Warning! Spoilers ahead for Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1
With the original Superman absent, the responsibility of protecting Metropolis has fallen to his proteges, Superboy and Supergirl, but just because Superboy is DC's future Superman doesn’t mean he’s stronger than Kara. In fact, DC just proved that Supergirl still has Jon outclassed by a long shot.
Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1 puts the new Superman in a difficult position. Civil unrest in Metropolis has reached a breaking point, and the conflict between the Trojan military forces and Brain Cells, the successor of Braniac, threatens to plunge the city further into chaos. In an effort to keep Metropolis from becoming Gotham, which has already been turned into a full-on police state, Jon takes a page from Braniac’s book and shrinks the entire city, then brings it to his Fortress of Solitude for safekeeping. Jon did what he thought was best, but not everyone agrees it was the right move. Case in point: Supergirl.
Shrinking Metropolis immediately puts Jon and Supergirl at odds. Soon after the new Superman sequesters the shrunken city away in his fortress, Supergirl shows up to confront him - and she’s not happy. Before Jon can even try to explain, Kara tells him, “We’re going to hand over Brain Cells when the military arrives and then you’re going to step down as Superman…You can give up or you can go by force. And honestly, I hope you pick force.” Jon immediately recognizes that something is off with Kara by how hostile she’s behaving, but the situation only escalates. “I told Clark a decade ago,” Kara continues, “His son’s not fast enough, strong enough, or decisive enough. You’re too human.” Kara then demonstrates just how much stronger she is as a pure kryptonian by attacking Jon - making him bleed with just one hit - then throwing him out of the fortress with ease. Even Jon knows he doesn't stand a chance; “I have to find another way. She’s too strong,” he thinks to himself. Fortunately, Brain Cells shows his hand soon after and unites the two heroes against him, but by then, it’s too late.
While Supergirl almost certainly would have defeated Jon had the fight continued, being only half-kryptonian does have some benefits. Supergirl’s pure genes make her more powerful, but also make her more susceptible to kryptonian weaknesses, like Kryptonite and Nirodhium, which powers Brain Cells' core. Nirodhium is “deadly to kryptonians. That’s why they instinctually become so aggressive around it,” Brain Cells says after taking out Kara with one blast. However, being half-human makes Jon seemingly immune to the effects of Nirodhium, so he might be Metropolis’s only hope. Regardless, the fact that DC's first Supergirl wasn't even kryptonian adds some poetic irony to the whole conflict between Kara and Jon in this issue.
In terms of raw power, Kara definitely has Jon beat - in fact, some even argue that Supergirl is stronger than Superman himself. However, Superman’s true strength comes not from his powers, but from his humanity. In that sense, Superboy was undoubtedly the right choice to take up his father's mantle, and he’ll do whatever it takes to save the people of Metropolis.
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