The Alpha Centurion rallied together a Superman Rescue Squad while Superman managed a jail break with some fellow prisoners. [85] After several adventures in space, Superman and the Rescue Squad all ended up on the Tribunal's home world, each captured by the Cyborg Superman, working for the Tribunal. When the Cyborg betrayed the Tribunal, Superman saved all its members, despite their guilty verdict, because it was the right thing to do. The Tribunal decided to "commute his sentence" and sentenced him to never give up his "never-ending battle." Superman and the team returned to Earth triumphant. [86] Broken Engagement Superman, with the help of the shapeshifting Supergirl, managed to come up with a plausible way of "resurrecting" Clark Kent, who had not been seen since Superman's death. Supergirl took Clark's form, and Superman proceeded to "find" Clark in the rubble of a destroyed building. Jimmy got a picture of Superman and Clark side-by-side, proving to the world they were different people.

One impostor, the artifact known as the Eradicator that had battled Superman in the past, had actually returned and went to Superman's tomb to try to use his body as a new vessel. Sensing Superman's soul was still lingering inside, the artifact fashioned a new body from concrete in Superman's image and placed Kal-El's body in a regeneration matrix that was bombarded with sunlight, in hopes of controlling him once he was revived. Despite this plan, the Eradicator accidentally convinced itself it really was Superman. [64] Deal with the Devil: Lore can corrupt individuals into becoming their agents and extensions of his will by giving them power and turning them into Nevermind. Barbarian Hero: Post-Terrenos Mikey visually resembles this trope being massively built, bearded, wielding impressive weapons and the like, one police officer goes as far as to call him "Conan". In practice... He is more complicated.Game Face: God King Lore has a form he uses in combat for maximum intimidation. Though rarely shown, he does shift to a more humanoid appearance during diplomatic negotiations. Which is "true" is up for debate. This story was eventually changed by Mister Mxyzptlk, and Superman had now first met Batman on a cruise ship when they teamed up to fight the Crime Syndicate and Deathstroke. [34] Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Magic can be strengthened through pain, specifically psychological pain. As a child, Mikey underwent magic training by trying to remember pain and Brennan is able to learn his full potential by being prodded by Kallista with resentment over Mikey. Issue #24 ends with the Rhodes family being reunited for the first time since the beginning of the comic including Grandpa and Rya, Mikey murdering Kylen leaving now only two out of the five alive, and the barriers weakening enough for beings from Terrenos to cross over into Earth — the first one to confront the heroes being Kallista the Pale Rider. And to make matters even worse, Rya is going into labor right there in the middle of an imminent invasion. The next chapter continues the trend with Rya giving birth to her child in the middle of the battlefield, Mastema going missing in action and Kallista kidnapping Brennan to an unknown location. To make matters worse, Mikey's family has pretty much disowned him for his actions and forbid him from getting near his newborn daughter.

Barrier Maiden: The "war criminals" that Mikey is chasing on Earth are actually keeping the barriers between this world and Terrenos. Lore wants Mikey to kill them so he can successfully merge both worlds. With each of their deaths, the barrier spell becomes weaker by the second and Lore's presence becomes more imminent. By the time three of them are dead, the barrier spell is weak enough to allow his minions to invade Earth and prepare a full-blown invasion. Covers Always Lie: Issue #25 shows Mastema fighting against Mike and Rya in the cover. She never comes close to trading blows with the two, instead she spends the whole issue fighting Lore's right-hand woman Kallista. A young man named Lex Luthor II, the alleged son of the late Lex Luthor, who had seemingly gotten cancer and died in a plane crash months prior, arrived in Metropolis and laid claim to his father's empire. Superman investigated the man but believed his story - never realizing the "son" was really the original Lex Luthor in a cloned new body! [54]Longevity: Superman can potentially live indefinitely with little to no aging to his being, so long as he continuously retains enough yellow solar radiation in his body. Surprisingly Sudden Death: Rook manages to escape Lore's captivity in Issue #42 and tries to reunite with Mike and Rya. When he crosses the military base where they are located, the guards believe him to be one of Lore's soldiers since they can't tell the difference (especially as an invasion is taking place) and they gun him down. Superman and his supporting cast had their origins rewritten in the Man of Steel series written by John Byrne, following the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1986. This was part of many sweeping changes made to continuity in the Post-Crisis DC Universe. These stories would be considered the definitive history until his origins were revised again in Superman: Birthright, written by Mark Waid in 2003. X-Ray Vision: The ability to see through anything except lead. Since it is passive, this ability would not generate harmful radiation in the same manner as a focused projection of hard X-rays. He saw that the earth had been transformed into a single-cell organism. [331] He also determined when a force field completely covered a spherical area. [332] Brainiac would eventually return to Earth at the helm of Warworld. Threatened with total invasion, Superman rallied Earth's hero and personally lead the retaliation on Warworld. In a massive battle, Brainiac was beaten and lobotomized, and Earth's heroes returned home. Superman then decided to join the newly reformed Justice League on a full-time basis. [55] Death and Return of Superman