Kryptonite is an iconic part of Superman’s Lore, but it’s almost always the green variant. Tons of differently colored kryptonite exist, and red kryptonite is by far the most underrated – a fact best proven when one story brought back a horrifying redesign of a goofy red kryptonite adventure that Superman had back in the Silver Age.
The Dark Multiverse is one of the most terrifying parts of DC’s cosmology. It’s where every story goes wrong, no matter how innocent it may start. One horrifying example of this dark effect is featured in sideways #8 by Dan DiDio and Max Raynor. In the story, the young hero runs sideways into a group of people who are displaced from their homes, and one of them is a terrifying version of Superman.
This version of Superman was exposed to red kryptonite on his planet and transformed into a terrifying half-man, half-ant creature. The transformation isn’t the first of its kind, as elements of the plan were originally seen in a Silver Age Superman story – but the Dark Multiverse gave it a horrifying twist.
Red Kryptonite has tons of untapped potential
Panels of sideways #8 by Dan DiDio, Max Raynor, Trevor Scott, Daniel Brown and Travis Lanham
Each piece of Kryptonite has its own specific use. Green gives off the iconic deadly radiation, and gold kryptonite removes Superman’s powers entirely, but Red kryptonite is the least used despite the most potential. Red Kryptonite can have any imaginable effect. In 1962 Action comics #296 by Edmond Hamilton and El Plastino, a colony of giant mutated ants invade Earth, and to communicate with them, Superman mutates himself with red kryptonite, giving himself a giant ant head. In 2018, the Dark Multiverse redesign gives this goofy idea a terrifying new shape and shows off the potential of Red Kryptonite.
sideways #8 shows that even the original Red Kryptonite stories can be updated for amazing dramatic effect.
Red Kryptonite can do anything in your imagination, and it has quite the penchant for body horror. In the past, Red Kryptonite has turned Superman’s skin translucent, causing his powers to go out of control, it’s turned Supergirl into a giant cosmic dragon, and it’s turned Superman into the scary Ant-Man hybrid. It can do everything the story calls for, and more DC didn’t use Red K nearly as much as it should haveInstead of falling back on the iconic green kryptonite time and time again. sideways #8 shows that even the original Red Kryptonite stories can be updated for amazing dramatic effect.
Red Kryptonite is the perfect plot device
Action comics #296 Cover by Kurt Swann, George Klein and Ira Schnapp
Red Kryptonite deserves to be used more in stories because the potential is limitless. It can fit into any story or plot, it can transform Superman into a different being, and it can change his personality or how his powers work. The effects of Red K can be used for horror or even humor; There’s really no limit to it, and it’s honestly surprising that past the Silver Age of comics, DC hasn’t revisited Red Kryptonite that often. Hopefully, someday, someone will come along and realize that Superman Has been the perfect plot device for decades, and it’s just waiting to be used.
sideways #8 And Action comics #296 are available now from DC Comics!