The announcement that Brian Michael Bendis would be taking over Superman just might have been the biggest news in the world of comics over the past year. However, while we’ve gotten a taste of Bendis in Action Comics #1000 and in DC Nation #0, we still don’t know a whole lot about what he has in store for Superman, but he’s since illuminated what he has planned for Kal-El in Man of Steel, especially in terms of antagonists.
“You’ve got a lot to read; no matter how much you think you’ve read, you’ve got a lot more to read when you take into account mini-series, specials, else worlds, etc.,” Bendis said in an interview with SyFy Wire. “I made a list of things I hoped to accomplish, such as more supporting cast, villains, things that compared to his peers, he doesn’t have as much of. Superman has great villains, but compared to Batman or Spider-Man, about a third as many. I had a similar frustration writing Iron Man, where there were all of these great villains, but he could use a bunch more, right?”
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The way that Bendis introduces the new Superman villain, Rogol Zaar is through this question: “What really happened to Krypton?”
“From there we started building who Rogol was, what he meant to the Krypton heritage, what he means to Superman, the challenge that he puts into Superman’s life,” Bendis continued. “He really is almost like an immovable object that Superman can’t use all of his normal tricks against.” Bendis explained. “His tricks are quite something, too. He also tests his belief system, and that is a big part of Superman, is believing his heritage, believing his father and believing where he came from.”
The start of Bendis’ official tenure with Superman starts with Man of Steel #1, coming out May 30th, 2018, with art by Joe Prado and Ivan Reis.
KEEP READING: Superman Special #1 Finally Shuts the Door on a Lingering Rebirth Plot…