Warning! Spoilers ahead for Titans Season 3 episode 4, “Blackfire”

Titans Season 3 is setting up a significant Dark Superman story featuring Conner Kent’s Superboy (Joshua Orpin). Created to be a Kryptonian clone, Conner’s genetics and DNA are the result of a combination of not just Kal-El’s Superman, but also Lex Luthor who funded the project responsible for Conner’s creation. Now, with a major loss having just occurred, Superboy is blaming himself while also fearing the emergence of his darker genes from Luthor, potentially leading to a Dark Superman arc in future episodes of the new season.

In previous episodes of Titans, Jason Todd has come back from the dead as the Red Hood, a much darker foe who’s been targeting the Titans he once called his friends and allies. Zeroing in on Hank Hall’s Hawk, Red Hood implanted a bomb into Hank’s heart with a set number of heartbeats serving as the timer before he’d be killed. While Dick Grayson tasked Conner with replicating the device needed to disable the bomb in time, he was seconds late before Jason set off the bomb in response to the actions of Dove, Hank’s other half who was manipulated by the Red Hood. However, Titans Season 3 episode 4, “Blackfire” begins with Conner blaming himself for Hank’s death all the same.

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While Gar Logan’s Beast Boy tries to give Conner some encouragement, Superboy isn’t interested. Unable to eat due to his guilt and grief, Conner is adamant that the real Superman wouldn’t have failed in the same situation. Furthermore, he decides to lash out at Gar, letting his paranoia about how the rest of the Titans see him fuel his anger: “Just come out and say it. If I wasn’t a f*****-up half-breed, none of this would have happened.” He continues by talking about the Lex Luthor part of his DNA, thinking that all of the other Titans have just been waiting for that supposed dark side to take over. While it seems as though a bit of rift has been created between Conner and Gar as a result, this interaction could be indicative of a larger arc going forward, seeing Conner’s fears about his Luthor genes motivating a reality where he does indeed go dark.

While it should be noted that Conner’s battle with his inner darkness isn’t new in the pages of DC Comics, it will be interesting to see how it plays out in this live-action series. While large portions of Titans Season 3 have been focused on Nightwing along with Red Hood and Starfire, that could soon change after this new development for Conner. It seems as though his guilt over Hank’s death will most likely be sticking with him for a while, as well as the pressures of being just like Superman while rejecting any darker aspects that could be coming from Luthor.

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All in all, it certainly seems as though Conner would benefit from meeting Superman in the flesh and having a heart-to-heart, though it’s anyone’s guess if that will actually come to pass. It’s unclear if the Man of Steel even knows of Conner’s existence. Furthermore, the only major hero to be featured thus far in Titans has been Bruce Wayne, though that could change with the addition of a possible Clark Kent cameo. It certainly seems as though it would do wonders for Superboy as he edges closer to having his own Dark Superman story in Titans Season 3.

Titans releases new episodes every Thursday on HBO Max.

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Kevin Erdmann
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Kevin Erdmann is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers. With a major in Cinema Studies and a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin is pretty sure he’s writing for the right site. While Kevin is a huge Marvel fan, he also loves Batman because he’s Batman and is a firm believer that Han shot first. Disney also shares a big part of his fan patronage. Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise.

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