WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Action Comics #1036, on sale now from DC Comics.
After a chaotic series of events that led to him being kicked out of the Justice League and leaving Earth, Superman's finally attempting the mission he's been campaigning for since the Kryptonian refugees of Warworld crash-landed on Earth. Having assembled his own team dedicated to the cause, the Man of Steel is taking the fight to Warworld - and he won't stop until he's freed every slave on the planet.
The Authority has finally found its way to Warworld in Action Comics #1036 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Daniel Sampere, Adriano Lucas, and Dave Sharpe. Though they make quite the entrance in the arena, the tables turn pretty quickly. With Superman's weakness exposed, what was already a hard battle is looking more like a suicide mission. Future State already showed how Superman's Warworld mission could end - and it wasn't good.
In Future State: Superman: Worlds of War by Johnson, Mikel Janín, Jordie Bellaire, and Sharpe, the Man of Steel had become one of Mongul's slaves on Warworld. Whilst the people of Earth wondered where Superman had gone and if he would ever return, the truth of the matter was, he had ventured to Mongul's world and was in an endless battle.
As he's slowly becoming now, Superman was powerless on Future State's Warworld. Time and time again he had to fight in one of the planet's arenas. Without his incredible strength, every fight was hard, even more so since all fights were to the death. Despite this, the Man of Steel held onto his principles and refused to kill. Instead, he used each fight to break the chains of every slave he fought against. The Kryptonian refugees in Action Comics explained the significance of these chains, and it's expanded upon more in this latest issue. The chains are a mark of strength for the slaves of Warworld, and, by collecting the chains of those they kill, the slaves with the most chains are the most respected.
Of course, this is just another way for Mongul to strengthen his grip on them, despite their strength. The stronger they become, the more they are bound by Mongul. The "strength" they gain from their chains is something Superman now seeks to show them is a lie. It's also something the Future State Superman tries to show at every given opportunity and is essentially his main focus in the dire future. It never goes well either, with every slave he frees being killed almost instantly before he himself meets the same fate.
After every death in the arena, Superman was resurrected again by Mongul. Though the ruler of Warworld expected the Man of Steel's spirits to slowly weaken, he was sorely disappointed. Despite threats that he would turn a broken Superman into a weapon to kill his wife Lois and son Jon, the hero never wavered in his mission. He told Mongul that he wouldn't stop until he shattered every chain on Warworld.
Considering how serious he is about this mission in Action Comics, his Future State convictions are to be believed. It's likely neither one of these Supermen will stop until Warworld is free of slavery. But could they be the same version of the classic hero? There certainly seems to be some differences in how they've approached their mission. In Future State, Superman is alone in his fight against Mongul. Here, however, he has the Authority to back him up.
That doesn't necessarily mean that the two are different. It could be that something horrible will happen to this new team during their fight, leaving the Man of Steel to finish the mission alone. That would lead him to his Future State destiny. The fact that his powers are fading fast doesn't suggest a happy ending either. Without them, this mission loses a big chunk of its strength - which could doom everything. Superman's most brutal future could very easily become his new reality.