Warning! Spoilers ahead for Action Comics #1097!

DC Comics just addressed an astronomical plot hole in Superman’s origin that only the most astute observers will have noticed. In fact, this “problem” with Clark Kent’s crash landing on Earth wasn’t an issue when the hero debuted in 1938, but the advance of technology over the past 88 years has forced DC to adapt Superman’s backstory.

Action Comics #1097 is written by Mark Waid, with art by Skylar Patridge. The issue’s time travel story sends modern DC heroes Booster Gold, Martian Manhunter, and Mary Marvel back in time to Clark Kent’s early days.

During their visit to the past, amateur UFOlogist Ma Kent offers an answer to a question only the most hardcore, and most analytical, Superman fans have ever thought to ask.

Ma Kent Theorizes That Clark’s Kryptonian Spaceship Was Cloaked, Preventing It Detection Upon Entering Earth’s Orbit

Action Comics #1097​​​​​​, Written By Mark Waid; Art By Skylar Patridge

Have you ever thought about Superman’s origin story for a few seconds longer than you should have, and found yourself asking: “wait, shouldn’t Kal-El’s ship have been detected by radar, or something, upon entering Earth’s atmosphere?” Well, some of us have, and apparently author Mark Waid is one of us.

In Waid’s Action Comics #1097, he has Ma Kent offer an explanation: “It had some sort of cloaking that let it arrive unnoticed by NORAD,” referencing North American Aerospace Defense Command, the warning system based in Colorado that is primarily meant to detect missile attacks, but whose satellites would presumably pick up an incoming extraterrestrial object like a Kryptonian spacecraft.

“That’s my theory, anyway,” Ma Kent notes. As far as answers go, it’s a perfectly satisfying one. After all, Kryptonian technology is far beyond Earth’s even at its most advanced. Of course, it’s an answer that is only necessary because our space observation tech is light years (figuratively and literally) ahead of where it was when Superman debuted.

The Radar “Plot Hole” In Superman’s Origin Wasn’t A Problem When The Character Was Created

Superman Predates Satellites By Almost 20 Years

For context, NORAD was established in 1957, 19 years after Superman became an American pop culture figure. Three weeks after the organization was founded, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first satellite, into space. When creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster conceived of Superman’s alien origin, they didn’t need to consider the possibility that his ship would be detected.

Go back a decade earlier, to the most famous alleged UFO crash in history: 1947’s Roswell incident. This was the peak of the early 20th-century UFO phenomenon, but people had been seeing unidentifiable aircraft for years even before that. In fact, Superman’s origin story is evidence that the idea of an alien crash landing on Earth was already in the popular consciousness by the late ’30s.

Superman’s Origin Never Gets Old, But It Has Become Outdated Over The Past 88 Years

DC Comics Routinely Tweaks The Man Of Steel’s Backstory

Because DC Comics updates its characters’ backstories every generation, Superman no longer crash-landed on Earth in the 1930s. His origin puts him firmly in the era of space observation. Which gives rise to the need for an explanation like the one in Action Comics #1097 for why his landing in Smallville didn’t cause a global stir, or at least alert the U.S. government.

Superman’s origin has been revisited and revised countless times in DC history, but this small detail is almost universally glossed over. Author Mark Waid wisely takes a beat to give readers an answer. For the ones who never thought to ask the question, it’s a bit of lore they didn’t know they needed. But for DC Comics’ most elite Superman fans, it’s a solution to an overlooked “plot hole.”

Action Comics #1097 is available now from DC Comics.

What do you think, DC readers? What other deep-cut questions about Superman lore do we want answers to next?

Created By

Joe Shuster, Jerry Siegel

First Appearance

Action Comics

Alias

Kal-El, Clark Kent, Jonathan Kent

Alliance

Justice League, Superman Family

Race

Kryptonian

Franchise

D.C.