We Were All Rooting for Superboy-Prime But He May Have Just Delivered a Massive Betrayal

Superman is wowing readers with its latest storyline “Legion of Darkseid”. This story has its origin in DC All-In #1, a 2024 one-shot that created the Absolute DC Universe and set the mainline DC Earth on the path its been on. The Darkseid Legion first appeared in this issue, and they showed back up in July’s Superman #28, coming to the present and attacking Superman. This led the Time Trapper, the current version of Doomsday (Time Trapper is a Legion villain whose secret identity always changes because changes to the timestream), bringing Superman to a pocket universe to recruit the most powerful back-up Superman can get — Superboy-Prime. Superman and Prime, as well as Superman, Prime, and the Legion, have a long history together, one that is soaked in blood.

Superboy-Prime is one of DC’s most complex characters. Prime hails from Earth-Prime, the pre-Crisis Earth that is our Earth. He was introduced in the blockbuster event book Crisis on Infinite Earths, working with the heroes to defeat the Anti-Monitor. The next time Prime showed up was the 2005 Crisis sequel Infinite Crisis, but instead of being a hero, he was a villain, driven insane by the life that he was forced into. Since then, Prime has done some terrible things, but finally found redemption in Dark Knights: Death Metal. However, Superman #29 ends with a moment that will shock readers, as Prime seemingly betrays Superman. But is that the end of the tale? Has Prime jumped sides again? Let’s take a look.

Can Superman Trust Superboy-Prime?

Superboy-Prime grew up on his Earth reading Superman comics. Prime loved Superman because they had the same name, never knowing that he was a Kryptonian himself until Superman showed up on his world to help save it from destruction in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Prime learned that he had power and would eventually join the heroes on their mission to fight the Anti-Monitor. I’ve always thought that Superboy-Prime was meant to represent Superboy, the past version of Superman, in the final battle because Crisis on Infinite Earths was the end of Superboy and Earth-Two Superman; they were two important parts of Superman’s mythos, the original Superman and the first Superman variant. After the end of the battle with the Anti-Monitor, Superboy-Prime and Earth-Two Superman, along with Earth-Three Alexander Luthor and Earth-Two Lois Lane, were transported to a paradise dimension. The four of them found the darkness of post-Crisis DC to be distressing, and Luthor and Superboy-Prime decided to fix everything. This was the genesis of Superboy-Prime as a villain. Superboy-Prime has killed multiple heroes (mostly Z-list members of the Teen Titans), and has proven to be quite mercurial when it come to his morality.

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However, something that Superman #29 reminds readers is that Superboy-Prime grew up reading pre-Crisis DC Comics. He grew up reading about the ultimate heroes and wanted to be like them. Superboy-Prime didn’t want to rule the Earth or kill the heroes because he was evil in Infinite Crisis; he did it all to change the history of the Earth back to a more simple, black and white world where the heroes never suffered and always won in the end. This was a big part of his redemption. Superboy-Prime finally realized that he had become a monster, completely unlike the person he had set out to be when Earth-One Superman had helped him save his Earth, and wanted to become the hero he once was. His died in battle with the Darkest Knight version of the Batman Who Laughs, all in order to redeem himself. When we catch up with him in Superman #28, he’s living his old life of reading comics and being plain old Clark Kent. This seemed to be a very different Superboy-Prime than what we’ve seen before, which makes his betrayal of Superman at the end of Superman #29 all the more surprising. Superboy-Prime does not like any version of the Legion of Superheroes, so him teaming up with even an evil version of the team against Superman doesn’t really feel right.

Will Superboy-Prime Ensure Darkseid’s Victory?

Readers were shocked when Superboy-Prime returned. The last time we saw him, he had decided to be the hero he grew up reading about, and was able to help the heroes in their battle against the Batman Who Laughs. Superboy-Prime may have done terrible things in the past, but he was able to show that he was capable of changing in the end. While Superboy-Prime betraying Superman was a possibility, it was still shocking to see. However, I don’t think that Superboy-Prime has betrayed Superman.

Superman #29 showed readers the aftermath of the Legion War, with the Darkseid Legion having defeated and killed most of the other Legions. Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds showed how much Superboy-Prime hated the Legion of Superheroes, any version of the team. There’s really no reason that Superboy-Prime would team with the Darkseid Legion, and that goes doubly when you think about Superboy-Prime’s motivations over the years. Superboy-Prime hates when characters he grew up with are made grim and gritty. The Darkseid Legion is the ultimate example of that, and I think this is just a trick by Superboy-Prime to lull the Darkseid Legion into a false sense of security. Superboy-Prime has seemingly betrayed Superman, but I think it’s just that — a seeming betrayal.

Superman #29 is on sale now.