Superman's life is a bit of a mess right now. There's a lot going on. Chances are you may have heard about some of the changes in his life and status quo. The DIVERGENCE Free Comic Book Day issue revealed a big one. We've been seeing that there's more being added to the problem shown there. If you haven't read that free issue or ACTION COMICS #41, BATMAN/SUPERMAN #21, and BATMAN #41, you might want check those out before you continue reading here.
What has happened so far is Superman's life has been turned upside down. His secret identity was revealed to the world--by Lois Lane of all people. Superman also gained a new power, a solar flare, that left him powerless for about 24 hours after. Only now his powers are even more in flux. We saw it appears he's actually losing his powers and the Fortress of Solitude doesn't even recognize him as Kryptonian.
With everything going on, who can Superman trust? It's not as easy of a question as before.
Lois Lane
Lois has always been one of Clark Kent's best friends. In SUPERMAN #40, she put two and two together and figured out Clark's secret.. Next thing we knew (in the DIVERGENCE issue), Lois "exposed his secret identity to the world." With this and his powers being messed up, you would think Clark isn't too happy. At the end of the DIVERGENCE issue, it looked like he had nothing to say to her.
Yet in BATMAN/SUPERMAN #21, we see they're still on speaking terms.
Without anyone to really turn to, Clark decides to call Lois. Things are definitely awkward between the two. But you would think if she exposed his greatest secret and made the world pretty much hate the 'lying alien,' he'd want to keep his distance. We also find out things have gotten pretty messy at the Daily Planet as a result of this. Jimmy Olsen lost his job and Lois is getting death threats.
It's hard to say where the two stand with each other at this point. There is a bit of tension. Clark is the one that calls her but can't bring himself to actually say much or ask for help. Just the fact that he is still speaking to her makes you wonder if there's more to the story.
Lex Luthor
Lex is Superman's biggest enemy, right? Well, they have been forced to work together since Lex weaseled his way into the Justice League. During the Amazo Virus arc, we saw both Superman and Wonder Woman forced to be completely trusting with Luthor since the rest of the League had been infected and incapacitated.
When Superman hears that the Metropolis Police Department have had orders not to assist Superman, he goes straight to Lex for answers. Lex is still baffled but the revelation.
Lex is trying to have fun with Superman, given his messed up situation. Superman had been attacked by "thugs" with weapons that have a "unique energy signature." Lex has been able to trace that energy signature to Gotham and even goes along with Superman to investigate. When an attempt is made to arrest Superman, Lex jumps to his aid and claims "Mr. Kent" is working for him.
So what is Lex up to, besides getting a new outfit?
It doesn't seem likely that Lex is behind Superman's identity. There's no reason (right now) to believe he had anything to do with exposing his secret identity. As far as his powers being messed up, if anyone could figure out a way to do that, it would be Lex. Again, during the Amazo Virus arc, in JUSTICE LEAGUE #39, Superman had to give Lex a blood sample to find a way to defeat the virus.
This could have given Lex the chance to figure out a way to infect Superman in another way. Even though he claims he wants to be good and be a hero, this is Lex we're talking about. He may have gone to Gotham with Superman to help him but it could also have been to watch or simply gather information.
The truth is, Lex is too obvious to be the bad guy here. If he did manage to orchestrate Superman's current downfall, he would want full credit for it. He would want Superman to know he was the one responsible.
Batman
Superman and Batman have long been friends--or as much of friends as Bruce allows himself to have. The problem is, Bruce isn't exactly around anymore. Something happened to him at the end of Endgame and now Jim Gordon has reluctantly agreed to become an armored Batman to work alongside the police department to protect the city. Gordon has always been on Batman's side so you would assume the admiration and respect would carry over to Batman's bud too, right?
Gordon is by the books. Superman supposedly was breaking into a Waynetech building (he was trying to find Bruce). Gordon, as Batman, just wants to arrest Superman. We know the general populace isn't too happy with Superman for having lied to them and living as a human among them. It might be a little extreme considering how many times he's saved the world. It's hard to say where Gordon will land with all this. He won't care what sort of relationship Superman had with Batman. Superman's status has changed and there's a lot of paranoia because of everything that's happened. Maybe the title of BATMAN/SUPERMAN will have to change to Batman v. Superman.
What about Wonder Woman?
The two are supposed to be a couple. We saw in the SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN Sneak Peek that their relationship might be going through some changes. We'll see more in this week's SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #18.
At least Superman still has his best friend Jimmy Olsen. Who else can Superman trust these days? Seems like everyone else is against him.