Warning! Spoilers ahead for Superman #8!The history of Superboy and his most iconic superpower has just been fundamentally rewritten. The Super-Family has just encountered the Chained, one of the most devastating threats they’ve encountered in a while. The Chained’s amazing power has a surprising connection to Conner Kent that completely changes his history.
In Superman #8 by Joshua Williamson, Gleb Melnikov, Norm Rapmund, David Baldeon, and Jamal Campbell, the Super-Family aids Metropolis after the Chained’s deadly first attack. Superman heads to Stryker’s Island to find out more about the Chained. However, the Chained follows and attacks them, threatening to kill Lex Luthor’s mother and daughter.
As Superman and Superboy fight the Chained, Lex reveals that Superboy is more than just a clone of Lex and Clark: Superboy’s powers came from the Chained as Cadmus used Lex’s research into telekinesis to replicate Superman’s strength. Lex also points out that Superboy only has a fraction of the Chained’s telekinetic power.
Superboy’s Powers Come From the Doomsday-Level Villain, the Chained
Ever since Superman started a new partnership with Lex Luthor, he’s been discovering more and more of Metropolis’ secret past. The latest is a villain that Lex imprisoned in a modified cell underneath Stryker’s Island. The Chained, aka Sammy Stryker, is a man with powerful tactile telekinetic abilities. After Superman freed Stryker, the villain went to take his revenge on Lex Luthor, only to run into the Super-Family. There, he met Superboy and realized that he shared a connection with Conner Kent, particularly that they had the same set of powers. But unlike Superboy, the Chained’s tactile telekinesis was far more powerful and could level entire buildings.
When Superboy debuted, he lacked most usual Kryptonian powers, but he did have telekinetic abilities that mimicked Superman’s strength and flight. Various incarnations of Superman have explored the idea of Clark possessing the same power, explaining why could lift an extremely heavy object with one hand without damaging it. However, this latest twist defies that and resolutely states that Conner’s tactile telekinesis is not Kryptonian in nature. It also adds another wrinkle to Conner’s history, because he’s not just half Lex Luthor and Superman, but Superboy also has a touch of the highly-destructive Chained in his DNA.
Superboy’s Already Complicated Past Just Got Messier
Superboy often deals with crises about his identity, feeling that he’s either living in Superman’s shadow or fearful of turning out like Lex Luthor. If that internal schism wasn’t bad enough, now he’s got a permanent connection to one of the most destructive villains the Super-Family has faced in some time. While Superboy doesn’t seem to be blood-related to the Chained, knowing that his powers come from the villain has to be a tremendous weight on his shoulders. Thankfully, Conner has a good support system, so hopefully, the knowledge that tactile telekinesis came from the Chained won’t be too stressful for Superboy.
Superman #8 is on sale now from DC Comics.
