Spoilers for Action Comics Annual 2021 ahead!
Superman banished Hank Henshaw, AKA the Cyborg Superman, to the Phantom Zone, leaving him there to languish, and this may be part of Superman’s dark legacy. In Action Comics 2021 Annual, several of the Man of Steel’s descendants are trapped in the Phantom Zone, where they meet the Cyborg Superman and are forced to reckon with the actions of their ancestor. The issue is on sale now in print and digital.
Comprised of both cybernetic components as well as Kryptonian DNA, the Cyborg Superman was one of the four Supermen who replaced the original after he was seemingly killed by Doomsday. It was revealed the Cyborg Superman was actually a villain, with him destroying Coast City and bringing the alien warlord Mongul to Earth. When the real Superman returned, the Cyborg Superman was defeated, but he would return many times, not only to menace Superman but the Green Lantern Corps as well - he was even recruited into the Sinestro Corps at one point. The Cyborg Superman’s one wish is to die so that his suffering might end—a fate he is continually denied, and in Action Comics 2021 Annual, written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, with art by Siya Oum and Scott Godlewski, colors by Hi-Fi and letters by Dave Sharpe, readers learn his agony has been prolonged cruelly for many, many years.
Pyrrhos, one of Superman’s evil descendants, attacks his family, banishing some of them to the Phantom Zone, where they meet the Cyborg Superman, who Clark sent to the Zone some time ago. He helps Superman’s descendants fight their way out of the Phantom Zone, and when they return home, Superwoman grants him a pardon. Part of the reason for giving it to him was not only because he helped the House of El, but that Superman probably did not intend for Henshaw to stay in the Zone as long as he did.
Recent developments have cast the Phantom Zone in a new and horrifying light, making the Cyborg Superman’s fate even more terrible. Superman is known for his compassion and leaving his cybernetic counterpart in the Phantom Zone for many years is out of character. Why did Superman leave Henshaw there for so long? Did he forget? Or did something happen to him? Whatever the case, the death that Henshaw so desperately sought has been denied him—meaning he has suffered potentially centuries of torment, something the real Superman would not have stood for, leaving readers to wonder why he was stuck there for all that time.
The Cyborg Superman ranks as one of the Man of Steel’s most vile foes, but his centuries-long imprisonment in the Phantom Zone raises questions over why Superman let this happen, and whether the Man of Steel is actually the symbol of justice he's always been made out to be.
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