Warning: contains spoilers for The Fury of Firestorm #4!
Superman’s lore just changed forever in the darkest way. As DC’s flagship superhero, and the first superhero, Superman’s mythos is warp and woof with the publisher’s universe. As Superman’s lore has progressed over the past 88 years, one thing has remained constant: his unwavering commitment to truth, justice and a better world.
Yet generations of writers and artists have played around with Superman’s lore, sending him down some interesting, and at times, dark paths. In 2003, writer Mark Millar and artist Dave Johnson showed fans what would have happened had Kal-El’s rocket crashed in the Soviet Union in Superman: Red Son. This version of Superman, despite the change in upbringing, was still by and large a moral man. Some creators have pushed the “dark Superman” trope as far as it will go. Franchises such as Injustice and television shows like Justice League Unlimited have depicted dark Supermen.
Red Son was later adpated into an animated feature film, released in 2020.
Then there are tweaks to Superman’s lore that do not directly involve the Man of Steel, but still show a dark side to his legacy. Introduced in 2017’s Doomsday Clock maxiseries, the Supermen Project was a top-secret military initiative to create metahumans answerable only to the United States government. A number of top scientists and industrialists from across the DC Universe were involved, and its ramifications are still being felt today.
The Supermen Project Helped Create Firestorm, Among Others
In The Fury of Firestorm #4, written by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Rafael de Latorre, fans are reminded of Professor Martin Stein’s involvement with the Supermen Project years prior. Stein manipulated not only Ronnie Raymond, creating the accident that gave birth to Firestorm, but also brought about Firehawk by exposing Lorraine Reilly to the same energies. Now that time has passed, Stein is deeply regretful of his role in the Project, and for his treatment of Ronnie.
Doomsday Clock, as well as The New History of the DC Universe, revealed that not only was Professor Stein a conspirator, but so were Niles Caulder, Will Magnus and Simon Stagg. Longtime DC fans will recognize those names as the masterminds behind the Doom Patrol, the Metal Men and Metamorpho, respectively. The Fury of Firestorm #4 confirms all of these heroes and teams are spin-offs of the Supermen Project.
Furthermore, The New History of the DC Universe confirmed even more heroes, and some villains, were offshoots of the various phases of the Supermen Project. Firestorm is one, as is Captain Atom, who possesses similar powers. Villains such as Killer Frost, Man-Bat and Lady Clayface also received their augmentations from the Supermen Project. The Project’s tendrils stretch even further across the DC Universe: the recent Dakota Incident linked the chemical agent behind the “Big Bang” to the Supermen Project.
The Supermen Project Darkly Retconned DC History
Will the Supermen Project Yield More Heroes and Villains?
The Supermen Project was one of Doomsday Clock’s biggest bombshells, one that significantly retcons many origins in a dark fashion. It was already known Niles Caulder engineered the accidents that created the Doom Patrol, and that Stagg was responsible for Metamorpho. 1993’s Metal Men miniseries revealed the titular team were based on living people that Will Magnus knew. Doomsday Clock scribe Geoff Johns simply extrapolated this scenario further by adding Martin Stein to the mix. Doing so gave Firestorm a link to the military-industrial complex.
So far, the Superman Project has been divided into two phases. The first, which birthed Metamorpho, the Metal Men and others, came right as Superman was entering the public eye. The second phase came many years later. Administered by the Department of Metahuman Affairs, the Project’s second phase created god-level powerhouses like Firestorm and Captain Atom, perhaps as a response to heroes like Superman. It stands to reason there are still more phases of the Superman Project left to go, meaning even more heroes and villains may emerge.
The Supermen Projects Shows the Dark Side of Superman’s Legacy
The Supermen Project is one of the biggest retcons in DC history. While shady organizations giving people superpowers are nothing new in the DC Universe, the Project is the first attempt to link many of the publisher’s most powerful heroes together. However, it does so in the darkest fashion possible. Firestorm, Metamorpho and the Doom Patrol were all pressed into service against their will, fashioned into weapons to be used against other metahumans.
Firestorm, Metamorpho and the Doom Patrol were all pressed into service against their will, fashioned into weapons to be used against other metahumans.
And this Project is a dark reflection of Superman’s legacy. Superman inspires people through his good deeds and unshakable moral foundation. These qualities have led many to trust Superman with their lives, and some, like Steel, have even taken up the fight alongside the Man of Steel. Yet the Supermen Project creates its “heroes” through dark science, manipulation and subterfuge, the very concepts Superman himself opposes. That the Project also bears his name adds an even more twisted layer to this perversion of his legacy.
The Fury of Firestorm #4 is on sale now from DC Comics!
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
