New power, fresh look for Man of Steel in 'Superman'

Brian Truitt | USA TODAY

This week the Man of Steel is receiving a triple whammy of major changes.

Out Wednesday, Superman No. 38 puts the explosive finishing touches on writer Geoff Johns and artist John Romita Jr.'s "The Men of Tomorrow" story line, pitting the iconic DC Comics superhero vs. the powerful Ulysses in a conflict that's as physical as it is emotional.

Plus, the issue ends with Superman adding an ability to his extraordinary skill set, rocking a subtle yet streamlined and fresh new look, and dealing with something that's never happened in the character's 77-year history.

They all combine to send him "in ways that we haven't seen in a long, long time" and radically change Superman "while staying true to who he is in a bizarre way," Johns says. The aftermath "just fundamentally has the character asking certain questions he hasn't asked himself and experiencing certain things he hasn't experienced."

Superman's seen almost a mirrored image in Ulysses, who like Clark Kent's own Kryptonian origins was sent away for his own good by his parents before meeting certain doom. After being raised in another dimension, Ulysses has returned to Earth, reunited with his thought-dead mom and dad, and befriended Superman.

However, it's been a ploy of sorts to sacrifice millions of humans to fuel Ulysses' new home. And when Superman prevents that from happening, then it's time for a throwdown of superpowered fisticuffs.

The story arc has been all about bringing optimism front and center with Superman — his attitude and not his futurism or abilities were the main reason for the title "Men of Tomorrow," according to Johns.

"He believes tomorrow will be better, he believes we have the capability to do that within us, and that's a huge power," the Justice League scribe explains. "The power of hope and faith and trust in mankind and our innate nature is very compelling, especially because it's from Superman.

"He has a very different perspective being who he is and doing what he does and growing up the way he did that John and I wanted to make the most important thing to the character."

Johns feels there's a struggle and reality that comes with that, but it's also about Superman embodying that goodness and being an inspiration — with action and words affecting people, but not so much where he gets on his high horse and lectures people.

It has to be through a natural extension of who he is and what he's doing, and it's tricky to balance that because the one thing the writer doesn't want is preachy Superman.

Some past stories in his history have put him in a position of authority, but Johns doesn't even think Superman sees himself as that most of the time, he says. "Clark Kent hiding behind the glasses and the way he grew up, I do think there's a reluctance to the character he breaks through because he has to do it and he's the only one who can do certain things."

Superman has looked out for Ulysses because he sees a lot of himself in this new figure, and while he's raised differently, his goals aren't the same and he's done horrible things, Ulysses is not an evil guy at all, according to Johns.

"Where he comes from, there's just a different morality, to support utopia and highly intelligent evolved life forms, from their perception they fuel it with what they perceive as lower evolved species," the writer says. "I think a lot of people actually have that attitude as elitism and prejudice, and Ulysses grew up in that environment."

The story climaxes in the new issue with the consequences of what Ulysses tried to do and how Superman has to stop him, and with that comes the development of a new power — adding to the super strength, X-ray vision, heat vision, flying, etc. — that is an extension of the Man of Steel's physiology.

Whether it's a net positive or negative for the character "depends on your point of view," Johns teases. "It's definitely the most destructive power Superman has. And he's not exactly excited about it because it is so dangerous and there are consequences.

"It's not going to be suddenly he can levitate things," he adds. "It's something that is going to be very unstable and something that Superman's going to have to deal with for quite a while."

In addition to the daunting task of creating a new power and the joy of working with "a master storyteller" in Romita — the new issue features the artist's take on Batman for the first time and Romita has a solo story in March's Superman No. 40 — Johns admits he's most liked having Superman open up in an honest fashion to people like Ulysses and Daily Planet regulars Jimmy Olsen and Perry White.

The writer, who had an Action Comics run in the 2000s with artist Gary Frank, finds Superman far more interesting than people give him credit for, and likes to sit down and look at his entire history before figuring out where to take him next.

"That's where Ulysses came from is reading everything they had done" since DC's line-wide "New 52" relaunch in 2011, Johns notes, "and saying, 'OK, this is what I think the character hasn't experienced yet emotionally and could learn something or change or grow or be challenged by something emotionally they haven't been before.'

"It's the emotional core of that story line for Superman, where he ends up in this, that was kind of eye-opening and new."