In the final panels of Action Comics #976, the finale to the “Superman Reborn” storyline which merged the pre- and post-Flashpoint versions of Superman into a single character with a shared history, fans were teased with an even bigger threat than the story’s villain, the Fifth Dimension’s very own Mr. Mxyzptlk.
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In a story that played with elements of the “Superman Red/Superman Blue” tales from the past, a final shot played off the dichotomy of red and blue…but this time using Earth and Mars.
“No, that was not a big, red apple in the final panel,” Action Comics writer Dan Jurgens joked when we asked whether the final shot was just one last chance at red/blue juxtaposition, or whether fans should read more into it.
“Fans should read a lot into it,” he told us, more seriously.
A lot of readers already were reading quite a bit into the image of Mars, juxtaposed as it was with Mr. Oz (a character popularly believed to be Watchmen‘s Ozymandias) speaking in vague, hushed tones about a mysterious “him” who wouldn’t be happy with the way the story played out.
The obvious candidate would be Doctor Manhattan, and that’s bolstered by two things: The character spent a memorable chunk of time on Mars in the original Watchmen, on which he essentially set up a base where he could get away from humanity. Readers also got to see a watch being repaired on Mars in the closing pages of DC Universe: Rebirth last May, overlaid with dialogue from Watchmen between Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan.
In Watchmen, the god-like Doctor Manhattan and Ozymandias, the “smartest man alive,” conspired to concoct a fake global conflict that would unite all nations against a common foe (aliens, although they didn’t actually exist) in an attempt to foster world peace. In DC Universe: Rebirth, it was implied that Manhattan had been involved with the birth of the post-Flashpoint DC Universe in 2011.
The aspect of the “Superman Reborn” story that Mr. Oz implied “he” would be unhappy with was the merging of two different versions of Superman — the “New 52” Superman, and the “Lois & Clark Superman,” who had re-emerged in the mainstream DC Universe following the events of Convergence. It was implied that the two (as well as two halves of Lois Lane) were split intentionally when the universe was reborn.
The young Superman, full of self-doubt and often loathed by the world around him, seen in The New 52 is now a part of the same history as the pre-Flashpoint Superman, the first and best superhero of his generation and a beloved public figure. It isn’t yet clear exactly how that history will play out across the DC Universe.
“The next two issues, Action Comics #977 and #978, will delve into some of the changes and differences that are results of the story,” Jurgens told us. “There are other aspects of the story, such as the mechanics of who and what caused it, that will be told down the road.”
…But with that view of Mars, it seems like a good bet fans can accurately guess who that might be.
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Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery -
Image courtesy of DC Studios.
