Warning: Spoilers for Titans #15!Supermanhas never had a good track record when it comes to magic. It’s true that his normal weakness is kryptonite (and not just the green kind either), but magic users have consistently been giving Superman a hard time - but never as much as now. In a fight with the Titans, Superman gets knocked out almost immediately by the dark demon Trigon.
A Dark Winged Queen is rising in the preview forTitans#15 by Tom Taylor and Lucas Meyer, and it’s none other than Raven, the daughter of Trigon. While it looks like she’s the only one who can beat her father, other superheroes still try their hand at the battle and endure a dismal failure - including Superman and other Justice League-level heroes.
One by one, they fall, andSuperman is among their rank. Not even his super strength or well-lauded endurance can helpthe Man of Steel before he’s knocked unconscious by Trigon- something not even Darkseid can do.
Trigon Knocks Out Superman Without Breaking a Sweat
Superman’s Weakness to Magic Makes Him a Liability in a Magic War
Being an alien doesn’t just mean Superman has special powers - it means he has some special weaknesses, too. As it turns out,Superman isn’t just vulnerable to magic, but he will never use magic. His Kryptonian body isn’t built for magic, and this biological fact ends up being to his detriment against villains who know how to bend reality to their will.In just this one case, it seems like Superman might be better off being human,as some ofthe most powerful magic usersin the DC Universe are humans.
After 86 Years, Superman Says the 3 Words No Fan Ever Expected Him to Say
Superman has redefined his character with three words that have completely flipped the narrative on one of his most well-established weaknesses.
This fightredefines Superman’s weakness to magicin a very simple way. It’s not a long and hard battle where Superman could come out on top if he pushed a little further; this isn’t a Doomsday scenario. Superman can fight as many aliens and stop meteors hurtling towards earth, but he is well out of his element when fighting against a demon. To do that, one would need an understanding of magic, buthis weakness renders him entirely useless:enough so that he gets knocked out as soon as the battle has started.It’s almost as if he flew into battle against a giant chunk of kryptonite. Every fan knows how that one would go.
Superman Can’t Win Every Battle
Superman#16 Variant Cover by Frank Cho
The Justice League exists to complement every hero’s weakness. The Flash can save someone Green Lantern can’t, and Green Lantern can create something that the Flash couldn’t be fast enough to think of. Trigon is a being made of dark, hellish magic. He comes from a plane of existence that is entirely foreign to the Man of Steel.Supermancan’t just punch through something he doesn’t understand.But Trigon sure can defeat a being of this material plane.
For more about Superman’s relationship to magic, check out the three issueAbsolute Powerarc in theSupermantitle:Superman#16-19 by Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell. All three issues are available now from DC Comics.
For once, this isn’t a job for Superman. Only someone like Raven can fight a demon like Trigon, because Trigon has to be beaten by magic. LeaveSupermanto protect the world from threats like Darkseid- he’s just not built to fight the powers of hell.
Titans#15is available now from DC Comics!
Superman
The icon who launched the entire world of superheroes, the last son of Krypton escaped his dying world to crash land on Earth and be raised as Clark Kent. The world knows him better as Superman, the Man of Steel, the leader of the Justice League, and the most well-known hero in the DC Comics Universe. Blessed with the powers of a demigod, Kal-El of Krypton fights enemies both small and cosmic in his endless pursuit of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.
