I’m Putting Together A Team
Sinister Supers - Part Two
I’m putting together a team… multiple teams, in fact. The first assemblage of popular characters is indeed a super squad—but this powerful quartet isn’t exactly on the side of the angels. Welcome to the inaugural announcement of the first fearsome foursome that will enter the tournament of fantasy fictional smackdowns.
Onward with the roll call!
Sinister Supers, assemble!
2: Superboy Prime
First appearance (as Superboy): DC Comics Presents #87, November 1985
Popular entertainment of 1985:
Back To the Future - film starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd
MacGyver - television series starring Richard Dean Anderson
Ender’s Game - novel by Orson Scott Card
Move over New Coke, there’s a new ‘80s sensation: Superboy in Smallville—-the Smallville of Earth Prime, that is. In this world, Clark Kent grew up on a farm very similar to the canonical one(s) we know, but the difference was that heroes like Superman and the rest of the Justice League existed only in fictional comic book form. No costumed crusaders defended the innocent, and young Clark’s namesake was nothing more than a coincidence. Things changed dramatically when he developed superpowers during puberty, leading him to become a real life (on his planet) Superboy, replete with the same amazing abilities as his comic book Kryptonian counterpart. This Superboy would encounter the “mainstream” Superman (the main one at the time, anyway) who informs him of his alien heritage - the younger Clark’s story parallels the Kal-El we all know and love. Earth Prime’s Superboy’s story would eventually end with him dwelling in a paradise sub-dimension after the catastrophic events of Crisis On Infinite Earths. It was in this idyllic realm that Superboy Prime would exist along another Earth’s older Superman and his Lois Lane, as well as a Lex Luthor variant. The humans’ surviving homeworld would be christened “New Earth.”
Originally, Superboy Prime grew up having been instilled with the same upstanding morals and positive nature as the majority of the truth and justice-loving Supermen from across the multiverse. Over time, though, Superboy’s view of his “paradise” dimension became less of a peaceful reward, but instead a bitter punishment. Resentment festered, and he became further convinced that his pure “prime” world was the only one that deserved to exist, yet it had been wiped from existence along with countless others during the Crisis.
A fellow “paradise prisoner,” Alexander Luthor, the son of Earth-3’s Lex Luthor, partners with Superboy Prime to reshape reality to fit their vengeful vision. The devastating duo moved heaven and earth (literally in some cases) to execute an elaborate plan to manipulate heroes, villains, and the cosmos itself. Having broken free from his pocket dimension, Superboy Prime wreaked havoc upon the numerous super teams of New Earth. Since time functioned in a different way in the paradise realm, Superboy Prime remained a superpowered teenager, raging with angst and pent-up aggression.
During his assault on the universe, Superboy Prime acquired an exo-suit of armor making him even more dangerous. Also possessing the same set of powers as Superman, the armored Superboy Prime is a uniquely deadly enemy due to his petulant and reckless behavior.
In a pivot from the normal Jonfiction Blog weekly format, the remaining three members of this team will be released on following days of this week, leaving Friday as a recap blog.
If this caped quartet can work together, then they would be an unstoppable force—-but who says the challenges they’ll face in this fictional tournament will be a contest of strength? In this bracket-style tourney, each team will be placed in unexpected situations where they’ll have to use their wits, as well as hope that they are really lucky.
The eight-team bracket will determine who is the most gifted (and potentially ruthless) squad of them all. The Sinister Supers are entering the arena at their individual peaks, but the scenarios have not been announced yet. Their opponents in this fantasy face-off? The team of Deuces Wild: Sequel Soldiers - heroes of second installments of movie franchises that were better than the original.
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