Superman in 2025: Year in Review
Last year I wrote that 2025 was poised to be Superman's most important year since 1978. With the year almost over it's time to look back and see if that proved true.
Absolute Superman - Easily remains the Superman comic getting the most attention and sales. Despite the valid complaints regarding Aaron's admittedly weak take on the Al Ghuls, I continue to enjoy his take on Superman himself, and find his Brainiac a genuinely threatening revamp. Absolute Brainiac is the devil who haunts the book in the same way Absolute Joker does for Batman, as reflected in how both of them have the demonic goat legs frequently seen in depictions of demons. He is clearly being built up to serve as Kal's true archnemesis, as established with how the two have similar backstories and it's Brainiac who continues to torment Kal after Ra's fall per the art teases from Ferreyra.
DC KO - Yeah this is my kind of slop. Hype moments and aura farming galore there might be, but Superman killing himself to unlock the Omega Sanctum and defeat a Black Lantern Lex Luthor who has raised Elder God zombies to kill everyone is Scott Snyder escalation at it's best. Javier Fernandez artwork matches Snyder's energy perfectly with how he is practically shattering the boundaries of each panel border, his art dancing across the page. Only real weakness is that there's no surprise, it's going to end with either Superman or Lex vs. the Joker and Joker will lose. Nevertheless it's a fun ride in the way Metal was and Death Metal was not.
Williamson Superman - Continues to shock me with how enjoyable it is. Ever since Lois became Superwoman and Mora joined the book, Williamson has found his groove and even surpassed the heights of his early arcs with Campbell. Connecting Doomsday and Time Trapper was my favorite development for Doomsday since his debut, and Prime returning post Johns for a fight with an evil Legion actually managed to be worth his return! Even the KO tie-ins, which had me worried because this book has spent so much time tying in to events that I fear will hurt it's readability in the future, have managed to be enjoyable.
New History - As an autist, I am glad to have never been afflicted with the disease I see so often amidst my brethren who read superhero comics. Namely of course, the disease wherein one cares about the chronology of the shared universe to the point one obsess over the "canon" age of characters, and demands constant retcons and clarifications about how stories "fit" together. If you are one of the unfortunates suffering from this affliction, autistic or not, this book is for you. It's a boring glorified Wikipedia entry that does highlight how hilariously convoluted DC history is. Some pretty art in certain sections is the only reason I can think of to recommend this. But if you want to know what Superman's "canon" looks like post-NHotDCU, someone put together this helpful guide (just slot Waid Action in the middle of Secret Origin between the time Clark became Superboy and when he arrived in Metropolis):
Waid Action - Speaking of which, hey Waid returning to Action wasn't a total disaster! Granted we still have Waid writing Superboy running missions for the Army to deal with (if anyone aside from Adams is going to completely botch the handling of that it would be Waid), but the book thus far been a fun "Superboy by way of Spider-Man" hybrid that I've enjoyed reading. This is Waid at his most shameless Silver Age fanboy, but Waid remembers that era was defined by Superman using his brain to solve problems not just brute power. In today's world where Supes is frequently reduced to a brute, it's good to have a book that pushes back against that. Patridge deserves a lot of credit for that I think. If Action runs long enough I fully expect Waid to retell the story of Superman's debut, overriding Secret Origin. Per Waid though he has no plan to age out of Superboy territory any time soon.
Waid World's Finest - Initially the plan was to drop WF and stick with JLU, but I grew bored of JLU when I realized I really didn't care what Waid's take on most of the DC characters is. So I dropped that and switched back to WF with the Bizarro arc. Since that story, it's been my favorite Waid book and seems to have found it's footing once again. I was hoping Waid would wrap his run up with issue 50 but there's no indication that's in the cards, and it is the ideal book for him. Let it keep running then for as long as he can maintain a level of quality.
Slott Unlimited - Another Marvel lifer makes his debut at DC with a Superbook, and the crowd goes... mild? Nothing here to rile up the masses but also nothing here to wow them either. A excessive use of kryptonite when right now I want nothing more than to move AWAY from that plot device, has left me yawning frequently. Despite being multiple issues in, it feels like this book is still searching for a hook, there's nothing here to make this a must read. A couple interesting ideas present are why I stick with it, and I am committed to seeing Slott's Prankster revamp, but if this doesn't pick up soon I'll drop it.
North Krypto - Sufficient enough story. Not particularly memorable or likely to become a go-to reference, but for a protagonist who can't speak or "think", North managed to wring juuuust enough sympathy out of Krypto's various predicaments for me to be satisfied. Norton is the true MVP however, being able to show a dog's emotional state to the point we sympathize without being able to read his thoughts is no mean feat.
Kryptonite Spectrum - I was so disappointed by this I feel I need to write a separate post explaining why. Short version is too much Batman, and the ending while delightfully unhinged in a Silver Age way, does not feel earned given how superficial Lois' involvement in the story was.
Red & Blue Special - Found it to be as big a letdown and unambitious as the main book was. It's Tom Taylor wholesomecore slop that only exists to have pages pasted on reddit for upvotes. I had hoped for Dan Abnett of 40k fame to deliver something with weight but alas his was probably the worst of the bunch. Only Rainbow Rowell's Clois story managed to delight me, she should be next up on Action Comics after Waid.
PKJ Book of El - Alongside Aaron Absolute and Williamson Superman, this is by far the Superbook I can't wait to read each week it comes out. It's bringing the big sci-fi spectacle and worldbuilding that made me a fan of PKJ in the first place. I am genuinely heartbroken that we never got a proper Brainiac storyline from PKJ because his take on the character here is pitch perfect. Brainiac basically runs Earth Brave New World style where the population is so pacified by comfort that they don't want to rebel is perfect, that Brainiac rules "like a scientist", and all the freaky genetic experiments we find out he's been doing in the back pages is terrifying. And that scene where PKJ flat out states that Superman is as strong as he needs to be to protect the oppressed, able to surpass his own limits. in order to whoop the asses of the Summer Men? Chef's kiss man, that's exactly it. Best use of Jimmy Olsen Turtle Boy since Fraction too. Would be remiss not to mention that this is Godlewski's career best work, I'm becoming quite the fan of his depiction of action scenes or how deftly he handles the quiet emotional moments.
Superman 2025 - My favorite Superman movie and the one that had both Superman and Gunn's futures riding on it. While it didn't outgross MoS at the box office, it did beat out F4, and secured it's place as the most profitable superhero film of 2025. Furthermore it helped rehabilitate Superman and DC's public images after the DCEU ended in a string of flops, which hopefully will translate into Supergirl doing better than expected. Only downside is that it cemented that a certain segment of Superman fandom online has become just as annoying as the Spider-Man fandom. I called it at the time in my review, I knew DCU Superman would become like MCU Spider-Man in terms of it being a love it or hate it deal. Lucky for me that I love it, warts and all. And we got a bunch of Superman comics out of it so I won regardless if we never got a sequel.
Man of Tomorrow - But surprise we DID get a sequel! And it's going to have Brainiac in it FINALLY! Also Lex is going to wear his warsuit! About time we moved beyond the Donner tropes into new ground.
Netflix - Oh yay more corporate consolidation. I don’t think this is going to be good for WBD but neither of the other two would’ve been good either. Lot of layoffs, another round of shakeups to DC Films, maybe even another reboot if Gunn leaves. But on the positive side I expect MoT and The Batman II will release as normal since there’s no way this deal will move fast enough for Netflix to interfere in either. And that's all I care about because there's not a damn thing I can do about it. Maybe we get lucky and the deal falls through, Paramount turns their attention to someone else, and anti-monopoly laws can actually mean a damn thing in this country. Don't hold your breath though.
Williamson Superman - Prime Time Full Time baby, I've enjoyed Williamson's handling of Prime but this certainly raises some questions. It seems like Clark wins the KO tournament given his disappearance, like WW vanishing after Death Metal, but I can't see Clark being gone for long given the Zod plotline still needs to be resolved. All I know is Kon is definitely going to have opinions about this, so that better get addressed before Clark comes back. I'm up for a rematch.
Superman/Spider-Man - Looks great, can't wait, will be nice to read some good Spidey stuff with USM wrapping.
Absolute Parasite - Took Aaron long enough but we're finally getting more Absolute versions of the Superman Rogues! When I heard Ferreyra was joining the book I was praying he would get to design Parasite given his talent for body horror. Ecstatic to see that my wish has been granted!
Wes Craig Project 38 - No clue what this is, the "project name" screams Golden Age retro title, but the snippets of artwork shared have me excited.
Williamson Legion of Superheroes - Never been a huge Legion guy outside of the cartoon and their relationship to Clark, but I'm hoping this changes that. Prime might be joining this version of the team and that's enough to get me excited.
Potentially Super-Man: First Day by Jurgens? - Give Jurgens some credit. While everyone else wants to shove Batman into their supposed "Superman" prestige projects, Jurgens is the only one who is doing the reverse. I don't know if he's angling to spin off a Super-Man book from this, but I thought the first volume of First Knight was the best thing he had written since Lois & Clark. I'm up to see him work on an equivalent volume for Superman.
Supergirl Movie - First teaser looks good. Optimistically all the brown is simply because the teaser focused on the early portion of the film, and we will see more color later on. I don't expect the visuals to match the fantastic linework and coloring of WoT, but it would be a huge mistake not to use the cosmic setting to try and match the visuals of the Guardians films at least. Alcock is going to kill it as Kara, Momoa is as perfect a Lobo as you'd expect visually, and I don't mind Krem's redesign.
MAWS S3 - Trailer should be dropping next year, I expect it in the summer to piggyback off of Supergirl. Kara will be a main character in S3 so it would make perfect sense. My dream is to get Lex, Zod, and Brainiac all in one show and working together.
Injustice 3 - Unless the Netflix deal has NRS spooked again, this is definitely coming. Was pleasantly surprised it missed TGA, but maybe it would've been better if it had debuted there. Going to suck if the first theatrical Superman movie with Brainiac in it is marred by Boon/NRS Batwank releasing in 2027. Still, I can't be too mad about this slop anymore, not when there's finally other Superman media out there that isn't pandering to the same terrible handling of Superman.
DCU Jimmy Olsen Show - Not called "DC Crime" as rumored, I'm betting the final title will be The Daily Planet. Some people claimed it would feature Grodd as the focus of S1, but since those same people got the name wrong I wouldn't take that as confirmed just yet. Supposedly a true crime series meant to introduce a bunch of DCU super villains, my hope is that Silver Banshee will appear here and we can seed the beginnings of the Olsen/Banshee romance. Otherwise c'mon you gotta use Livewire for this! She's perfect as a villain for this show's premise!
Whew what a year! I'm looking back and it feels good to have entered with high hopes that by and large were actually met. After the truly awful 2010s, by far Superman's worst decade, here as we pass the midyear of the 2020s, it feels like this decade will easily be Superman's best since the 1970s. We're being treated well in comics, film, TV, and animation, only video games continue to suck and that sadly isn't changing any time soon. But the sheer amount of good Superman creations coming out balances that out and leaves me excited for the next year and beyond.