WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Superman #30, by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Scott Godlewski, Gabe Eltaeb and Dave Sharpe, on sale now.
It's safe to say Marvel's King in Black is one of the publisher's most popular and impactful events, with Knull, the sinister symbiote god, infecting the galaxy and trying to take over Earth as well. It's truly given the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and street-level heroes the ultimate test as he swarms their world with darkness as part of his conquest.
Thanks to Superman #30, DC just got its own King in Black when Kal-El visits an old friend to unravel a murder mystery on Thakkram.
Kal hears an emergency beacon during a family day out with Jon and Lois, opting to take Superboy along for the trip. The signal comes from Qarath O Bakkis, a militant that partnered with Superman and another alien on Thakkram known as Faldr in order to fight a monster that fell from the skies. The alien being became known as Shadowbreed as it devoured heat and light: entire suns and solar systems. It was a parasite, leading a hive mind, but thankfully, Faldr used a radiation bomb to kill it.
Since then, Qarath O Bakkis has been leading the planet, but when Superman gets there, Faldr admits that he died. The new king is Qarath O Daanim, his son. When Faldr insists the beacon wasn't activated, Superman becomes suspicious. The altruistic Man of Steel heads down to the core of the planet where the alien lies, and upon inspecting the corpse, he realizes that Shadowbreed's mind may still be alive on the surface.
Faldr's eyes suddenly turned black, possessed by the Shadowbreed, as he murders a storyteller. The alien wants to rewrite the planet's history and has its eyes set on the rest of the colony, including the new king. This explains the cryptic message the ruler left for Superman. If they become part of the network, it could produce a deadly Kryptonian.
Superman has to be careful because neither he nor Jon will want to fight each other. We also don't know if they can snap out the boss' mental hold, or what weapons they would be able to use. After all, there's no kryptonite in this region.
There are no symbiotes covering them with black slime, so they might not be able to tell who's an agent of darkness. Thus, they're going to have to be extra careful, as they'd also want to contain the infection and ensure it doesn't spread to new worlds.