Superman (Volume 3) #46 is an issue of the series Superman (Volume 3) with a cover date of January, 2016. It was published on November 25, 2015.
Synopsis for "Knocked Out!"
Clark has now spent around a month as part of the Mythbrawl underground fight club. As part of the team of fighters he has become an adored celebrity. In fact it's part of how Mythbrawl functions, the more the fighters are adored by fans while reenacting their greatest battles, the longer they can survive long after their legends have faded.
After another successful night, a battered Clark heads backstage away from the cheering crowd and directly into a meeting with Ringmaster Shahrazad. To give the gift of healing Shahrazad must 'read' the story of the wounded, and if the story is true, the healing will complete.
She looks into Clark's past and tells him that he has always felt an outsider, by being the perfect citizen he fit in, but despite being a beloved hero, he was only loved by the public because he was strong, not because he was good. Clark is shaken and denies the 'reading' though Shahrazad assures him her power only activates with the truth, sending Clark racing out onto the streets.
Elsewhere Jimmy Olsen and Contessa are trying to track Clark down.
When they arrive at a Big Belly Burger, Jimmy remembers when Clark took him for his very first burger and his first major photo of Superman. At the same time Haemosu leads Clark into a city backstreet and into an underground bar filled with metahuman civilians.
As Clark and Haemosu put away a few drinks, Clark tells his new friend about the clone of Apolaki and how he suspects that someone kidnapped and killed the original fighter. Clark is shocked when Haemosu shows no reaction to Apolaki's death, but Haemosu replies that as a god, Apolaki will be reborn as long as his legend is retold.
Haemosu points out two female metahumans that were former lovers of the missing fighter, one a ghost, one a werefox. The girls reveal there is no love lost between them after he left them for a girl called Yurei. One of the girls saw him being abducted by men with no faces, but as a woman scorned and ignored she left him to his fate.
As Clark and Haemosu leave the bar they are confronted by Jimmy and Contessa. Jimmy tells his friend that the Daily Planet has been writing trash stories, destroying Superman's reputation and that he is writing the true story, albeit via a blog now he is unemployed. Jimmy is desperate to salvage Superman's good reputation as a true hero at his heart. Clark tells his friend he doesn't care what people think of him anymore. When Jimmy discovers Clark is an underground prize fighter he looks to Clark for an explanation. His friend can't bring himself to explain his motivations and turns his friend away.
Later Yurei is binge watching Superman's Mythbrawl fights. She is so engrossed however that she doesn't hear Clark break into her quarters and then her metallic arms.
Clark asks Yurei why if HORDR_ROOT has known he was hiding in Mythbrawl he let him be. He then realizes that while in hiding his powers have been steadily returning and Hordr was just waiting till he could take Superman again. Yurei tells him that in the old Hordr_Plex they had originally intended to kill Superman, not drain him but now they have even bigger plans, cloning sandmen was never part of the plan, but an unexpected byproduct of the energy drain.
Suddenly a Sand Superman appears and clashes with Clark. The process wasn't complete, he's only at 80% and they need Clark to drain off the remaining 20% of power he has left. This Superman might have all of Clark's original powers but Clark thinks back to the life Shahrazad had shown him. The Kents nurtured him and he learnt how to control his power, this gives Clark an advantage and as the Sand Superman readies a blast of heat vision Clark prepares to defect the blast with a metal door.
Clark watches the blast fire, and then pass him by hitting someone in the doorway behind them. Jimmy and Contessa had been tailing Clark and the heat vision from the clone blew a hole in Jimmy's chest but in turn seemingly blinded the clone.
Clark cradles his dying friend and as Jimmy passes away he tells Clark that he knew he was always a hero. Suddenly the monitors turn on and replay the threat Superman issued months ago. HORDR_ROOT gloats that the time for Superman to make good on his threat as come.
Appearing in "Knocked Out!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Jimmy Olsen (Apparent Death)
- Condesa
- MythBrawl
- Shahrazad
- Haemosu
- Mayari Mayari
- Crow
Villains:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
See Also
Links and References
