EXT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL – NIGHT
Outside the Metropolis International Airport control tower, General Lester steps down from the passenger seat of a troop transport vehicle. He heads for the Tower entrance, escorted by two soldiers in tow.
INT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL CONTROL TOWER
General Lester wastes no time getting down to business, weaving his way through various computer terminals and Tower employees to where the chief tower operator hovers over a radar screen. There is a single blip on the screen, proceeding slowly from top to bottom.
GENERAL LESTER
Has the runway been secured?
OPERATOR
Yes, General, no planes coming in or out. The skies are clear.
The operator looks over at Lester's guards who've taken up position by the door.
OPERATOR
You've already taken care of security. We're as ready as we'll ever be for Air Force One.
GENERAL LESTER
Good. The President is here to speak with me personally. Once they land, I don't want anything…
A second blip appears at the upper left hand corner of the radar screen.
OPERATOR
Wait a minute…
GENERAL LESTER
What is it?
OPERATOR
Something coming up on radar, but we don't have anything scheduled coming in.
Lester leans forward over the operator's shoulder.
As the unidentified blip slowly pursues Air Force One, a second blip appears right behind it… and then another… and another… Before long, the entire upper half of the screen is filled with tiny blips moving toward Air Force One.
GENERAL LESTER
My God…
EXT. METROPOLIS – NIGHT
Air Force One pierces through the dense storm clouds as it flies over the far outskirts of Metropolis. At first, everything seems normal, then, a bolt of lightning illuminates the sky around it, revealing a single parademon flying along its starboard side. A second bolt a second later reveals three more. Finally, a third bolt of lightning reveals Air Force One surrounded on all sides by the malicious demons.
INT. AIR FORCE ONE – COCKPIT
Three taps in rapid succession, followed by a frustrated slap, do little to coax the radio inside Air Force One's cockpit to spit out more than static.
PILOT
Control, repeat, this is Air Force One requesting clearance to land, over.
CO-PILOT I
What's going on?
PILOT
Heck if I know, the damn radio's just cut out. I can't raise tower.
The cockpit drops, suddenly, the pilot and three co-pilots reeling, struggling just to stay in their seats.
PILOT
What the…
Sparks fly over the co-pilots' heads, raining down on and burning their uniforms.
CO-PILOT I
We just lost the auto-pilot!
EXT. METROPOLIS – NIGHT
The parademons crawl over the outside of Air Force One like maggots over an animal carcass, scratching and clawing at the wings and engines. The massive plane veers to uncontrollably to one side.
INT. AIR FORCE ONE – COCKPIT
Inside the shaking cockpit, the pilot tries desperately to steady himself, much less the plane.
PILOT
Somebody give a look outside! What the hell's going on out there?!
The two rear co-pilots each give a look out their respective viewing windows. Like a punch to the face, the sight of the parademons crawling on the outside of the plane slams both men back into their seats. They shoot each other a worried glance.
PILOT
Well?! What's happening out there?!
CO-PILOTS II & III
Just fly the plane!
CO-PILOT I
We're losing altitude!
CO-PILOT II
Pressure's fluctuating!
CO-PILOT III
We have breaches on the wings!
PILOT
Breaches? How the…
CO-PILOT III
Trust me!
The pilot does so.
PILOT
Get on the radio! We have to make an emergency landing!
CO-PILOT I
Mayday, mayday, Metropolis Tower, this is Air Force One…
PILOT
Lowering landing gear!
EXT. METROPOLIS - NIGHT
The landing gear kicks out from the underbelly of the plane as it careens back to a level, coordinated, descent. It doesn't take long for the demons to spot them, though, and the lead demon flies straight for the forward tires. Letting out a scream, it punches through the forward landing gear, sending the massive tires and support beams hurtling down toward the city below.
Clark comes to a stop outside the newly renamed LexCorp building as Air Force One's forward landing assembly crashes through the front face of the building, raining glass and metal shards down on the street below. His eyes widen as he observes a woman crossing in front of the building just as a particularly large chunk of debris dislodges from the face of the building.
WOMAN
::screams:: Help!
She tries to run, but her right high-heel breaks. Mid-fall, Clark catches her in his arms and runs her safely across the street, sitting her on a bus stop bench before darting off down the street at near light speed.
The poor woman, utterly traumatized, faints on the bench.
INT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL CONTROL TOWER
The control tower buzzes with activity as airline employees and military personnel haphazardly race to and from various computer terminals.
GENERAL LESTER
What's happening?! Why can't we raise them on radio?!
OPERATOR
I don't know, General.
OPERATOR II
They're off course. They're coming in too high.
GENERAL LESTER
My God, that's the President up there! Do something!
OPERATOR
There's nothing I can do, General! There's nothing anyone can do, now…
The operator looks up at the sky, down the runway, in the direction of the oncoming Air Force One.
OPERATOR
…except pray.
General Lester grits his teeth, feeling utterly helpless.
INT. AIR FORCE ONE COCKPIT
Everyone inside the Air Force One cockpit sweats with fear, but the Co-Pilot seems particularly concerned with a flashing red light on the panel in front of him. It reads, "Forward Landing Gear".
CO-PILOT
We have a landing gear malfunction.
PILOT
What?!
CO-PILOT
Something's wrong with the forward landing gear! We have to pull up!
PILOT
Like hell! She's barely holding together. We bring her in now. We bring her in hot, or we don't bring her in at all!
EXT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL – NIGHT
Sirens ring out into the Metropolis night air, joining with the rolling thunder to create an eerie anthem of distress as Air Force One descends towards the fully lit runway missing its forward landing gear.
Breathing heavily, pushing himself to the limit to run ahead of the plane, Clark Kent pulls up at the end of the runway, staring up at the plane heading straight towards him in the distance. Standing tall, he takes a breath, looking around him as emergency vehicles approach the runway from all sides, preparing for the worst.
Closing his eyes, he takes a long deep breath before looking back up at the plane. Right foot first, he starts running towards it down the runway, first at normal speed, but quickly gaining moving faster and faster. Just as he passes the last set of runway lights, he jumps, hurling his body into the air.
As Air Force One barrels towards Metropolis International Airport, bleeding sparks and fumes from where its landing gear was torn away, the parademons disperse, leaving it to its fate.
Clark's leap started out almost completely uncontrolled, his arms and legs flailing aimlessly, but somehow it becomes much more steadied as he heads straight for the plane, as if he is willing himself toward it. At breakneck speeds, the plane and Clark head towards each other on a collision course when…
INT. AIR FORCE ONE COCKPIT
The entire cockpit lurches forward, the pilot banging his head against the back of his chair in the process.
PILOT
What was that?!
CO-PILOT I
We hit something?!
EXT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL – NIGHT
Beneath the underbelly of the plane, the two sets of rear landing gear prepare for the plane's touch down. At the forward, Clark holds on to what's left of the forward landing gear support frame, his legs towards the ground.
INT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL CONTROL TOWER
General Lester, along with everyone else in the tower, look on anxiously as Air Force One prepares to touch down at the very end of the runway.
EXT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL – NIGHT
The back landing gear touches down on the runway, screeching against the hard pavement. Next comes the nose of the plane…
Sheer intensity and determination boiling inside of him, Clark starts moving his legs as his feet hit the runway. Acting as the planes forward landing gear, Clark runs with the forward section of Air Force One on his shoulders, desperately trying to keep the nose up.
The strain is incredible, an entire jetliner and the lives of everyone inside on his shoulders. Slowly, Clark works with the rear brakes to slow Air Force One to a gradual stop before it barrels its way clear off the end of the runway.
INT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL CONTROL TOWER
The tower erupts in cheers and General Lester can breathe a momentary sigh of relief, Air Force One safely touched down at the far end of its runway. He quickly heads for the door.
EXT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL - NIGHT
A flash of lightning…
Clark looks up barely in time to see Colonel Kalib's elbow heading straight for his face. The forward nose of Air Force comes crashing down to the pavement below as Clark is sent hurtling a hundred feet backwards, bouncing several times off the ground before skidding to a painful stop.
A weary Clark picks himself up off the ground, only to be greeted by a swift uppercut to the jaw from Kalib, which again hurls him into the air, his poor aching body falling like deadweight to the ground below, cracking the concrete.
COLONEL KALIB
You are a pathetic weakling! How dare you stand up to challenge Darkseid!
Kalib walks confidently over to Clark. Lifting his fist over his head, he moves to drive it down onto Clark's head, but Clark reaches his own hand up and catches Kalib's fist in the air. Nostrils flaring, eyes ablaze, Clark balls up his other fist and releases his rage on the much larger Kalib.
COLONEL KALIB
Ah!
Kalib's body bounces, rolling end over end down the runway before sliding to an aggressive halt several yards away. Remarkable, as Clark stands and prepares for another assault, Kalib merely looks up at him from the ground and smiles.
Clark soon knows why. Turning around, but making sure not to leave his back exposes, Clark looks up into the night sky to see hundreds, if not thousands, of parademons flying towards Metropolis.
COLONEL KALIB
Now, you see! You can't win! You will rule nothing! This planet belongs to Darkseid!
A shot rings out… but not one from any normal gun.
From down the Metropolis city streets, United States Army troop vehicles, tanks, and turret trucks emerge to greet the invading parademon forces, equipped with LexCorp special rifles.
Somewhere, a uniformed soldier cries out…
SOLDIER
Fire!
The tanks, turret guns, and soldiers let loose a vicious barrage of weapons fire directly into the heart of the parademon flock. Crying out horrendous screams, demon after demon falls prey to the rifles powerful electrical blasts.
Two soldiers on the back of a troop transport gather up a rocket launcher and one of the mysterious devices Lionel Luthor was manufacturing at his private airline before Clark decimated it. What looks similar to a small plane engine is, in fact, a rocket projectile which one soldier loads into the other's launcher. As the parademons dive bomb toward the troops below for a counterattack, the soldier fires the rocket, along with several other soldiers firing similar devices from each of the other transport vehicles.
Like Fourth of July fireworks, the rockets leave streams of blue flame behind them, burning the very air. The parademons try desperately to avoid them, flying every which way, but the rockets change course with them, chasing them down before exploding magnificently in bright blue fireballs, raining smoke, fire, and demons onto the ground below.
Colonel Kalib looks on the scene with a mixture of horror and disgust. Clark turns back around to face him with a newly inspired confidence.
CLARK
Looks like you've got a fight on your hands.
DARKSEID
Insignificant.
A white light explodes out of nowhere to Clark's left, and out of a searing bright portal steps Darkseid, no longer bothering with his human guise of General Drake. He keeps his hands locked behind his back, showing Clark how much of a threat he considers him.
DARKSEID
Just like this world. Just like you.
CLARK
Darkseid! Murderer!
Clark clenches his fists and runs straight for Darkseid. Not even bothering to lift up his hands to defend himself, Darkseid merely looks at Clark, sending out two blistering hot streams of flame from his eyes that tear into Clark's chest and slam him to the ground.
DARKSEID
Poor boy. You didn't actually believe in the prophecy, did you? You didn't actually think you could beat me?
Kalib laughs, brushing some blood from his jaw with his fist, taking up position next to his father.
DARKSEID
How little you understand of the universe.
Clark tries to stand, but Darkseid hits him again with two quick concentrated flame bursts from his eyes that slam Clark backwards and back to the ground.
DARKSEID
You are nothing to me. Krypton was nothing to me. This planet Earth, this speck of dust is nothing to me.
Again Clark struggles to stand and again Darkseid humbles him to the ground with shots from his eyes.
DARKSEID
I will crush you and I will crush any world you run too.
CLARK
If I am nothing to you… why do you care so much about me?
DARKSEID
Not about you, about what you know. Inside your mind lies the secret to the anti-life equation, the key to unlocking the mystery of creation itself.
CLARK
Creation?! You wreak destruction wherever you go!
DARKSEID
This universe should be destroyed. It deserves to be destroyed. It is plagued, festered, by chaos and turmoil. With the secret of the anti-life equation at my disposal, I will wipe the slate clean, and start anew. I will create a virgin universe, my universe, where the supreme law of order will reign.
CLARK
You want to be a God.
DARKSEID
As far as you're concerned… I am God.
A fourth time, Darkseid attacks Clark with flame bursts from his eyes, this time, though, they are a thousand times more intense. Clark cries out in agony as he is knocked several feet back and driven into a smoking crater into the ground.
DARKSEID
Your father thought he could send you here, because here you would be safe. Here you would have powers beyond that of a normal man, but in the end you are still weak. There is nowhere in the universe where you are safe from me. I am Darkseid… and whether Kryptonian or Human, you are no match for me… boy.
Getting to his knees, his back to Darkseid, Clark stares up at the city skyline as a bolt of lightning crashes down in the distance. Smoke billows up from around him, his black suit badly burned, his tie now a smoldering stub around his neck, from Darkseid's powerful blasts. Yet, as beaten and tired as he is, Clark finds inspiration in the night…
JONATHAN (voice)
Sometimes all a man can do in this world is to try and be the best man that he can be. Sometimes that man will fail, or give up, but he'll fight back. He'll rise up, he'll learn from his mistakes, and he'll come back stronger than ever. That's your job now.
LANA (voice)
The old shall pass away. He sheds his skin and a new man will be born, the path ended, a new beginning. It is the time of ascension.
Darkseid and Kalib look triumphantly on Clark, who continues to sit on his knees with his back to them, staring straight ahead into the night.
CLARK
There's just one problem, Darkseid. You're not fighting Kal-El of Krypton… and you're not fighting Clark Kent of Earth… You're fighting me…
Clark lifts his hands up to the center of his shirt and tears it open to reveal a red and gold "S" symbol surrounded by a sea of blue…
All at once, Clark stands and spins into the air, his black suit falling away like shed skin. Darkseid and Kalib look up at him, hovering in mid-air, his arms crossed in front of his chest, a bright red cape flapping majestically in the wind behind him.
CLARK
… And my name… is Superman.
Kalib takes a single step back, looking to his father for strength.
Grinding his teeth, Darkseid finally raises his fist, cracking his knuckles. Staring angrily up at Superman, his eyes erupt in flame. Opening his iron jaw, he screams and charges down the runway toward him, fist drawn.
Turning in the air, Clark unravels his arms and pushes his fists out in front of him, flying through the air towards Darkseid. As Darkseid approaches, Superman clenches his fist tight, brings it back, and punches forward…
- The End -
Outside the Metropolis International Airport control tower, General Lester steps down from the passenger seat of a troop transport vehicle. He heads for the Tower entrance, escorted by two soldiers in tow.
INT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL CONTROL TOWER
General Lester wastes no time getting down to business, weaving his way through various computer terminals and Tower employees to where the chief tower operator hovers over a radar screen. There is a single blip on the screen, proceeding slowly from top to bottom.
GENERAL LESTER
Has the runway been secured?
OPERATOR
Yes, General, no planes coming in or out. The skies are clear.
The operator looks over at Lester's guards who've taken up position by the door.
OPERATOR
You've already taken care of security. We're as ready as we'll ever be for Air Force One.
GENERAL LESTER
Good. The President is here to speak with me personally. Once they land, I don't want anything…
A second blip appears at the upper left hand corner of the radar screen.
OPERATOR
Wait a minute…
GENERAL LESTER
What is it?
OPERATOR
Something coming up on radar, but we don't have anything scheduled coming in.
Lester leans forward over the operator's shoulder.
As the unidentified blip slowly pursues Air Force One, a second blip appears right behind it… and then another… and another… Before long, the entire upper half of the screen is filled with tiny blips moving toward Air Force One.
GENERAL LESTER
My God…
EXT. METROPOLIS – NIGHT
Air Force One pierces through the dense storm clouds as it flies over the far outskirts of Metropolis. At first, everything seems normal, then, a bolt of lightning illuminates the sky around it, revealing a single parademon flying along its starboard side. A second bolt a second later reveals three more. Finally, a third bolt of lightning reveals Air Force One surrounded on all sides by the malicious demons.
INT. AIR FORCE ONE – COCKPIT
Three taps in rapid succession, followed by a frustrated slap, do little to coax the radio inside Air Force One's cockpit to spit out more than static.
PILOT
Control, repeat, this is Air Force One requesting clearance to land, over.
CO-PILOT I
What's going on?
PILOT
Heck if I know, the damn radio's just cut out. I can't raise tower.
The cockpit drops, suddenly, the pilot and three co-pilots reeling, struggling just to stay in their seats.
PILOT
What the…
Sparks fly over the co-pilots' heads, raining down on and burning their uniforms.
CO-PILOT I
We just lost the auto-pilot!
EXT. METROPOLIS – NIGHT
The parademons crawl over the outside of Air Force One like maggots over an animal carcass, scratching and clawing at the wings and engines. The massive plane veers to uncontrollably to one side.
INT. AIR FORCE ONE – COCKPIT
Inside the shaking cockpit, the pilot tries desperately to steady himself, much less the plane.
PILOT
Somebody give a look outside! What the hell's going on out there?!
The two rear co-pilots each give a look out their respective viewing windows. Like a punch to the face, the sight of the parademons crawling on the outside of the plane slams both men back into their seats. They shoot each other a worried glance.
PILOT
Well?! What's happening out there?!
CO-PILOTS II & III
Just fly the plane!
CO-PILOT I
We're losing altitude!
CO-PILOT II
Pressure's fluctuating!
CO-PILOT III
We have breaches on the wings!
PILOT
Breaches? How the…
CO-PILOT III
Trust me!
The pilot does so.
PILOT
Get on the radio! We have to make an emergency landing!
CO-PILOT I
Mayday, mayday, Metropolis Tower, this is Air Force One…
PILOT
Lowering landing gear!
EXT. METROPOLIS - NIGHT
The landing gear kicks out from the underbelly of the plane as it careens back to a level, coordinated, descent. It doesn't take long for the demons to spot them, though, and the lead demon flies straight for the forward tires. Letting out a scream, it punches through the forward landing gear, sending the massive tires and support beams hurtling down toward the city below.
Clark comes to a stop outside the newly renamed LexCorp building as Air Force One's forward landing assembly crashes through the front face of the building, raining glass and metal shards down on the street below. His eyes widen as he observes a woman crossing in front of the building just as a particularly large chunk of debris dislodges from the face of the building.
WOMAN
::screams:: Help!
She tries to run, but her right high-heel breaks. Mid-fall, Clark catches her in his arms and runs her safely across the street, sitting her on a bus stop bench before darting off down the street at near light speed.
The poor woman, utterly traumatized, faints on the bench.
INT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL CONTROL TOWER
The control tower buzzes with activity as airline employees and military personnel haphazardly race to and from various computer terminals.
GENERAL LESTER
What's happening?! Why can't we raise them on radio?!
OPERATOR
I don't know, General.
OPERATOR II
They're off course. They're coming in too high.
GENERAL LESTER
My God, that's the President up there! Do something!
OPERATOR
There's nothing I can do, General! There's nothing anyone can do, now…
The operator looks up at the sky, down the runway, in the direction of the oncoming Air Force One.
OPERATOR
…except pray.
General Lester grits his teeth, feeling utterly helpless.
INT. AIR FORCE ONE COCKPIT
Everyone inside the Air Force One cockpit sweats with fear, but the Co-Pilot seems particularly concerned with a flashing red light on the panel in front of him. It reads, "Forward Landing Gear".
CO-PILOT
We have a landing gear malfunction.
PILOT
What?!
CO-PILOT
Something's wrong with the forward landing gear! We have to pull up!
PILOT
Like hell! She's barely holding together. We bring her in now. We bring her in hot, or we don't bring her in at all!
EXT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL – NIGHT
Sirens ring out into the Metropolis night air, joining with the rolling thunder to create an eerie anthem of distress as Air Force One descends towards the fully lit runway missing its forward landing gear.
Breathing heavily, pushing himself to the limit to run ahead of the plane, Clark Kent pulls up at the end of the runway, staring up at the plane heading straight towards him in the distance. Standing tall, he takes a breath, looking around him as emergency vehicles approach the runway from all sides, preparing for the worst.
Closing his eyes, he takes a long deep breath before looking back up at the plane. Right foot first, he starts running towards it down the runway, first at normal speed, but quickly gaining moving faster and faster. Just as he passes the last set of runway lights, he jumps, hurling his body into the air.
As Air Force One barrels towards Metropolis International Airport, bleeding sparks and fumes from where its landing gear was torn away, the parademons disperse, leaving it to its fate.
Clark's leap started out almost completely uncontrolled, his arms and legs flailing aimlessly, but somehow it becomes much more steadied as he heads straight for the plane, as if he is willing himself toward it. At breakneck speeds, the plane and Clark head towards each other on a collision course when…
INT. AIR FORCE ONE COCKPIT
The entire cockpit lurches forward, the pilot banging his head against the back of his chair in the process.
PILOT
What was that?!
CO-PILOT I
We hit something?!
EXT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL – NIGHT
Beneath the underbelly of the plane, the two sets of rear landing gear prepare for the plane's touch down. At the forward, Clark holds on to what's left of the forward landing gear support frame, his legs towards the ground.
INT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL CONTROL TOWER
General Lester, along with everyone else in the tower, look on anxiously as Air Force One prepares to touch down at the very end of the runway.
EXT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL – NIGHT
The back landing gear touches down on the runway, screeching against the hard pavement. Next comes the nose of the plane…
Sheer intensity and determination boiling inside of him, Clark starts moving his legs as his feet hit the runway. Acting as the planes forward landing gear, Clark runs with the forward section of Air Force One on his shoulders, desperately trying to keep the nose up.
The strain is incredible, an entire jetliner and the lives of everyone inside on his shoulders. Slowly, Clark works with the rear brakes to slow Air Force One to a gradual stop before it barrels its way clear off the end of the runway.
INT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL CONTROL TOWER
The tower erupts in cheers and General Lester can breathe a momentary sigh of relief, Air Force One safely touched down at the far end of its runway. He quickly heads for the door.
EXT. METROPOLIS INTERNATIONAL - NIGHT
A flash of lightning…
Clark looks up barely in time to see Colonel Kalib's elbow heading straight for his face. The forward nose of Air Force comes crashing down to the pavement below as Clark is sent hurtling a hundred feet backwards, bouncing several times off the ground before skidding to a painful stop.
A weary Clark picks himself up off the ground, only to be greeted by a swift uppercut to the jaw from Kalib, which again hurls him into the air, his poor aching body falling like deadweight to the ground below, cracking the concrete.
COLONEL KALIB
You are a pathetic weakling! How dare you stand up to challenge Darkseid!
Kalib walks confidently over to Clark. Lifting his fist over his head, he moves to drive it down onto Clark's head, but Clark reaches his own hand up and catches Kalib's fist in the air. Nostrils flaring, eyes ablaze, Clark balls up his other fist and releases his rage on the much larger Kalib.
COLONEL KALIB
Ah!
Kalib's body bounces, rolling end over end down the runway before sliding to an aggressive halt several yards away. Remarkable, as Clark stands and prepares for another assault, Kalib merely looks up at him from the ground and smiles.
Clark soon knows why. Turning around, but making sure not to leave his back exposes, Clark looks up into the night sky to see hundreds, if not thousands, of parademons flying towards Metropolis.
COLONEL KALIB
Now, you see! You can't win! You will rule nothing! This planet belongs to Darkseid!
A shot rings out… but not one from any normal gun.
From down the Metropolis city streets, United States Army troop vehicles, tanks, and turret trucks emerge to greet the invading parademon forces, equipped with LexCorp special rifles.
Somewhere, a uniformed soldier cries out…
SOLDIER
Fire!
The tanks, turret guns, and soldiers let loose a vicious barrage of weapons fire directly into the heart of the parademon flock. Crying out horrendous screams, demon after demon falls prey to the rifles powerful electrical blasts.
Two soldiers on the back of a troop transport gather up a rocket launcher and one of the mysterious devices Lionel Luthor was manufacturing at his private airline before Clark decimated it. What looks similar to a small plane engine is, in fact, a rocket projectile which one soldier loads into the other's launcher. As the parademons dive bomb toward the troops below for a counterattack, the soldier fires the rocket, along with several other soldiers firing similar devices from each of the other transport vehicles.
Like Fourth of July fireworks, the rockets leave streams of blue flame behind them, burning the very air. The parademons try desperately to avoid them, flying every which way, but the rockets change course with them, chasing them down before exploding magnificently in bright blue fireballs, raining smoke, fire, and demons onto the ground below.
Colonel Kalib looks on the scene with a mixture of horror and disgust. Clark turns back around to face him with a newly inspired confidence.
CLARK
Looks like you've got a fight on your hands.
DARKSEID
Insignificant.
A white light explodes out of nowhere to Clark's left, and out of a searing bright portal steps Darkseid, no longer bothering with his human guise of General Drake. He keeps his hands locked behind his back, showing Clark how much of a threat he considers him.
DARKSEID
Just like this world. Just like you.
CLARK
Darkseid! Murderer!
Clark clenches his fists and runs straight for Darkseid. Not even bothering to lift up his hands to defend himself, Darkseid merely looks at Clark, sending out two blistering hot streams of flame from his eyes that tear into Clark's chest and slam him to the ground.
DARKSEID
Poor boy. You didn't actually believe in the prophecy, did you? You didn't actually think you could beat me?
Kalib laughs, brushing some blood from his jaw with his fist, taking up position next to his father.
DARKSEID
How little you understand of the universe.
Clark tries to stand, but Darkseid hits him again with two quick concentrated flame bursts from his eyes that slam Clark backwards and back to the ground.
DARKSEID
You are nothing to me. Krypton was nothing to me. This planet Earth, this speck of dust is nothing to me.
Again Clark struggles to stand and again Darkseid humbles him to the ground with shots from his eyes.
DARKSEID
I will crush you and I will crush any world you run too.
CLARK
If I am nothing to you… why do you care so much about me?
DARKSEID
Not about you, about what you know. Inside your mind lies the secret to the anti-life equation, the key to unlocking the mystery of creation itself.
CLARK
Creation?! You wreak destruction wherever you go!
DARKSEID
This universe should be destroyed. It deserves to be destroyed. It is plagued, festered, by chaos and turmoil. With the secret of the anti-life equation at my disposal, I will wipe the slate clean, and start anew. I will create a virgin universe, my universe, where the supreme law of order will reign.
CLARK
You want to be a God.
DARKSEID
As far as you're concerned… I am God.
A fourth time, Darkseid attacks Clark with flame bursts from his eyes, this time, though, they are a thousand times more intense. Clark cries out in agony as he is knocked several feet back and driven into a smoking crater into the ground.
DARKSEID
Your father thought he could send you here, because here you would be safe. Here you would have powers beyond that of a normal man, but in the end you are still weak. There is nowhere in the universe where you are safe from me. I am Darkseid… and whether Kryptonian or Human, you are no match for me… boy.
Getting to his knees, his back to Darkseid, Clark stares up at the city skyline as a bolt of lightning crashes down in the distance. Smoke billows up from around him, his black suit badly burned, his tie now a smoldering stub around his neck, from Darkseid's powerful blasts. Yet, as beaten and tired as he is, Clark finds inspiration in the night…
JONATHAN (voice)
Sometimes all a man can do in this world is to try and be the best man that he can be. Sometimes that man will fail, or give up, but he'll fight back. He'll rise up, he'll learn from his mistakes, and he'll come back stronger than ever. That's your job now.
LANA (voice)
The old shall pass away. He sheds his skin and a new man will be born, the path ended, a new beginning. It is the time of ascension.
Darkseid and Kalib look triumphantly on Clark, who continues to sit on his knees with his back to them, staring straight ahead into the night.
CLARK
There's just one problem, Darkseid. You're not fighting Kal-El of Krypton… and you're not fighting Clark Kent of Earth… You're fighting me…
Clark lifts his hands up to the center of his shirt and tears it open to reveal a red and gold "S" symbol surrounded by a sea of blue…
All at once, Clark stands and spins into the air, his black suit falling away like shed skin. Darkseid and Kalib look up at him, hovering in mid-air, his arms crossed in front of his chest, a bright red cape flapping majestically in the wind behind him.
CLARK
… And my name… is Superman.
Kalib takes a single step back, looking to his father for strength.
Grinding his teeth, Darkseid finally raises his fist, cracking his knuckles. Staring angrily up at Superman, his eyes erupt in flame. Opening his iron jaw, he screams and charges down the runway toward him, fist drawn.
Turning in the air, Clark unravels his arms and pushes his fists out in front of him, flying through the air towards Darkseid. As Darkseid approaches, Superman clenches his fist tight, brings it back, and punches forward…
- The End -