SInce you are a fan of the Bendis run, I had wanted to ask about your thoughts on Synmar.
Another "evil Superman" but this one is a bit more interesting.
Imagine you're one of the countless alien civilizations in the DCU, advanced enough that you are keeping tabs on other civilizations. You've identified another world, Krypton, as a potential competitor. When Krypton blows up and sends one of the few survivors to a world with a yellow sun, which grants Kryptonians incredible powers, the logical thing to do is to have a countermeasure in place should that Kryptonian grow up to conquer Earth and begin expanding into your own territory. Since you're an advanced civilization, transforming one of your own soldiers into said countermeasure is a relatively simple task, then it's just a matter of waiting.
Only the Kryptonian child grows up to be the protector of a weaker species instead of it's ruler. Protecting them against cosmic threats that pose an existential menace to even your advanced civilization no less. Once you've seen this "Superman" beat back Darkseid, Mongul, Brainiac, and other universal terrors, who wouldn't want their own "Superman" to keep them safe? Well you've already got a soldier who is meant to be your counter to Superman, why not push him into becoming your Superman? Which of course is where the whole thing goes to hell.
Synmar is the answer to the question of "what if there was a deliberate effort to make someone like Superman?" and that's a villain idea I like a lot! A character meant to stand for that can be used to examine how much of Superman is the result of Clark's upbringing with the Kents, how much of it is simply a product of Kal's nature, and how much is a result of Superman's own beliefs on what being a hero means. Synmar does have some qualities to him that serve as a contrast to Clark. He was not born different from his kind but instead elevated above the rest. Initially the true reason for said elevation was hidden from him, and he never actually got to fulfill his original purpose until he took matters into his own hands. And of course the big difference is he was a soldier, meant to kill his enemies which is a line Superman takes great pains not to cross. Bendis had a lot of good ideas stewing around in the character.
Execution wise however, Synmar feels undercooked. We needed more time with him, what made him decide that the Synmar Utopic's status quo wasn't enough, that they needed to become a galactic power? Do others within the Synmar Utopic feel the same way? We see Synmar has friends, what about family, romantic interests, does he have those, what's his relationship with them? He's shown to be initially humble, uncomfortable with the adulation he received, so what pushed him to go off the deep end and try to seize power? Why attack Superman instead of trying to join the United Planets? More time needed to be spent fleshing him and his culture out before his fall from grace. Bendis has a problem with introducing ideas and not bothering to justify them, characters act in whatever manner will result in the plot beats he wants. Unfortunately Synmar is one of those ideas, he's not a full fleshed out character so much as an interesting concept. I want to like him more than I do, and if someone else picks him up and "finishes" him for lack of a better term, then I think he could be a great Superman Rogue. If he never shows up again however, then I won't be too shocked.
