Episode 39 – Many Lives, Many Origins Installment 2 – Superman: Birthright Part 2

Many Lives, Many Origins, the series exploring the various versions of Superman’s origin that I’ll be doing off and on throughout 2026, continues with the second part of my look at Superman: Birthright.

Which, as I said during the last episode, is my favorite version of Superman’s origin.

Full stop.

After a bit of housecleaning where I talk about the promo poster that was released to promote this series (which I really should have done last time but didn’t) I get into issues six through twelve of the series. I talk about a scene involving a school shooting which I am surprised hasn’t gotten more traction on social media, the pitfalls of Clark’s secret identity, the origin of this version of Lex Luthor, Lex’s plan to turn the world against the Man of Steel, a “Kryptonian” invasion, and the final battle in Metropolis. I also go into why I prefer to version of the origin over the 2013 film Man of Steel. Along the way I get into Lex’s Silver Age origin, the fact that the Kryptonian writing no longer translate to literal gibberish, some of the fun Easter eggs Waid threw into the story, the covers, and why I used to be completely wrong about Leinil Francis Yu’s art.

Below are the covers to the series because they are keen.

Shows promoted during this episode.

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The opening and closing theme is titled Journey and was composed by Pontus Rufelt. It is licensed from Shockwave-Sound.

Next time: I close out my Birthright coverage with an interview with Mark Waid!