SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Superman #33 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, Wil Quintana and Rob Leigh, on sale now.


It’s been over a year since DC Rebirth began in earnest, and with that anniversary well and truly behind us, the publisher has started to revisit plot points from the pre-Rebirth era to catch up on what happened to certain characters and what the means for certain franchises moving forward. Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok’s "Darkseid War" left a lot up in the air, with many loose ends that DC is only now getting around to addressing.

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While in the pages of Wonder Woman, Diana meets her twin brother Jason and Batman wields Baby Darkseid like a gun in Dark Nights: Metal, the state of Apokolips following Darkseid’s defeat is finally being addressed in this week’s Superman #33, as dark mirror of The Fourth World is in open revolt and The Forgotten People have found their god — Lex Luthor — has abandoned them.

War. Huh. Yeah. What Is It Good For?

As a bit of a refresher, here’s what happened in "Darkseid War" — or at least the bits that are pertinent to the events of Superman #33. Superman and Lex Luthor found themselves stranded on Apokolips, and in an attempt to repower Superman in the absence of red sunlight, Lex threw him into one of the planet’s many fire pits. However, that worked a little too well and turned Superman into the new God of Strength, abandoning his usual moral code in favor of a might-makes-right mentality.

Stranded on Apokolips, Lex Luthor was taken in by The Forgotten People — the normal everyday people of Apokolips — whose leader Ardora asked him if he was their promised savior. Their blind prophet predicted that on the day of Darkseid’s death they would be saved by an Earthman from Metropolis; an orphan, son of farmers, someone who inspires hope, a seeker of truth and embodiment of justice. So, of course, Lex Luthor said that they’d found their man.

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In the wake of Darkseid’s death, The Forgotten People channelled The Omega Effect into Lex Luthor, making him the new God of Apokolips. He returned to Earth to help the Justice League to save the day, but returned to Apokolips to take his seat on the throne as the new leader of The Forgotten People. However, when DC Rebirth began in earnest, Lex Luthor was serving as one of several Supermen of Metropolis, having left Apokolips behind. Though he was hunted by bounty killers convinced he would return to Apokolips and commit worse atrocities than Darkseid ever could, Lex has seemingly seen content back on Earth and has genuinely taken a shine to the lifestyle of a hero.

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Best Frenemies Forever

While war wages on Apokolips, Superman and Lex Luthor are keeping Metropolis safe from a group of armed robbers, creatively decked out in plastic Halloween masks of The Justice League’s faces. The one-time enemies successfuly and easily take down the robbers, though Luthor’s combination of his suit’s taser and general air of showmanship concern Superman that his greatest nemesis hasn’t fully made the switch to the side of the angels. Luthor even offers to stay behind to give the police officers an incident report and seems to have a great rapport with the people of Metropolis, but upon returning to Lexcorp Tower he’s ambushed by Adora and The Prophet and Boom Tubed back to Apokolips to fulfill what they see to be his destiny.

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Meanwhile, Clark has plans with his loving family to catch a movie and eat out at a restaurant, convincing Jonathan to take a night off from being Superboy to spend time with his parents. When the pair of them intercept a message from Luthor alerting Superman that he is needed, Clark brushes it off, citing Luthor’s overuse of the signal. However, their walk through the park following a viewing of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the Kents are interrupted by a fleet of Luthor’s sentries who attempt to take them by force. When that doesn’t work, the family is ambushed by a Mother Box, transporting all three of them to Apokolips, but scattered across the planet, with Superboy at the mercy of Justifiers, Lois all too close to Granny Goodness, and The Female Furies and Superman on the outskirts of Armaghetto.

Apokolips Now!

Despite abandoning The Forgotten People, Ardora still believes that Lex Luthor is prophesied to help lead them to victory in their revolution and depose the evil New Gods of Apokolips. Ardora was first introduced in the pages of “Darkseid War,” but her name is a reference to a Silver Age character of the same name. Originally introduced in 1964’s Superman #167, Ardora was a resident of the planet Lexor which looked up to Lex Luthor as a great hero — just like how the people of Earth look up to Superman. Lex and Ardora fell in love, married and had a son together — Lex Luthor Jr. — but the planet of Lexor was destroyed during a fight with Superman, after Lex’s own battlesuit malfunctioned and exploded.

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The new version of Ardora was at first a somewhat symapthetic figure, but now seems to be fanatical and dogmatic in her adherence to the prophecy and believes that Lex Luthor is the key to save Apokolips. What that means is certainly up for debate, but her desire that Lex rule Apokolips with “an iron will and and iron hand” certainly makes it seem like Apokolips won’t be joining the United Planets any time soon, even with Lex Luthor in the big chair.

There’s also the question of what exactly is going on with the New Gods and the Fourth World because there are two competing visions in the pages of DC Comics right now. The New 52-stylized New Gods are still present in titles like Hal Jordan and The Green Lantern Corps and Superman, but Mister Miracle presents a more classic and timeless take on the characters. While in the pages of the latter Granny Goodness is dead and New Genesis is at war with an Apokolips led by Darkseid, the rest of the books still have Darkseid as a baby, Granny Goodness alive and a civil war tearing Apokolips apart. Something big is coming with the New Gods to straighten all this out, but for now it’s just another mystery to throw on the pile marked “DC Rebirth.”