The Truth About The Fake Clark Kent In ‘Superman Reborn’ [Exclusive]

Since the start of DC Rebirth last year, one of the biggest mysteries has revolved around the identity of the mystery Clark Kent that appeared following the death of New 52 Superman and re-emergence of his pre-Flashpoint predecessor. However, in the pages of this week's Action Comics #975 by Dan Jurgens, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, Wil Quintana and Rob Leigh, the answer is laid out bare for all to see and while it's someone you'll recognize, it is not someone you'd expect.

NOTE: The rest of this article contains spoilers for Action Comics #975, specifically regarding the identity of the fake Clark Kent. Turn around now if you aren't 100% sure you want that information spoiled for you.

We all had guesses for who the fake Clark Kent was, and after catching up on recent issues of Action Comics I was absolutely sure it was going to turn out to be Superboy Prime in disguise, but it turns out I was wrong. This issue reveals that the mystery doppelganger that has been causing Superman all sorts of headaches is actually none other than everyone's favorite fifth-dimensional imp, Mr. Mxyzptlk!

The last time we saw Mr. Mxyzptlk was in the pages of Grant Morrison and Rags Morales' Action Comics where a young Superman helped Mxy defeat the evil Vyndktvx and win his happy ending with the lovely Princess Nyxlygsptlnz where he became the new King of the Fifth Dimension.

This is a more dangerous and a more unhinged Mr. Mxyzptlk than we've ever encountered before, and how he got that way is explored in a back-up in Action Comics #975 by Paul Dini, Ian Churchill, Mike Atiyeh and Rob Leigh. While we won't quite spoil the details of how Mxy came to be Clark Kent, it reveals some huge truths about his place in the DC Multiverse across time, space and multimedia adaptations which puts an interesting twist on the character that makes perfect sense.

While this one mystery has been solved, this one answer sparks a million more questions to be answered in the future, some of which will be addressed very shortly in the final two parts of "Superman Reborn" as Superman addresses his place in the DC Universe and his place in its continuity. We're not done with exclusive "Superman Reborn" content this month at ComicsAlliance, so keep an eye out for future scoops as the story only gets weirder from here in next week's Superman #19.