- You're Supermen and Superwomen. We're all created equal, because we want to help, and nothing will ever destroy that as long as there's one person left taking a breath with an 'S' on their chest.
Superman (Volume 4) #16 is an issue of the series Superman (Volume 4) with a cover date of April, 2017. It was published on February 1, 2017.
Synopsis for "Multiplicity, Conclusion"
Superman is imprisoned and his powers siphoned by Prophecy, who is a giant. Prophecy is intrigued of Superman due to the fact he is an anomaly who is completely unknown in the "master lyst", but regardless taking away Superman's powers matters in his grand plan. In which he claims to Superman that he is absorbing the Supermen and Superwomen of the Multiverse in order to be strong enough to oppose a coming threat that will destroy his world and countless others. After finishing his spouting, Prophecy tossed Superman into a pit with the rest of the powerless Supermen and Superwomen where they are slated to be in their grave pit. But all the while the Ultima Thule, which was brought along to Prophecy's lair, is playing its music...
Back on the House of Heroes, Superman (Earth 23) and the other Supermen returned and informed the Justice League Incarnate on what the Superman of New Earth did in which he wanted to use himself as bait. The music of the Ultima Thule suddenly reach to the House of Heroes; revealing to the JLI of Prophecy's location. But the heroes lack of another Thule-like vessel to reach there and that building another Ultima Thule would, according to Nix Uotan, takes thousands of years. Red Racer, however, takes the challenge: using his own speed to hastily construct a second Ultima Thule. But Superman (Earth 23) warns Red Racer that using his speed to compress time to make the second Ultima Thule would be fatal to him. Red Racer already knows the risk, all for the sake of saving the Supermen and Superwomen and makes a request to Superman (Earth 23) to tell Hank "to stay strong and that I love him."
Kenan Kong is toss into the pit and making his first proper meeting with Superman. As the rest of the Supermen and Superwomen grows to despair of their predicament, Superman remains hopeful and encourages his brethren that they will live and explaining to them of his plan.
Red Racer finally finish constructing an exact duplicate of the Ultima Thule, but he is nowhere to be seen. The Justice League Incarnate and the other heroes enter the vessel, where they are shock to find Red Racer's lifeless corpse. Embolden by Red Racer's sacrifice, Superman (Earth 23) and his counterparts begin to follow the Ultima Thule's music.
Just as Prophecy siphoned a recent Superman and prepares to have the ones in the pit executed, the second Ultima Thule arrives. At that same moment, a mysterious glows emits from the New Earth Superman, giving him and his counterparts back to their full power. A huge battle ensues as the Supermen and Superwomen overpowers Prophecy, who is baffled of how his prisoners gained their powers back, and his Collectors. After Kenan cuts off Prophecy's hands and causing him to lose the last traces of the Supermen's powers he absorbed, Prophecy rages that the heroes have deny the Multiverse's "savior" from stopping the threat that will destroy them all before he is suddenly teleported away. Surprise by how it ended, the Supermen could only hope that Prophecy's warnings was either his imagination or vain-glory.
With Prophecy defeated, the Supermen and Superwomen are returned to their respective realities. Clark spends quality time with Kenan in Shanghai and helps answering the junior Superman's questions.
Elsewhere, Prophecy is held captive before the man who teleported him away: Mister Oz. He tells Prophecy that while his sense of self-preservation to fight "that which cannot be beaten" was not without justification, but he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time with a method that was quite...unsound."
Appearing in "Multiplicity, Conclusion"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Justice League Incarnate
- Supermen of the Multiverse
- Bizarro-Superman (Earth 29)
- Captain Carrot (Earth 26)
- Lord Superman (Earth 50)
- Overman (Earth 10)
- Sunshine Superman (Earth 47)
- Superchief (Earth 18)
- Superdemon (Earth 13)
- Superman (Earth 6)
- Superman (Earth 12)
- Superman (Earth 14)
- Superman (Earth 22)
- Superman (Earth 30)
- Superman/Chris Kent (Earth 16)
- Super-Man/Kong Kenan (Earth 0)
- Super-Martian (Earth 32)
- Superwoman (Earth 11)
- Ultraman (Earth 43)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Batman (Earth 1) (Cameo)
- Batman (Earth 12) (Cameo)
- Cyclotron (Earth 39) (Cover only)
- Deadman (Earth 13) (Cameo)
- Doctor Nemo (Earth 39) (Cameo)
- The Flash (Earth 22) (Cameo)
- Green Lantern (Earth 12) (Cameo)
- Red Robin (Earth 22) (Cameo)
- Wonder Woman (Earth 1) (Cameo)
- Hank Hallmark (Earth 36) (Mentioned only)
- Justice League of Assassins (Earth 14) (Deceased) (Mentioned only)
- The Monitors (Mentioned only)
- Nix Uotan (Post-Flashpoint) (Mentioned only)
- Vathlo (Earth 23) (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Multiverse
- The Bleed
- Orrery of Worlds
- Mister Oz's Lair (Cameo)
- Speed Force (Behind the scenes)
- The World of Prophecy (Unnamed)
Items:
- Aquawoman's Trident
- Bat-Armor
- Batsuit
- Green Lantern Ring (Behind the scenes)
- Machinehead Armor
- Mister Oz's Staff (Cameo)
- Earth 14 Superman's Armor
- Earth 14 Superman's Rifle
Vehicles:
- Red Racer's Ultima Thule (First appearance)
- Ultima Thule
Concepts:
- Anti-Crisis Energy (Unnamed)
- The Lyst
- Music of the Spheres
Trivia
- The cover is a bit of a homage to Crisis on Infinite Earths #12.
- President Superman holding Red Racer's dead body is a nod to the cover of Crisis on Infinite Earths #7.
See Also