Brainiac has captured Metropolis, Supergirl, and Superman. He taunts Superman, telling him how worthless Earth and its cultures are. Superman finally is able to break his bonds, and get away from Brainiac, freeing Supergirl and taking the bottles containing Metropolis and Kandor. He has Supergirl go after the missile that Brainiac fired at Earth's sun. Brainiac tracks him down, but Superman pushes him out of the Headship, and he lands in a swampy area on Earth. He is touched by microorganisms that seem to weaken him as Superman attacks again. Brainiac warns that the bottles' containment fields won't hold outside of the ship, so Superman takes off with Metropolis and Kandor. Brainiac then fires a rocket towards the Kent farm. Superman places the Metropolis bottle back in its spot, and it expands back to normal. He then takes the Kandor bottle to the fortress. Brainiac's rocket arrives at the Kent farm; Jonathan sees it coming and runs to push Martha out of the way as it explodes into their farmhouse. Supergirl stops the missile, Brainiac goes unconscious, and the Kents are relieved. But, as Superman watches Kandor expand, Jonathan collapses with an apparent heart attack. Martha's cries finally reach Superman, but he arrives too late as his foster father has died.