Who is Superman in the Cosmic Armor? DC’s Most Powerful Version of the Man of Steel Explained

Superman is one of the most powerful entities in all of DC Comics; the model of truth and justice, a warrior for a better future and a character who doesn’t really need power-ups because he’s already absurdly strong.

And yet, writers constantly find ways to give Superman even more abilities. Silver Age Superman is far more powerful than Golden Age Superman, with his initial street-level power set (jumping tall buildings, running as fast as a locomotive) replaced by the ability to destroy an entire solar system with a single sneeze. Over the decades, it has even been given more powers and began performing increasingly impossible feats that made him a difficult character to accurately portray in live-action, such as moving entire planets with his fists. Granted, James Gunn has certainly had a lot of success in his portrayal of Man of Tomorrow, unlike previous adaptations.

But it’s not just the main continuity writers who have come up with extremely powerful new abilities for Superman; there are also many other versions of Man of Steel from the greater DC multiverse that expand his power set. Some of them are much more powerful than others, like the version of Superman who lived until the 853rd century, spending thousands of years in the heart of the sun and becoming a divine being. There is also Super-Boy Prime who changes reality, or the zombie Superman who almost destroyed the world. Then there is, without a doubt, the most powerful of all supermen, known as Cosmic Armor Superman. This is a version of the character so incredibly powerful that he could only be summoned by comic book wizard Grant Morrison, and a deity so strong that he only appeared once in the comics… but that was enough to literally save the entire multiverse.

Amid the epic 2008 crossover event “Final Crisis”, Grant Morrison and artists JG Jones, Carlos Pacheco and Doug Mahnke’s Crisis to end all Crisis stories, Morrison also wrote the “Superman Beyond 3D” tie-in, drawn by Doug Mahnke. It’s a story set when Darkseid has taken over the world and Superman has been sent to comic book limbo – a place outside of reality where characters that writers have forgotten are sent. It is here that Superman learns that the Monitors (DC’s version of the Watchers in Marvel) have been collecting Supermen from across the multiverse to save reality from Mandrakk the Dark Monitor, a being who can literally suck the life and joy out of fiction.

To counter Mandrakk – a cosmic vampire and the personification of the end of all stories – a rather meta being representing the writers and editors themselves (the bad ones, at least), the Monitors turn to Superman because he is the embodiment of heroism and fiction itself, with all its hope and joy. The Monitors merge Superman with Ultraman, his Crime Syndicate counterpart, to create the thought robot known as Cosmic Armor Superman.

Cosmic Armor Superman is literally depicted in the comics as a plot device. He has meta-awareness and the real powers of a writer, able to manipulate his reality and himself to rise to any occasion. He can hold an entire dimension in his hand and alter the fabric of the multiverse itself. This Superman is a representation of superhero comics, their imagination and the hope they inspire in readers. He is by far the most powerful being in all of DC history.

Cosmic Armor Superman is a fascinating character, but one that will probably never be portrayed on screen. There’s simply no way to properly depict his powers, let alone in live-action. Of course, animation can come a little close, if done like the iconic Chuck Jones animated short “Duck Amuck”, in which Daffy Duck is literally tormented by an animator rewriting Daffy’s reality. In a way, Cosmic Armor Superman is similar to another great Superman character, Superboy-Prime, in that he is both too big to be realized in live action and also a meta-commentary that only works in the comics.

Indeed, just as Superboy-Prime is a manifestation of the readers themselves, Cosmic Armor Superman is a manifestation of a meta-concept that simply doesn’t work in a movie. It’s a not-at-all-subtle allegory for the nature of superhero storytelling and comics. His fight against Mandrakk is a fight against the corporatization of art in the hands of businessmen and publishers, which isn’t exactly an easy concept to implement in a four-quadrant blockbuster.

Grant Morrison is one of the best modern comic book writers, but they are so in tune with the comics medium, always incorporating meta-commentary on the very nature of comics and storytelling, that to translate them to the screen is to inherently lose the essence of their stories. Cosmic Armor Superman literally addresses the reader (thanks to the comic presented in 3D) in the comic and wins by banishing Mandrakk from the book. His existence can only be made in an event with as high stakes and as great a sense of finality as “Final Crisis,” so don’t expect to see him in James Gunn’s DC Universe anytime soon.