The Superman of the 30th Century:

A Legion-Less Future

by Jo & Terri-Anne Sanning

With Superman No. 181 (Nov. 1965), Mort Weisinger introduced "The Superman of 2965" to the comic-reading world. Getting past the hilarity of the "SO DIFFERENT" future Superman, with his familiar red and blue costume, his job as a reporter, and his spectacled identity of Klar Ken T5477, one is left wondering just what the editor was thinking when he created this new "series" that contradicted everything that the Legion had already established as 30th century lore.

One possible explanation is that the then-current Legion artist John Forte's health was seriously ailing at the time (in fact, he died the following month) and Mort may have felt that the Legion as a feature may not survive without him. He may have felt that the Legion had out-lived its initial concept just as the "Tales of Bizarro-World" feature had prior to the Legion of Super-Heroes taking its place.

Whatever the reason, Weisinger felt it was time to try something new by putting a twist on the Superman legend and revealing that the 20th descendant of the original Superman was alive and well in the 30th century and following in the family tradition. The concept wasn't very well received, however, and the handful of appearances that the future Superman made, scattered throughout the Superman titles, only drew a multitude of questions from readers who pointed out inconsistencies between it and the Legion's already established version of the DC future. As hard as we tried to reconcile this non-imaginary tale with the Legion's reality, we simply could not. There are too many glaring discrepancies and one has no choice but to relagate these stories to having taken place in an alternate reality - one in which the legacy of Superman lived on to the 30th century, and in which the Legion of Super-Heroes does not exist as a crime-fighting organization as a consequence. (As a side note here: It is interesting that in the Bronze Age, when this story was reprinted, the date was changed from 2965 to 2465 in an attempt to fit it into continuity).

Here are some of the major differences between the two 30th centuries:

1) The biggest thing, right off, is the fact that the planet Earth has known of a Superman protector from the 20th to the 30th century. Yet, the Legion of Super-Heroes founds its very origins on the fact that Superboy was a legendary crime-fighter from the 20th century.

In the Legion's future, at first only Superboy's past existance was known, mainly through scant records that survived over the centuries. This is the reason why the Legionnaires gave him such a hard time at his initiation - to see if the lad lived up to the legend - and he did. As time-scanning technology developed, the Legionnaires discovered that Superboy would turn into a criminal in five years and so imprisoned the Boy of Steel. It was soon revealed, however, that their time-monitor was defective and the Legionnaires apologized for doubting him (Adventure Comics No. 267). As time-traveling became more "common", Superman's adult career was discovered, as was Supergirl's, and by 2968, the Legion knew the original Superman's entire life-story - who he'd marry and when he'd die (Adventure Comics No. 369).

If there was a Superman flying about in 2960s Metropolis, then why would the Legionnaires journey back to the 1930s to recruit the teenaged original? Why not the teenaged Superman V (a la Brainiac 5)? In fact, why form a Legion at all if the Earth had already been in good hands for the last 1,000 years? And, of course, that last question also answers why the Legion isn't mentioned in these stories -- most likely because the Legion of Super-Heroes never came into being.

2) In the Legion's future, the United Planets is intergalactic in scope and the Inner Council is made up of representatives from the planets Earth, Cyranus, Amazonia, Torad and Orax (Adventure Comics No. 349). But in this alternate future, a "Federation of Planets" made up of the nine worlds in Earth's solar system is the largest governmental body that has formed. The fastest rockets can only span the planets of the solar system and Superman spends most of his time patrolling the solar system. In this regard, these "new" tales of Superman are much like the 25th century Tommy Tomorrow tales of the '50s, in which all the aliens shown were from various planets, moons and asteroids in the Earth's solar system. (It is also like the Rocket Robin Hood cartoon of the 1960s, which took place in the "astounding year 3000", yet was also limited to the solar system).

3) The Justice System is also vastly different from the one depicted in the Legion's future. According to Superman No. 181, human judges have been replaced by super-computers and there are no prisons and no punishments except "the slowdown", which is a ray that decreases the convict's metabolism by a factor of ten. They are released into the world but are no longer a threat as they move slower than snails! Yet in the Legion tales, we have seen human judges (Adventure Comics No. 359) and jails like Mount Metro prison and the Takron-Galtos prison planetoid that incarcerate criminals in the traditional sense. Also in this alternate universe, the Planetary Federation outlawed war and all the weapons of the universe were brought to "Weapons World" for safe-keeping, as seen in Action Comics No. 338. (Why keep them safe? Why not simply destroy them? So Superman's arch-nemesis, Muto, can steal them, that's why!) Yet we have seen that the Legionnaires themselves sometimes carry personal firearms and have a vast arsenal of weapons in their headquarters (Adventure Comics No. 367).

4) "Ultra-News" is said to have replaced newspapers; Klar Ken works as an ultra-news reporter for the Daily Interplanetary News, which delivers the events without the need of a receiver or screen, thus replacing television. In Legion tales, however, Computo News printouts are available on every street corner (Adventure Comics No. 372), and the Daily Planet still exists, albeit as a microfilm newspaper (Adventure Comics No. 305). Monitor screens have also been depicted frequently in the lore, both in the Legion clubhouse and in private homes (Adventure Comics No. 357, Adventure Comics No. 359), and Universe-TV is a popular 3-D broadcasting studio (Adventure Comics No. 371).

4) Naming conventions are also different in the two 30th centuries. The future Superman's secret identity is Klar Ken T5477. Klar's girlfriend is Lyra 3916; their coworker is Jay L-3388 (called Jay Senohl in his first appearance, a phonetic switch-around of J. Ohl-sen); and they work for PW-5598 (a computerized editor programmed by Perry White's descendant, Per Wye T7357). As this reader wrote in:

Why does Klar Kent T5477 have two names, while Lyra 3916 and Jay L-3388 have only one each? - Connie Shutt, Cincinnati, Ohio

(In the 30th century, family names have been replaced by numbers. But, just as in our time, some people have middle names, while others, like Lyra and Jay, haven't - Ed.)

However, Weisinger's answer doesn't jibe with the Legion's future, since Earth heroes like Chuck Taine, Dirk Morgna and Gim Allon are fairly conventional names with no numbers whatsoever.

All in all, the whole set-up of "Superman 2960-something" was contrived and fairly lacking in imagination -- not the usual imaginative fun that defines the Silver Age. The stories were dull and Curt Swan's art, while always a joy to see, was uninspired compared to the wonderful world he created in the Legion's Adventure Comics. Soon, a 30th century Batman descendant turned up, and so did a 30th century Joker descendant, and thus the World's Dullest - er - Finest team of 2967 was born. Here's what one reader had to say on the matter, printed in the letter column of World's Finest No. 168...

Holy genealogies! I'm all for like-father-like son and family traditions, but I think you went a bit too far in WF No. 166. I can believe that the Joker would train his son to hate law and order, and maybe even his grandson, but I can't swallow a continuous line of twenty Jokers existing in the same family right down to 2967. The entire family couldn't be evil. The same goes for Batman XX - and Green Arrow XXVI and Flash CX if you come up with them. Nobody's all good or all bad - so I maintain that black sheep will invariable turn up (or, in the case of the Joker, white sheep). - Rand Lee, Roxbury, Conn.

(Sure, but by 2967, all the families - Superman, Batman and Joker - will have hundreds of members. There will probably be plenty of good descendants and bad ones. Which gives us an idea for another Future Superman-Batman tale. Thanks! - Ed.)

Fortunately, there wasn't any more of these tales. And the answer that Weisinger gave doesn't wash either, as these stories always touted that the character was "the direct descendant of so-and-so". Overall, the most interesting aspect of these "future Superman" stories is as a study of the industry -- of how Mort Weisinger, a stickler for continuity, had once tried to "test the waters of change" by publishing two contradictory tales of the 30th century. Thankfully, it was the Legion of Super-Heroes' future that prevailed.

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