Superman's Darkest Fate Stopped Climate Change (at a Huge Cost) - Screen Rant
Superman’s Darkest Fate Stopped Climate Change (at a Huge Cost)
Summary
- In Superman: Lost #7, an older Superman warns his younger self that stopping climate change weakened his powers, leading to a devastating end to his superhero career.
- The story raises the question of whether it's worth sacrificing Superman to stop climate change and whether there are other heroes who could protect the world.
- While fixing climate change is important, it poses a moral dilemma as to whether the world would choose a solution to global catastrophe or a hero like Superman.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Superman: Lost #7!Climate change has finally been solved, but doing so has given Superman the worst fate possible. A variant of the Man of Steel tells his younger self a potentially devastating future for Clark that reveals while the world can potentially stop climate change, doing so could give the hero his worst ending ever.
Superman: Lost is an out-of-continuity series that sees Clark Kent fall into a singularity and emerge at a point trillions of light-years away from Earth. Though he reappears on Earth within a day, for him, the journey has actually been twenty years and he's haunted by the experience.
Flashbacks have shown what Superman went through, including his attempts to save a planet from destruction. When the planet won't listen Clark is forced to abandon it and embark on a last-ditch effort to travel home. However, as Clark departed, he was warned against doing so by an older version of Superman.
Stopping Climate Change Also Weakened Superman Considerably
In Superman: Lost #7 by Christopher Priest, Lee Weeks, and Carlo Pagulayan, the elder Superman warns his younger self against entering a wormhole. The older variant tells a story about his journey after entering the wormhole, revealing that when he got to Earth, the world's scientists found a way of stopping climate change, but doing so decreased Superman's ability to absorb solar rays. Shortly after the world was attacked by aliens and Superman, in spite of his ailing powers, rallies alongside his comrades to repel the invaders. Unfortunately, since he's weaker than normal, an alien crushes Superman's back, effectively ending his career as a superhero.
Granted, the story that the elder Superman tells isn't real. The variant reveals it was an attempt to keep Clark from crossing into the unknown. But while the story is fake, it's an interesting idea that fixing a problem as dramatic as climate change causes a much worse problem. There's no doubt that the Earth heating up is a problem that needs to be fixed, but in a world that needs Superman, it's very much a monkey's paw situation. This particular scenario raises the hard question of what people would rather have: A solution to an impending global catastrophe or a hero that the world relies on?
Is it Worth Sacrificing Superman to Stop Climate Change?
As bad as climate change is, the DCU is also plagued by villains that require Superman-like power to defeat. But Superman isn't the only powerful hero in the world and there are plenty of heroes who could protect the world. Not to mention, if Superman had a say, he'd more than likely be willing to trade his strength to ensure the world's prosperity. But it's still a hard choice and one that took Superman to an extremely dark place in this hypothetical story. Fortunately, the true DC Universe doesn't have to worry about making such a difficult choice regarding its hero. Superman: Lost #7 is on sale now.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”