This is a terrific use of dramatic beats in a long story. We see that Clark and Lois are getting along much better with each other. They've worked past the vital issues between them, Clark is dealing with his past on New Krypton and putting it in his past (where it belongs), and they've settled into their lives quite nicely, even contemplating adding a child to their super-family.

But here come the Triads. These people are colder than Lex Luthor - at least he believed that he loved Lois. They want only money and power, not necessarily in that order. And they're willing to go to any lengths to achieve their goals.

But they've made a mistake. They never figured on Superman or Ultra Woman being in the building when they exposed the green K. They never dreamed that they would threaten the super-couple's child.

And that may prove to be their undoing. A normal human parent can accomplish near-impossible things when his or her child is in mortal danger, and these are not normal parents. Superman and Ultra Woman have already started the evacuation process, and now they're going to try to defuse the bombs. (That remote trigger might lead them right to the perp, too.)

But I see another danger, this one for Clark. Innocent children have been targeted for callous murder. His wife is threatened. His child is threatened. That hard-won combat experience is likely to help him here, but it might also allow him to take a step which Superman should never take.

At the very least, one or both of them will be faced with the choice of whether or not to take a life in order to save many innocent ones. If Clark, it will be like New Krypton all over again. He'll have to deal with all that all over again, with the added complication that he'll feel that he couldn't get away from the violence and death. If Lois, she'll be forced to be just like her husband. And then she'll really understand what he went through. Of course, that won't be at all easy for her, even though Clark will understand in a way that no other man could.

Any way this goes, it's about to get very interesting.


Life isn't a support system for writing. It's the other way around.

- Stephen King, from On Writing