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Spoilers for the full Absolute Power event!
In 2024, DC Comics unleashed Absolute Power, a line-wide crossover event that saw the company’s top heroes lose their powers in one fell swoop, paving the way for the always scheming Amanda Waller to enact her plans against the metahuman community, specifically Jon Kent’s Superman
. Put through the wringer before Absolute Power concluded, Jon Kent received a nightmare fuel upgrade when forcibly assimilated by the Brainiac Queen, transforming into a terrifying villain hellbent on destroying all supers!
A story told across four main issues and multiple tie-in chapters, Absolute Power, by writer Mark Waid and artist Dan Mora, shook the DC Universe to its core by letting Amanda Waller finally win — an unexpected development that immediately affected both superheroes and supervillains alike.
Capturing Jon Kent at the end of Absolute Power #1 as he desperately tries to save his suddenly de-powered father from a potentially fatal gunshot wound, “Mother Waller” commands the Brainiac Queen to wipe Jon’s memories and, by using Brainiac Queen’s complete mastery over technology, creates a cyborg version of Jon that does her bidding.
Jon Kent Was Turned into a Ruthless Cyborg by Brainiac Queen and Amanda Waller in 2024’s Absolute Power Event
Jon Was Turned Into a Cyborg at the End of Absolute Power #1
Using her sizable influence and vast resources to recruit the evil Batman android named Failsafe and the technologically advanced Brainiac Queen, Amanda deployed her newly constructed Task Force VII, a team of specialized Amazos, to drain the superpowers of anyone they came into contact with — the now amnesiac and cybernetically enhanced Jon Kent being yet another weapon she wielded with abandon. Forcing Jon to battle his fellow heroes — including his father, Superman — without his usual restraint, this version of Supes quickly became nigh unstoppable, with the shred of Jon’s former self unable to overcome Brainiac Queen’s influence in the slightest.
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Drawn to look like a half-human, half-cyborg, Jon’s evil form is hands down one of the scariest versions of Superman to have ever graced the DC multiverse. Enhanced with pieces of tech, protruding wires, interlocking electronic elements, and piercing red cybernetic eyes, Jon’s design is only part of what makes this upgrade so terrifying. By erasing Jon’s character-defining memories and guiding principles, Amanda Waller turns her “Super Son” from Earth’s protector into her personal agent of chaos, with the heroes defending Themyscira utilizing the island’s inherent magic to purge Jon of his affliction when he stepped foot on its soil.
Brainiac Queen’s Influence Was Fully Purged From Jon Kent by the End of Absolute Power
Unfortunately for Jon, this wasn’t the end of his struggles as Amanda’s former pawn. Still tainted by Brainiac Queen’s influence even after Themyscira put the magical beatdown on him, Jon is further treated by the Amazons to help purge the remaining sickness clinging to his “mind, body, and soul” (as seen in Absolute Power: Super Son #1), with an intense form of dream therapy eventually healing Jon entirely. Amanda Waller was ultimately defeated, and the powers of the metahuman community finally restored, but for Jon Kent’s Superman, 2024 will be remembered as the year he almost lost himself for good.
All issues of Absolute Power are available from DC Comics.
“}]] Jon Kent’s Superman got a terrifying tech upgrade in 2024’s Absolute Power event. Read More