Friday Night Fights: Minimum Clonage - Round 10: Greetings From The Year 2001!


It's time for Round 10 of Friday Night Fights: Minimum Clonage, where no contestant is allowed to reuse a dominant fighter in this 12-round bout. And here's another look at our Used Character Board. Take it away, Vanna:

Shadow Lass, Professor Zoom, Ant-Man, Iron Man, Bethany Cabe, Liberty Belle, Nexus, Black Rider, the Ancient One.

Well, since none of those jokers have given me a victory in the last nine rounds, I've decided to use the biggest gun himself: Superman. And the setting for tonight's fight is the far-flung future of the year....2001! (Cue tonight's fight music!)

Tonight's futuristic fracas comes from an "imaginary story" (aren't they all?) in Superman#300 (June 1976) titled "Superman 2001", written by Elliot S! Maggin and illustrated by late greats Curt Swan and Bob Oksner.

The story essentially asks "What if Kal-El's rocket had landed on Earth in 1976?" (which isn't too far-fetched nowadays since, given Superman's age in the comics, he would had to have landed in the early-mid 70's). Kal's rocket lands in the ocean and is claimed by the US military, who raises the lad under the name "Skyboy", even giving him a stretchable "super-suit". In 1990, an unnamed Third World power manipulates the USA and Russia into starting a nuclear war.

Fortunately, our hero "Skyboy", now 14, prevents this global catastrophe by deactivating all the warheads and chemical weapons.

Unfortunately, he doesn't take credit for the deed, which leads to this scene in 2001:

Who is behind this devious scheme? You guessed it -- the unnamed Third World power!

Apparently, they had tried to construct an earlier android named "Lahtay", but it malfunctioned.


Only one man stands in their way....

It's "Skyboy", all growed up to be the Superman we know and love.

Moka gets in the first shot .....

...and, in an awesome Curt Swan display, punches Supes so hard he leaves after-images. But don't count our Man of Steel out just yet!

Supes fans can guess what comes next.

And now it's time for some android smashing, Superman-style!



He's kind of right about the "gullible fools" part. There's no way in hell that Americans in our 2001 would have been so quick to surrender their freedoms solely because of the manipulations of some Third World terrorist grou--- uh... never mind. Continue, Clark!




And now for the big finish....


I'll say this for the Big Red "S": The man is thorough.