Superman – Clark Kent/Kal-L

Superman… The Man of Steel..  The Man of Tomorrow..  The Last Son of Krypton…

On the distant planet of Krypton in a Red Star system, Jor-L and Lar-A met and mated.  Of that union, was born Kal-L.  Some short time after Jor-L, being one of the Science guild, sometimes viewed as the head of the Science guild, theorized that the planet Krypton was going to explode under pressure from it’s intensely radioactive core.  Jor-L pleaded with the powers that be that they must evacuate Krypton immediately.

The main ruling body of Krypton rejected Jor-L’s findings as radically ridiculous and forbid him to mention his findings to prevent a panic.  Jor-L dejected returned home to Lar-A and began his plan to build a prototype of a ship that would save his family from the fate of Krypton.

Once Jor-L finishes his working prototype, the planet of Krypton begins its death throes with earthquakes.  Realizing there is no more time to work on a ship for him and his wife, Jor-L programs the prototype to take Kal-L to the planet Earth where Jor-L’s calculations have shown that Kal-L will possess amazing abilities with Earth’s lesser gravity and its Yellow Sun, Sol.

The rocketship takes off from Krypton as Jor-L and Lar-A hold each other and in their last moments of life the planet Krypton explodes sending fragments everywhere throughout the cosmos.  Kal-L’s rocketship travels from Krypton to Earth unimpeded.

It is a normal November day, the harvest is done and Jonathan and Martha Kent of Smallville, Kansas are returning home from town to their family farm with their supplies for the long winter months ahead as the spaceship from Krypton crash lands off the road in a corn field.  Jonathan and Martha stop their pick-up truck and investigate and find the infant wrapped in clothing bearing the El family symbol, an S in a diamond shape.

Shield Differences

Golden Age Superman or Superman of Earth-Two

Silver Age Superman or Superman of Earth-One

Fate played a hand as well as the biggest blizzard of the century began to bear down on the farm.  Jonathan managed to get the spacecraft hidden in the barn just as the snow became a white out and as he went inside the Kents welcomed their new child as their own since they had been unable to conceive naturally.  They named the child Clark Joseph Kent and when the snows finally abated in April, no one in town doubted that Martha had been expecting and delivered early on the farm in the small rural community.

Raised in the Midwest by salt of the Earth people with strong American values, Clark was indistinguishable from any other child in Smallville, except after a while he began to exhibit some interesting traits.  He never got sick for instance and seemed extraordinarily strong for his age.  One day Clark was playing football with a bunch of boys and when he grabbed one by the shoulder Clark broke his arm.  It became apparent that Jonathan and Martha could no longer keep Clark’s origin a secret and they told him the story of how they found him.

Together they concocted a plan, a secret identity for Clark, more to keep everyone else safe until Clark could control his strength fully.  Clark would become a bookworm, a klutz, a withdrawn teen to shield others from the possibility that his abilities hurt another.  This act stuck and Clark found himself socially ostracized in the small town.

Clark eventually will graduate from Smallville High and head off from the farm for the big city of Metropolis.

Once there, Clark would join the team of The Daily Star and become a crack reporter using his super power abilities to assist in scooping his fellow investigative reporter Lois Lane, who would become the love of his life.

Along with their boss, newspaper editor Perry White and the eager cub photographer Jimmy Olsen, it seems as if Clark is set for a long life of excitement in the city.

As the war began Superman was enlisted in the All-Star Squadron and joined the Justice Society as a reserve member.  Once the House Unamerican Acitivites Committee met, only Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman were granted immunity and still allowed to operate as superheroes in America.

As time went on Perry White retired from the Daily Star and Clark Kent was named Editor-In-Chief.  Clark eventually told Lois about his secret life and the two of them married.  When Clark’s cousin, Kara Zor-El came to Earth, the two of them adopted her calling her Karen Starr and Karen became a new member of the Justice Society known as Power Girl.

First Appearance

Created By

Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster

Powers

Superman has a litany of abilities which have been expanded and shrunk over the times so below are the most commonly used and established in the DC canon.

Flight – Superman can break free of gravity and travel unimpeded through the air.

Immunity to Adverse Temperature – Superman has no problem operating in areas where the temperature would cause a normal person considerable problems.

Immunity to Disease – Superman’s super immune system fights off most, if not all, Earth based viruses and bacteria.

Immunity to Toxins – Superman can withstand poison and toxic attacks with ease.

Invulnerability – Superman is extremely durable and hard to damage physically.

Safe in Space – Superman can travel through the vacuum of outer space with no ill effects.

Super Breath – Superman can exude a powerful blast of air from his lungs.

Super Hearing – Superman has the ability to hear sounds from a great distance and pinpoint where those sounds are located.

Super Intelligence – Superman is keenly smart and due to Kryptonian science has a basic knowledge of most Earth sciences and some sciences not on Earth yet.

Super Speed – Superman is insanely fast.

Super Strength – Superman is almost incalculably strong.

Super Ventriloquism – Superman can throw his voice over distances.  Presumably he learned to do this to help with the cultivation of his secret identity.

Vision Powers – Superman possesses four distinct vision powers.

• Heat Vision – Superman can send heat beams out of his eyes gentle enough to warm someone or cook food or laser like as a particularly brutal attack or to melt objects.
• Microscopic Vision – Superman can use his vision to see things at a microscopic level.
• Telescopic Vision – Superman can see far into the distance for detecting incoming objects or to witness trouble.
• X-Ray Vision – Superman can use his vision to see through objects providing those objects are not shielded by lead.

Vulnerabilities

For all of his powers, Superman is not completely vulnerable.  Superman has a few major vulnerabilities.

Fellow Kryptonians – Of course, when faced with other survivors of Krypton, Superman is battling basically a doppelganger and that doppelganger has the same abilities.

Kryptonite – Superman suffers various effects depending upon his range to and the color of a chunk of his home planet.  There are many types but the most common are below.

• Gold Kryptonite – Takes away the powers of a Kryptonian.
• Green Kryptonite – Takes away his powers and begins to kill him fairly immediately.  This is the most common form of Kryptonite.
• Red Kryptonite – Causes a mutation in Superman’s physiology, mental state, or combination of both for a certain length of time.  Typically 24 or 48 hours, but this has changed over time.

Magic – Superman is inordinately not so super when confronted with magical beings.

Mental Control – Superman can be controlled via strong telepathic powers.

Equipment

Superman has several tools that he uses on occasion.

Fortress of Solitude – This Arctic fortress is where Superman’s headquarters is and where he goes to escape from the pressures of being Superman.

Phantom Zone Projector – This device has the ability to project individuals into the Phantom Zone where they become immaterial.  The Phantom Zone is where Krypton sent all its criminals.

Editor’s Note

There is no clear cut distinction as to when Superman of Earth-Two ended his published adventures and when Superman of Earth-One began his adventures.   Some quick distinctions in the two:

• The S Shield design is different.
• Superman of Earth-Two never was Superboy, while Superman of Earth-One was Superboy.
• Superman of Earth-Two worked for the Daily Star, Superman of Earth-One works for the Daily Planet.
• Lex Luthor of Earth-Two wears prison greys and has a full head of red hair, Lex Luthor of Earth-One is completely bald and typically wears a business suit or a purple and green battle suit.
• Power Girl of Earth-Two is Superman of Earth-Two’s cousin, while Supergirl of Earth-One is the Superman of Earth-One’s cousins.