As Superman begins to assemble his own version of the Authority, he finally comes face-to-face with Wildstorm’s old twist on Superman.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Superman and the Authority #2, on sale now from DC.
As an aging Superman puts together his own iteration of the Authority, two fan-favorite major characters from the Wildstorm universe are poised to join the Man of Steel’s new team: Apollo and Midnighter. As the two longtime heroes meet with Superman face-to-face for the first time in this reality, it’s immediately clear that Apollo owes much of the inspiration for his heroic career to the original Man of Tomorrow.
The miniseries Superman and the Authority posits that Superman has existed in this version of the WildStorm Universe since the Kennedy Administration, driven by the assassination of the president in 1963 to make JFK’s promise of a New Frontier for humanity a reality. However, with Superman’s attempts to save the world with the Justice League failing, along with his grasp on his powers, Superman turns to a new generation of heroes to save humanity from itself before it’s too late. And in Superman and the Authority #2 — by Grant Morrison, Mikel Janín, Fico Ossio, Evan Cagle, Travel Foreman, Jordie Bellaire, Sebastian Cheng, Dave Stewart, Alex Sinclair and Steve Wands — Superman learns Apollo not only is willing to join his iteration of the Authority but is also his biggest fan.
If Midnighter is the Authority’s answer to Batman, albeit considerably more lethal than the main DCU’s Dark Knight, then Apollo is the WildStorm team’s equivalent to Superman. Andrew Pulaski gained solar energy-fueled powers that largely mirrored Superman’s after enduring genetic experimentation at the hands of Bendix. Apollo’s connection to the sun is a little more explicit than Superman, reflected in his overall design, constant presence of photonic energy and more visibly dependent on being in direct sunlight in order to maintain his powers. With this similarity in abilities and power source, Apollo reveals that he has modeled much of his life after Superman, with Midnighter admitting he didn’t even know Superman existed until he met and married Apollo.
While Apollo and Midnighter were integrated into the DCU at the start of the New 52 era, Apollo and Superman haven’t had a chance to team up together in a meaningful way yet. A doctored image revealed Apollo fighting Superman, convincing Jack Hawksmoor to recruit Apollo onto his clandestine superhero team Stormwatch but Apollo initially rejected the offer. And with the Midnighter of Superman and the Authority aware of how much the Man of Steel means to his husband, he presents the first meeting and offer to join the new Authority together as an anniversary present, with Apollo eager to work alongside his lifelong idol.
With Midnighter and Apollo both used to openly employing lethal force, especially evident as the two heroes kill a detachment of enemy soldiers moments before meeting Superman, it will be interesting to see how well the two WildStorm heroes can work with their DCU counterparts in this amalgamation universe.
In the meantime, Apollo is beside himself with giddiness for the opportunity to work with Superman on a team to save humanity as this world’s Authority quickly begins to take shape and bring the WildStorm and DC characters closer together for a common purpose.
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