Warning! Spoilers for Batman/Superman #17
Superman’s heat vision is even more powerful than fans realized. In a recent comic, the Man of Steel used his heat vision to burn holes into the fabric of reality itself. However, there’s a reason for Superman’s sudden power surge, and it’s the result of a new villain.
Recently, Superman and Batman have taken on a threat that has universe-transcending abilities. Autuer.io has been introduced as “the Director of the Archive of Worlds,” revealed to be controlling alternate world versions of the World’s Finest. As their individual mythos are rewritten, resembling earlier editions of the characters, the universe is imploding. However, victory against Autuer.io might be around the corner for both the World of Tomorrow and the World of the Knight.
Amidst the chaos, Superman has used his heat vision to burn through the wall of his reality in Batman/Superman #17, written by Gene Luen Yang with art by Ivan Reis. While Auteur.io continues to alter the DC Universe, the walls dividing the various realities of the Multiverse are becoming weaker. Consequently, Superman has been able to access other universes through “burn holes.” Of course, Superman normally wouldn’t be able to blast through space and time. However, with the current state of an unstable reality, he’s been given an unintentional advantage.
The reveal of Superman’s new ability seems like it could have been used during Infinite Crisis, as the DC Universe was similarly fragile. Kryptonians using their powers to puncture the wall of reality might seem like a new concept, but this isn’t the first time it’s happened. In Infinite Crisis, Superboy Prime punched through reality, in a panel that looked like a mirror being shattered. More recently in Dark Knights: Metal Secret Origins #1, Superboy Prime hit another Superman and witnessed his world change as a part of the impact. The god-like range of Superman and Superboy Prime’s capabilities have rarely been explored, and hopefully it stays that way. In the context of an ongoing story like Batman/Superman’s current meta arc, it makes sense to play with these universe-breaking powers.
Theoretically, this could be a game changer in the battle against Autuer.io. Now that Superman can burn a hole in his reality, he could hop over to another universe and recruit the help of alternate world superheroes. If these other versions of the Dark Knight and the Man of Tomorrow aren’t separated any longer, they might bring an end to the Director of the Archive of Worlds. As Batman and Superman take back control from DC’s alien filmmaker, they’ll be able to right the wrongs of his tyrannical studio vision and restore a version of the world that fans are most familiar with.