Superman: Red Son Story

You know him (just look up in the sky), he's a comic book hero that needs no introduction anywhere in the civilized world. It's Superman (you know, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound?). He was first introduced to the USA in the 1930s in the classic DC Action comics as he "fights a never-ending battle for Truth, Justice and the American way.", his popularity has made him more than just a comic book hero, he has become an American icon.

But what if Superman wasn't like that, what if he didn't fight for "Truth, Justice, and the American Way"?

This is the story of the DC comic series: *Superman: Red Son*. A 3-part comic series made in 2003 which tells the tale about Superman raised not in the good ol' US of A, but its bitter enemy: *The Union of The Soviet Socialist Republics*. This effectively makes the USSR a global superpower where the USA would play catch up with.

How did it happen? Well, this is what this wiki page will try to cover.

### Warning

This wiki page \*will\* contain spoilers from the comic book. Please, read at your own peril.

## The Beginning

The story of Superman Red Son begins just as it does in the original DC Universe. Krypton was on the brink of destruction, Jor-El (Superman's natural father) placed him in a space capsule to escape from the doomed planet. Superman's space capsule would head for Earth.

The years went by as Superman's space capsule drifts through space, eventually by the 1930s Superman's space capsule would reach Earth. But instead of landing in the Corn Fields of Kansas, but in the collective Wheat Fields of Ukraine.

As a child, Superman was raised in the USSR and was surrounded and fed pro-communist propaganda. This prompted Superman to commit to using his powers to help the Soviet People. But instead of hiding his identity (like he does in the original DC Universe where he uses his alter-ego Clark Kent), he decides to make his identity known to the public.

This is where we come to introducing the rest of the cast.

**Lex Luthor:**The technological genius. We know him as Superman's most infamous enemy. In the Red Son universe, he's only slightly different. Early on in the story, he was an employee at S.T.A.R. Labs creating weapons to help the USA fight against Superman and the USSR. He would eventually leave the labs to begin his own company: Lexcorp. But his goal remains the same: Stop Superman by any means necessary.

**Lois Lane-Luthor:**A news reporter for the Daily Planet (like in the original DC Universe). In the Red Son universe, however, she is married to Lex Luthor. Though, she \*does\* develop a secret crush for Superman as the story goes on.

**Jimmy Olsen:**In the original DC Universe, Jimmy Olsen is also a reporter for the Daily Planet. He's different in the Red Son universe as he's an agent of the CIA.

**Batman:**In the Red Son Universe, Batman is a Russian kid who saw his parents (who are against the Soviet Government) assassinated by a man named *Pytor Roslov* (the fictional illegitimate son of Josef Stalin and the leader of the Soviet Secret Police). Consumed with vengeance, he forms his own terrorist groups to attacks anything within the USSR. Unlike the Batman in the original DC Universe where he follows a strict unbreakable rule of "no killing", he has no qualms taking the lives of his enemies.

**Wonder Woman:**Much like in the original DC universe, Wonder Woman is the Princess of Themyscira. But she is sent to help the USSR. But eventually, she would desert the USSR and return to Themyscira in hopes to bring down Superman.

**Green Lantern:**After Lex Luthor discovered the power fo the Green Lantern Ring, he forms what is known as the *"The Green lantern Marine Corp."* He even recruits soldiers such as Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Allan Scott, Kyle Reyner, and Guy Gardner (all these men took up the mantle of Green Lantern in the original DC Universe) in hopes to crush Superman and the USSR.

As Superman was growing up, things in the world as it did. World War 2 happened, the Allies won, Nazi Germany surrenders, the Atomic Bombs were dropped, you get the point. The \*huge\* point of divergence from the world's history is sometime in the 1950s during the Cold War. During this time, Superman became (as he did in the original DC universe) a symbol of hope for the Soviet People since he's dedicated to helping them.

Luthor then makes his first attempt to come up with a way to fight against Superman. He sabotages the Soviet Capsule *Sputnik* and sent it hurtling towards Metropolis. Superman being the hero he is decided to stop the capsule from destroying Metropolis. But it wasn't without consequence, the space capsule (which was recovered by Luthor) had a bit of Superman's DNA on it, Luthor uses this to try to create an American "Superman": *Superior Man* to stop Superman.

Meanwhile, Pytor Roslov (the man who killed Batman's parents) is ever angry at his father for choosing Superman over him (and also makes Superman his enemy) what he does is that he poisons his father who dies soon after.

Superior Man is now complete and can take on Superman. The 2 meta-beings met somewhere in Eastern Europe where a long hard fight ensued, it ended with no clear winner.

In the middle of it all, a finger slipped on the "shiny, red, nuclear launch button" (who actually did it is unclear) causing a runaway nuke to head to London. Superior Man knows that he must stop it, he leaves to try to save London. Though Superior Man did come in time, but the Nuke reached its target and leveled the British capital (with Superior Man being in the blast).

With both the USA and Britain devastated by their respective losses, Britain then holds the USA responsible for the destruction of London, thus the relationship between the USA and Britain dissolved.

With Stalin dead, the Soviet Politburo had to choose a new leader of the USSR. Superman, (reluctant at first) decides to take the reigns of the communist nation in response to his fight with Superior man and the deterioration of American-British relations and taking the advice of his old girlfriend (a Russian Lana Lang).

The USSR under Superman became almost a "perfect utopia" where bad things (e.g., poverty, crime, disease, and famine) were non-existent.

But, a USSR under Superman wasn't a "happy place" despite no bad things happening as Superman retains a lot of Stalin's authoritarian ideologies. Superman would eventually close the Soviet gulags, only to replace the punishment for breaking the law for having a person's brain being removed and placed into a robot, thus Superman's *"Super Robot"* program was born. The person would be like they always had, but no individuality, and is a willing slave to communism.

## USSR up, USA down

By the 1960s, the USA would feel the negatives of their failures in the 50s. As we know in our reality, John F. Kennedy and Rochard Nixon faced off with each other in the 1960 election. In the Red Son universe, however, it is Nixon who would win, but he would only be President for 2 years until he was gunned down in Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald.

So, Nixy Boy would be elected only for him to take a bullet for JFK? Now that's pretty funny.

Anyway, with Nixon's death, his Vice President *Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.* becomes the President. But this wouldn't stop JFK from becoming President, he would eventually win the election in the latter parts of the 60s.

But, in Kennedy's "alternate" administration. The USA would see numerous secession movements all over the country. These movements would be in areas such as Detroit, Texas, California, and Georgia. Kennedy had no choice but to agree to the terms that Georgia had to secede from the Union, with Texas and California following soon after. There has even been an attack on The White House by pro-communist terrorists in the USA.

Despite these crises going on in the USA, Luthor (who now heads Lexcorp) refuses to give up on trying to destroy Superman and the USSR. Around this time, he has joined forces with another one of Superman's well-known enemies: *Brainiac*. Together, they invented a shrinking ray, and they intend to use it to shrink Moscow while Superman is in the Soviet Capital City. But as Brainiac was about to use this new weapon, he was stopped by Superman and the shrinking ray misfires and it shrunk Stalingrad (modern-day Volgograd) instead.

Superman captures Brainiac and re-programs him to do Superman's bidding, but he would try (and fail) to restore Stalingrad.

Luthor (as we all know) is a genius, so he's not the one without backup plans. This time, he calls upon Batman and his group of terrorists yo hatch a plan to destroy Superman. Batman agrees to Luthor's terms and comes up with a plan to destroy Superman.

Batman would capture Wonder Woman and bring her into a chamber that has something called a *"Red Dwarf Generator".*

Now, let me explain why Red Dwarf Stars have to do with Superman. According to a lot of information regarding Kryptonians, either their DNA or other molecular structure is determined on the energy of a star. The big reason why Superman has his powers on Earth is because of our Sun (which is a main-sequence star), and Krypton once revolved around a Red Dwarf Star which makes Kryptonians like humans.

Simply, Red Dwarf Stars nullify Superman's powers.

Wonder Woman was bait to lure Superman into this Red Dwarf chamber which (as stated before) nullifies his powers. Almost dead, Superman and Batman would fight each other with Superman winning (despite his weakened condition), but Batman not wanting to be captured and turned into a super robot, commits suicide by detonating a bomb that is implanted next to his heart.

By the 1970s, and with the success of the USSR, and the failures of the USA, the world would lean towards communism, and most would either join the Soviet sphere of influence or establish communist governments of their own. The only exceptions are the USA and Chile.

## America falls apart

The USA would reel immensely from its failures from the past. In fact, by the 1980s, 16 more states would secede from the US, a combination of this, as well as America's other problems (e.g., crime, poverty, unemployment, economic downturn), would culminate into a second Civil War.

How long this war lasted, and how many people died remains unclear, but the independent states would win against the US. Independent from the US Government, but they're still against communism.

Now, if this sounds like What if~The Soviet Union won the Cold War? to you?........well, I would strongly suggest you try to read the rest of the wiki page to find out what happens.

## The Luthor Administration

By the dawn of the 21st century, Lex Luthor runs for (and wins) the Presidency (with Jimmy Olsen as Vice President). His first goal as President is to get the USA back on its feet from the Second Civil War, he uses his genius to help the nation pick itself up. The states that seceded from the USA re-joined, thus the USA becomes powerful enough to take on the USSR, thus Luthor can continue his goal to stop Superman once and for all.

Meanwhile in the USSR. Superman also tries to win over the previously weakened USA, he refuses Brainiac's constant suggestions to attack the USA directly, wanting peaceful solutions over war.

Eventually, Luthor would venture to Superman's *"Winter Palace"* (the Red Son universe's version of the Fortress of Solitude) and where he finally encounters Superman but was stopped by Brainiac who captured Luthor so he can be reverted into a super robot. This was the excuse Brainiac needed for Superman to finally go ahead with Brainiac's suggestion to attack the USA.

Superman would begin the invasion of the USA by attacking the Eastern Seaboard. He defeats the USA's Green Lantern Marines easily, Wonder Woman also joins the fight against Superman but too were defeated, and even Luthor's army of "super menaces". Brainiac attacks the West Coast and uses his own ship to destroy the US Pacific Fleet. It wouldn't be long until both Superman and Brainiac invaded Washington DC.

But, just when all seemed lost, and Superman finally won over the USA. He meets Lois who gives him a letter (written by Luthor). The letter reads.

> *"Why don't you just put the \*WHOLE WORLD\* in a bottle, Superman?"*
>
>

This made Superman question everything and then orders Brainiac to call off the invasion. But this is when Brainiac shows his true colors, Superman didn't reprogram him entirely, he then uses some kind of green Kryptonite explosive to hurt Superman. Brainiac then told Superman that the world is \*his\* for the taking. But before Brainiac can escape, Luthor (who somehow escaped super robot processing) deactivates Brainiac. But deactivating Brainiac has activated a self-destruct system on his ship. Superman knows that "this is a job for him", he takes Brainiac's ship and then rushes to outer space, the ship then explodes (presumably Superman was caught in the blast) since the ship would kill anything in a 15 Million mile radius. Nevertheless, Earth was saved, and Superman was referred to as a hero throughout the world.

## Epilogue

With Superman's death, the USSR dissolves, and the time to wipe the world clean of communism was seized. Luthor takes this opportunity to try to replace the USSR's sphere of influence with the USA's sphere of influence.

With the world under the USA (under Luthor), the world began to rise from the ashes of the old USSR as many countries would either be inside the USA's sphere of influence or establish their own democratic governments. A Luthorist world would also see humans progress for centuries (maybe even a millennium), even to the point where humans can escape the boundaries of Earth and colonize in outer space, the Moon and even other planets and their moons.

But, this isn't the end of the story quite yet.

The story fast towards to around 7 Billion Years where our Sun is going through its Red Giant stage. So, Earth and everything on it is dying.

In a last-ditch effort, Lex Luthor's great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandson Jor decides to put his son in a time machine he made himself and have his son go back to the 1930s where Superman's space capsule would land in the USSR. Jor's son has one goal, stop Superman before he can make the USSR a superpower.

Does he succeed? Who knows? This is where the story ends.

Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis as well. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.