Action Comics#1000 Honors 80 Years of Superman With Another Wrinkle in His Origin Story

Although Action Comics # 1 launched in May 1938 , DC Comics is lionize 80 years of the Man of Tomorrow a picayune betimes with today ’s release of Action Comics # 1ooo , a bumper collection of tales reminding us about why we love the last son of Krypton so much . But a time to come - looking tale in the issue impart a novel enigma around Superman ’s parentage .

Of naturally , this is nothing novel when it come to detail how Krypton perished and an baby named Kal - El came to Earth . After all , 80 years is a long prison term , and part of the reason why Superman has endure over three quarters of a century ’s worth of adventures is that he has grown and evolved as a character over those years , as beautifully illustrate in Peter J. Tomasi , Patrick Gleason , Alejandro Sanchez , and Tom Napolitano ’s chronicle in the anthology , “ Never - Ending Battle . ” honestly , it ’s one of only a fistful of stories in Action Comics # 1000 that does something relatively interesting with the celebratory retrospective nature of this extra topic — wildly , DC already released the far - and - away good story in the issue , Tom King , Clay Mann , Jordie Bellaire , and John Workman ’s “ Of Tomorrow,”over a month ago .

But Superman has also lasted so long because of fresh twists and takes on his own yesteryear , modify it and impart layer of mystery to keep the eld - onetime tale of a dying world and a fiddling male child in a rocket still as fascinating as it was back in 1938 . The latest attempt at that shows up in the last story in Action Comics # 1000 , a trailer of what ’s to come now that Brian Michael Bendis hastaken on compose dutiesfor the Man of Steel after he surprisingly jumped ship from Marvellate last year .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

sport art by Jim Lee , Scott Williams , and Alex Sinclair , and letter by Cory Petit , “ The Truth ” sees Superman and Supergirl confronted by an nameless assailant , one that is more than happy to rap the pair about like they ’re not some of the strong people in the DC multiverse . Clark actually spends more than half of the proceeds knock unconscious , while Kara battles the unseen enemy and , weirdly enough , two civilians arrest up in the affray retarding force Clark ’s unconscious consistency to safety to , err , hash out the restitution of his red underwear .

But when Clark wakes up and rejoins the fighting , we lastly get a look at who this muscular new scourge is . And , if said terror is to be believed , they may not be that “ new”—they’ve apparently detest and kill Kryptonians for a very prospicient time . The assailant is a hulking outlander named Rogol Zaar , who reveals that it was n’t a natural disaster that wipe Krypton out of existence : He did .

Zaar has apparently then spent the years since shoot out Kryptonian survivor , “ cleansing ” the galaxy of their “ pest ” as he dramatically puts it to Superman as he tire a gaping hole in Clark ’s chest . That ’s all we get , out of doors of a promise to memorize more in Bendis ’ coming Man of Steel serial , but once again , 80 years on , the veridical reasons behind the death of Krypton have been changed again . That is , if Zaar really is as sinister as he arrogate to be .

William Duplessie