So I was talking to my friend Glenn Hauman and he told me of a story he heard from someone who has spoken to Chris Claremont on a couple of occasions. And Glenn told me that this guy told him quite an interesting tale as to Chris Claremont’s suggestion for an alternate ending to THE CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.
Read on, if you dare!
Ready? Okay.
The Crisis happens pretty much as it did originally. One exception. In the final battle with the Anti-Monitor in Issue #12, Superman of Earth-1 is killed. That’s right. EARTH-ONE Superman, Kal-El, dies.
After the Anti-Monitor is destroyed, Kal-L, the original super-hero and the Golden Age Superman of Earth-2, does not go into a paradise dimension conveniently discovered by Alexander Luthor of Earth-3 nor is it revealed the Alexander magically saved Lois from what should have been a certain death. No. The battle is over. Superman of Earth-2 looks down at the fallen Kal-El, considers how now he is alone, without a world and without his Lois, and the remaining, single Earth is now without a Superman. He remarks, “Don’t need this anymore,” and brushes his hand through his hair, wiping out the gray/white dye that he’d been apparently using for years to make it look like he was aging (along with some basic make-up, apparently).
The other heroes are surprised and Kal-L explains simply that he stopped aging when he reached the peak of his powers. And with that, he returns with them to the new, Post-Crisis Earth, to take the place of his Earth-1 counterpart. And John Byrne’s revamp would thus proclaim the return of the “Original Super-Hero” as Kal-L (now switching to the spelling of Kal-El) began life on this new Earth, living a life that was like his own in some ways but was markedly different, such as how different this version of Lois was and how differently this Earth’s Batman behaved towards him. But despite this “culture shock”, he strove on, fighting the good fight as he always had, and recharged by the fact that he’d basically been given a new lease on life by being deposited back into the early days of this new Earth’s modern heroic age.
Now again, this is second-hand information … But it certainly smells of Claremont and it’s interesting to think about, no?
Just imagine …
Alan Kistler is a New Yorker in his mid-twenties who has been labeled a "continuity cop" and "comic book historian" in articles of Wikipedia.org and by several of his readers. He enjoys both those titles very much and loves the opportunity of writing these articles for Monitor Duty, run by the ever-patient Michael Hutchison. His fan-fiction blog can be found HERE. He would love to write for DC and Marvel some day. He also wants to time travel.
Alan Kistler
Other articles by Alan Kistler, including various other Profiles posted on Monitor Duty, can be found HERE.
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5 comments
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Michael Bailey
December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I buy it. George Perez told WIZARD magazine back in 1994 that the Earth-1 Superman was supposed to die at the end of CRISIS, but once they put the plans for MAN OF STEEL into motion that death was changed.
DrObviousSo
December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Crazy. Crazy enough that it just might work…
Nicolas Juzda
July 20, 2006 at 11:33 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
For anyone who isn’t aware, Chris Claremont was not the writer of the Crisis on Infinite Earths- Marv Wolfman was- nor was he even doing any work for DC Comics at the time. This is an interesting look into another comic book writer’s ideas, but unless there is more to this anecdote than Alan has said, this was never an idea being considered by the people who actually made the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Nicolas
KISTLER’S RESPONSE:
Exactly right. Sorry for anyone who was misunderstanding me, I guess I was assuming we all knew Wolfman wrote CRISIS.
The Booth
July 21, 2006 at 10:12 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
bogus story
KISTLER’S RESPONSE:
Whether it’s bogus or not, I honestly don’t care. I just love the idea. Brings to mind so many possibilities.
cmkporter1
July 31, 2006 at 2:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I rather liked the story too. Besides, who knows? “Our” Superman came back after Doomsday, no? E-2 Superman may come back renewed…after all he was buried in Mogo, who revolves around a yellow sun, I believe..combined with the now wild magic of the reborn DCU…
Come to think of it, “our” Superman isn’t really the E-1 version either. He was never Superboy (not yet anyway), and after Birthright, his origin is a combo of Silver Age & Byrne Age.