Adventures of Superman #459 (October 1989)
Adventures of Superman #459 (October 1989)
Superman finally realizes that the Eradicator gizmo he found in space might be evil, so he decides to toss it in a crevice in the antarctic. He probably got the idea from watching Superman II.
So what makes Superman suspect that this harmless little Kryptonian artifact that killed hundreds of thousands of his ancestors centuries ago (Action Annual #2) is no good? Jimmy F. Olsen. Last issue, Jimmy suddenly mutated into Plastic Man for unknown reasons and Superman left him in the care of Professor Hamilton. Hamilton is then able to track down the virus that messed up Jimmy to the moment when Superman hugged the kid upon returning from space in Action #643. And guess what Superman was carrying in his pocket at the time? The Eradicator.
At that point, and despite the mountain of evidence, Superman still isn’t completely sure that the Eradicator is to blame, so he agrees to bring it to the S.T.A.R. Labs facility Hamilton is using to be examined. Unfortunately, Hamilton is a bit of a butterfingers and accidentally triggers the thing’s murder mechanisms.
The lab explodes as the Eradicator becomes suspended in the air and starts shooting bolts of energy. When Superman warns Jimmy to stay away, the Eradicator goes out of its way to shoot Jimmy with energy and thus proves that not only does it have a conscience, but that conscience is a dick. Jimmy turns elastic again and ends up bouncing all over the destroyed lab while Superman tries to figure out what to do.
Eventually the Eradicator just sorta turns itself off and Superman wraps it inside a metal egg while he has the chance. We then circle back to the scene of Superman in the antarctic throwing the metal egg into a crevice, and whelp, guess that’s the end of the Eradicator storyline!
Plotline-Watch:
Haha, no. We’ve still got a few years left of Eradicator shenanigans. The issue ends with an ominous light going on at the bottom of the crevice. So the thing was on all along, but it just let Superman drop it there. I guess it wanted some… Solitude.
Also, Superman mentions that he’ll be taking Jimmy to Project Cadmus next, since Hamilton couldn’t help him. Hamilton, perhaps a little offended, makes a good observation: Cadmus is all about cloning people, and that’s exactly what started this whole Eradicator business in the first place (remember it was created to get rid of the anti-cloning protesters in Krypton).
WTF-Watch:
It takes an hilariously long time for Superman to even start suspecting that the ancient murder machine he brought from space is, you know, a murder machine. Upon reviewing the events of the past issues with Hamilton, it very, very slowly dawns on Superman that the time when the Eradicator exploded on Matrix/Supergirl’s face (also in Action #643) must have been what drove Matrix crazy. But before realizing that, Superman actually thinks it might have been her who’s responsible for all of Jimmy’s woes.
Wait, how would Matrix pass the virus to Jim- ewww.
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