Superman's Joshua Williamson Teases New Villains, Perry's Secrets, and More in First Look Preview (Exclusive)

Superman has been soaring in his newest solo series, though fans who have embraced the series know that Superman’s family, friends, allies, and villains are just as important to making the series work. That was definitely true of Superman #5, which left off with a shocking cliffhanger that left Lex bleeding on the floor, and things are only set to become more dangerous in Superman’s next arc, The Chained. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Superman writer Joshua Williamson all about the next arc and what’s coming in Superman #6, and we’ve also got an exclusive preview of the anticipated issue, which you can find in its entirety on the next slide. First though, we wanted to start with the recent Superman Annual, which set up some major things for down the road.

“Yeah, I was glad that people liked the Annual last week, but it took me forever to write that one because it was so intricate. I had the multiple artists, the multiple story threads, the multiple scenes, and I wanted it to really come together and work as a whole piece. I didn’t want it to feel like an anthology. I wanted it to feel like, no, this is actually one story,” Williamson said. “I had planned on this Annual being a Daily Planet Annual a while ago, so I knew that this was going to be like, okay, it’s going to come out after issue 5 and it’s going to focus on the Daily Planet, and then I just started putting the work into it. It was all these different little pieces of story that I knew I needed for later, but again, it was like I didn’t want it to be all, what do you call it, table dressing. I just wanted to make sure it was actually its own story.”

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One of the standout characters of the issue was Parasite, and now everyone wants a Parasite Puppy. “Yeah, dude, I want a Parasite puppy. I love Livewire having the new job. That’s actually the first idea I had out of this. Those two things were the first two pieces that came together. Actually, it was Parasite puppy, and then Livewire having a new job, and then Bottle City of Czarnia was something I had been thinking about for a bit. And I found a way to connect it with the bigger plot that we were planning, because obviously Brainiac, we have a bigger Brainiac plot, and you can tell by the end of that issue, there’s some stuff building. But it’s not a secret because if you read the Annual, it’s at the end of that, and it’s also at the end of Knght Terrors.”

As for that cliffhanger, while it seemed a confrontation was coming for Lex, the severity of that confrontation surprised many. How endearing Lex has become has also been a welcome surprise, especially with the reveals regarding Perry White. “Yeah. I think that’s the whole thing is that I want the readers to go on the journey that Clark is going on, where it’s like, do you give this person a second chance? Clark says it in the issue, he is like, ‘My whole life is a second chance. It’s like I could have died on Krypton, but I got a second chance. But the thing is that that second chance came with help, because Ma and Pa Kent were awesome and they were there with me.’ You can’t just give somebody like Lex Luthor and say, ‘Oh, here’s your second chance. Bye.’ That’s not Superman,” Williamson said.

“Superman would still try to help somebody. Even somebody like Lex Luthor. I wanted people to get to that point where it’s like, do you believe in Lex? Do you as a reader believe, does Clark ever believe? I want everyone to go on that journey together and then we’ll see where it goes. We’ll see how it ends up because obviously it’s a major plot of the book, the two of them. I wrote that knowing… I wrote that scene really early on. The whole Superman save me stuff, and that all gets picked up in Issue 6. We do a lot of really heavy stuff with him in Issue 6,” Williamson said.

Fans got their first look at what the future holds for Perry in the Annual, and that’s where it’s also learned that Perry has been hiding a whole part of Lex’s history. “We pick up on it. So, Issue 6, 7, and 8 is called The Chain, and it picks up with everything we’re doing in the first five issues, but also a lot of the stuff in the end. So, it’s like Lois is being your Editor-in-Chief and the frustration she has. Livewire working for Lois and some of the Supercorp stuff with Mercy, Lex being gone and the stuff that Pharm and Graf are trying to manipulate the city, but also manipulate Superman,” Williamson said.

“And then we also pick up on Perry running for mayor in a major way, and then that will segue into, there’ll be stuff about, well… Because Perry and Lex have this history, and so we will get into why is it that there were stories of Lex Luthor being a hero in Gotham? Why are they all buried by Perry? We do get into it. It is part of the mystery,” Williamson said. “And it’s like for Perry being this person of truth, this person who worked with the Planet and finding out that he buried stories while running for mayor is not the best time for that to come out. So we’ll get into that stuff, but it’ll be, it’s all long game plans.”

Intertwined with Lex’s hidden history is The Chained, who has been imprisoned by Lex during those superhero days but no one knows why. Superman will soon find out why though, and things are going to get worse before they get better.

“Some of the stuff we have built into that, that’s all very long game, but those three issues like Issue 6, 7 and 8 we’re introducing this new villain called The Chained. What happens is you find out that… Superman finds out that Lex Luthor built a prison and the prison only has one person in it. And the question is, who’s in that prison? Why had Lex locked them up? But because of what happened with what Lex did in Issue 5, Clark can’t ask him,” Williamson said.

“Clark goes to try to find out what is the secret, what happened exactly, why would Lex lock this person up? And so Clark releases this person and then the s*** hits the fan. He finds out very quickly why Lex locked him up, and then it becomes this massive… there’s a lot of fighting. Issues 6, 7, and 8 are different because there is a lot of fighting in 6, 7, 8. A lot of punches are thrown in those three, and then there are a lot of other conflicts, and then the other super-family characters get involved,” Williamson said.

“One of my favorite scenes, and all of it is actually a scene between Lex and Lois. They have a confrontation where they sort of talk about what’s going on and it’s just a lot of fun. There are a lot of twists and turns coming in the book, but Issue 6 is really the beginning of it. I feel like the first five issues were kind of… like I said before the first three issues were like a pilot, and then it’s like two issue arcs after that. So it’s like you have the two issues of 4 and 5 are about Silver Banshee, then you had the Annual, we had two issues of Knight Terrors, and then we’re going to another three-part arc. The three-part arcs are always going to be a little heavier, and that’s what this one is. There’s a lot that happens,” Williamson said.

“Issue six is the beginning of that. It’s the first appearance of Chain. Then Issue 7 is the anniversary issue. So it’s Issue 7 but also it’s Superman 850 and we have a lot of stuff that happens in that one issue,” Williamson said. “There’s a lot of twists and turns. I think people will be surprised by it. I don’t know, it’s really fun because I know as I’m writing it sometimes and as I’m turning stuff in and as the art’s coming in, I’m like, I know me as a Superman fan, if I was reading this in a comic book, there are times I would turn the page and I’d be like, oh, what? So I’m hoping that other people, when they read it, they also have that exact same reaction.”

Superman #6 hits comic stores on September 19th.

Are you excited for what’s in store for Superman? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things Superman and DC with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!