WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Truth & Justice #6, by Brandon Easton, Jahnoy Lindsay, Marissa Louise and AndWorld Design, on sale now.
In the DCU, attacking Superman can be a dangerous business. It's why Darkseid, Lex Luthor and Mongul often give the Man of Steel a run for his money, whether it's in one-on-one combat, using super-powered soldiers, technological wonders like Warworld or Kryptonite.
However, in Truth & Justice #6, one particular Arrowverse villain fails terribly at the job. He runs into a major problem after he uses bootleg Kryptonite, and he botches the mission in an embarrassing manner as a result of his short-sightedness.
Master Jailer, aka Carl Draper, has cornered Superman to kill him, using Red Kryptonite chains to bind him, knowing they're weakening the hero in the final part of "The Revolving Door." He proceeds to let Superman know that he devised a scheme whereby he'd teleport Black men out of prison for their loved ones to meet, taking money from families to pay off his own debts. But by creating this problem, he also offered the solution because the government wouldn't know he was behind it all.
And as a master locksmith and prison developer, Carl would then get massive contracts to improve prisons and upgrade national security systems, and it serves his racist agenda. The media will think the men he frees are escapees, and with the public eye against them, it'll be hard for the courts to not use the evidence and plant them in jail a bit longer.
But while Carl waxes on about his sadistic plan, Superman notices the chains are made from U.S. Steel Works and realizes this isn't real Red Kryptonite. It's Kryptonite dust and after hearing Carl's plans, he breaks free from the chains as his strength rises back up. All the other soldiers flee but Superman's fixated on Carl, laughing off the green Kryptonite handcuffs he whips out to scare the Justice Leaguer off.
While the powder weakened him, Kal-El's still able to use his heat vision to destroy Carl's suit and melt the walls to cover the cuffs. He then takes Master Jailer in, making it clear he'll find a prison to hold him so that he could face the same torment he put others through.
While Carl had the money to get proper Kryptonite from his heists and contracts, he was a cheapskate. And now, he's paying the ultimate price for not going to someone like Lex Luthor. Still, Superman has to investigate the dust, though, because once enough knock-offs are collected, they could still do him some harm.
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