It’s a great time for Superman fans, with the Man of Steel soaring into movies, TV, animation and comics. To help us stay on top of it, writer Tim Beedle shares what's grabbed his attention and why in this monthly Super-Family column.
 

I’ve been writing this column for DC.com for over five years now, and during that time, I can’t remember anything that’s changed the game when it comes to the Man of Steel as much as Superman Unlimited.

I’m referring, of course, to the giant meteorite of Kryptonite that crashed down on Earth in issue #1. Suddenly, Superman’s greatest weakness is abundant and available to anyone with the money to spend. That was what writer Dan Slott teased about his new Superman series prior to its debut. But what caught me by surprise was how that Kryptonite got into everyone’s hands—the newly introduced nation of El Caldero.

El Caldero is the country upon which the meteorite struck, allowing them to immediately claim sole mining rights to it and fully control the world’s supply of the now abundant mineral. Ruled by the complex, but ultimately self-serving President Eduardo Castilho—who’s been dubbed “the Kryptonite King” by his people—El Caldero now represents the trickiest challenge to currently face the Man of Steel.

One thing this summer’s Superman film made clear is how things get a lot more complicated when sovereign nations are involved. When the villain in question is someone operating outside the law or the world order, like Brainiac or Zod, Superman and his fellow superheroes generally have free reign to deal with the situation as they see fit, provided it’s in the interest of saving lives. But when the problem is the duly elected leader of a nation, the situation changes, especially when they’re not outright threatening Superman and have committed no crimes.

On the surface, that would seem to be the case with President Castilho. While we do see him murder a Kobra agent and threaten Lois Lane’s life in the recent two-part “Into the Heart of the Kryptonite Kingdom,” the crimes are committed in secret. And as for selling Kryptonite, that’s not technically illegal. Heck, it’s not even really immoral since Kryptonite is discovered to be a highly effective and long-lasting energy source that could greatly benefit parts of the world.

In fact, the only real downside to Kryptonite’s sudden abundance seems to be that it’s toxic to any Kryptonians living on Earth. Other than that, it largely seems beneficial for mankind. (And even that downside could be flipped on its head and prove to be a positive should Zod ever attack Earth again.) It’s true that its effectiveness as a weapon against Superman has led to a thriving secondary market in Kryptonite weapons manufacturing, but so far, it doesn’t seem like El Caldero has any public connection to it.

On top of all of this, El Caldero seems to love Superman! Upon hearing he was on his way to the country, many of its citizens dropped everything to welcome him and hold a celebration in his honor. They’re absolutely giddy at the opportunity to take photos with his supermobile and we see their genuine concern over their Kryptonite possibly hurting him. Even Castilho holds him in high esteem, sharing the story about how he was one of the miners who first tunneled into the asteroid in order to save Superman’s life.

Of course, Castilho’s thoughts regarding Superman seem to have changed by the end of Superman Unlimited #6, and we’ll have to see what results from that, but so far, just about everything Castilho has done can be seen as acting in his country’s best interest. The couple of times we’ve seen that cross into greed and selfishness, it’s happened away from public eyes with no way for Lois, Superman or Ron Troupe to really prove any of it.

All of which is to say, Superman can’t fight his way out of this one. He’s not going to be able to successfully make the case that El Caldero is an enemy state—at least not yet. If that changes, it’s still hard to see everyday people believing that any use of force against it is necessary. And even if things evolve to where that somehow seems justified, the whole thing is complicated by the citizens of El Caldero being good people who believe in the very ideals that Superman champions.

I suspect they may ultimately be what leads to Castilho’s downfall, but we’ll have to see. And in the meantime, this situation will require a different approach. Rather than confronting what El Caldero is doing, the Super-Family will have to manage it. We’re already starting to see this in how Bruce Wayne is buying up as much Kryptonite as he can, Lois and the Daily Planet are investigating Castilho, and Superman is focusing on organizations like Kobra and Intergang who are using the Kryptonite for criminal activity. It’s in many ways a more realistic approach to how our world deals with its disagreements and challenges.

But it’s not something we’re used to seeing from Superman, taking the hero into genuinely uncharted territory. This is especially true with where issue #6 leaves us, as we see Jon Kent partnering with Steelworks to figure out some sort of protection or cure against Kryptonite. If that’s successful, if Kryptonite stops being a weakness for Earth’s Kryptonians, that would be a monumental shift in Superman’s status quo—even bigger than what we’ve already seen in Superman Unlimited. If they fail, then Superman’s mission for truth, justice and a better tomorrow will have become exponentially more difficult, seemingly for good. Either way, it truly will be a new age for the Man of Steel.
 

Tim Beedle covers movies, TV and comics for DC.com, writes our monthly Superman column, "Super Here For...", and is a regular contributor to the Couch Club, our recurring television column. Follow him on Bluesky at @TimBeedle and on Instagram at @notabard.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Tim Beedle and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.