re After?

Kilg%re used cybernetically enhanced polar bears to attack the facility, leading to Superman feeling rather dumb about being not being able to guess that Kilg%re was behind everything. While Kilg%re does tell Superman that he’s been waiting for him, it does seem a little strange that it’s decided to go after Superman. There are almost certainly has to be another reason that it’s come to the Greenland lab and it might have something to do with the technology.

Before pawning it off on Clark, Lois was supposed to go to the facility as part of a story that she was following. Anyone trying to bring ice back to the Arctic would be big news, but Lois is more of an investigative reporter than just someone who’s going to write a feel good story about new technology. Maybe the scientists have been doing something untoward — maybe they were using some of Kilg%re’s tech — and that’s why it has been attacking the facility. It could also want to get into the Fortress of Solitude, which is also a pretty tantalizing prospect, as it’s filled with exactly the kind of technology that Kilg%re would want. Kilg%re is a pretty deep DC cut, so seeing it show up here was a huge shock.

Action Comics #1085.