Line #17 ComicBook/KryptonReturns


1	[[quoteright:311:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/krypton_returns_8074.jpg]]
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3	''Krypton Returns'' is the second ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' [[BatfamilyCrossover crossover]] story arc of the {{ComicBook/New 52}} and the direct sequel to ''ComicBook/HelOnEarth''. Starting in October 2013, the story begins in ''ComicBook/ActionComics2011 Annual'' #2 and continues through the ''ComicBook/SuperboyNew52'' and ''ComicBook/Supergirl2011'' titles, concluding in ''ComicBook/Superman2011'' #25. Before any of these issues were released, Superman #23.3, released during [[{{ComicBook/Forever Evil\|2013}} Villains Month]], served as a prelude and revealed H'El's origin. Its written by Creator/ScottLobdell, Justin Jordan and Michael Alan Nelson.
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5	After the events of ''H'el on Earth'', H'El has been sent back in time to the period of Krypton's explosion. Using his knowledge of the future, H'El hopes to save Krypton, but his actions begin to cause great damage to the universe. Superman and his allies travel to the past in order to stop him.
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8	!!''Krypton Returns'' contains examples of:
9	* ActionMom: Lara. She even attacks Superman, believing him an intruder when he enters the House of El. Superman, who is seeing his mother for the first time, is astonished. She also trained a pre-Supergirl Kara in at least some combat techniques.
10	* AllPowerfulBystander: The Oracle, the cosmic entity that sends the Superman family back in time to stop H'El, is extremely powerful but his species have an AlienNonInterferenceClause. Because of the threat H'El poses to all reality, the Oracle breaks this rule.
11	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: All clones during the Great War are portrayed like this.
12	* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Superman traps a badly wounded H'El in an infinite time loop within Krypton's core that will preserve him within a few endlessly-repeating seconds of time for all eternity. This is the alternative he chose over killing him, declaring that doing so would be wrong.]]
13	* AntiHero: Faora. After H'El killed General Zod, she became the Oracle's new herald.
14	* ApocalypseHow: Three.
15	** ApocalypseHow/{{Class 1}}: H'El has caused one on Krypton, turning it from what Kryptonians would consider perfect to a degree into a VillainWorld that [[EvenEvilHasStandards even Faora]] is appalled by.
16	** ApocalypseHow/ClassX: What the Superman Family has to make sure still happens: [[DeathByOriginStory the destruction of Krypton and escape of the select few inhabitants needed later]].
17	** ApocalypseHow/ClassZ: If H'El succeeds, the ensuing TimeCrash will cause one of these that stretches not just to the edges of Prime Earth or even TheMultiverse, but the ''Omni''verse, which includes, according to the wiki, other enterprises such as the Franchise/MarvelUniverse.
18	* ArtificialHuman: [[spoiler:H'El is revealed to be this in Superman #23.3. He was created from a collection of genetic material gathered all over Krypton's history by Jor-El in an unmanned spaceship to find a planet where the people of Krypton could be safely evacuated to by the time Krypton exploded.]]
19	* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: When Supergirl defeats Kon, the clone leader, the clones see her as their leader. They aid her in her fight against H'El.
20	* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: As is common in the New 52, Kryptonians do not have to breathe, as long as their bodies have enough stored sunlight.
21	* BeatTheCurseOutOfHim: Supergirl slaps Superboy in order to free him from the Oracle's possession.
22	* BloodKnight: Supergirl again shows hints of this when handling the clones. Naturally, this means that she fits right in.
23	* BodyHorror: In the finale, an alternate version of Jor-El aids Superman in his fight against H'El. Jor-El hits H'El with a gas that will break him down to his cells. Not wanting to kill him, Superman stops Jor-El mid-process, leaving H'El horribly disfigured and weak.
24	* BroughtDownToNormal: When they are brought to Krypton, the heroes begin losing their powers by being exposed to Krypton's red sun.
25	* ContinuityNod: This serves as the second appearance of [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} the Eradicator]], in this timeline being sent after Superboy to keep him from protecting the past Supergirl.
26	* ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding: Taken to the logical extreme. The threat of the TimeCrash from H'El's actions is very real, but fortunately for the heroes it is repeatedly stated that the effects are hitting the uninhabited edges of the universe first.
27	* CrapsaccharineWorld: What H'El turns Krypton into after he takes over. At first, Krypton looks as the pristine and magnificent world it was before its destruction. Later, it is revealed to have a space station in orbit that attacks intruders and at least one of its moons has a slave camp.
28	* DemonicPossession: In order to talk to Superman and Supergirl, the Oracle takes possession of Superboy's body. Supergirl slaps Superboy to free him from the possession. Superboy remarks that [[PossessionBurnout he could have died if the Oracle spent more time in his body]].
29	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: If the Superman family does not stop H'El, the temporal distortions he caused will destroy all reality.
30	* GodzillaThreshold: The state that H'El has put Krypton in, along with the death of Dru-Zod, forces Faora to join up with the Oracle to contact the Superman Family to make sure that Krypton is DoomedByCanon, which she considers a MercyKill compared to what has happened to the world.
31	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler:H'El doesn't take the revelation of his origin well, to say the least.]]
32	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Superboy]] does not make it to the end of the event alive, and thus [[spoiler:Jon Lane Kent, the evil future son of Superman, will headline his book and take his spot on the Teen Titans. He notices that the anti-gravity of the city of Argo isn't strong enough to break the city free from Krypton's gravitational pull, so he uses all his power to give the city and Supergirl's rocket the push they need to leave Krypton's atmosphere. The effort expends all of Superboy's power and he expires in the wake of Krypton's destruction, happy with the great deed he's done.]]
33	** [[spoiler:Which in turn did not last long, as Jon Lane Kent eventually does grow empathy, and decides to essentially commit cosmic suicide to allow Kon-El to live again, whilst essentially erasing the last bit of the BadFuture that he and his "father" Harvest had come from. Superboy eventually goes on a journey of self-reflection, and while Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} and the Teen Titans learn he is alive again, [[FromBadToWorse in the latter case he's framed for murder and the team enters a schism on believing him innocent or guilty]].]]
34	* MeanwhileInTheFuture: In Supergirl #25, [[spoiler:H'El travels to Superboy's mission's time, while "simultaneously" fighting Supergirl, with the times synching up so that he is hit by multiple Super Family members at the "same time"]].
35	* MythologyGag:
36	** When Superman begins to lose his powers due to red sunlight exposure, he coughs up a little, just like ''Film/ManOfSteel''.
37	** [[spoiler:H'El's origins are a mixture of those of Superman and Zod from ''Film/ManOfSteel''. He is formed from countless Kryptonians over the ages, but completely, not just implanted within him as was the case with Kal-El. However, his desire for either having Krypton back or [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum nothing at all]] harkens to the same film's General Dru-Zod.]]
38	* NoSell: While Kryptonite can pierce H'El's skin, it doesn't sap his strength or poison him. This is because of H'El's origins.
39	* RetCanon: The story arc depicts Faora wearing her ''Man of Steel'' armor.
40	* SacrificialPlanet: In order to show the threat H'El poses, Superman witnesses the destruction of an entire star system.
41	* SaveThisPersonSaveTheWorld: Supergirl must prevent H'El from causing trouble during the age of the Great War, but first, Superboy must make sure she leaves Krypton in the first place.
42	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: The whole premise of the story is to correct the damage H'El did to the timeline.
43	** Superboy is sent back one week before Krypton's destruction to make sure Supergirl's past self survives an attack on her life and leaves Krypton.
44	** Supergirl is sent to Krypton's Great War to prevent the clones from dealing a heavy blow to Krypton's infrastructure.
45	** Superman must go back and stop H'El at the exact moment of his success. [[spoiler:He does, but leaves him in a temporal loop at the core of Krypton that prevents the planet from dying from its fate of natural causes. It doesn't seem to change the present, but for a moment, Krypton appears in the present before disappearing]].
46	* SpaceStation: One of these is in the orbit of Krypton and is programmed to attack enemies of the state.
47	* SuperFamilyTeam: For the first time in ''The New 52'', Superman, Superboy and Supergirl work together without playing catch with the ConflictBall.
48	* TakeAThirdOption: During the final issue, Superman believes he can save the timeline without having to ensure Krypton's destruction, even though Jor-El says it is impossible. [[spoiler: Also, Jor-El wants to kill H'El, but Superman instead uses H'El's unstable TimeMaster powers against him to trap H'El in an infinite time loop. After H'El is defeated and Superman and Supergirl return to Earth, Krypton briefly returns to life in the present before disappearing.]]
49	* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Supergirl is less than thrilled to be working with Superboy, though it doesn't stop her actually saving his life as noted above under BeatTheCurseOutOfHim. [[spoiler:She also mourns his death along with Superman upon getting the news]].
50	* TerminatorTwosome: H'El goes back in time to save Krypton while Superman and the gang are trying to stop him.
51	* TimeCrash: H'El's temporal alterations cause a time tsunami, a storm that can destroy an entire star system. If the Superman family does not stop H'El, the time tsunami will destroy the [[TheMultiverse Omniverse]], the collection of all different universes both within and [[ApocalypseHow/ClassZ outside]] of Franchise/TheDCU.
52	* TimeMaster: The Oracle opens three portals so that Superman, Superboy and Supergirl can travel to different points in Krypton's history. Meanwhile, H'El can exist in multiple timelines at once. [[spoiler: After Jor-El weakens him with a special gas, H'El loses control of his powers and Superman traps him in an infinite time loop.]]
53	* UsedToBeASweetKid: Kara, with Superboy noting that the version he meets prior to Krypton's destruction is much friendlier and sweeter than the one he met on Earth, even seeming to flirt with him a little. He wonders what happened to her... then realises that her entire world dying is the sort of thing that would sour a person.
54	* WalkingShirtlessScene: H'El.
55	* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Faora. H'El kills her at the end of the arc's first issue.]]
56	* YouAreWhatYouHate: H'El has repeatedly expressed the prejudice Krypton has for clones as savage abominations, only to learn that [[TomatoSurprise he himself]] is a MixAndMatchMan sourced from various kryptonian species. He [[GoMadFromTheRevelation does not take it well]] and decides to save Krypton to oppress it.
57	* YouNoTakeCandle: The clones during the Great War talk this way.

Context ComicBook / KryptonReturns