So I was thinking about Geoff John's brief but awesome run on the Superman solo seris called men of tomorrow and how it sucked that the seeds he planted for a futre superman story would never come about and who that guy with the staff and cloak was (who I think pa Kent). Then I remembered a little man called Mr.Ozy and his little chat with Pre-Flashpoint Superman and how he looked the ex at same as the guy from men of tomorrow. So my crack pot theory is that new 52 Pa Kent never died but was in fact saved by some force that knew the universe was not right and through some round about logic was told to get his son ready for a fight against the thing that fecked up the universe. Then his son dies due to shenanigans and he then goes to Pre-Flashpoint Supes to give him a vague messege. So what I'm saying is that Mr.Ozy and the dude with the staff from men of tomorrow is actually Jonathan Kent with magic space powers.

Hey now, can you have both magic powers and space powers? That's kind of overkill right...Lol

I feel so sad for new 52 Superman because with the revelation of rebirth we find out that his life essentially got reality warped twice as much. First 'Dr. Manhattan' robs the dcu of years and Grant Morrison's entire run showed us that Vyndktvx screwed with Superman's life at multiple points in time also causing the death of his parents making it sort of like an Eobard Thawne killing Flash's mom kind situation only from Vyndktvx's perspective it was all at once.

I don't know about new 52 Pa Kent surviving and becoming a sort of Obi wan for the two Supermen but the DCU basically has the biggest deux ex machina ever right there in Superman's rogue gallery and that's Mr. Mxyzptlk.

If it is Pa Kent, what if the 'mysterious force' that saved him was Mxyzptlk? A 5th dimensional being hailing from imagination itself, he can literally snap his fingers and bring back the pre-flashpoint timeline.

I've always wanted writers to use Mxy in that sort of commentary capacity since he lives in a place beyond even the speed force(basically a representation of the writer themselves), where he could tease whatever Superman currently exists with details of past universes and forgotten timelines since for Mxy it's like switching tv channels.

I don't know why they don't use him often cause there's so much fun you can have with that character, you can get extremely meta with him.

@z3ro180:

I'd thought you'd figure it out by now.

Johns isn't hiding much of anything. He gave us Dr Manhattan name when people were only guessing it was him.

So who would be the better candidate to be this Mr Oz. Well, the name says it all. Ozymandias! To me Mr Oz is Ozymandias.

We're already gonna get a superpowered Superwoman Lois, with powers that might end up killing her. And now a Jonathan Kent with powers also... Sorry but doesn't make sense.

Also if it was Jonathan, then why did played with the concept of friend or foe, with Clark? He kinda hinted that in the past he'd been both.

So I believe the easiest answer is the right one. It's Ozymandias.

What do you think?

......awesome?

It had the worst art a superman comic has ever had. It was supposed to "relaunch" Superman with a new costume, which was pretty much ignored by everyone, and a new dumb and useless power, but instead it led to Truth (which was hated by almost every reader in the end) and the death of the character.

Sadly that's not all, in that Geoff's story we have also had Superman and Ulysses causing an accident that led to the destruction of a whole planet with all its inhabitants and they didn't even care to explore how Superman felt about that. That was the biggest failure for Superman since the 1939.

There are just two positive things about that (imo) terrible run: Ulysses who is a more or less a cool character and the characterization of Clark and nothing else.

@toptom:

Word!

I'd like to see another Mxyzptlk appearance in the new 52. He should probably stay away from Rebirth though. As you mentioned, resetting the timeline would be trivial with him involved, so that could take away a lot of tension. That's why authors should be careful not to make Mxyzptlk a full-on ally of Superman. It would be tantamount to giving Superman an instant plot resolution button. Just imagine - New 52 Superman - not dead. Rebirth - instantly fixed. Forever Evil - instantly resolved. Doomsday - lol. Anti-Monitor and Darkseid - oneshotted.

So Mxy probably needs to be used in lighthearted meta stories, and sparingly, or you face possibly throwing off the power dynamic.

Hawkman would like to have a word with you

Ah yes, that damn overachieving Nth metal.

@toptom: I imagine if Johns stayed on the title then he would have Clark mention that what happend with that world was wrong and have him try to live with that

New 52 Hawkman didn't to my knowledge but I see where you're coming from, Pre Flashpoint Hawkeye did have that mix of space and magic powers. Odd he wasn't more powerful.

Maybe, but instead he has preferred to ignore such a fact to show us how Superman lived his life as a normal human being ... right in the next issue where they destroyed the planet killing billions of beings. And Superman was apparently ok with that. That run was the worst of the entire new-52,at least to me.

@toptom: gotta disagree there I think it's one of the better runs for new 52 superman

@z3ro180: Can i ask you why? Seeing a superman who doesn't care when a world ends in front of his face thanks to his actions ( even if he did save metropolis at least) and all of that served with some of the worst art from Romita should prevent the majority of the people from even reading such a story.

@toptom: mainly because I like the story and unlike most people on this website I actually like JRJR's art but his stuff does get worce as the a story goes on. As for him destroying a planet I look at that as Ulysses fault

I honestly think that the only good think to come out of the arc was that Jimmy now knows who Superman is. Something I thought he should have known for a long time, but even then the way Johns went about it was pretty lack luster and showed no real signs of connection between the two characters. His entire arc was all bang. His arc hinged on the new suit (which was hideous) , Jimmy and the new power (which was a stupid and very limited power for a guy who can move the earth, the solar flare should be at planet busting level at least).

Listen, i don't blame Superman for trying and failing to save his citizens, he did his best and his best is a Lot but Geoff had to show the impact of such a dramatic accident but he did nothing and he had time to show us something, i mean even even a little. Superman had simply to defeat Ulysses to put all that terrible story behind him. Now of course this isn't the character's fault ( how could it be) but it's the writer's.

Yes, i forgot that. Then yes that stupid solar blast was a huge let down in every possible way, not only it was absurdly weak for a being such as powerful as Superman but it could also be used by unimaginative writers to put Clark in situations more comfortable for them.

However i liked that costume a lot....even if i had to see it made by another artist just like Bryan Hitch or this guy ( can't remember his name) to change my mind

@toptom: The artist's name is Tyler Kirkham, he's done other art for DC lately like Deathstroke, Action Comics (which you'll have seen), and he'll be one of the regular artists on Action Comics.

@toptom said:

Yes, i forgot that. Then yes that stupid solar blast was a huge let down in every possible way, not only it was absurdly weak for a being such as powerful as Superman but it could also be used by unimaginative writers to put Clark in situations more comfortable for them.

However i liked that costume a lot....even if i had to see it made by another artist just like Bryan Hitch or this guy ( can't remember his name) to change my mind

My biggest gripe is the belt.

That's pretty obvious:

Looking on the whole evenT

.Mr Oz is either a different Superman who is really powerful ,Prime, Jor-el or a Monitor.

I am not going to be surprise if it is one of them.

Each have there own case but let us see.

@z3ro180: I think it's going to be Superman's biological father, Jor. According to future solicitations, the revelation is supposed to shake Superman to his core. I suppose it could be Jonathan Kent since that revelation would also have the same effect on Superman, but I think it's Jor.

Jor-El is the most probable answer.

I have too many guess

Jor-El, Superboy Prime and Future Jon are the top guesses right now.

Jor El??? Prime???

@vinomonster: Jor-El seems to be what everyone is thinking...

But if it was Jor-El, he probably wouldn't call Superman "Clark." And Jor-El never really taught him anything.

But who did teach Clark to be Superman? Pa Kent. And who was still left dead after the Reborn continuity changes? Pa Kent. That's just my theory...

@scott_summers52: well in a sense he has taught Clark some things via the hologram version of himself.

True.

Well it is equally shocking if one of Superman's father figures turn out to be someone who has been spying on and manipulating events surrounding Superman.

@lvenger: I'm leaninging towards Jor-El now because all the things that have been happing points towards that.

@z3ro180: There's also a lot of information and variant covers lately that basically confirms it.

Jor El Prime, Father of Superman Prime.

Jor El

Confirmed, Oz is Jor-El.

Who is your Daddy. Well this is why it would shake Superman to core. It make sense. Going forward now how this going to go. How is he so powerful. So many questions. Good stuff.

Is it Jor-El prime? If not this messes up the Superman Mythos so much imo.

Ok. So it's Jor-El. But this Jor-El makes little to no sense...

Because as we can see, he's the spitting image of the Jor-El in the background. When he had been introduced in the New 52.

Also things like this make even less sense...

Seeing Jor-El despises humans, he would never call him by his human name, but rather by his true kryptonian name, Kal-El. Unless of course he doesn't see Superman as Kal-El, because in essence he's human, and possesses all the flaws of a human. Jor-El little test proving exactly that. By having Superman try to save everyone and failing, he's basically proving how "human" Superman is.

And "taught" him...?!? Every version of Jor-El with one exception couldn't have taught Superman anything. In John Byrne version, Superman was still a fetus in a Gestation Matrix when he came to the Earth. Later retcons changed that, but he was still a baby. Too young to be taught anything. Only one exception to this case, the New 52 timeline.

So this Kal-El could at least walk. Couldn't exactly talk or anything. But we could say Jor-El taught him how to walk. Problem being that this Jor-El, isn't the Jor-El shown.

Also when Wally escaped the Speed Force. He hinted that there was more than one player in this cosmic time manipulation. Not only that, that the time manipulation came even before Flashpoint. So the Jor-El present should've been from one of those retcons. Preferably the one did by Mark Waid, seen in Birthright.

Also "I am your father"... Jor-El has been watching Star Wars! All we need now is Superman screaming "NOOOOO!" so Disney can sue DC Comics. Couldn't it have been just "Yes. It's me Kal-El. I am Jor-El."

Also the guy has technology on a whole other level. The guy was unaffected by kryptonite. I'm betting that staff has something to do with it. It most somehow enhance his normal kryptonian abilities. Which would be only natural, seeing almost every kryptonian, is best at being a kryptonian than Superman.

Yeah there is a major "Luke I am your father" style to the Oz reveal. I can't imagine that being unintentional on Jurgens' part.