Warning! Contains preview pages from Action Comics #1049!The future is bright for Superman thanks to a powerful upgrade from a hot, new star. A preview for Action Comics #1049 sees the Man of Steel make a bold claim regarding his strength, and the facts may just support his argument.
Things have been rough for Superman as of late. After exposure to a rift in space, Superman began suffering from radiation poisoning that began harming his Kryptonian cells, which led to a slow weakening of the hero. However, in spite of his condition, Superman ventured to Warworld to liberate the planet from their oppressor, the alien dictator, Mongul. Clark was captured and spent a considerable time on Warworld, but eventually inspired an uprising that ended with Warworld's red sun generators being converted to produce white sun energy. The new bursts of power reinvigorated Clark and gave him exactly what he needed to see his mission through.
Now, with Warworld in Earth's orbit, Superman may be on the precipice of one of his strongest forms in some time. In a preview for Action Comics #1049 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Mike Perkins, what should have been a normal day at the zoo has been interrupted for the growing Superman family. The New Gods of the Fourth World have come to claim Osul-Ra, the current wielder of a cosmic aspect known as the Fire of Olgrun. Superman refuses to let Osul-Ra go and faces the combined might of Apokolips and New Genesis. The Man of Steel fights back against Orion and Kalibak in the middle of the Metropolis Zoo. Kalibak mocks Clark's diminishing strength, saying that there's nothing 'super' about him anymore. Superman rebuffs, however, and insists that because of Warworld's white sun, he's more powerful than ever.
What A White Sun Means For Superman
It may sound like a boast, but there is precedence for Superman developing stronger powers due to younger suns. During one visit to Bizarro World, Superman gained the ability to bestow Kryptonian powers to average humans thanks to backwards planet orbiting an extremely young blue sun. Since older, red suns depower Clark altogether, it stands to reason that a newer one would make him more powerful. The question remains: what level of power does Superman find himself at now that he's got a white sun generator so close to Earth?
A white sun isn’t as young as a blue one, but it is younger than the yellow sun that gives Clark his usual strength. With Warworld now in Earth’s orbit, Superman is in a much closer proximity to a much more powerful energy source. There’s little doubt that Clark isn’t just bluffing. He’s likely regained his strength and then some. He might not develop the same ‘Superman vision’ that the Bizarro World’s blue sun gave him, but a white sun has already done the impossible and helped Superman reverse the cellular decay brought on by the radiation poisoning. Fans curious about what may come with Superman’s white sun power boost should see for themselves when Action Comics #1049 releases November 22, 2022.