A new preview has been released for DC's Future State Superman: Worlds of War #1. In the future of the DC Universe, Superman will be forced to leave Earth, which he has long called his home. Leaving the planet in the care of his son Jon as the new Superman of Metropolis, Clark Kent will now be battling among the stars, finding himself as a gladiator on Mongul's Warworld. However, the people he's left behind miss the original Man of Steel, and even become inspired to form their own religion in his name.
Future State Superman: Worlds of War #1 will be coming from writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson with art by Mikel Janín. While readers have already seen the some of the adventures and challenges facing Superman's son Jon as the new Man of Steel, this new issue will finally reveal what has happened to the original Superman Clark Kent, and also detail why he was banished from Earth in the first place. Much of the two-part series will see Clark battling on Warworld, the dark realm ruled by Mongol, where Superman will apparently be forced to fight as a gladiator, not unlike when Marvel Comics' Hulk was banished from Earth.
However, may people of Earth will miss the original Superman, and will seek to the fill the void he left in a variety of ways. New preview images for the first issue reveal that Kent's Kansas hometown of Smallville will become renamed as Krypton, and several vendors will have set up shop, looking to cash in on the Superman nostalgia and hype. Additionally, some have even gone so far as to set up a whole new religion and faith in Superman's name. Here's the previews images and synopsis for the issue from DC Comics:
- FUTURE STATE: SUPERMAN: WORLDS OF WAR #1
- "Superman: Worlds of War" written by PHILLIP KENNEDY JOHNSON
- "Superman: Worlds of War" art by MIKEL JANíN
- cover by MIKEL JANÍN
- card stock variant cover by RICCARDO FEDERICI
- This monumental Future State title features four big stories! First, Clark Kent is gone, leaving a Superman-shaped hole behind. People gather in Smallville to celebrate their hero, little realizing that he is across the galaxy helping others. Superman has gone to Warworld, where he fights as a gladiator in the deadly pits of Mongul. But this is Superman we're talking about—and his idea of a victory does not line up with the expectations of Mongul's hordes!
It appears as though Smallville has essentially been turned into the DC Universe'sRoswell, becoming a tourist attraction with tours, decor, merchandise, and the like. However, it seems as though some are honest devotees to Kal-El, assembling together to form the Church of Krypton, believing and praying that he might one day come back to them, holding nights of remembrances, and forming an entire new doctrine based on him. Unfortunately, it looks like Superman won't be making it back to Earth anytime soon. From the looks of it, all the future holds for Superman is war in DC's Future State.