It’s been a matter of days since the epic magnificence of Justice League Dark: Apokolips War capped off a saga built since 2013’s The Flashpoint Paradox, but DC aren’t resting on their laurels and are already at work on Superman: Man of Tomorrow, for which a set of images featuring the Martian Manhunter, Lobo and Parasite has emerged.
Not much information has been released about what we can expect from the movie, other than that it will feature a young Clark Kent growing into his powers and beginning his nascent career as a superhero. Given how many iterations of such a tale we’ve already seen though, you have to wonder what more can be gained from retelling it.
The images – found below – are devoid of much context, preventing us from guessing what might be happening in the scenes in which they feature, but the preponderance of recognizable characters indicates that the core aspects of Kal-El’s early years are all present and correct.
Preventing too much similarity is probably why the characters mentioned above, ones not typically associated with Superman’s origin, have been drafted in to feature. J’onn J’onzz will most likely be an ally, while Parasite will be a force of destruction that needs to be stopped, possibly unleashed by Lex Luthor in his monomaniacal obsession with destroying his Kryptonian nemesis. Lobo is more ambiguous, as his popularity and antiheroic attitude mean he could go either way, possibly beginning as a secondary antagonist only to unite with the heroes to stop the danger after he realizes it would be in his best interest.
The live-action DC movies may be somewhat hit and miss, but their animated output is another matter entirely, the quality of the films for the most part being consistently high with the likes of alt-history Superman: Red Son, crossover Justice League vs Teen Titans and Victorian mystery Batman: Gotham by Gaslight. If Superman: Man of Tomorrow continues that same tradition of narrative strength, it will definitely be something to look forward to.