DC embarked on the Elseworlds journey, publishing stories that deviated from their narrative. This resulted in various new origin stories for well-known characters such as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. The 2015 animated film Justice League: Gods and Monsters brings these characters to life.
We definitely have enough substance in the comics to sketch out the backstories of the revised characters. How else could you explain Batman becoming a vampire or Wonder Woman marrying Darkseid’s son Orion as a New Genesis warrior? Superman has his own origin tale as well. He is Hernan Guerra, rather than Clark Kent from Smallville. He was raised by Mexican immigrants, and the challenges of his immigrant upbringing had transformed him into a pessimist rather than a beacon of optimism.
For the 2015 comic series ‘Justice League: Gods & Monsters – Superman,’ Bruce Timm and J.M. DeMatteis have beautifully plotted out his journey. And in today’s video, we will go over everything to see how Hernan Guerra differs from Clark Kent.
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Justice League: Gods & Monsters – Superman Origin
The origin story of this Superman strays far away from the original story of Superman, right from the get-go. Instead of being the child of Jor-El and Lara, he was the son of General Dru-Zod, the one who caused the destruction of Krypton.
This Superman, known as Lor-Zod, was originally intended to be the Kal-El we know. However, his father, Lor-Zod hijacked his DNA sample of Jor-El. He reached Jor-El’s lab while the scientist tried to send his son (or rather, the egg) away from Krypton and onto Earth in an Incubator Pod.
Before Jor-El could implant his genetic code onto the child, Zod shot him and implanted his own genetic code onto Lara’s egg. This basically made him the father with Lara as the mother. With Krypton being on the brink of destruction, Zod thought it was necessary to keep a Kryptonian alive. He should have thought about this before drilling into the core of the planet for his military purposes.
Dru-Zod was sent to Earth to rule the planet. However, things did not pan out that way. The pod crash-landed in an Arizonian desert and he was found by a Mexican immigrant couple. They were trying to sneak into the U.S. via the Mexican Border to pursue the American Dream. They adopted Dru-Zod and raised him as Hernan Guerra. As such, Hernan began to live with his mother, his father, and his sister Valentina.
His life, however, was far worse when compared to Clark Kent. His family worked as farmers who were constantly exploited for their labor in America. Hernan was a child and yet, could not let these atrocities in their harsh environment go unnoticed. He was more cynical, and a lot more rebellious. However, there was always a glimmer of light in his heart.
Hernan learned how to use his powers all by himself. His family however discouraged him from using them as they did not want to attract the attention of the government. To be fair, if the government found him, they would want to take him away and weaponize Hernan for their military, which is something the Guerras did not wish for.
Their daily lives were in peril as well. As the immigrants worked in the crop fields, a plane would often fly over their heads to spray pesticides on the crops. This would harm the people who would subsequently die from diseases, including cancer. But their superiors only cared about the crops and not the laborers below. Hernan wanted to use his powers to stop this but he was not allowed to do so.
One day, while playing with his adopted sister Valentina, he dared her to climb a tree, even though she had a fear of heights. While she climbed, he casually shook the tree. The resulting motion caused Valentina to fall from the tree and hurt her spine terribly. She got paralyzed below her waist. She acknowledged that this was an accident and never blamed Hernan for it. But Hernan took all the guilt upon himself and decided to never use his powers ever again.
His worldview grew more cynical over time. Once, when a plane was about to crash, his family begged him to do something. However, Hernan had stopped using his powers since the incident with Valentina and did nothing to prevent the accident. It wasn’t until he was discriminated against for being a Mexican immigrant that he accidentally used his heat vision after a long, long time.
He burned the man with his power and word of it spread quite fast. Soon, several of them appeared in front of the Guerra’s residence to test Hernan after having heard the rumors. But they had no idea what they had signed up for as Hernan decimated them all single-handedly with little to no effort.
However, some of his own people began to see him as the Devil and his father believed he was a curse. Hernan acknowledged their feelings and left home. He wandered across the world, not because he wanted to but because he did not want to trouble his loved ones.
Across the world, Hernan witnessed poverty, brutality, and the darkness of life. He would eventually find his glimmer of hope being overshadowed by helplessness. He also developed a penchant for a luxurious life as he indulged in expensive food, soft beds, excessive drinking, and women. All while trying to figure out his destiny and why he was put on this planet. And yet, he never used his powers. At least not until a key event took place in his life.
Soon, Hernan visited Mexico, maybe to seek a sense of cultural history or to find himself. After all, he was raised as a Mexican immigrant. But he succumbed to self-indulgence once again, drinking his time away. To make it worse, his superhuman physiology prevented him from getting drunk at all. He only got angry. And this combined with his disregard for authority was not an amicable combination.
One day, a Mexican school near him was attacked out of nowhere. The man behind it was a sociopath named Juan Carlos Fuentes. He ran the biggest drug cartel in Mexico and had all the authorities who could apprehend him in his back pocket. He kidnapped a dozen children for personal business reasons and Hernan saw it all unfold in the news. At first, he paid no heed. But when one of the children reminded him of his sister, something ignited in him once again.
Fuentes also had a lot of men in the military siding with him. They were in on the kingpin’s student abduction. Hernan tracked them down and took on everyone all by himself. With his impenetrable body, bullets were nothing more than houseflies. And with his heat vision, he cut through the ranks like a hot knife on butter. Soon, he found the children and saved them.
Hernan went back home to visit his family. He reunited with his father but his mother had died of pancreatic cancer. He soon paid a visit to Valentina, who was still wheelchair-bound but was married to a mechanic, had a child, and was completing her education. She was apparently living the American Dream that their father was so keen on pursuing. However, Hernan was still very skeptical about whether the American Dream was real or if it was just a fantasy.
Valentina was proud of Hernan for using his powers to save the children. However, Hernan claimed to enjoy the violence. But some words of encouragement from Valentina seemed to change his mind. Soon, Hernan found his identity as Superman and went to take on the kingpin Fuentes. He claimed that he was going to change the world and burnt Fuentes to a crisp with his heat vision.
After some time, he became a part of the Justice League and worked alongside Batman, a man with the same disregard for authority, and Wonder Woman, a warrior from New Genesis.
What Makes This Superman So Powerful?
Hernan has the same abilities as Clark Kent such as super strength, speed, durability, and stamina. Of course, he can also fly, has super breath, super hearing, X-Ray vision, and most importantly, heat vision.
Being powered by Earth’s yellow sun, he can also be depowered by the solar radiation from the red sun.
As part of an alternate universe Justice League, this Superman has engaged in more brutal acts compared to his counterpart. His crime-fighting style has often been too violent. Public opinion surrounding him has been a lot more divided as well since people were unsure of him and couldn’t trust him completely. And ultimately, with a nudge from Lex Luthor, Superman started his journey to help humanity as a real hero.