Superman's Greatest Enemy is... His Future Self?

Warning: SPOILERS for Justice League #21

Superman has taken on the worst of DC's villains in his life, but he may finally have met his match... now that the Superman of the future is trying to kill him.

Yes, before Justice League fans even got the chance to truly enjoy the arrival of Superman, angelic and godlike in his more highly evolved, grey-haired, sixth-dimensional form, the truth has been revealed. As incredible as the Justice League of DC's future may be, and as impressive as this older Man of Steel may seem, their success came with a price. That ultimate, mysterious cost has yet to be revealed, but one thing is for sure: it apparently includes murdering Superman, since that's been the older Superman's plan all along...

This Page: The Future Superman is Too Good to Be True
Page 2: Superman is Being Killed By His Future Self

The Future Superman Seemed Perfect

In hindsight, readers really should have known that the other shoe was bound to drop in Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez's "The Sixth Dimension" storyline. When all seemed lost and the evil creator of the DC Universe, Perpetua, had been freed to destroy it once more, a solution presented itself. The unlikeliest solution imaginable for Superman, as it turns out: the infamous trouble making imp Mr. Mxyzptlk. But as trouble-making as he has proven to be over the course of DC history, he's a resident of the Fifth Dimension. And if the Justice League stood any chance of gaining the upper hand on their current calamity, stepping up into a higher level of understanding seemed their only shot. Oh, how foolish these heroes turned out to be.

As the only hero physically capable of even surviving the ascension to the Sixth Dimension, Superman decided to trust in hope, and step willingly into the unknown. When Mr. Mxy manifested a doorway through dimensions, Clark Kent reassured his friends that when he returned, everything would work out fine. So when the older, wiser Superman stepped back through that doorway draped in white and gold just moments later, it all seemed to make perfect sense. Superman would find out how to save the universe. And he would bring the entire League forward to meet their future selves.

For once, it looked like Superman's ability to do the impossible had returned, after years of unparalleled disasters. Maybe that's why the League of the current, present-day universe never stopped to ask for proof that the Superman who returned was the same one who left.

The Future Justice League is... TOO Perfect

You know what they say about things that seem too good to be true? Before long, Batman's nagging feeling that there's something they're not being told grows to a siren. He hasn't learned the truth about what happened to the version of Superman they called their friend... but the readers have. And believe us, it isn't pretty. When the older, wondrous, evolved, sixth dimensional Superman stepped out of his cosmic door and into the regular DC Universe, the Justice League assumed what the readers did: that this was the true Superman, just older and wiser.

But before fans got to worry that their beloved, bare-faced Man of Steel was lost forever, the comic's final pages revealed the far darker, far graver, far more gruesome truth. When the real Superman walked out of DC's Universe and through that door, he didn't travel to any 'higher dimension.' He fell straight into a trap, left for him by the future version of himself. Minor SPOILERS for the beginning of Justice League #21 incoming.

Page 2 of 2: Superman is Being Slowly Killed By His Future Self

Superman Tricked in Justice League Comic

Superman Was Tricked By His Future Self

Sadly, it seems the exact kind of trap that could only be laid by Superman himself, for himself. Falling into a world bathed in total darkness, Superman soon learns that there is nothing waiting to guide his way. Nothing but a small, cold planetoid covered in the dried out corpses of countless other Supermen who preceded him. And just as Superman begins to realize that he is unable to leap far enough off of this sunless, hopeless rock to escape it... his future self arrives to talk. Needless to say, the smile is completely intact while observing his weaker, younger self.

The future Superman treats Clark to a healthy dose of villainous monologue, observing the younger hero's repeated attempts to escape the orbit of this prison planet, and reach the gleaming light of his friends (barely visible in the distance). The final pages of Justice League #20 leave their showdown a dangling cliffhanger. The Superman DC fans know and love clenching fists in furious anger, as the older version looks on unguarded, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Before setting foot on the dusty surface, the 'higher form' of Superman claims that Clark's life was all leading directly to this point, presumably on this world, facing the version of himself from the future. In the realm of comic books, that's not that difficult a pill to swallow. But thanks to a preview of Justice League #21 courtesy of CBR, fans have an advanced look at how this meeting develops. The short answer? Superman immediately begins throwing punches at the future version of himself who cursed him to such a twisted fate (and apparently did the same to the other Superman corpses littering the planet). And it turns out the older Superman still believes he is doing the right thing by tossing the Man of Steel into a cold corner of the universe to die

The Justice League's Greatest Threat is... Superman?

Unfortunately for both the Man of Steel and his fans, the entire battle, down to Clark's words, has been lived through by his captor too many times to count. Even worse? He's doing it out of belief or knowledge that the only way to save the entire DC Multiverse is to make sure Superman isn't around to mess it up.

With so many secrets still in play--what did the Justice League actually have to do in order to "win" so completely? How does this Superman exist if he's apparently the hurdle to that victory?--the door is wide open for the older Superman to justify his actions. No matter his motivations, the situation is most dire for the Clark Kent left behind. On a cold world, with powers failing... surrounded by the bodies of every version of him that came before.

It's a tantalizing twist in an already compelling storyline, and with Superman's fate left completely in jeopardy (not to mention that of his Justice League teammates), the entire issue can't get here soon enough.

Justice League #21 will be available at your local comic book store on April 3rd, 2019 or direct from DC Comics.

MORE: Justice League Comic Writers Explain The DC's Biggest Secret