The following contains spoilers for Action Comics #1050, now on sale from DC Comics
Over the years, Superman has gone through some different iterations, with some wildly fluctuating power levels to match. At his weakest, he's still one of DC's most powerful heroes -- and at his strongest, he's nigh-unstoppable. But one of his greatest villains just learned the truth behind Superman's new limits or more accurately, his lack thereof.
Action Comics #1050 (by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Tom Taylor, Joshua Williamson, Mike Perkins, Clayton Henry, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin, and Dave Sharpe) reveals that Superman currently has nothing in the form of actual limits. His latest battle with Lex Luthor effectively brings him back to his Pre-Crisis power levels, making him potentially one of the single strongest forces in modern fiction.
Action Comics #1050 Takes Superman To The Next Level
Action Comics #1050 is a big game changer for Superman's current status quo, as Lex Luthor's latest plan ends up erasing the truth of Clark Kent's secret identity from most of the world's knowledge. Revealing the truth to anyone (outside Luthor, Superman's immediate family, and the hero community at large) could cause their bodies to shut down, as evidenced when Perry White is felled by the revelation and ends up in the hospital. After confronting Luthor about this development, the two end up getting into a brawl that quickly takes them outside of Earth's orbit. There, in the vastness of space, Superman learns that Luthor's plan also killed Manchester Black. This leaves the Man of Steel absolutely furious with Luthor.
Utilizing a hidden teleporter, Luthor initially believes he's finally rid of the Man of Steel by shooting him galaxies away. But within moments, Superman is able to effectively rip open a portal back to Earth. As he explains to Luthor, his latest adventures on War World may have temporarily seen him weaker than usual, but the end of that storyline (and the ensuing events of Dark Crisis) have left Superman stronger than he's ever been. According to Superman, "concepts like weight, distance, temperature, even spacetime" have stopped affecting him. In theory, this makes Superman pretty much unstoppable. In order to drive this point home, Superman easily dismantles Luthor's most powerful war suit and brings him to face justice for his crimes.
How Superman Reaches His True Potential Again
Superman has always been the strongest character in the DC Universe, capable of holding his own against pretty much anyone or anything. The real challenge for the character was often cerebral or a question of morality. But in previous iterations, Superman has had limits, beyond his specific weaknesses to Kryptonite, red sunlight, and magic. The Post-Crisis Superman was given specific caps to his powers, which he strived to overcome. Post-Flashpoint, Superman was even killed and quickly replaced in the world by his older Post-Crisis counterpart. Future State has even hinted that in his current form, Superman will be one of the last living beings in the universe. But now, Superman seems to be operating at the level he'd achieved in the Pre-Crisis DC Universe.
In the Pre-Crisis DC Universe, Superman was more than strong enough to move planets by sneezing. Now, it looks like the Man of Steel has returned to that sort of power level. It's stronger than he's been in years, once again reaffirming the sheer strength of Clark Kent against the rest of the world. This makes his restraint with the likes of Luthor all the more impressive. On top of all that though, there's also the lingering possibility that Jon Kent will eventually become even more powerful than his father. Going forward, new challenges to Superman will need to be more than just physical tests of might because it looks like there's little in the entire DC multiverse that can stand up to his newfound strength.