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Superboy returns to the Titans in the first issue of Titans United, but his own lingering power problem could put his teammates in jeopardy.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Titans United #1, on sale now from DC Comics.
The Suicide Squad may have doubled Superboy’s troubles recently, but there’s one problem Conner Kent still can’t escape from. Now that he’s rejoined the Teen Titans in the new limited series Titans United, those problems just became the Titans’ problems as well. Not only could they jeopardize the work of the next generation of heroes, but it’s already putting others at risk too.
In Titans United #1 by Cavan Scott, Jose Luis, Jonas Trindade, Rex Lokus and Carlos M. Mangul, Superboy joins a roster of some of the Titans’ most beloved members to save those in need. With a random citizen losing control and copying the Titans’ abilities with destructive consequences, the young heroes have enough on their hands just trying to keep the situation under control. Unfortunately, that’s not the only problem they have to deal with during the fight, and it’s one Superboy has been dealing with for a while.
As the Boy of Steel attempts to fly up and save someone dangling from the edge of a collapsing building, he soon becomes the one in need of saving himself. His powers of flight falter in mid-air, causing him to begin plummeting to the ground below. He’s saved by Red Hood before he hits the pavement, but the abrasive former Robin doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in Connor’s waning abilities. In the end, Beast Boy, in the form of a pterodactyl, saves the falling people that Superboy could not.
If that wasn’t bad enough, it gets worse when Superboy is the only one who can save the city – and pays because of it. With the overpowered culprit of all the chaos about to explode, and Starfire and Raven unable to absorb his excess energy, Superboy flies the unfortunate soul up into the sky where he can meet his end without endangering anyone else. Nightwing worries that Connor’s powers will wobble whilst he does this and he’s right to do so. Connor falls from the sky after the explosion, landing unconscious and badly beaten. Usually, the Kryptonian side of his DNA would minimize the damage dealt to his body from such a blast, but it looks like his powers are starting to fade, not just fluctuate.
The revelation of Connor Kent’s waning powers came in Action Comics #1028 by Brian Michael Bendis, John Romita Jr, Klaus Janson, Brad Anderson & Dave Sharpe. Whilst trying to find out the mystery of Connor Kent’s place in the then fractured history of the DC Universe, the Justice League’s top minds discovered that Connor’s powers would one day disappear. They didn’t know when this would happen exactly, whether it be the next day or the next decade, but it would happen eventually.
It appears that it’s happening right now in this new series. Though his powers haven’t disappeared instantaneously like they may have feared, they’re not exactly disappearing slowly either. This is evidenced by the aftermath of the explosion.
Having taken the full force of the blast, Superboy walks away with a broken arm. While that may be miraculous for some, it’s a big concern for Conner. A broken bone shouldn’t occur so easily for someone whose DNA is half Kryptonian. The fact that it’s happened at all suggests that his powers aren’t simply glitching, like his flight earlier, but slowly draining.
This is confirmed by Red Hood, who goads Superboy into punching him. Though Starfire tells Conner he could have killed his teammate with his angered punch, Jason confirms that that’s very unlikely by saying he’s taken harder punches from the harmless Bat-Mite.
It seems then that, going forward, Superboy’s powers are permanently weaker and it looks like they’ll get weaker still with the passage of time. Though this drain on his abilities won’t kill him, it will alter his effectiveness as a hero and may put himself, and his Titan teammates, in danger in the near future.
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