As a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Superboy knows the fate of many of the DCU’s biggest characters, but he’s giving history a rewrite.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Action Comics #1029, by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, Hi-Fi and Dave Sharpe, on sale now.
Clark Kent and Lois Lane’s son Jon Kent is nearly a man himself, returning to his parents aged well into being a teenager after spending time on Earth-3 at the mercy of the Crime Syndicate of America. And just after being reunited with his parents, Jon was whisked away to the 31st century to become a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes to defend the DC Universe’s far future. And while away, Jon learned about the relative present of the DCU as if it were a glorified history lesson, returning back to present-day just in time to completely change history…or at least as it appears so far.
With Amanda Waller and S.T.A.R. Labs taking advantage of a nearby dimensional rift to weaken Superman, Clark and his son battled against an invading horde of aliens that were poised to strike at Earth. As the situation was quickly growing increasingly dire, Superman prepares to launch himself headfirst to seal the rift and stop the invasion. Jon tries to stop his father, warning him that this is the day in the 31st century history books that Superman mysteriously disappears, with the details of his final fate unknown. Unable to shake the feeling that he has to power forward and save the day, despite the overwhelming odds, Superman continues and stops the alien invasion and seals the dimensional rift while emerging relatively fine, shocking Jon.
While Superman apologizes profusely to his son for seeming to completely dismiss his son’s concerns and pleas to stop to save his life, Jon is confused that nothing appeared to happen to his father. Superman attributes the big change to having Superboy by his side to save the day but Jon remains unsure. In assisting and warning his father, Jon may believe he changed history, but fate may not be done with Superman quite yet. And this may lead to Superboy’s Future State destiny should his father suddenly be taken off the board, with the extra-dimensional rift mission just being a reprieve from Superman’s own destiny.
Future State offered a glimpse where Superman had abruptly disappeared from Earth, causing Jon to step up and become the new Superman and head a new Justice League. Clark was revealed to be exiled on Warworld where he became a gladiator. Other timelines in Future State showed an older Superman confronting Lex Luthor on his own planet while another showed Superman and Wonder Woman taking on Darkseid for one last showdown in the wake of most of the superhero community having been wiped out. Each of these possible futures portend dark things for Superman, and while he survived his predicted doom, he is far from being in the clear.
Superman has apparently lived to fight another day, partially thanks to Jon’s presence and warnings to alter the course of history. The past that the Legion of Super-Heroes are aware of may have diverged into something different from Superboy’s tampering but, if there’s anything time-travel stories have shown over the years, whenever the space-time continuum has been bent and changed, it tends to forcibly reassert itself and snap back the other way. And if this turns out to be the case, Superman may have only bought himself a little more time before the Legion’s history books turn out true.
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