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"For Tomorrow"
Cover of Superman: For Tomorrow vol. 1 (2005), hardcover collected edition.Art by Jim Lee.
Publisher	DC Comics
Publication date	June 2004 – May 2005
Genre	Superhero
Title(s)	Superman (vol. 2) #204 - #215
Main character(s)	Superman Father Leone Mr. Orr Wonder Woman Zod Batman
Creative team
Writer(s)	Brian Azzarello
Penciller(s)	Jim Lee
Inker(s)	Scott Williams
Letterer(s)	Nick J. Napolitano
Colorist(s)	Alex Sinclair
Collected editions
Volume 1 hardcover	ISBN 1401203515
Volume 2 hardcover	ISBN 1401207154
Absolute Superman: For Tomorrow	ISBN 9781401221980

"For Tomorrow" is a twelve-issue Superman story arc which was originally published monthly by DC Comics from Superman (vol. 2) issues #204 (June 2004) to #215 (May 2005). The story was written by Brian Azzarello with the artwork done by Jim Lee and Scott Williams. The story has a mature tone and presents Superman as a darker, brooding character.

[edit] Background

The situational focus of "For Tomorrow" is on two events that took place prior to the twelve-issue story arc's starting point. The first is "The Vanishing", where a million people mysteriously disappeared from the planet, including Lois Lane, leaving only ghostly shadows in the places they had vanished. The second is Superman's creation of an alternate reality, which he meant to use as a refuge for the people of Earth in case a tragedy such as the one that befell Krypton were to occur. When creating this reality, Superman also built robots in the likeness of Jor-El, Lara Lor-Van and Clark Kent to protect it. However, upon its completion, he felt that it was not his place to change the course of a planet's destiny and put the world in the Phantom Zone, erasing his memory of creating it.

"For Tomorrow" is told In Medias Res. With regards to continuity, there are no prior stories wherein the two events described above are delineated in abstract.

[edit] Plot

The story opens with Superman struggling with the fact that he could not save all the people that were caught in The Vanishing. He visits Father Leone, a priest suffering from cancer, in his church. Superman tells him how he was in outer space saving Green Lantern Kyle Rayner when The Vanishing occurred, outlining his feelings of guilt as he feels he abandoned Earth when it needed him most.

This is a first of several 'confessionals' between Superman and Father Leone. At their next encounter, Superman explains how he traced the source of The Vanishing to an unnamed foreign country in the Middle East. In the midst of a war, Superman removes from one side all of their weapons; on the other he faces General Nox, a military leader intent on taking over the country. Nox refuses to stand down and, along with his super-powered minion Equus, fights against Superman's interference. Equus is injured and, in a last-ditch attempt to escape, activates the Vanishing Device, creating a second "Vanishing", which vanishes himself, General Nox and 300,000 more inhabitants of Earth. This leads to Superman having to face the anger of the public and the JLA.

Taking control of the Vanishing Device, Superman and Father Leone travel to the Fortress of Solitude, where they try to perfect the device so that Superman can vanish himself to discover where the other people were taken. Before he gets a chance to do so, he is confronted by Wonder Woman, who attempts to stop Superman from carrying out his plan. She believes Superman's efforts are an attempt to commit suicide. The Fortress of Solitude is also visited by Mr. Orr, who tracked Father Leone via a painkilling injection Orr administered earlier. Orr is a mercenary who is working for a mysterious group of powerful individuals described by Orr himself as having "80% of the world population working for them in one way or another." Superman fights Wonder Woman and then tells her that the Fortress is set to self-destruct. He also asks her to save Mr. Orr and Father Leone. Moments before the Fortress explodes, he vanishes himself, transporting him to Metropia, the paradise world he had created in the Phantom Zone.

In Metropia, Superman is reunited with Lois Lane. He also learns of General Zod's existence in Metropia. It turns out that it was this Zod who was behind The Vanishing, as he was trying to build an empire in Metropia. The robots that Superman built attack Zod, Equus, who is now working for Zod, and Zod's other followers. The robots are destroyed, which prompts Superman to attack, defeating Equus and Zod. He transports everyone back to Earth and destroys Metropia. During the last moments of the alternate world, Superman tries to help Zod by saving his life, which the latter refuses to allow.

As this is occurring, it is shown that Mr. Orr has talked to Father Leone about Superman. Mr. Orr has learned of Father Leone's cancer and says that he can cure him. The "cure" actually turns out to be a horrific biological experiment that transforms him into an enhanced version of Equus, called Pilate. Upon his return to Earth, Superman has to confront the Father Leone version of Equus. Disgusted at what he has become, he asks Superman to kill him. Horrified at this request, Superman refuses to do so. As Leone continues to argue with him, a recovered Equus attacks, probably thinking that Father Leone, a construct like himself will help him in fighting Superman. Father Leone, however, in a last act of desperation, lunges at Equus, driving them both into a fiery nova in the background, which transports them to an island where they continue to fight. Lois and all the others that disappeared in The Vanishing return to Earth, but their memories of what happened have been erased from their minds.

Having restored the victims of The Vanishing, Superman has saved the day again. He proceeds to construct a new Fortress of Solitude in the midst of a 'jungle'. Reminiscing about the events, he asks himself, while he has saved countless millions of lives over the years, who will save him when the end comes. With these threads tied, the story ends, however, the issues of Mr. Orr and the mysterious organization are left unresolved.

[edit] Continuity

Even after "One Year Later", "For Tomorrow" is still in Superman canon. It is revealed that the Zod seen in this storyline was an alternate universe version of the character because the real General Zod appears in the "Superman: Last Son" arc. Also, the idea of Superman moving to a Peru jungle to construct a base is a major story arc elaborated on prior to the events of Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis. He does not return to the Arctic Circle to rebuild the destroyed Fortress until the One Year Later arc Superman: Up, Up and Away!.

In addition, Equus returns in Countdown to Final Crisis #36 (2007), in which he is trying to instigate a strike on metahumans. The unnamed organization mentioned by Mr.Orr is revealed in the Cyborg (2008) limited series as Project M, the once part of Checkmate department tasked with researching new human weapons.

[edit] Collected editions

The series has been collected into two volumes:

• Volume 1 (collects #1-6, 160 pages, softcover, Titan Books, June 2006, ISBN 1845761456, DC Comics, May 2006, ISBN 1401203523,^[1] hardcover, Titan Books, May 2005, ISBN 1840239492, DC Comics, ISBN 1401203515)^[2]
• Volume 2 (collects #7-12, 160 pages, softcover, Titan Books, January 2007, ISBN 1845761871, DC Comics, May 2006, ISBN 1401204481,^[3] hardcover, Titan Books, September 2005, ISBN 1845761847, DC Comics, August 2005, ISBN 1401207154)^[4]

There is also an Absolute Edition:

• Absolute Superman: For Tomorrow (304 pages, hardcover, DC Comics, April 2009, ISBN 140122198X)

[edit] Notes

[edit] References