Is SuperBoy Prime the ultimate threat that DC makes him out to be?

[aeastwic]

In IC Secert Files and Origins, as well as some of the dialogue in the IC-related books, it claims that Superboy-Prime is a monumental threat, possibly more so than the Anti-Monitor. Although to be fair, everyone (until now) should have thought that the Anti-Monitor tried to destroy one universe.

SBP seems to be a pre-Crisis Kryptonian, with the ability to smash out of "Paradise", the Phantom Zone and it took several flashes running (according to normal physics) at near infinite mass to pull him into the Speed Force.

However, for someone who should be stronger than current DCU Superman, he has really never *won* a fight.

He whipped Conner and some D-listers, but for not holding back, he didn't really seal the deal. Conner is much less powered than him, but SBP didn't kill him. He managed to kill, basically, unpowered humans.

I finally got my head wrapped around how the Flashes kept him trapped for years. He seems to only be powered UNDER the yellow sun...but once he feels it, he is at full strength. So keeping him under a Red Sun makes him very, very tired. However, once he gets back into the yellow SUN, he really doesn't kick #$@ like someone of his power levels should.

Is he too much hype, or is he just too in-experienced to be an effective fighter?

[glennsim]

I don't think he's as much a threat as the Anti-Monitor was, either the pre-Crisis or post-Crisis version. But that doesn't mean he's not a tremendous threat.

That being said, it doesn't look like the entirety of Earth's heroes are being employed to stop SBP - many of them are dealing with the villains (i.e. the Perez cover).

[Violently Apathetic]

Well, remember in issue 4 of IC he didn't really WANT to kill anyone, he was trying to make a point, so there's no reason to believe that he wasn't attempting to hold back, it's just that someone as strong as he is holding back still means that things that aren't so well attached, like heads and limbs, are going to come off. After that it seems like he hasn't had much of a chance to go all out against anyone. Frankly he should have been able to take Kon apart, and the fact that fight took as long as it did suggests to me that either Prime was toying with Kon or the writer's didn't want a fight that was just two panels of Prime ripping Kon's spine out.

Basically, LOGICALLY he should be a huge threat, but he hasn't been utilized properly (yet, there's still one issue) and I think it would have been much more interesting to throw both Superman, maybe Wonder Woman and a handful of green Lanterns at him and see what happens...so until then I'm afraid Superboy Prime is going to be one of those characters who people are like 'OMG, so powerful' within the story but the readers are left with more of a 'That's it?' kinda vibe unless something amazing happens in the next issue.

[Chango]

couldnt you wait another week to find out?

[aeastwic]

couldnt you wait another week to find out?

I've been waiting like three months to see something big happen with the character. After IC 6, he doesn't look too formidable. Maybe he'll just go nuts now that his Earth ain't coming back, but this is a big drag on what is otherwise a fantastic series.

[jelly [blank] of doom]

He's a threat because he has no experience with his powers. Also, now it seems like he is understanding his powers and starting to use them for a purpose. I still think they're going to pull he's the Anti-Mon somehow, or he was being influenced.

[rfahey]

In theory he would be a huge threat - any character that can single-handedly move an entire planet should have no problem killing pretty much all of DC's roster, with the exceptions of E1 and E2 Superman. But unfortunately his power level's been made to fluctuate drastically in order to suit the story. Also, even though he's very powerful, he doesn't have the capability to destroy entire universes, as did the Anti-Monitor (though that wasn't due to his strength level but the nature of his antimatter powers).

[chriskenny]

He isn't the only threat. You have to factor in the scheming of Alex Luthor, who make Superboy-Prime the threat he is.

Chris

[NotSuper]

In theory he would be a huge threat - any character that can single-handedly move an entire planet should have no problem killing pretty much all of DC's roster, with the exceptions of E1 and E2 Superman. But unfortunately his power level's been made to fluctuate drastically in order to suit the story. Also, even though he's very powerful, he doesn't have the capability to destroy entire universes, as did the Anti-Monitor (though that wasn't due to his strength level but the nature of his antimatter powers).
This has especially bothered me. Why would a guy that can move a planet struggle against Kon-El? Granted, Kon isn't weak by any standard, but he's nowhere near as strong, fast, or as invulnerable as Superboy-Prime. What makes it even more unbelievable is that Superboy-Prime easily dispatched Black Adam (who is far stronger than Kon) in the same issue. The only way it would make sense is if Kon used Sunstone to boost his powers somehow (and when are we going to see how Kon used the crystal, as Luthor said he did?).

In any case, Superboy-Prime (or any other threat for that matter) has ever been as big a threat as the Anti-Monitor. The guy destroyed thousands of universes.

[gorthon616]

Assuming he's silver age supes level, then probly stronger that any character that would actually have to fight.

Question though, has it been related if SBP, ALJ, or SM2 will be sticking around after IC? I can superman 2 no, but I could see superboy prime or alex luthor jr as sticking around (and would be interested in that)

[Guts/Batman]

Bah...

Darkseid should be able to take Superboy Prime.

[Buried Alien]

Bah...

Darkseid should be able to take Superboy Prime.

Darkseid has been having problems with "wimpy" Post-COIE Superman in recent years, so maybe not...


Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[ChthonicSpirit]

I think that SBP can't use his powers effectively in a fight because he fights so emotionally. When he's moving a planet, its like "fine, here's a planet, push it over that way". There's no emotional content in the task, so he can concentrate on it. But he always loses control of himself when he's fighting. As someone like Ted Grant could tell you, that'll ruin your performance.

Also, I'd like to field a question. I've heard that SBP will still be around after IC. Do you think that there is any way for him to be redeemed? Maybe not while Connor is still dead, but perhaps afterwards? I ask this because I just picked up IC Secret Files, and I couldn't help being a little put out by the fact that SBP appparently watched, among other things, Sue Dibny being raped. Now, I hate SBP for what he did to Connor and them titans he killed, but at the same time I have to ask what, exactly, witnessing that type of thing would have done to his mind. Especially given how child-like his emotional resopnses are.

Any thoughts?

[stealthwise]

The big thing about SBP is that he may have CAUSED Sue Dibny's rape due to a good old "retcon-punch," and thus aided the deeper darkening of the DCU inadvertently (or unwittingly, if Alex Luthor manipulated him into doing so).

[Guts/Batman]

Darkseid has been having problems with "wimpy" Post-COIE Superman in recent years, so maybe not...


Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I don't refer to Post Crisis Darkseid as Darkseid. I call him Jobberseid. The only Darkseid I refer to as Darkseid is...PC Darkseid.

[Apathy Boy]

Superboy Prime hasn't seemed like much of a threat because he hasn't been trying to be. Throughout much of this series, Superboy Prime has been belabouring under the assumption that he was a good guy, and freaking out because he accidentally decapitated someone by flexing a muscle or something.

So we haven't really seen him going full-out yet, or acting with malicious intent. But as of issue #6, his attitude looks to have changed.

[rfahey]

I'd buy that he's been holding back - he was horrified when he killed the Titans, and in IC #6 he says that no one will ever know what he had to do to get his earth back, so he seems to still feel some guilt over his killing spree. I don't know how that squares with moving the planet and precipitating the R/T war, though. He must have known that that would have resulted in mass casualties, and he didn't seem terribly regretful about that (but does he only value human life?). I think he generally just wants to beat the E1 heroes up, to show them that he's right and they're wrong.

[Buried Alien]

I don't refer to Post Crisis Darkseid as Darkseid. I call him Jobberseid. The only Darkseid I refer to as Darkseid is...PC Darkseid.

Yeah, but "Jobberseid" is the only "...seid" we've seen in the DC Universe for years. Don't know what ever happened to the old Darkseid; he's missing along with the *real* Earth-One Superman (the one who could throw planets). :)

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Alex L]

I'd buy that he's been holding back - he was horrified when he killed the Titans, and in IC #6 he says that no one will ever know what he had to do to get his earth back, so he seems to still feel some guilt over his killing spree. I don't know how that squares with moving the planet and precipitating the R/T war, though. He must have known that that would have resulted in mass casualties, and he didn't seem terribly regretful about that (but does he only value human life?). I think he generally just wants to beat the E1 heroes up, to show them that he's right and they're wrong.

But if SBP/Alex's plan suceeds, then the universe as we know it will be gone and it'll be just like those acts never happened.

Can't jail someone for commiting homicide in a dream, can you?

[Guts/Batman]

Yeah, but "Jobberseid" is the only "...seid" we've seen in the DC Universe for years. Don't know what ever happened to the old Darkseid; he's missing along with the *real* Earth-One Superman (the one who could throw planets). :)

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

That is true. Damn rectons and stuff like that...

We at Rumbles have a good time with that one. Having DCU Darkseid be like a clone of the real Darkseid while PC Darkseid was off searching for the ALE. That would be the best explaination...perhaps have Superboy Prime with the anti-matter in him be the answer.

And now would be the prefect time to bring him back. Have everybody fighting like hell, then Darkseid boomtube in...

"Back off weaklings..."

[rfahey]

And now would be the prefect time to bring him back. Have everybody fighting like hell, then Darkseid boomtube in...

"Back off weaklings..."

Wouldn't having him boomtube from his home planet, to get into a fight with a bunch of puny earthlings over a conflict he has no real interest in, actually make him more pathetic?

[Guts/Batman]

Wouldn't having him boomtube from his home planet, to get into a fight with a bunch of puny earthlings over a conflict he has no real interest in, actually make him more pathetic?

Since when does Darkseid have no interest in the ALE?