Man of Steel Prequel Offers an Answer on the “Planet of Supermen” Question

Earlier today, Wal-Mart released a digital comic, exclusive to those who pre-purchased Man of Steel tickets at their stores. The story revolved around the relationship between Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El (known to fans, of course, as Supergirl) and Dev-Em, who committed the first muder Krypton had suffered in a century.And, along the way, there was a minor revelation that you might not have caught, if you weren’t looking for it: Kryptonians, while they have the potential for remarkable power, don’t actually possess those powers on their homeworld.It’s only a question because, in an earlier interview, writer David S. Goyer had referred to Kryptonians as “a race of Supermen,” leading some to speculate as to whether the doomed planet would be reverting to a Golden Age status quo. In the earliest years, Superman came from a world where everyone had powers similar to his, as opposed to the story that came along later, which was that Earth’s own sun and/or atmospheric conditions gave Kal-El his powers.As you can see here, the Man of Steel Prequel comic clearly shows Kara Zor-El using flight to swoop down and save her boyfriend when he was about to fall to his death. Immediately afer the action, st stands heroically, basking in the light of a yellow sun……except that it’s all a dream sequence. When, eventually, a Kryptonian starts to display powers, he’s as taken aback as the other character in the room with him at the time. Certainly, it doesn’t seem as though that person is used to working with powers–and that seems to suggest that the Krypton we’ll see this time out is more akin to the Krypton we’re used to for the last several years, than to the ancient status quo that it briefly seemed Goyer might have been teasing.