Superman Blue storyline question.

Hey, I'm new to this ng, so hello to everyone first off. I've been a huge Superman fan ever since I got into the books when I read the Death of Superman series. From 1993 to 1998 I collected every Superman title, but stopped in '98 and haven't read them for two years. I just began getting them again last week though. Anyway, enough about me, my question is this. In the two years since I've been away from the books, has it ever been explained exactly how and what circumstances led to Superman receiving his new energy powers? And has it also ever been fully explained how Superman Blue/Superman Red merged in Superman Forever to become one again, complete with his old powers?

Hello and welcome.

As to your questions:

1) During 'Final Night' (when the Sun Eater tried to nosh on Sol) Supes lost his powers. Afterwards, his powers didn't come back (during 'Final Night' it was revealed his DNA had been altered) and his attempts to regain them overcharged his body, turning him into an electrical being. Somehow he split between Supes (electrical) and Clark (ordinary human) and could switch between the two at will.

2) The existence of the two Supermen sped up the coming of the Millenium Giants. To stop them, the Superman spent all their energy, sacrificing themselves to save the world. As a reward for this selfless act, The Powers That Be merged the two together and returning Superman's classic powers. This was all revealed in the 'Superman Forever' one-shot in case you're interested.

Cool, thanks for the info. ICQ #59665265

The only way the merge was explained was this: Superman Red was at the earths core. Blue was in the far reaches of space. They were sort of at places that were 'opposite poles' just like Superman Red and Superman Blue are opposite energies. They released their opposite energies at opposite poles. When to substances are opposites, when they are combined, they form a neutral substance. The Original Superman was this neutral substance between Red and Blue. Thats Pretty much it

I hope this has helped

This isn't right. Final night had nothing to do with electric Blue. He regained his Superman powers and had them for quite a while afterwards before he turned blue on us. He got his powers back with the aid of Metron after Final night by boom tubing directicly into the Core of the Sun. But there was no electric stuff happening.

In which he 'guesses' he was rewarded by having his former self restored. But who or why wasn't even hinted at. Nor how. Additionally the recent storyline with Brainiac, where he becomes Superman blue for an issue or two tends to completly destroy that theory. So Really the answer is No. We have no idea how or why he became Superman blue/red, or why or how he turned back.

Actually, it is. During 'Final Night' he first manifest an electrical power (shorts some bonds a Fortress warbot put him in). And it was because of his changed DNA that he didn't regain his powers after 'Final Night'. His attempts to regain his powers, which temporarilly did just that, sped up his transformation into an electrical being.

Agreed, I was going with what was offered in the story. BTW, I get the impression Kismet (who appeared in 'Superman Forever' played a hand in returning Superman to normal. Perhaps to help her battle Dominus?

> Additionally the recent storyline with Brainiac, where he becomes Superman blue for an issue

I got the impression from the story that Braniac 13 was going to process Superman and Braniac 1 (?) maybe a double of Superman to fight B13 and since Electro was the easiest template to use in such a short amount of time, that's how he returned. Electro was around merely to divert B13's attentions while B1 and Luthor went to save the real Supes from being processed.

I don't recall this at all. Got any issue #'s? And is any of that actually stated in the comics, or is this just your interpretation of them?

Probably not a bad guess, but it's just what we are saying, the story never actually explains it.

Well, the way I read the storyline, B2 (B1 was the human one) rebuilt Superman's physical form and helped but his energy back in, but he didn't have anything to do with the arrival of Electric Blue. Additionally if his DNA had been changed to create Superman Blue as you said, this didn't occur here, so it seems that isn't the explanation that's supposed to be accepted.

'Superman Blue' was actually a construct of Brainiac 2.5.

them?

Superman #117 has Superman attacked by Fortress robots. This is because the robot rebuilding the Fortress noticed that Superman's DNA is not Kryptonian. The robot places Superman in a harness and tosses him into a furnace. Unable to use any of his powers on the harness (he assumes it's somehow nullifying his powers and this is confirmed by the robot later) struggles until an electric blast tears it apart (he chalks this up to the harness shorting out).

True. Kismet does say their sacrifice, the purging of their energies to save the Earth, led to the return of the classic Superman it's never explained how.

accepted.

In Superman #154, Superman goes to sever one of the modem lines carrying digital memory through Metropolis. Instead of halting the flow of material, Superman is digitalized and put into the bit stream. Shortly thereafter, Electro-Supes reappears.

In Adventures of Superman #576, Brainiac 2 (thanks for the correction) and Luthor make their way to the power core of Brainiac 13's Metropolis. There they find the real Superman encased in a pod. Brainiac explains:

'The moment we entered the building, I had access to Brainiac 13's global net at the very same time Superman was absorbed into the bit-stream...but before he could be processed. Since we got inside , I've utilized a portion of my psychic ability to the reconstruction of Superman's material form. The energy signature required was available only in the power core, which is why I directed it here, if your feeble mind can follow. I knew this would take time so we needed a distraction and the electric Superman's synapse template was exceedingly simple. But B13 won't be distracted for much longer'

This was not Superman reverted into Electro, it was a construct created by Brainiac 2 as he converted the real Superman back into material form.

Nothing to do with the question at hand, but an interesting aside.

When the Blue Superman storyline began it was treated as the greatest thing to happen to Superman. I didn't mind the stroyline, but didn't like how no one seemed to care (especially Superman) what happened, how, why, what were the pros and cons, and if it could be undone. Everybody expected it too quickly and the readers weren't allowed to get used to it. We had to like it right away.

Now, the current writers look down upon Electro-Man. They call him the weaker Superman and a fake. His not really Superman and can't fill his boots. I don't disapprove of this, this is a valid and realistic criticims of the E-Man arc. Superman was just not Superman during this time, no matter how hard he tried to convince us the powers and costume didn't matter. He did seem weaker because he wasn't invulnerable, he lacked the sight and hearing powers, he couldn't fly, and he wasn't super-strong. The heart of the charcter was the same: One man with fantastic powers trying to make the world a better place without thinking about himself. But with everything else wildly altered, the heart didn't matter. It was Superman in somebody elses body. And that has been done in the past, only much better.