Superman Will Be Single In DC Relaunch

The Man of Steel is going solo for the DC relaunch.

After over a decade of marriage to Lois Lane, the two will be split up for the upcoming comic book company reboot.

DC co-publisher Jim Lee tells USA Today there is “something special and unique about the love triangle that existed between Clark Kent, Superman and Lois Lane.”

“By restoring that essential part of his mythology, we would get a lot more interest in the character and take Superman and Clark Kent in bold new directions that felt more contemporary and modern,” Lee says.

The Man of Steel will get two new rebooted series as part of the upcoming reboot.

George Perez’s Superman takes place in the present of the new continuity. It features Superman sporting a new costume (red briefs are out, Kryptonian ceremonial armor is in); a new villain who’s more powerful than the Man of Steel; Clark Kent as a bachelor; and Lois Lane dating a co-worker of hers and Clark’s at the Daily Planet.

And Action Comics No. 1, written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Rags Morales, will be set five years in the past. This book promises a younger, brooding outsider version of Superman who’s still finding his way in the world as an alien from the planet Krypton.

Action Comics won’t flash back to when Kal-El crash-lands on Earth, but DiDio says that when this Superman is introduced, it is after both his adopted parents have died and he is acting as a vigilante working outside the law — a nod to his original roots as a people’s hero.

“With him no longer married and the loss of both his parents, he really is an island unto himself and there’s a lot more self-examination and understanding of who he is,” DiDio says.

There will be both new and old Superman rogues appearing in both titles. “World-class villains needed to be able to challenge the strength and the power of Superman,” DiDio says. And while they may not be dating, the friendly work rivalry between Lois and Clark will be there in Superman.

Making them both single also makes Lois a more dynamic character within the DC Universe, Lee says. “People will be very surprised by not just what’s happening with Superman, but also with Lois Lane and the entire staff of the Daily Planet.”

Superman will be one of the cornerstones of “The New 52,” and Lee is looking forward to presenting a truly different “Man of Tomorrow.”

“Maybe as readers and fans, we’ve grown a little too comfortable with Superman,” he says. “Part of the creative changes we’ve put behind the mythology is to tell people, ‘Look, you may think you know Superman, but you don’t.’ There’s a lot of great stuff about the character that we’re going to show you that hasn’t been discussed or presented before.”