Injustice: Gods Among Us #6

[superfangirl1]

He tells the reporters that his secret identity name is Clark Kent.

Comments

[icon_uk]

Well, there's no way THIS can backfire, is there...

And -50 points for the seemingly bloodthirsty Wonder Woman (provided that what he said was what she wanted him to say of course)

Oh, and apparently Kryptonians lose their eyelashes when they get all aggressive. Handy to know...

[jlbarnett]

Is that based on more or just on the fact Wonder Woman's actually encouraging him to tell people to stop fighting? Because I can see her believing they could stop people from fighting with minimal blood shed

[icon_uk]

He doesn't seem to be telling them to stop fighting, he's telling them to stop fighting or else.. It's the more brutally pro-active approach of a Superman who has decided he's above the law and sod the rest of the world.

[jlbarnett]

yes, but he's SUPERMAN.

Unlike some his or else can be quite non-bloody. Or Else I'll throw your nukes into the sun. or else I'll rip the wings off all your planes but do nothing to stop the pilots from ejecting. Or else I'll melt your gun barrels. Or else I'll rip every every tank turret off.

That's the reason why they could do things without all that much bloodshed theoretically.

[icon_uk]

Aside from stating that he is going to completely ignore the rule of law and international boundaries if they inconvenience him, the deliberate implication is that this is NOT the "minimum force" Superman of old.

[autohobbs]

Just curious, did you defend cyclops or were you against his actions in AvX?

[icon_uk]

From what I saw of AvX, and I tended to avoid it except on s_d, both sides were in seriously screwed up mode, but given the Avengers appointed themselves as experts on the Phoenix, and pretty much completely ignored the people who had actually HAD years of experience with the Phoenix, including the woman who had been host to it (Rachel), I think they were more in the wrong.

[autohobbs]

Phoenix Five did essentially what Superman is suggesting right now. We'll make the world peaceful, and if you don't agree with us then we'll throw you in hell.

[icon_uk]

If you're referring specifically to the Phoenix Five part of the story then yes, absolutely I had problems with that.

[darkknightjrk]

Sort-of--the way it's written, it seems more like he's not going to take the rule of international law as seriously--basically, the dictator of this small country is no different from a thief or common criminal, and he's going to be dealt with accordingly.

[icon_uk]

Except that is so politically naive it's perhaps even more terrifying, especially coming from a seasoned newsman like Superman

[icon_uk]

Also, this is a Superman who has just thrown out his own absolute moral standpoint and executed the Joker. Whilst this would doubtless lead to cheering and the sending of small gifts to him by the entire population of Gotham City, it is not a path which is healthy for Superman.

[randyripoff]

Sort of like how he was when Siegel and Shuster first created him. Of course, he couldn't level the planet back then.

[lucky_gamble]

No eyelashes equals bloodthirsty Clark.

I guess I can accept a slaughter-ready Wonder Woman. It's a different reality and Superman is more inclined to it already.

[chrisdv]

1) Wonder Woman, stop encouraging him.
2) All will be well, Bruce & Ollie will have a... "Board meeting" and save the world.
3) Hurry up & release the game already, I need to have Nightwing beat the Speed Force out of Barry. For Wally.

[onceaskrull]

FOR WALLY!

[big_daddy_d]

*Raises fist in air*

WALLY!!!!!

[wake_the_dragon]

FOR WALLY!

[autohobbs]

....I like Barry

[chieflewal]

I don't even notice a difference.

/facepalm

[blue_bolt]

Well this isn't Kingdom Come,

it's a Grim Dark version of Superman 4.

*sigh*

Re: /facepalm

[aravis]

It was clear from the start this wasn't Kingdom Come, but the opposite. Never quite understood why some people claimed it was KC...

One annoying similarity:

KC has Wonder Woman encourage Clark. Things go bad, with Diana's encouragement and blessing.
Injustice has Wonder Woman encourage Clark. Things are about to go bad. Presumably with Diana's encouragement and blessing.

Anybody else see this as a problem?

Re: /facepalm

[philippos42]

Isn't Diana supposed to be the level-headed Leaguer?

Re: /facepalm

[chieflewal]

Honestly, she should probably be the leader.

[thatnickguy]

So, it's like an extended take on the Justice Lords? Except we skip the part where they interact with the good League, who beat the piss out of them?

[silicondream]

So because a costumed criminal tricked Superman into killing his wife and an entire city, he decided that he was entitled to shut down every military in the world? I'm not really following the reasoning there.

I mean, if he was like, "OMG I just figured out that nukes are really dangerous and I should get rid of them all!" or "OMG I just figured out that supervillains shouldn't be allowed to live!" that would make sense. But this particular disaster didn't really have anything to do with human societies waging wars, it had to do with one crazy dude making Superman look like an idiot.

[autohobbs]

It's the prequel to a nether realm fighting game...does it really need to have reason besides, "This would be a cool fighting game"?

[wizardru]

I think it's probably "I've been dealing with the symptoms for years and it's Just. Not. Working. If I had dealt with the Joker PROPERLY, millions would still be alive. I have the power to enforce world peace and stop injustice, but I've never done it because of some flawed moral view that it's OK to allow villains to slaughter innocents and just reprimand them. That stops now."

I don't agree with that, even slightly...but I think the reasoning is more along the lines of the Joker's actions here being the final straw. How many times does someone like Lex Luthor have to threaten the world and hide behind the rule of law as a shield while subverting or betraying that same rule before it's not Luthor's fault but the people who let him get away with it?

[mrstatham]

This just bears a really fucking weird similarity to Superman IV, now, and I'm not sure at all why anyone would want to invoke that as a story, even with the really good intentions Reeves went and got it made under. What next, is Nuclear Man going to be the secret big bad of Injustice?

[wizardru]

Well, let's be honest, here. Superman IV was terrible not because of Nuclear Man, but because it was a terribly executed movie done on a shoestring budget with lots of compromises during a troubled production.
The idea of Superman deciding to do what he's doing here isn't a terrible idea on it's face, if executed by the right talent. Heck, we've had such stories before.

Whether any of this is worth all the effort for the lead-up to what is basically Mortal Kombat with DC characters is left as an exercise for the reader.

[mrstatham]

I have to disagree. Aside from the nice touch of Nuclear Man having Gene Hackman's voice (and the 'No, *you* have *MY* voice' line), Nuclear Man is one of the reasons the film is terrible.

[arysteia]

I *loved* him when I was eight. I thought he was a great villain. It was Lenny and the doubledating shenanigans that ruined the film for lo these many years ago me.

[md84]

Supes just lost his family and his entire city, and he just killed a man (or tried to given that Joker's in the game too) for the first time in his life (assuming in this universe the whole "executing alternate universe Kryptonians" thing didn't happen). I can see how that might push a guy over the edge. Even if that guy is Superman.

[lencannon]

I'm going to avoid having any strong opinions about this since it's just a prelude for a game where they all beat each other up. I'm not expecting a lot of grace or tact from Netherrealm studios.

[icon_uk]

Whilst agreeing in principle the principle raison d'etre of Transformers, Micronauts, Rom and even Visionaries was to sell toys, it's entirely possible for a comic to transcend it's origins. Not mandatory God knows (The UK Gladiators comic confirms that, but possible.

[freezer]

This isn't sliding down the slippery slope, this is tunneling straight through the mountain the slope was on.

And yeah, Diana going "Yay Team Super Fascist!" is off-putting, to put it mildly.

[goggle_kid]

Anyone else reminded of that scene from Superman 4 where Superman addresses the UN, tells everyone he's forcefully taking away everyone's nukes and the whole room breaks out into spontaneous applause?

Re: /facepalm

[darkknightjrk]

Here's the thing with the Wonder Woman stuff:

Outside of his first stories and, to a certain extent, the modern day stuff, Superman has been written as a sort-of outside protector of the status quo. He'll save the Earth from outside forces, but he can't save it from itself, because it isn't his place. On the other hand, Wonder Woman's mission has always been to change Man's World into a more peaceful place.

So if you take away what we know what's going to happen and see what he's trying to do now, I can see how Diana would consider what Superman's doing a step-up.

Besides, considering that Ares has been seen in pictures and sort-of mentioned in passing by the creators of the game, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the twist is that he's influencing both Clark and Diana to create this fascist society to create perpetual war.

[thormonger]

It reminds me of this story from the Armageddon 2001 event, where Metropolis got nuked and Superman took the law into his own hands.