In this review of Superman: Father of Tomorrow #5, with Lex Luthor at the height of his powers in his attempt to rule the world, how can Superman defeat the powerful sorcerer?
SUPERMAN: FATHER OF TOMORROW #5
Written by KENNY PORTER
Art and Main Cover: DANNY EARLS
Variant Covers: GABRIEL HARDMAN, TAURIN CLARKE
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 9/23/26
This review contains spoilers
In Superman: Father of Tomorrow #5, Lex Luthor squares off with General Lane, a.k.a. Captain Atom. The fight is brief, as Luthor’s magical powers allow him to blast Lane across the city, incapacitating the general.
Back at the Kent Farm, Jor-El tells Martha the story of how he was responsible for Lara and baby Kal’s demise. Having prepared a rocket fit to carry all three of them away from Krypton, Jor-El continued to work on the ship, causing him to miss the proper launch window.
When the ship’s systems started an emergency takeoff with Jor-El inside, he had no way to stop the launch before his wife and son could climb aboard. He was forced to watch them burn up in Krypton’s destruction.
Martha then shares a story of her own to get Jor-El to realize that people need someone there to help when they fall, rather than someone always holding their hand.
In Metropolis, John Constantine arrives to finish off Luthor. Constantine is able to place a curse on Lex just before he gets struck down by Luthor’s blade. Superman gets there right after and the enemies begin a hard-hitting battle.
When Captain Atom, now recovered from earlier, joins the fight, Lex casts a spell to make Lane tiny, but thanks to Constantine’s curse, he misspeaks and the spell causes Lane to grow 30 times larger. Since he’s charged with radiation, Lane quickly becomes a gigantic living bomb.
Superman takes off to push the rapidly expanding Captain Atom far above the city, right as the issue ends.
Analysis
I like how Kenny Porter continues to fill in the gaps of the story, providing the reasons behind Jor-El’s behaviors in this story. As expected, Jor-El’s heart is in the right place, but he’s had a difficult time coming to grips with always wanting to fix situations. There are times when only so much can be done and no amount of tinkering will help, which is the message Porter is trying to get across.
General Lane is another interesting, although misguided, character in all of this. His intent has always been to protect Lois, but he’s gone about it in some highly questionable ways. When his brush with death gives him a new perspective, he tries to apologize to his daughter for his actions, but when Lois calls him out for trying to destroy Superman’s reputation, it causes him to shut down again. Unlike Jor-El, Lane doesn’t learn his lesson and blindly takes off to take out Luthor and Superman.
I liked how Porter uses Constantine in this issue to level the playing field. Without that curse, Luthor was too powerful and would have likely defeated Superman. Luthor’s overconfidence got the best of him, though, since he didn’t believe Constantine’s curse could possibly work on him.
The artwork remains at a high level because the team of Danny Earls and Nick Filardi continue to knock it out of the park. Earls fills his panels with just enough detail as to not be overwhelming. There are panels with very little going on in the background and they provide a solid contrast to the rest of the action on the page. Filardi’s colors help the locations and characters stand out. The fights are easy to follow due to the contrasting colors used.
Final Thoughts
Superman: Father of Tomorrow #5 has Jor-El finally accepting that he can’t fix everything, but he can help those in need. His battle with Lex is sidetracked by Captain Atom, but with one more issue to go, we should get an exciting conclusion! This title combines a good story, good action sequences, and good artwork. Have fun, comic lovers!
