DC Teases Death of Superman Sequel

By Spencer Perry

The foundational comic book event, The Death of Superman, seems to be getting a reboot in some way. DC Comics took to social media this afternoon to make a cryptic post, using the trademark bloody-version of Superman's "S" shield that first debuted with the event. This image came captioned with a one word message, "Tomorrow." Only one other clue about this impending announcement popped up at the time with Superman series writer Tom Taylor replying with the "👀" emoji, something the DC Comics account itself did as well. Let's dive into the potentials for what this announcement could be below.

It seems most likely that this is in reference to a new version of "The Death of Superman" storyline but one that will center on Superman's son, Jon Kent. As fans may recall, Jon has been acting as Superman in the pages of DC's flagship title for some time now, it also happens to be one of the comics that Taylor writes for the publisher. It seems unlikely that DC would already be going out of their way to kill off Jon, especially since he's a beloved character and his time as Superman has only been ongoing for about a year now.

There's also the potential for this bloody announcement to be a tie-in to Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, the major crossover event happening at DC over the summer. The series, penned by Joshua Williamson with art by Daniel Sampere, will be published by DC through the end of the year and has already spawned character-specific tie-ins like Dark Crisis: Worlds Without a Justice League, among others. 

The original Death of Superman storyline, one that played out across multiple titles and spawned a number of fan-favorite characters that continue to appear in DC comics, has become notorious for being one of the last major comic book storylines to break through to the mainstream in a huge way. The issue of Superman when the Man of Steel finally died, the one with the original bloody "S," sold over six million copies upon its publication, making it one of the best selling single issues of a comic of all-time.

Fans may also recall that the immediate success and attention brought on by The Death of Superman almost immediately resulted in similar storylines playing out across DC's other notable characters. The famous Batman: Knightfall arc, where Bane breaks Batman's back, was published a year later, plus similar storylines occurred with Green Lantern, The Flash, and more. Suffice to say, the tactic of killing off high profile characters is one that has generally become a frowned upon practice, so it would be surprising for DC to make the announcement this time tomorrow that they're doing it again. Or would it?

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