The Secret of “All-Star Superman”

Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s superb All-Star Superman appears in an oversized “Absolute” hardcover edition this week. It’s one of the best Superman stories ever created–a beautiful encapsulation of everything that’s great about the character. As with a lot of Morrison’s work, it’s also filled with tiny details that don’t call attention to themselves but deepen the story for those who notice them.

There’s one series of details and comments that’s particularly clever, and runs through all of All-Star Superman. The revelation it points toward is never explicitly stated in the course of the story, but if you go back and reread the series with it in mind, there’s a lot of evidence backing it up. A few people were batting it around as a possibility when the story was originally serialized; if you’ve read All-Star Superman, you may have figured it out yourself. Or you may want to figure it out, based on the following question: What does Lex Luthor do after the end of the story? (More on Techland: Superman: All the Anniversaries)

To avoid spoilers, click through for the answer.

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http://zacksmithwriter.com Zack

I did a long interview with Grant Morrison via email when the series ended — my “go-between” was his wife Kristan. This question came up while the interview was running, and I contacted her — heard back, “Short answer: He’s not Luthor.” But that could have been misdiretion.
kevinlee89

It’s a nice theory however I’ve never been convinced that it’s right. Unless he’s misdirecting us, everything Morrison has said about Quintum in interviews would imply that it’s not the case. Oh and Zack, if you’re the guy who ran the All Star Memories interview with Morrison on Newsarama, I’d like to thank you immensely. It was a fantastic series and was a crucial resource for me when I was writing my Honours Dissertation about All Star.
Cole Moore Odell

Neat to see this theory is still kicking. And I can’t put too much stock in a denial from the rep of a writer who has gone on at length about the magic-based serendipity in his work, how things he has written have subsequently become literally true, etc.

Two things: Douglas, I think you don’t give quite enough credit to your own addition, the idea of quantum uncertainty (which runs through the whole series, particularly in the scene where Lois is dead/not dead) dovetailing with Leo [being/not being] Lex. That notion ties the Lex/Leo idea even closer to the rest of the series.

Also, the strong possibility of Leo being a reformed, time-traveling Lex *has* to be considered in the broader context of Morrison’s use of such ideas in many if not all of his major works. Heck, his current Batman mega-story is just another riff on the idea, with Bruce Wayne sent back through time to create the conditions that will give rise to himself. It’s in Invisibles, with Ragged Robin’s fiction suit. It’s in Animal Man, with Buddy’s trip through time and dimensions to try to save his family. It squeaks in right at the end of New X-Men, as the future Jean is able to shift the past to keep their dystopic, Sublime-conquered future from occurring. Grant has been working this thematic vein through overt and deeply buried plots his entire career–so, for it to be absent from All-Star Superman, given the overwhelming circumstantial evidence, seems improbable in the extreme–no matter what he says. Frankly, “he’s not Luthor” can still be true if you factor in Morrison’s love of spiritual rebirth. Even if he *was* Luthor, Leo genuinely isn’t that man anymore. He’s personally evolved into something new, like humanity at the end of Grant’s JLA, Invisibles and other stories.
http://frankspulllist.wordpress.com fsarnie

Could it be that Leo Quintum is to Lex Luthor as Brainiac 5 is to Brainiac?