Superman is DC’s greatest hero, and 2025 has proven that. James Gunn’s Superman was a success, so much so that they’ve already green lit a sequel and shared the release date. Superman the comic is one of the main books in DC’s current publishing schedule and has been popular as well, moving along the plot of the latest big story. Action Comics is retelling his time as Superboy, showing the origins of the heroes we’ve always loved. Finally, there have been multiple awesome miniseries, with the latest being Adventures of Superman: The Book of El. This book brings back the man most responsible for the current Super-ssaince — Phillip Kennedy Johnson, who wrote the spectacular “Warworld Saga”. Adventures of Superman: The Book of El picks up plot lines from that story, and takes readers into a dark future where the world was conquered while Superman was pulled away by a mysterious power.
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Adventures of Superman: The Book of El #1 is fantastic, a book that does a great job of continuing the plot lines of one of the best modern Superman stories ever. The book ends in a dystopian future, and we get to read pages from the titular Book of El, written by the descendants of Superman’s family. We learn some interesting things from these pages, including the fate of Warworld. A familiar character has taken over the planet, which is a huge change from the status quo of Warworld. What’s most surprising is the leader of the planet — Conner Kent, the hero known as Superboy. Looking at both what we learned from “Warworld Saga” and what we know about Superboy, this makes a lot of sense.
Superboy Belongs on Warworld
Warworld has been a part of the Superman mythos since late Bronze Age. It was the home of Mongul, but we mostly saw it as what amounted to a planet-wide spaceship with a gladiatorial arena. “Warworld Saga” gave us a lot more information about Warworld than we had ever known before. It was ancient beyond reckoning, home to the Fire of Olgrun, one of seven pieces of the god Olgrun. Warworld’s inhabitants, called the Warzoons, had their own war-based culture, and the greatest warrior was made into Mongul, the leader of the planet and its forces. Massive worms live under ground, helping to create the planet’s atmosphere. It was created by the Old Gods, the precursor to the New Gods, and has existed far longer than anyone realized. In “Warworld Saga”, a nearly powerless Superman was able to inspire a slave rebellion on the planet, got his hands on the Fire of Olgrun, and defeated Mongul, deposing the leader of the planet. Afterwards, it seemed like Warworld was going to change, but Adventures of Superman: The Book of El #1 establishes that Superman’s former ally Kryl-Ux took it back at some point, and with the power of the Promethean Giants behind him, used it to attack the Earth. At some point after Kryl-Ux won, Superboy ended up on Warworld and took it over, becoming its new warlord.
When most fans think of Conner Kent, they think of the cool ’90s teen version of the character. However, Superboy is more than just the cool kid with superpowers, great hair, and an awesome jacket. He’s a fighter. Ever since he escaped Cadmus, he’s fought. He’s singlehandedly fought Superboy-Prime, a vastly more powerful full-blooded Kryptonian, and was able to win, something that few people can boast. In the 2024 Action Comics story “Phantoms” (it’s 12 issues written by Mark Waid, is set in the Phantom Zone, and is excellent), Superboy and Super-Man (the Chinese Superman — you know because of the dash) ended up fighting a Khund invasion. The Khund’s are basically the DC Universe equivalent of the Klingons, a powerful alien race that loves to fight and conquer. Superboy was able to defeat one of their greatest generals in unarmed combat, and ended up with a Khund army under his command, which he uses to help re-capture the escaped Phantom Zone criminals (seriously, go and find Action Comics #1070-1081, it’s excellent; there’s even an amazing Supergirl back-up story). Superboy has proven that he’s more than just the coolest member of the Superman family, he’s also a powerful warrior who has earned the respect of aliens who live for combat. Superboy taking over Warworld might seem out of character to those who don’t know his history, but he’s proven more than capable of being exactly that kind of hero.
Superboy Was Built for War
One of the things that people forget about Superboy is that he’s more than just a cool attitude, some great costumes, and interesting powers (his tactile telekinesis is a power that not enough creators explore). Superboy was created by Cadmus to take Superman’s place in case Superman died. He was built to fight wars to protect the Earth, and also had the DNA of Lex Luthor inside of him. Superboy is as much a weapon as anything, which makes his future as the leader of Warworld perfect.
It also fits everything we learned about Warworld from “Warworld Saga”. Warworld respects the strongest warriors, and Superboy is the perfect person to take the lead of the world. It’s not the first time he’s proved his warrior bona fides, and hopefully, Adventures of Superman: The Book of El will show us his future, so more people can learn to respect the Teen of Steel.
Adventures of Superman: The Book of El #1 is on sale now.
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