Warning: contains spoilers for Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1!
In the long history of DC's Man of Steel, nothing has been quite so consistent as the portrayal of almost godlike power to problems both world-threatening and mundane. But while many have matched his power, no hero in pop-culture has balanced it with uncomplicated virtue without coming across as sappy, naive or irrelevant, and yet even in 2021, writers are able to write thrilling stories in which he exhibits unwavering empathy that is truly aspirational.
In DC’s Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1 - from Steve Pugh and Mark Russell - the Man of Steel's story jumps into the near future, where readers are introduced to a very familiar Lex Luthor. Power hungry, manipulative, and the makeshift king of his own little planet of sycophants. The planet - Lexor - has been made recently rich by the bald baddie and his army of robots called the Reticulants. The robots are being shipped out to steal the natural resources of other planets to make Lexor richer and greater and, to that end, make Lex Luthor the apple of the entire planet’s eye as their benevolent benefactor.
When Superman hears news of the rampage of Luthor’s robots, he goes to investigate, but specifically states he does not intend to react in anger, stating, “I know what happens when someone with power gives in to anger.” When he battles with them, he makes it clear that he won’t be putting his feelings aside. That control and empathy is to his benefit when, sometime into his battle, he recognizes something in the robots - fear. A robot with feelings, to Superman and many others, is a robot that has the potential to change. So, instead of destroying it, he disables the mechanical monster instead. “Maybe I’m just naïve,” opines Superman, “but I figured they at least deserved a chance.”
In the fight with Luthor that follows, the Man of Steel notices that even though he is weakened by Lexor’s red sun, he can still slip out of Luthor’s loose hold. In a moment of true empathy, Superman looks into the eyes of Luthor and describes him as a man who “never held onto anything in his life.” Instead, Luthor was a man forever desperately clutching for power, for possessions. A rich man who took everything he could and kept nothing that matters. In that moment, Superman pities Luthor. Superman escapes, asking the United Planets to provide the planet with aid for the citizens, if not Luthor himself.
For any other hero to spend so much time thinking about the wellbeing and nature of their enemies would come off as forced, but somehow Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1 taps into Superman's unique tendency towards sincerity, treating his moral realizations the same way Batman writers might treat solving a clue or inventing a new gadget. As characters become icons, there's always the possibility of them losing the fine detail that makes them special, but decades after his creation and even in his own fictional future, Superman remains a hero defined by a sincere, often weighty moral core that would be a far harder fit for even his Justice League colleagues.
