Superman has faced some serious threats before, but he’s not prepared for the monster that Lex Luthor just whipped up. In his life, the Man of Steel has gone up against some truly terrifying threats, from evil alien conquerors to godlike beings hellbent on destroying the DC Universe. Of course, Clark always comes through in the end (he’s Superman, after all). But every once in a while, he goes up against an opponent that truly tests the Last Son of Krypton. And, as Doomsday once proved, even a hero as powerful as Superman can fall.
It admittedly takes a lot to hurt someone like Superman. Unless they have kryptonite, that is. And unfortunately for DC Comics’ powerhouse, the DCU just got several new shades of the irradiated space rocks. These new kryptonite variants have some truly wild effects, from warping Superman’s sense of time to turning him into a rampaging kaiju. And no one’s been keeping as close an eye on the kryptonite as Lex Luthor, who’s gathered all the information about the kryptonite he needs and is debuting his greatest weapon to destroy Superman.
Lex Luthor’s New Kryptonite Man is Here to Destroy Superman
Things all start going sideways in Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #4 by W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo. While Clark is waylaid and brought to the Fifth Dimension by his old magical frenemy, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Lex is hard at work on his latest plan. He and his beleaguered assistant, Dr. Hamilton, go over the advances brought on by the three new types of kryptonite. Lex has been using them, as well as the previously known variants, for Project M.O.K.. The project has already killed two volunteers, but Lex has finally cracked the way to complete his magnum opus.
Instead of using a random person, Lex has cloned himself and imbued that clone with the power of every known kryptonite, from the classics like green and red to newer ones such as purple and cobalt. Dubbed the Kryptonite Man, Lex unleashes his project from its confinement and rallies an army of Bizarro Bots, leading them all to Metropolis to take out Superman once and for all. As Clark’s Fifth-Dimensional escapade comes to an end, he meets the new and improved Kryptonite Man, who readies himself for one hell of a battle.
The Kryptonite Man is, of course, a known Superman villain that the hero has fought off and on since the ’60s. His origin has changed frequently, but he’s commonly depicted as a scientist who can emit traditional kryptonite radiation. It’s funny because the two people that Lex uses as part of Project M.O.K. are actually previous incarnations of Kryptonite Man (K. Russell Abernathy and Clay Ramsay). But this is a different continuity, and their sacrifice has led to Lex Luthor creating what’s almost certainly the most powerful Kryptonite Man ever.
Can Superman Overcome Every Kryptonite at Once?
Usually, the Kryptonite Man only possesses the power of green Kryptonite, weakening and causing extreme pain to Superman. It sucks, but it’s not something Clark can’t overcome. But Lex’s Kryptonite Man isn’t powered by just one kryptonite, but rather, the entire rainbow of them. And sure, some kryptonites aren’t inherently harmful to Superman, like blue. But the rest are extremely sinister, and a villain who can utilize every shade of them poses a real and serious risk to the Man of Tomorrow.
As bad as green kryptonite is, red kryptonite can cause intense mood swings or even mutations in Kryptonians. Yellow can de-power him, while black can manifest physical split personalities. And this new batch is just as bad, with purple messing up how Superman perceives time while cobalt and speckled make him uncontrollably grow and shrink, respectively. Alone, each of these things is bad news, but put them in the body of a monster like Lex? That’s a legit threat that Superman might not be able to beat.
Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum, as charming as it is, is an out-of-continuity story, meaning anything could happen here. While I fully believe Superman can overcome the worst challenges, he’s got his work cut out for him. We already saw how bad it was when Lex combined red and cobalt’s effects on Clark; who knows how bad it could get when other variants are used in tandem? While I wouldn’t be surprised if Superman eked out a win, I’m also expecting the new Kryptonite Man to wreck him in ways only someone like Doomsday could.
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