WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Action Comics #1040, on sale now from DC Comics.
Since the start of Infinite Frontier, Superman has been losing his powers. That's what prompted his son, Jon Kent to take over as Earth's new Man of Tomorrow. Meanwhile, Clark Kent led his new team, the Authority, to Warworld in the hopes of taking down its merciless dictator, Mongul. Unfortunately, what little powers he had were stripped away by Warworld's Red Sun Star Forges. He's totally powerless and his team is scattered. Mongul is winning but the Man of Steel may have found a way to get his powers back -- for good.
That revelation came after learning what Midnighter had planned in Action Comics #1040, by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Riccardo Federici, Lee Loughridge and Dave Sharpe. Although Superman was locked up, Midnighter was free and building a revolution. He informed the Authority's leader that he planned to hit the Star Forges soon. That would restore Superman's powers (what little he still has), but it would lead to countless civilian fatalities. The Man of Steel couldn't allow that, but he needs his powers. Fortunately, he may have found another way, but it could transform him into a monster.
Beneath Warworld, there are veins of energy called Genesis. Its power is derived from the Source, the most ancient energy in the universe. Superman encountered it back on Earth, just before coming to Warworld. A fragment of Genesis powered the Warzoon ship full of Kryptonian refugees that crashed and fell into the hands of the Atlanteans. The Genesis fragment almost caused a war, if it wasn't for the Man of Steel's intervention. That was partly because it managed to somehow turn an Atlantean scientist into a giant Kaiju.
Here, when Superman touched it, he briefly levitated off the ground. Genesis is powerful and its limits unknown. Just how Warworld has veins of Source energy running through it remains a mystery. Regardless, it managed to give Superman his powers back without a yellow sun. This is virtually unheard of. Besides yellow and blue sunlight, only magic could affect Superman to the point of giving him powers. Either Source energy acts like sunlight or its power-granting abilities are unlike anything the DC Universe has ever seen.
That's clear enough when it turned an ordinary Atlantean into a Kaiju. Would it do the same to Superman? There was certainly a hint of it back in Action Comics #1032. When Superman went inside the beast, he found a strange temple created by the Genesis fragment. It spoke to the Man of Steel and gave him a prophecy - one which hinted that a temple like this one would soon be inside him as well. Although it didn't directly predict that he would become a kaiju, it did suggest he would play a role in the return of an evil figure who may be the power behind Genesis. Something more powerful, and infinitely more ancient, than his current foe, Mongul.
Mongul might not be in control of Genesis but he knows how to use it. It could very well be the origins of his brutal reign. The Warzoons have been able to resurrect fallen fighters, as they did with Superman, but how exactly has remained unknown. A lot of their most powerful tech has the same blue energy as the Genesis fragment and veins. It's likely that this has been powering a lot of their equipment and even their fighters. It may also explain why the Kryptonian refugees who made it to Earth had blue heat vision instead of the classic red. They may have been altered by their ship's power source or even one of Mongul's devices.
Considering the possible restorative qualities, Genesis could not only give Superman powers without a yellow sun - it could restore his powers in their entirety. The Man of Steel's powers would no longer disappear but return to the condition they were at in his prime. It could even be the missing piece he needs to overthrow Mongul and free Warworld. However, considering the mysterious prophecy he heard before, that may be a bad thing. One of the most powerful beings in the universe could end up as a servant to an ancient evil and all so he can free an enslaved world for the greater good.