There are quite a few universes that re-imagine superheroes into different time periods. One of the common time periods that likes to get explored is the Medieval era. The current most known universe is probably Earth-118, the home to Dark Knights of Steel which reimagines the DC Universe but with knights and castles and sorcery. You also have the Elseworlds tale from the mid-90s called League of Justice which leans more towards the mystical/fairy tale side of Medieval stories, but today we’re looking at Earth-395 which is home to the stories Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table and Superman: Kal which lean into the Arthurian legend while depositing 2 of the more prominent heroes of the DC Universe. While both of these tales are canonically a part of this universe, they don’t bear any interaction and stand alone for the most part. Due to this, and because I didn’t particularly care for the Batman story, I will mostly be focusing on Superman: Kal. A lot of Superman Elseworlds tales are based primarily around Kal-El landing somewhere other than on the outskirts of Smallville and being found by the Kents. This story places Kal outside the Kingdom of Lexford, once again found by 2 kindly farmers but many centuries before in Medieval England. Kal, having named himself, grew up on the farm but in his teenage years the town blacksmith, Oll, would hire him on as an apprentice. This apprenticeship would lead to Kal competing in a tournament to win the affection of the fair lady Loisse. While Loisse is clearly enamored with the young smith, the king Lex wants her for himself, and quite brutally takes her. Earlier in the tale Lex had found the rocket ship that brought the alien to earth and forced Kal to forge a suit of armor for him out of it. Lex also had a piece of Kryptonite that he wore as a necklace, this paired with the impervious rocket armor made him nigh indestructable, but nothing could stop Kal from avenging his lost love. Kal had also forged a sword from the rocket. and the pair came to blows tragically ending in both of their deaths.
The story ends on an epilogue with Jamie Ollson telling the story to a young child (named Merlin) and he also reveals that with Kal’s last bit of strength he safely stored the sword so that someone years later could use it for good. The sword is seen embedded in an anvil, serving as the basis for this week’s Supergirl entry. Supergirl does not appear in any of these stories, but the story potential of another hero rising up and taking up Kal’s sword was too good to pass up. The story could be told a couple ways, perhaps Kara – the young knight who would weild the sword – could also be Kryptonian like Kal was. But she could also be a human that just follows in Kal’s footsteps and uses the sword for a new generation as a protector with the obvious blessing that comes with pulling the sword from its resting place. There is definitly potential for more story here, but Dark Knights of Steel will probably keep any alternative Medieval Elseworlds tales from popping up any time soon.
As with all my Supergirl in the Multiverse posts, this is my own artwork. The knight Kara is standing over an anvil labled “Oll-Son”. She is pulling a sword out of the anvil and a blue light is emitting from where it was stored. Kara backlit from an open doorway and the room she is in has various bits of armor and other metal-work. A s-symbol with a 395 on it is in the top right corner.
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