What will be Kal-L's final fate after INFINITE CRISIS?

[Buried Alien]

Kal-L. The Golden Age Superman. The original Man of Steel.

After CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS twenty years ago, it was thought that he would never again be seen in the DCU. He was deleted from history, not forgotten by comics readers, but forgotten by the DC Universe itself.

Then, shockingly, Kal-L returned in INFINITE CRISIS.

But what does the future hold for Kal-L after INFINITE CRISIS? Does he disappear from history once again? Does he die, but is forever remembered by the heroes of the Post-INFI-CRISIS DCU? Will he continue to live on the so-called "New Earth"? Will he serve as "Superman Emeritus," or retire from herodom (but remain on call on New Earth)?

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[Jason H]

I hope he sticks around, but I don't think he will.

[spiderx3]

I do not think Kal-L will survive, but I am hoping that he does. Maybe Geoff Johns could find a way to retcon him into the DCu.

[rfahey]

Maybe he becomes Superman of another planet (Rann/Thanagar - whichever was left)? I don't think they'll kill him, after all he's meant to the company.

[soda]

Here's what I don't think. I don't think Kal-L is going to die. I don't think you kill off the hero of action comics #1, you owe him the entire company, heck, the entire industry owes him everything. I think Kal-L survives, I like the idea of "superman emeritus", but I do see Kal-L sticking around in some capacity, post-IC.

[DeStefano1389]

I think they'll make Kal-El and Kal-L will somehow fuse together, making our Supes less of a whimp and still pay homage to the hero who started it all.

[EZMOHR]

Maybe Kal El, Kal L, and Superboy Prime will all merge into something.

[Buried Alien]

Maybe Kal El, Kal L, and Superboy Prime will all merge into something.

Super-VOLTRON?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Bored at 3:00AM]

He won't remain part of the New Earth's history obviously, but I would like him to be remembered by the current Superman, the JSA and others. I know that Superman always has to be around 33 years old, but there really needs to be recognition that this character started it all and was the inspiration for everybody that followed.

[Sabrinaset]

He'll end up retired and living in a Metropolis double-wide.

[Ian J.N.]

He won't remain part of the New Earth's history obviously, but I would like him to be remembered by the current Superman, the JSA and others. I know that Superman always has to be around 33 years old, but there really needs to be recognition that this character started it all and was the inspiration for everybody that followed.
I know that it would make for some awkward continuity finangling, but it would be damned cool if Kal-L did become part of New Earth's history. He'd be the first hero that inspired all the rest, eventually retiring to take the editorial reigns of the Daily Star (later renamed to the Daily Planet), marrying Lois and living a full life until both succumb to old age... or something. Most folks would assume that the current Superman is the same guy, and who knows, perhaps he is.

Ai, this is tough. Continuity experts! Make it work!

[BYC]

I don't think he'll die, since that'll take Superboy death's impact away. I think he'll fade out of existance (but people will remember him), and use his "goodness" to make sure that New Earth has "goodness" in abundance. That's one of the reasons he thought Earth-1 was flawed, so I think that makes sense. They'll probably make up some excuse that without Alex, Kal-L can't maintain his presence anymore.

[Aetherus]

Supernova!

[davids]

Start traveling the universe. :evilsmile

[PatrickG]

Well, I can say one thing.

That is that the merger almost certainly won't happen now. We have a new DCU with everything pretty much fixed, continuity-wise, and if Kal-L and Kal-El were going to merge, it would have been then.

HOWEVER...

Somebody had a neat suggestion that "Superman Prime" from DC One Million is Kal-L.

It works on a lot of levels and ties things together.

DC One Million was the celebration of a million months since Superman's 1938 debut.

It also spoke a lot about "the original Superman" who left earth after Lois Lane's death and after millenia roaming the stars and a thousand years in the sun, returns where he is celebrated by a universe of super-heroes where everyone has super-powers and reveres Superman as their inspiration. Superman Prime is reunited with Lois.

And it's not a boring old Heaven. There are villains there but the tone of everything is brighter and more energetic.

And Superman Prime's chest emblem is based on a temporary emblem Superman wore in the 40s for a few issues.

And his history tells of a Superman Secundus who fathered the lineage of Supermen that carry the name in the future.

Well, Kal-El could well be that Superman Secundus.

And in the end, Kal-L's happy ending is there. It saves DC1M and Kal-L's place in "continuity" while freeing up the monthly Superman from the certainty of a happy ending that DC1M provided.

A "Heaven" with dying wife and two kids is no send off for Kal-L. Merging seems unlikely. Death is depressing.

But if he flies off into space never to be seen again and we learn that he is the celebrated champion of universe in the distant future, with Lois at his side again, it seems like a nice kind of closure for the character.

[MazingMan728]

I do not think that we will see Kal-L after this Crisis but that he will go out a hero and save the universe. Kal-L will probably take the blame for Alex and SBP as he should have been a better father figure to them. Alex will probably be taken outr early by SBP who will continue to rampage. Kal-L will be powered up by Kal-El sacrificing his powers to him though the help of the magic users, which would explain why Kal-El has no powers One Year Later. Once Kal-L has SBP in his grasp, or maybe Alex also if he is still alive and kicking, the magic users will open up some dimensional vortex which Kal-L and SBP will be drawn into with the help of Kal-L only to have it go boom taking Kal-L and SBP with it. SBP is gone and Kal-L gets his last nod by going out a hero as everything is ties into Superman as Alex puts it.
Of course I could be wrong.

[Evan Lanctot]

I think Kal-L will once again disappear from the DCU but will not be killed.

[Kid Kyoto]

I hope someone opens a dimensional rift to heaven for him, Lois and Superboy. After his career he deserves a good rest.

[NotSuper]

I hope he doesn't die OR go away. Crisis shouldn't exist in a vacuum.

[Drifter]

I have a feeling SBP and Alex are still bumping around. They didnt show their body's at the end of issue 6 which is pretty much a gaurantee that they'll be back in 7. Some may say that doing this would have wasted Superboys death and made it less heroic, but keep in mind he died severly wounding both big baddies AND taking out the world taker-over-type-machine thus saving everyone.

SO i see a throwdown between the big 3 + Kal L Vs. Alex and SBP

We also have the issue of the Spectre? all he did last issue was come back and zap whats her face. Maybe he has something to do with Clark's powers and or banishing the baddies with or without Kal L

[NotSuper]

I have a feeling SBP and Alex are still bumping around. They didnt show their body's at the end of issue 6 which is pretty much a gaurantee that they'll be back in 7. Some may say that doing this would have wasted Superboys death and made it less heroic, but keep in mind he died severly wounding both big baddies AND taking out the world taker-over-type-machine thus saving everyone.
I don't think it lessens Kon's death if his attack ultimately didn't work. I mean, unless Kon somehow got his powers suped (perhaps that's what the crystal did?) up, he shouldn't have even been a match for Superboy-Prime. That was kind of a cheat, but it's not something I'm going to dwell on--it did allow Superboy-Kon to have a good, heroic death.

Anyway, I think it's Kon's struggle that was heroic, rather than him succeeding or failing. Despite not standing a chance against Prime in prolonged combat (Prime is almost like a force of nature, even when put up against DC's big guns), he still fought and gave his life to protect others. That's heroism.

[Buried Alien]

I don't think it lessens Kon's death if his attack ultimately didn't work.

Indeed. In the original Crisis, the deaths of Supergirl and Flash did not end the threat of the Anti-Monitor either.


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[Lord Ichabod]

I think Kal-L will be remembered in some capacity. I'm sure there's a way to have him be the frst superman and still have current superman have the same origins. maybe jor-l is jor-el's grandfather? I don't know. but if someone that knew everything about the DCU ( which I don't really know squat about) put their heads to it there's a way to have them both have existed in the same universe.
I'm thinking Kal-L doesn't die, but does kind of fade away in an attempt to finish off alex.

[Buried Alien]

It's actually not that difficult to resolve. After COIE, DC insisted that the Multiverse never existed...which was why it was impossible to keep even the memory of Multiverse characters around. Now that Multiverse characters have come back and informed the Post-COIE DCU characters of the previous existence of the Multiverse, they can just leave it at that: the Post-COIE, Post-INFINITE CRISIS DCU characters can remember Kal-L exactly as he is: the Superman of a parallel universe that once existed, but exists no more. Very simple, really.

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[Lord Ichabod]

that's too easy. I guess I kind of just assumed that the multiverse would go back to not existing again.

[Buried Alien]

that's too easy. I guess I kind of just assumed that the multiverse would go back to not existing again.

That would be a total waste of INFINITE CRISIS as far as I'm concerned. I didn't wait twenty years for DC to *finally* acknowledge the Multiverse again only to have them send it back to Nowhere Land after INFINITE CRISIS.

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[Lord Ichabod]

the multiverse died before I was born so I have no attatchement to it. I wasn't to keen on bringing it back (and am kind of happy it's not so far), but I think that wiping it out of existance was kind of silly.

[Buried Alien]

the multiverse died before I was born so I have no attatchement to it. I wasn't to keen on bringing it back (and am kind of happy it's not so far), but I think that wiping it out of existance was kind of silly.

If they don't want to bring it back as the default mode of the DC Omniverse like it was from the early 1960s until 1986, I can live with that, but I *really* hope they don't pretend it *never* existed again. I'm not insisting on having the Multiverse back (although I'd really like it), but I do feel strongly about it not being forgotten again.

If the DCU characters continue to remember and refer to the Multiverse long after INFINITE CRISIS is done, then to me, the whole thing has been worthwhile.

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[SuperSince92]

I want him to survive and join the JSA.

I realize he's not appearing in the current OYL JSA stories, but there could be something to explain that either in IC #7 or 52....

[NotSuper]

I want him to survive and join the JSA.
I like your idea. Plus, as an added bonus, it would increase the sales of the book.

[handOFfate]

I still predict Kal-L and Kal-El merge. I don't see him dying, and I don't see him sticking around OYL (though I'd like to see this). Putting him on the JSA would be awesome.

[MazingMan728]

I would agree that having him as part of the JSA would be a great idea, but if there is no multiverse then it is a bit hard to explain later down the line why there are two Superman...Supermen...Clark Kents... Anyways in the end I see Alex, SPB, and Kal-L somehow "gone" since they were not really a part of the Earth when it became one at the end of Crisis and since they are not a part of the fabric of the universe then they will not fit and be expunged like a visus that two-thirds of them are.

[Calybos]

I predict that the other heroes will come to their senses and apologize to Kal-L, agree that he was right, and help him restore heroism to the DC Universe.

After which he'll retire to Aruba.

[soda]

I would agree that having him as part of the JSA would be a great idea, but if there is no multiverse then it is a bit hard to explain later down the line why there are two Superman...Supermen...Clark Kents... Anyways in the end I see Alex, SPB, and Kal-L somehow "gone" since they were not really a part of the Earth when it became one at the end of Crisis and since they are not a part of the fabric of the universe then they will not fit and be expunged like a visus that two-thirds of them are.

Here's an idea: how about we stick AL, Kal-L and SBP into some paradise pocket dimension, where they can hang out for twenty years until they're needed again for the next crisis?

[MazingMan728]

I'd rather prefer that the magic users turn Alex and SBP into Sugar and Spike and Kal-L takes over the role of loving uncle. Sure it reto-cons one more series from DC's past but we get to keep Uncle Clark.