Superman #30 - Legion of Darkseid Part 3!

Superman #30

Released September 24, 2025
DC Comics, Color
22 Pages

Legion of Darkseid, Part 3 - The Great Collision

Joshua Williamson - Writer
Dan Mora - Artist
Alejandro Sånchez - Colorist
Ariana Maher - Letterer
Jillian Grant - Assistant Editor
Paul Kaminski - Editor

Synopsis

*SPOILERS ABOUND*

Part 3 begins with Evil Imra/Saturn Girl giving a bit of a backstory of her universe and Legion origin. She was used as a weapon in the Braal/Titan war and was cast into prison for being too dangerous. But as part of this isolation, she makes contact with Darkseid's mind and sees what she calls the "Final God" and an image of Darkseid and Absolute Superman.  In short order, she manipulates her guards to kill each other, then breaks Rokk Krinn out of prison in an inspired moment to create a Legion. 

Snap to the present and Imra is pleased with Superboy Prime's turnabout towards evil.  Again. After some posturing from Lightning Lad, he goes to retrieve Booster Gold, and we are told that he is to be sacrificed to harvest his chronal energy.

We then get a strange three page interlude about "Where is Lex Luthor?" that apparently shows him meditating in the present-day Himalayas when he is attacked by who appears to be the Darkseid Legion of Karate Kid. Somehow Luthor is able to defeat this Karate Kid by twisting his neck.

Back to the future, Booster is prepared to be sacrificed by Lightning Lad, while Element Lad opens some kind of an Omega Portal.  Saturn Girl orders Prime to kill Booster, and this is where the trickeroo happens - Prime was just tricking out the Darkseid Legion to let their guard down and easily takes out Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad. Prime then flash-freezes Colossal Boy before tossing Booster into the portal.  Clark gives Prime his Legion ring and offers to fight the Darkseid Legion.  Prime tells Clark that in order to save the future and the Legion, he needs to save the past, then knocks Clark into the portal as it shuts. He rallies the remaining Legionnaires - Dawnstar, Star Boy, Polar Boy and a Brainiac 5 into a last-ditch fight (Dunno what happened to Kinetix, but I'm assuming she's alive) as the page fades to white.

The last couple pages focus on the present-day Watchtower and Flash and some of the other leaguers are facing off against Time Trapper Doomsday, when suddenly Superman and Booster appear on Earth, and summons the entire League to the Watchtower.

Commentary

That was a lot of typing for not a whole lot happening. Let's just begin by addressing the fact that this is Superman's book, not the Legion's.  And given that the story arc is Darkseid's Legion, that is who will be getting the lions share of the spotlight, as they are the antagonist of the tale. But STILL we get yet another story where Superman Prime takes the spotlight away from EITHER Legion. The story, at the end of the day, has two purposes - to return Booster Gold to the "present" of the DCU (and the setup of whatever this K.O. story will be about), and the redemption of Superboy Prime, something that was telegraphed in part 2, so his turn back to help Clark rang true, even if it was predictable.  

The dark Legion is there to cause havoc, and we do get some interesting tidbits about their formation, and the Dan Mora art, which is great as always, actually leaves me wanting more.  The "Final God" panel is a good example.  I'd assume that Imra means Darkseid, but the Absolute Superman is in the foreground, so is that referring to him?  It does help define the fact that this Legion of Darkseid is from the Absolute universe - the same one where Batman is this huge thick dude and the Flash is running around with mutant monkey Grodd. But a year later after the start of this whole adventure, we haven't really moved to a point where we know what is going on at a larger scale. 

There are odd power inconsistencies as well.  For example, we are shown that the Darkseid Legion has destroyed most of all the rest of the Legions out there, so they are extremely good at what they do, i.e., destruction, using the powers that we are all familiar with in Legion Lore.  Then, in a very strange interlude about Lex Luthor in the Himalayas, Absolute Karate Kid attacks him and is killed?  This makes no sense to me.  Nor does Clark's reasoning behind giving Prime his Legion flight ring on a future promise. 

One other point about the Darkseid Legion. We see that Imra is definitely the boss with main character syndrome - all good - but we haven't seen much of the other characters.  We get strange glimpses here and there of characters but we are left to our own devices to figure out who they are.  I assume that the man and woman holding Superman are Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl, but I have no idea. 

I think as a Superman story, this works well, and if you are a fan of Superboy Prime, you're probably gonna love this story arc.  As a Legion story, it has odd inconsistencies and it doesn't treat the "original" Legion well at all.  It does appear that SOMETHING will be coming down the line, as Prime says that in order to save the future AND THE LEGION, he needs to save the past.  That leaves the question of what will result of all this and when? 

I feel we are not any nearer to answering those questions.

Grade: C+. Dan Mora art saves a story with odd choices that leaves the Legion as a bug on the windshield.  If Superman is your main draw, or more accurately Superboy Prime, you'll be entertained.  But in the end, I don't think I'll be re-reading this any time soon.