WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for The Man of Steel #4 by Brian Michael Bendis, Kevin Maguire, Jason Fabok, Wade Von Grawbadger and Alex Sinclair, on sale now.


Thus far, Brian Michael Bendis’ first major Superman story, The Man of Steel has been a wild ride. The former Marvel-exclusive scribe has incorporated classic traits of Superman dating back to his inception in a manner only he could bring to the page. Along the way, we’ve seen the veracity of Superman’s newest enemy Rogol Zaar on full display, following this mad being across the stars as he tries to eradicate every single scrap Krypton that survived the planet’s initial demise. It’s been a harrowing affair and has brought down long-standing artifacts from Superman lore in shocking turns.

Last week, in The Man of Steel #3, we saw the aftermath of Rogol Zaar unleashing his fury on the shrunken Kryptonian capitol city, Kandor. It was brazen attack, one that was aimed to get Superman to lose his cool. And, it actually worked... eventually. Kal-El and Supergirl were pulled out into the middle of Metropolis to face Zaar in combat, and despite the fact the Kryptonians knew the villain was trying to get the best of their homesick dispositions, he got the better of the two, to some degree.

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In the subsequent issue, The Man of Steel #4, Brian Michael Bendis and Kevin Maguire has Rogol push things even further. But ironically, the destruction of arguably the biggest hallmark of Superman comics besides the doomed planet Krypton came at the hands of the titular Man of Steel himself.

The final pages of this issue follow Superman traveling to his Fortress of Solitude, only to discover his means of contacting other Kryptonians has been destroyed at the hands of (you guessed it) Rogol Zaar, who was lurking in the shadows as he just couldn’t wait to see the look on Kal-El’s face.

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The reaction Zaar got from Superman, however, may not have been the one he was looking for. After a bit of jawing on about Superman’s family, Big Blue went nuclear and blew the whole place to sky high, seemingly leveling The Fortress of Solitude to the ground, perhaps even leaving the Man of Steel powerless when the next chapter hits, as it appears to have been the unleashing of his power-sapping solar flare ability that ultimately takes down his Antarctic base.

It’s a jaw-dropping moment, one that is rarely seen in Superman comics. Now, you might say, this was a bit of an overreaction on Superman’s part, but keep in mind the last vestiges of his home planet are systematically being destroyed by a mad man.

As if destroying Kandor wasn’t bad enough, Rogol basically rolled up into Superman’s house, snapped his iPhone in half, waited for him to get home to taunt him about it, and then proceeded to threaten his family. So, yes, Supe’s reaction might be a bit much, but it’s also quite understandable. The manner in which Superman behaved has proven, if nothing else, Rogol Zaar is an emotional terrorist whose tactics are as brutal as they are effective.

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What this means for where The Man of Steel goes from here is honestly anybody’s guess. Bendis seems to be playing with a nonlinear narrative for his first major Superman tale (starting with Action Comics #1000), so it’s tough to tell the fate of anything at this point. However, it makes us worried Bendis could potentially up the ante again. With Superman’s home away from home destroyed and the city of Kandor annihilated, the next logical step for Zaar is to start attacking living, breathing, full-size Kryptonians to a more severe degree.

Yes, Rogol Zaar has already encountered both Superman and Supergirl, and things came to blows, but that was just the planet-destroying villain testing the water. He was in control of the situation and knew exactly how the Kryptonian survivors would react. It seems that if Zaar can, in fact, destroy the body of The Man of Steel, destroying his spirit should be a breeze.

RELATED: Man of Steel Establishes Rogol Zaar as the DC Universe’s Most Terrifying Villain

In short, Jon Kent better watch out. If Zaar decides to bring the fight to Clark Kent’s doorstep, then there could be some devastating collateral damage. And considering that Zaar just put the pieces of the puzzle together to realize Superman has a half-human son, well...

As for the Fortress of Solitude itself, perhaps whatever is going on with Jor-El, who was revealed to be the Kent's mysterious visitor in this issue, may lead to some sort of fix. This is a comic book, after all, and never is ever truly gone... or is it?

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