[ EU ] Much like with the Pope , a new Superman is selected ( with his powers awarded immediately ) at a conclave after the death of the previous Superman .

Superman VII was gone. The beacon of the modern world quitted our earth after peacefully ending his days in Metropolis State Hospital. There was no television channel on earth which did n't showed his old shriveled body, his tired eyes trying to reach for the skies upon him. His body, encapsulated in a metal and glass coffin, was launched into space, forever to gravitate around earth, as it was the custom since decades. 
 
 `` A superwoman? It would be unheard of'' whispered Kahl Luthor''. `` Besides, is n't there already a Wonderwoman around?'' two of the `` Kahls'', dressed in fancy, colorful costumes supposedly derived from the alien civilization the first Superman came from, walked in silence inside the great halls of the Temple of the Harbinger, where everything related to the protector of the earth was pondered, decided, announced and managed. 
 
 The younger Kahl, Olsen, frowned. `` It's not a matter of token minorities and whatnot'' he glanced over Metropolis lying in the horizon, beyond the monumental 1930's style building that housed the conclave over what was once the landing site of the miracle baby. `` Times have changed. The general public craves for new models. The west look upon us and unto a freshened version of the Guardian of Humanity, more apt to fill this role in these troubled times'' 
 
 `` Superman always was a man and will ever be a man. Is n't what a man is supposed to be? A protector, a symbol of strength, something to rely on when hurricanes hit our coasts and terrorists threaten our households''. Olsen knew Luthor long sought the Crystal Throne for himself. But he never went past the tests in twenty years, and he was now too old to be an eligible candidate. His intolerance mirrored his frustration, he surmised. 
 
 Olsen nodded in disapproval. The backwardness of his peers, born from another generation, led to the situation they were now facing. `` Superman hardly was a man'' he mused. 
 
 Kahl Luthor understood what he meant. Elected in 1993, the last of the breed shined as brightly as his flame consumed itself. In 2016, he was hardly more than pale skin over glassy bones struggling to catch up with his breath. The cause of this was well understood. The first superman, Kal-El, the one from Krypton, was a man of incredible strength and resistance, capable of formidable prowess. As his feats spread over the country, his fame raised as well. He was demanded by various governments, agencies and wealthy individuals to solve major tasks, generally accident or criminal related events. But by the end of the fifties, he was accidentally destroyed. Desperate, the US government reached for its scientists to find a solution. The solution was the Serum, the Council and its legacy. But after each Superman, the last was to display greater powers, but to live less and degrade itself more quickly than the last. Flight. Heat vision. Greatened senses. Some rumors even say telepathy and precognition animated the last of his legacy. But each time, they became wrinkled, desiccated old men at 40, 35 years old. Olsen knew why. The council insisted to make each Superman stronger than the last. The general public wanted more strenght, more superpowers, more spectacle. Even if it meant the horrible death of the anonymous man. Olsen wanted to put an end to this practice. He wanted a more reasonable, more balanced superman with less powers, but with a better use of them. Something that stood up for the way he used his strenght rather than the strenght itself. 
 
 « We made mistakes, but we made amend for them. And we were able to stand for our ideals over the course of years », sternly retorted the bald figure. 
 
 Some of these Supermen undoubtedly shined as great heroes. Superman IV, `` Son of Valtho'', first and last black Superman, which liberated black victims of Klan ceremonies in the South and fanned the first timid embers of the Civil Right movement. Superman VI, which fought along Afghan rebels when the soviets sought to make the Graveyard of Empires their own, before a rocket effectively made the countryside his own graveyard. But some were to be disowned by History. Superman III the Madman, the great mistake that nearly turned the Dream into a Nightmare, unstable and thirsty for power, which tried to claim an entire country in Central America before he was successfully taken down by the government in a fate of destiny. 
 
 But these ideals were far from being impossible to question. 
 
 The two Kahls contemplated the syringe lying in its glassed box, which was to inject the precious serum containing a viral solution obtained from the first Man of Steel DNA and crystals extracts from the Antarctic Fortress, able to modify the human genetic code and give in a matter of hours anyone resistant enough to withstand the changes *übermensch* powers. Kahl Luthor's fingers toyed with the capsule where rested the miracle. His father directed the private agency that was to investigate the Mysterious glass Fortress deep in Antarctica where they found the solution to their worries. For many years, countless governments and powers tried to steal the secret of the serum. But alas, they never succeeded. 
 
 A counselor hastily walked to them with a look of disquiet in his eyes: `` My Kahls! You are needed in the council chamber in less than ten minutes! `` 
 
 They looked at each other. Luthor was his mentor, the man that showed him the light that was Superman on this earth. He him everything he knew about the first and last Man of Steel. He introduced him to the wonders of the science their council used to make Superman a reality. But their rivalry was n't a matter of much secrecy to the council. Olsen was a man of new ideas, that delighted upon progressivism and renewal. The council always insisted the new Superman to be an American and a man. Each candidate had to be submitted to a hard and tedious training, both physical and mental, and were to be from an ideal background: no family, no ties, physically and intellectually accomplished, nobodies to be found by pure chance and to be turned into a semi god. And here in the round chamber stood 30 figures; 29 men and a woman. 
 
 `` It is time'' announced the severe, learned man, while Olsen considered these silent figures sitting along a circle in the hardly lit room. Farmers. Workers. Mechanicians. Obscures functionaries bestowed with a tranquil job. All exhibiting a collection of lantern jaws and generous muscles. Except her, which gaunt traits weren ’ t to be mistaken with lack of strength. 
 
 One hour after the result delivery, Luthor stood up upon the hundred of thousand of figures which scrutinized with delight the top of the fortress, while photographic flashes 
 
 `` Habemus Superman!'' 

