Warning! Spoilers ahead for Future State: Suicide Squad #2 from Robbie Thompson and Javier Fernandez
Conner Kent just became the darkest Superman in the DC multiverse. In DC Comics' Conner Kent (the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor) to serve as the team's leader. While Conner has had conflicting feelings about his new role in the future, Amanda Waller's bigger plans for him are revealed in this new issue.
In Future State: Suicide Squad #2 by Robbie Thompson and Javier Fernandez, the original Suicide Squad arrives in Earth-3 as well, tasked with bringing Waller home on the orders of Rick Flag. However, Waller refuses to go with him, as she believes her work has been wasted there. On Earth-3, the planet is begging for peace to come by whatever means necessary (Waller specialty), which is not the case back home. As a result, Waller actually sacrifices several of her Justice Squad to stop the original Task Force X led by Peacemaker, all in the service to make sure her Project Homebase gets activated as planned.
By the end of the issue, the only ones left standing are Conner Kent, Peacemaker, and Waller herself (who Peacemaker shot). While Waller orders Conner to kill Peacemaker, the Superman clone refuses, no longer wanting to be treated as a criminal. He then destroys Waller's detonator instead, though it turns out that this is exactly what Waller wanted. The detonator was also a kill switch for Project Homebase, activating a massive energy shield around the entire planet to seal it off from the rest of the universe to keep it safe from any exterior threats. However, the detonator/kill switch was also a test for Conner as well, as Waller needed to know that he would do the right thing going forward as a new Superman for this dark world.
With Waller's last breath, she was able to achieve what she always wanted: world peace by whatever means necessary. With the shield in place over the world, a Superman to protect it, and a people desperately willing to accept peace, Waller ensured that it would eventually happen even if she wouldn't live to see it, as she dies from her wounds. All in all, it's a pretty intense and extreme way for Amanda Waller's story to end, but it's somehow quite fitting.
However, it's far more interesting to imagine what Conner Kent is going to do now, as he was essentially tricked into becoming a genuine Superman. It should also be noted that Waller's trust in Conner was likely not because she believed he'd be just as good as Clark Kent, or even as dark as Lex Luthor. Instead, it seems far more likely that she believed that Conner would be a Superman existing in the middle, having enough comion to be a hero, but also an equal amount of darkness to do whatever is necessary to achieve peace on Earth-3. Regardless, it's certainly is quite the impressive destiny Waller has given Conner Kent's Superman all the same in DC's Future State.
