Superman's Most Dangerous Villain Unleashes Diabolical New Attack To Break DC's Greatest Hero

Everybody's reasonably come to expect nothing less than absolute benevolence from Kal-El in his most compelling major iteration. Absolute Superman has put its star through the emotional gauntlet, unearthing horrific trafficking, being constantly put up against twisted versions of classic foes who are otherwise peaceful, and on the other end of this is one of his most iconic nemeses, Brainiac. Absolute Brainiac's reign of terror has seen human beings twisted into unrecognizable killing machines, and while he's sent plenty of power to face Kal-El, he mostly wants to break his spirits. Even in their final showdown, this hasn't appeared to let up.

While full pages will surface soon, the preview for Absolute Superman #25 has set up the latest literal salvo of sadism put out by Brainiac, using "an endless supply of indentured clones of himself", he launches his horde head-on against Superman. It seemed as though the miniaturizing of Brainiac's ship was to hide from Superman, but instead, it appears to set up another twisted blow to his resolve, sending countless living clones to knowingly be slaughtered by crashing into Superman mid-flight. It's only the latest in a bold series of swings by this most deranged of Brainiacs from DC's modern era.

Absolute Superman's Greatest Villain's Latest Move Breaks One Superman Rule For Him

Generally speaking, aside from grittier turns for Superman such as in Man of Steel, Absolute Superman has stuck pretty consistently to the hero's no-kill rule. He's actively avoided taking such a direction many times now, with perhaps Toyman's offense being the closest readers have come to seeing Kal-El in an unchecked rage, but he's been able to avoid killing his antagonists as long as possible. While one may quibble about technicalities, Brainiac's clones being flung at him as a sort of countermeasure treated living beings as fodder, with the striking image of them splattering against Superman being no less grim. They may be more drone-like than him by comparison, but that might not be seen by Superman the same way.

As Superman noted, the combination of Brainiac's army of clones and miniaturization technology that are rather common in DC lore with a deeply sadistic "lead" Brainiac makes "a recipe for horror." It's the big showdown everybody's been waiting for, so the key villain of this saga is undoubtedly pulling out his dirtiest tricks ahead of a promised new status quo for Absolute Superman. After all, this final confrontation kicks off Superman's spacefaring quest that'll soon bring him into an encounter with the Phantom Zone. Brainiac, even if soundly defeated either temporarily or permanently in this universe, has had a profound effect on Superman, and has one more chance to leave lasting scars.

Brainiac Will Leave A Bloodstained Legacy For Absolute Superman

Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval have successfully crafted a gratifying, emotionally resonant story building up Superman, while breaking him down at just the right moment. There have been magnificently heartbreaking chapters like in issue #14, but much of the recent heartache has been engineered by Brainiac. Atomic Skull's story has been turned into much more of a tragedy, and Christopher Smith's turn as Metallo is so hauntingly dark in just how much the former drone-turned-mastermind broke his mind and altered his body. Perhaps most dark of all is Brainiac's massacre of Lex Luthor's family, which up to this point had yet to produce any meaningful results other than inducing enough trauma to, in his eyes, hopefully awaken the iconic Earthling menace.

The more people he's thrown in Superman's way, the more Absolute Brainiac has tested his enemy's resolve in inventive and unforgivable ways. Brainiac appears to have even pushed Superman past thresholds he never planned on crossing, like killing in this latest issue, and subjected him to immense psychological torture. He's already become an unforgettable menace, and even if he fails to awaken the villainous ego possibly dormant in Luthor, he still took the most extreme, brutal method to massacre an innocent family Superman could not save. Such a trail of blood and misery is hard to look past, even as the story moves on from this point soon.