Warning: contains a preview for Justice League #60!
DC Comics just revealed a dark truth about invulnerability is a match for Superman's, leading to an uncomfortable detail about the threat posed by their latest villain.
Justice League #59 - which introduced the new creative team of Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez - saw the League go up against Brutus, a super-villain from a newly discovered reality who is more powerful than Superman. Brutus is from the home reality of Naomi McDuffie, a young hero who was sent to Earth to escape a dystopian society where warring super-beings tore down civilization in their battle for power.
In a preview of Justice League #60 shared by Naomi and her friends since - despite discovering Teth-Adam's new heroic bent in Infinite Frontier #0 - he still doesn't quite trust the former villain. While Black Adam doesn't appreciate being man-handled, the two quickly begin a dialogue, with the ruler of Kahndaq correctly guessing that he and Superman are on the same kind of fact-finding mission. It's here that Black Adam casually drops a dark truth about he and Superman's invulnerability, saying, "My country has been threatened and the next attack promises to be devastating. According to my scientists, you and I will likely endure. But not much else."
Kahndaq's science council have asserted that while Brutus is indeed capable of destroying the rest of the world, Superman and Black Adam would likely survive because of their powers of invulnerability. It's a dark detail that Black Adam casually tosses out, but one that contextualizes the heroic tendencies of both characters. While most other heroes would see Brutus as a threat to their lives and the only world they know, Superman and Black Adam are in a much stranger situation - one in which they'll likely survive any apocalyptic threat that hits Earth, and will even be able to move on to another planet should they fail in their mission.
The truth is that Superman is beloved on many alien worlds, and Black Adam has shown that he's comfortable subjugating others for what he considers their own good. By this logic, Kal-El and Teth-Adam should be two of the least committed heroes on the Justice League roster, given they'll be able to survive (and even prosper) in every other hero's worst-case scenario. And yet despite this dark truth, Superman and Black Adam are two of the most dedicated protectors in DC Comics. Superman would die for a world he could easily outlive, while Black Adam loves Kahndaq so deeply as a nation that he's unwilling to give an inch in its defense.
Many times in comics and wider media, invulnerable heroes are treated as if they're time bombs - godlike overseers who will eventually lose their connection to a fragile world populated by vulnerable people. But Justice League #60 confirms that despite knowing they'll survive Brutus' attack, Black Adam and Superman are the very front line of the fight against him. The key to Superman's heroism has always been how he tempers incredible power with bottomless empathy and humanity, and while Black Adam has very different priorities to the Man of Steel, it appears the thing that bonds them is that each could survive the end of the world, and yet both would give their lives to prevent it. Justice League #60 hits retailers April 20.
Source: Comic Watch
