Kal-El (Earth One)
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Kal-El is a fictional character of DC Comics comic book, not to be confused with Kal-L or the Modern Age/Post-Crisis/New Earth Kal-El, is the Earth One Superman of the Silver Age.
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[edit] Retconning a New Beginning
In the mid 1950s, the editors at DC decided to give their characters a clean slate. Starting with The Flash in 1956, it became apparent to ignore the previous continuity of the Golden Age of Comic Books and separate the two as different timelines. This concept became known by DC as the Multiverse.
With this in mind, the new Superman named Kal-El was established as having lived on Earth One. His Golden Age counterpart Kal-L, the Earth-Two Superman, was retconned as having been a hero on Earth-Two. In addition, Kal-L was noted for having aged with graying temples and visible wrinkles, while the new Earth-One Superman was depicted as being far more youthful.
[edit] Crisis on Infinite Earths
Along with his Earth-Two counterpart, Kal-El perished when the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot all comics continuity, and their universes were erased from existence. The Post-Crisis Earth would be an entirely new continuity, but some aspects of the Earth-One version remained intact, such as Krypto the Superdog and the shrunken city of Kandor. However, Clark's career as Superboy, Supergirl and Superman's tenure with the Legion of Superheroes was removed entirely from the new timeline. Writer John Byrne acknowledged that he intended to reintroduce several modified Silver Age aspects to the comics, but he was fired after two years, due to "creative differences" with DC.
[edit] Infinite Crisis
One Year Later after the Infinite Crisis, a number of the Earth-One elements have been restored to the Post-Crisis Earth (dubbed "New Earth"). Although several Byrne aspects, such as his portrayal of Clark's football days and love interest in Lana, remain in continuity, the Kryptonian criminal Jax-Ur has been re-introduced into Post-Crisis/Infinite-Crisis canon in the Superman: Last Son story arc, and Clark is revealed to have been made an honorary member of the Legion of Heroes during his late-teens. According to Clark, he met Mon-El and wrongly assumed him to have been his long-lost brother from Krypton, based on their similar names, and Superman still has a Legion flight ring in his possession. He is shown to have been wearing glasses as far back as his adolescent Smallville years, and he has actively been saving lives in a low-profile. Although he had a quite adventurous career as a teenager, he did not wear a costume or was referred to as "Superboy."
It is revealed in Countdown to Final Crisis #34, Lex Luthor did spend some time in Smallville under the care of his Aunt Lena. He did befriend and interact with Clark, Lana, and Pete, who were a few years his junior. Unlike the Earth-One or Birthright versions, he did not burn his hair off in an accident he blamed Clark for, but he left after a few months, "under a cloud of suspicion. Instead, like Byrne showed, his hair receded over time until he was bald.
[edit] In other media
The 1980s TV series Superboy, ironically produced three years after the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, featured John Haymes Newton (Season 1) and Gerard Christopher (Season 2-onwards) in the role of the college-aged Clark Kent/Superboy. Much like the Earth-One's Superboy, he was depicted as being a friend of fellow student Lex Luthor, who blamed him for the loss of his hair after he rescued him from a laboratory accident.
The current 2000s CW Network alternate universe series Smallville focus on a Clark Kent (played by Tom Welling) who does not fly or wear the suit during his adolesence or teenage years. However, the ever-thinning relationship with Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) is changed with the Meteor Shower Clark arrived in having inadvertedly caused Lex's disfiguring baldness and his supposed ability to recover quicker than normal.
