Future State teased an ominous, violent fate for the Man of Steel, now the Infinite Frontier era is bringing Superman closer to his gloomy future.
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.
Future State featured many dystopian and post-apocalyptic future timelines for the DC Universe and its iconic characters. One of the most heartbreaking belonged to Superman, exiled from the world that he spent his whole defending and relegated to the gladiatorial pits on the harsh, mobile planet of Warworld.
And as the Infinite Frontier era begins with Superman narrowly avoiding a grim fate foretold by the Legion of Super-Heroes’s 31st century historical texts, the Man of Steel’s Future State fate has just taken a major step towards becoming reality as Warworld’s longtime ruler, Mongul, now has Superman firmly in his sights.
Superman and his son Jon Kent returned from the 31st century after a stint with the Legion. After stopping an extra-dimensional invasion into the DCU, Amanda Waller deliberately kept the dimensional rift open longer so its energies could weaken the Man of Steel. While Jon believes this battle will be the last for his father, as listed in the historical text he read a millennium into the future, Superman emerges intact and successfully repels the invasion and seals the rift. As the father-son duo reflects on their close brush with death and changes to the DCU timelines, the family is secretly being observed by Mongul who dismisses Jon as a weakling compared to his father, but notes that Superman himself appears to be dying, potentially due to the dimensional rift’s energies.
Future State revealed Superman had been exiled from Earth for some time, with Jon stepping up as the new defender of Metropolis to replace him. Stranded on Warworld, Superman led an insurrection against Mongul’s rule, with Midnighter giving him the valuable support he needed to help overthrow Warworld warlord. And as the two old enemies battled for the fate of the planet, the two’s encounter is far from the only skirmish they’ve had in their long, antagonistic history that both characters have shared between each other.
Created by Len Wein and Jim Starlin in 1980’s DC Comics Presents #27, Mongul was an extraterrestrial dictator that sought Superman for his gladiatorial pits to keep his oppressed populace entertained and sated under his brutal regime. The 1992 crossover event “Panic in the Sky” had Brainiac wrest control of the original Warworld, with Mongul later trying to turn Earth into his new Warworld by blowing up Coast City to make room for his intended engines to make the planet mobile. Since then, Superman and Mongul have battled each other many times, with Mongul constantly plotting to imprison the Man of Tomorrow and make him his star gladiator and forced to grovel at his feet for table scraps.
What exactly Mongul intends for Superman this time, whether it’s taking a page directly from the glimpse provided by Future State or something more devious, is currently unknown. However, the intergalactic despot has sensed that his longtime foe is vulnerable and, with blood in the water, the extra-dimensional invasion may simply serve as a precursor for a far more devastating attack from a familiar enemy. Mongul has coveted Superman and Earth to fall under his control for some time and the bombastic start to the Infinite Frontier era for Clark Kent may have finally afforded him the chance to make good on those ambitions.
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