WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Nightwing: The New Order #5
-
A new Superman has joined the DC Universe, embracing an ancient warrior look to fight the grim future of Nightwing: The New Order. To this point in the story the action has focused on the Batman Family - specifically Dick Grayson and his son, Jake. But with the Grayson family's outlook now as uncertain and terrifying as the rest of New Order's possible future, things have changed. Grayson was once in charge, but is now on the run. And where Superman used to be a shining beacon of hope, this future has turned him into something more... intimidating. And the beard is only the beginning.
Fear not, fans of the Man of Steel. This version of Clark Kent is as heroic as ever, even if he's swapped his Supersuit and superstrength for a sword and shield. But it's not every day that a new version of Superman is added to the DC canon. And as satisfying as it may be to see this 'warrior' version cooked up by writer Kyle Higgins and artists Trevor McCarthy and Dean White, it poses a problem.
This is Nightwing's story, after all. And since the series is racing towards its conclusion, we can only hope that this new Superman is a sign that the best is yet to come.
RELATED: Lois Lane Gets a Blue Lantern Ring in DC's New Order
Nightwing Depowered Superman (and Every Superhuman)
For those who may have missed the beginning of The New Order, allow us to break the news: in this vision of DC's future, almost every single superhuman has lost their powers. And to make that bombshell sting even more, it was Dick Grayson who pulled the trigger (detonated the bomb, but we're speaking metaphorically). It was a grisly way for Higgins to open his epic, but drove home the point of just how much Nightwing was willing to sacrifice for what he felt was humanity's best interest. Standing over a beaten, bloodied Superman - run through with half a dozen pieces of rebar - it wasn't even clear if Superman could survive his injuries. Not with his Kryptonian benefits stripped from him... along with the rest of the heroes whose bodies littered the streets of Metropolis.
In the story that followed, a much older Dick Grayson leads the titular "new order," a semi-police state in which people who exhibit superhuman abilities are either cured or incarcerated (or cryogenically frozen). But when his son begins to show powers inherited from his mother, Koriand'r (a.k.a. Starfire), and Alfred Pennyworth is killed protecting him, Dick has no choice but to go on the run.
He's eventually forced to team up with the Titans he once called friends, but turned into fugitives. Wally West, Cyborg, a Blue Lantern Lois Lane and more managed to retain their powers. Yet it's Metropolis they're headed toward, and in Issue #5, their backup is finally revealed...
Superman Leads The Resistance
Superman comes to the rescue of the temporarily-disarmed Titans when they're ambushed by bandits, but it's not the Superman of the current DC Universe. This is the version Clark Kent has become without his superhuman invulnerability. Wearing armor torn right out of Gears of War - emblazoned with a hand-painted Superman 'S' - and sporting his cape like a cloak, he's proof Superman was more than his muscles. The muscles are also still intact, thank goodness, meaning he's perfectly effective wielding Wonder Woman's sword and shield (a heroine whose presence in this landscape is still a total mystery).
No matter how bad things may get in DC's world, it seems Clark Kent and Lois Lane are built to last. Even if her power ring now means she's the superpowered part of the pairing. They're not alone, either. In the ruins of the city Clark Kent and Lex Luthor have come to see things similarly. If we were to guess, we would assume that Lex losing his power armor... and his left arm might have something to do with his newfound humility.
Well, that and the fact that he was always determined to lower Superman to the level of everyone else on Earth. Dick Grayson helped him get his wish when Superman's powers were stripped from him... but by that point, he had already lost everything.
Superman Caused It All By Killing Batman
The new appearance and hardships obviously faced by Superman are explained to be a penance of sorts, after the Man of Steel set the 'Batman vs. Superman in a fight' controversy to bed. Flying into the Batcave under the crazed influence of Black Kryptonite, Superman killed Batman with heat vision (a twist that Lex Luthor maintains was NOT his doing). Needless to say, Superman eventually came to his senses... but his murder of Bruce Wayne changed things. More than anyone, for Dick Grayson, Bruce's first sidekick and the son he never had (we're aware of Damian Wayne's existence).
It was this crime, it's explained to Jake Grayson, that caused Dick to abandon his formerly liberal principles. He had once been the person keeping Bruce Wayne from deploying the power-stripping weapon. But when Superman took Bruce's life, he saw no other option. Superman seemed mainly confused at the betrayal in the first issue, but by now, seems to have accepted the world's fate, and his role in it.
He's only looking to make up for all the good works he never got to do, which is where the armor and weapons come in (you can take Superman out of the fight...). And as the team begins to diagnose Jake Grayson's powers, a shocking tease proves Superman will get to put his sword, shield, and armor to the test in the next issue.
Considering how fantastic an impact he's made thanks to Higgins, McCarthy, and White, Issue #6 can't get here soon enough. Fingers crossed that Superman's last stand will be his finest, powers or not.
Nightwing: The New Order #5 is available now.