The cold, dark waters of the North Atlantic had not finished him. On the contrary. John Corben, now more machine than man, had spent months wandering the abyss, his hatred his only fuel. His core memory looped on his last conscious moments: the betrayal by Lex Luthor, his "benefactor," and the face of Superman, the one who had cast him into this liquid hell.
With a screech of twisted metal, a cybernetic hand gripped the edge of an abandoned oil rig. Then another. Metallo hauled himself out of the waves, water streaming from his chromed body. His single red eye scanned the horizon, analyzing, searching. His tracking system had picked up emissions from Metropolis. Luthor. Superman. They would pay.
He didn't know one of them was missing.
---
A few days later, Metropolis.
A strident alarm sounded in Marcus's Tokyo apartment. It wasn't the tsunami alert, but a maximum priority alert from the Watchtower. Batman appeared on the screen, his face grim.
"Utopian. Metropolis. It's Metallo. He's back and he's wreaking havoc downtown. He's specifically looking for Superman."
Marcus, already in his suit, headed for the balcony. "I'm on my way."
"Be careful," Batman added. "He's equipped with a kryptonite power core. For you, it's not a poison, but don't underestimate his power."
Minutes later, Utopian was soaring over the skies of Metropolis. The scene below was chaotic. Cars were overturned, buildings gutted. And at the center of the chaos, a metallic figure was hurling vehicles at the police forces, his metallic laugh echoing through the streets.
"WHERE IS HE?!" Metallo screamed, his red eye scanning the sky. "COME OUT OF HIDING, SUPERMAN! COME FACE YOUR HANDIWORK!"
Utopian landed heavily behind him, the impact's shockwave lifting debris.
"Superman isn't here, Corben."
Metallo turned slowly, his processor analyzing this new threat. The white and red suit, the unknown shield... No match in his database.
"Who are you? A new League toy?" he sneered. "Go get your master. I didn't come for replacements."
"I am Utopian. And I'm here to stop you."
Without warning, Metallo aimed his arm, which transformed into a plasma cannon. A beam of green energy, tinged with the deadly glow of kryptonite, shot towards Utopian.
Utopian didn't flinch. The beam hit him square in the chest... and dissipated. He felt barely a tingle, like static electricity. The kryptonite had no effect on him.
The surprise was total on Metallo's metallic face. "What...?!"
"Wrong target," Utopian said calmly.
Enraged, Metallo charged, his steel fist coming down like a pile driver. Utopian blocked it with his forearm. The impact was titanic, creating a shockwave that blew out the remaining windows of the surrounding buildings.
The fight was on. Metallo's brute force against Utopian's pure power. The cyborg, realizing his kryptonite weapons were useless, used the full might of his conventional arsenal: missiles, lasers, circular saws. Utopian dodged, blocked, or destroyed them with simple bursts of heat vision.
"YOU ARE NOTHING!" Metallo screamed, frustrated. "SUPERMAN IS THE ONLY ONE WHO MATTERS!"
"You're wrong," Utopian retorted, landing a punch that bent him double. "You fight out of hate. I fight for the people in these buildings. That's the difference."
Finally, Utopian located Metallo's power core. Focusing his power, he projected a thin beam of heat, not to destroy, but to overload and short-circuit the system. Sparks erupted from Metallo's torso, and he collapsed, inert, onto the asphalt.
As police sirens drew closer, Utopian looked down at the defeated cyborg. This fight had proven one thing to him: he would never be Superman. But he could be the necessary force when Superman wasn't there. The world needed more than one hero. And today, he had answered the call.