The Eradicator

Superman and the Eradicator have an epic fight on and around the moon in Superman #6, by Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, and Mick Gray. Superboy --- that is, Superman's son Jonathon Kent -- is also on hand, although he wisely gets out of the Eradicator's way, and Lois Lane is there too, but this is the Lois that's Superman's wife and Jon's mom, not the one who became Superwoman. Mind you, she does have some Batman armor that enables her to survive in space. There's a lot going on here, clearly.

It’s been noted by more than a few people that the current storyline running through the Superman family of books strongly represents the classic “Reign of the Supermen” event from the mid-'90s, where four new Supermen rose up to attempt to fill the absence left by The Man of Steel following his death fighting the monster Doomsday. Currently, we have Lex Luthor, Kenan Kong, Lois Lane and the original Pre-Flashpoint Superman, plus his son Jonathan, all now operating under the Superman banner, as well as Supergirl, Steel and the Cyborg Superman. DC isn’t done there though, as this week’s Superman #2 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Mick Gray and John Kalisz saw the return of another would-be Superman straight from the '90s.

Since the dawn of the Silver Age, legacy characters have been a staple of superhero fiction, and having a new character step into a well loved roll can open up new opportunities for writers and artists to tell different kinds of stories. In The Replacements, we'll look back at the notable and not-so-notable heroes and villains to assume some of the most iconic mantles in the superhero genre. Today we’re looking at the brave souls who heard the call and in one way or another attempted to fill Superman’s boots. Some — much like Superman himself — are lost souls from dying worlds, some are two-bit thugs and at least two of them are pretty much The Terminator.