Man of Steel (part 2)

While the rest of the DC Universe was just beginning the Legends cross-over, Man of Steel was continuing to redefine the world of Superman.

Man of Steel #3

Superman flies to Gotham City to investigate the mysterious vigilante he's been hearing about, the Batman.  The first post-Crisis World's Finest meeting didn't go the way fans were accustomed.  Superman wants to bring this new vigilante to the police but Batman resists, threatening that if Superman does, a bomb will go off somewhere in the city killing an innocent person.  Putting aside their differences, they both stop a villain together, and at the end of the story Batman reveals the innocent person who would have been killed was himself.  As they go their separate ways, Batman ponders that in another reality they could have been friends.

The one-dimensional kleptomaniac villain, Magpie, was forgettable and her appearances in this period haven't aged well.  This same month she had first appeared in Batman #401 (Legends Chapter 1), although that issue referenced this earlier appearance in a footnote.  This was one of he first glimpses of the tighter continuity that would characterize the post-Crisis era.

Man of Steel #4

Lex Luthor Strikes!  While Lex Luthor is featured on the cover, he really takes a back seat to Lois Lane in this chapter.  Our story opens 18 months after Clark Kent arrived in Metropolis.  Lois Lane shows up at Clark's apartment to pick him up for a gala on Lex Luthor's yacht.  While waiting for Clark to shave (still using his heat vision reflected off a fragment of the rocket that brought him to earth as he did in pre-Crisis continuity) she notices the weights he has lying around are suspiciously light for a man his size.  They head out and go to the roof where, oddly enough, Lex had a helicopter waiting for them that Clark didn't seem to notice.  On their way to the yacht we get more insight into Lex's unrequited obsession with Ms. Lane.  A Trumpian Mr. Luthor arrives to greet them and we get one of Lois' defining post-Crisis moments.  Lex had sent her a dress to wear for the evening, which she thought she was only borrowing.  When Lex tries to make her accept it as a gift (it's not even his color, after all), she asks Clark to lend her his jacket and then she takes off the dress right there and defiantly walks out.

Her moment of triumph is short-lived, however.  The ship is suddenly taken over by terrorists and Clark is conveniently thrown overboard.  Lois manages to grab one of the hijacker's guns and holds off the terrorists herself before Superman saves the day.  After the situation is resolved, Lex Luthor tries to offer Superman a pay check for his services, which Superman politely declines at first.  Luthor then reveals he knew the attack was being planned and did nothing to stop it just so he could see the Man of Steel in action.  Superman takes Lex to the police, but his lawyers get him free within a couple hours.  On the last page, Lex Luthor makes a threat that would come to define their animosity in the post-Crisis era:  "You're going to be destroyed.  And you'll know who's doing it.  Everyone in Metropolis will know.  But no one will ever be able to prove it.  I'll not be arrested, Superman.  Not ever again."

These two issues were a radical departure from the status quo of pre-Crisis Superman continuity.  Superman and Batman had previously been friends who appeared together monthly in World's Finest for decades.  The increasingly darker post-Crisis Batman starts out at odds with Superman and their team ups were now to be infrequent.  On the other hand, Lex Luthor had always been a recurring villain in Superman comics, but in post-Crisis continuity he would become a regular character, a constant presence even when he wasn't the main villain.