| Superman | |
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Superman. Also pictured; Earth-Two's Lois Lane, Superboy-Prime, and Alexander Luthor, Jr. Art by Phil Jimenez |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Justice League of America #73 (August 1969) (retroactively stated to have originally appeared in Action Comics #1, June 1938) |
| Created by | Dennis O'Neil and Dick Dillin (based upon the original character by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Kal-L, adopted as Clark Kent |
| Species | Kryptonian |
| Team affiliations | Daily Star Justice Society of America All-Star Squadron Black Lantern Corps |
| Notable aliases | Black Lantern |
| Abilities | Superhuman strength, speed and stamina, multiple extra sensory and vision powers, invulnerability, longevity, flight, Black Lantern Power Ring |
The Superman of Earth-Two is a fictional character, a comic book superhero published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Justice League of America #73 (August 1969). He is a version of the Kryptonian superhero Superman from an alternate reality called Earth-Two. Unlike the more popular Earth-One Superman, the Earth-Two Superman is portrayed as decades older and is given the birth name of Kal-L.
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When the Golden Age of Comic Books came to a close in the 1950s, most of DC Comics' superhero comic books ceased publication. The commencement of the Silver Age saw characters such as the Flash and Green Lantern revamped for more modern times, ignoring or abandoning established continuity and thus creating a clean break between the two eras. It was later established that the Golden Age heroes and Silver Age heroes actually lived on Earth-Two and Earth-One respectively, separate parallel Earths in a single Multiverse.
However, Superman was one of the few exceptions; his stories had been published without interruption since his debut in 1938's Action Comics #1. This caused a continuity problem, specifically that Superman was simultaneously a member of the Justice Society of America on Earth-Two and also member of the Justice League of America on Earth-One. It was eventually established that there were two Supermen.[1] The "current", Silver Age Superman was Kal-El from Earth-One, while the Golden Age Superman was Kal-L from Earth-Two.
Several differences between the two Supermen were established to make the distinction clearer. The names "Kal-El", "Jor-El" and "Jonathan and Martha Kent" on Earth-One became "Kal-L", "Jor-L" and "John and Mary Kent" on Earth-Two as from the original Golden Age stories. Kal-L's costume was largely adapted from the 1940s drawing style retaining the famous sweatshirt wrist cuffs as well as his S-shield symbol being originally vastly different from the main Superman S symbol again specifically adapting the 1940s six sided version with the S edges retaining their tail endings and at a hard left tilt. George Perez famously redesigned Kal-L's 1940s S shield (starting in JLA (Vol 1) #197) to be mostly the main S symbol with five sides and merely reflect the tilt connecting the upper edge to the side of shield. Stories featuring both Supermen also indicated that Kal-L was the older of the two, being depicted as late middle-aged with grey or solid white hair at the base hair-line and face wrinkles, while his Earth-One counterpart was a youthful man of modern times.
This not only allowed DC Comics to bring some of the character's Golden Age stories back into continuity, but also led them to experiment with a Superman who wasn't the mainstream one. Thus, several differences between Kal-L and the more well-known Kal-El were introduced. Kal-L was written to be different from the original Golden Age stories, most famously by revealing his dual identities of Clark Kent and Superman to the woman he loved, the Lois Lane of Earth-Two in the late 1940s, and eventually marrying her in 1950.[2] Their early marital life was depicted in the feature "Mr. & Mrs. Superman" in DC's Superman Family series which was vastly different from the original published Superman stories of the 1940s and 1950s where Kent kept his secret from Lane and never married here.
As Superman, Kal-L was considered to be the first public superhero in Earth-Two's history, being the first individual to regularly appear in a colorful costume and display superhuman abilities, as opposed to earlier part-time super powered heroes including Dr. Occult.
In a contended story, Kal-L received some training from his Earth-One counterpart in his teen years.[3] In this story Kal-L is able to actually attain flight by hovering which is refuted in all other Kal-L specific stories, as Kal-L is stated only to be able to superleap until adulthood. This suggests the story happens to another Kal-L counterpart in the pre-Crisis infinite multiverse rather than the actual Earth-Two Superman.
Kal-L fought against evil, at first on a local level in his base of operations, the American city of Metropolis; later in his career, he would consider first the entire United States, and then the whole world under his protection. In November 1940, Superman became a founding member of the Justice Society of America.[4] He was referred to as an "honorary member" along with Batman during the Justice Society's original meeting. He subsequently appeared in two published adventures with this team during the 1940s and aided them on several other occasions retroactively as a member of the World War II organization known as the All-Star Squadron. He built a Secret Citadel in the mountains outside of Metropolis as his headquarters and as shown in Infinite Crisis and eventually built a Fortress of Solitude comparable to that of his Earth-One counterpart.
In later years, he was considered an "elder statesman" of Earth-Two's superhero community, the one that later generations of superheroes looked to as an example and role model.[5] In his secret identity as Clark Kent, Superman also enjoyed success at the Daily Star, of which he was appointed editor-in-chief in the 1950s, replacing George Taylor.
In 1950, Superman encountered three other surviving Kryptonians known as U-Ban, Kizo, and Mala. All three brothers were members of the ruling scientific council exiled from Krypton after they attempted to conquer the planet. Imprisoned in suspended animation tube vessels, they were later freed.[6] Later Superman's lookalike Mala created a counterfeit Earth.[7] These actual Golden Age stories and characters were never referred to in later actual Earth-Two stories.
At some point during the Silver Age, Superman's cousin Kara arrived on Earth after a lengthy journey from Krypton. When her father Zor-L discovered that Krypton was about to explode, he placed her in a spacecraft directed towards Earth. Although this occurs at the same time that Kal-L's ship is launched, Kara's ship travels more slowly, and she arrives on Earth decades after her cousin has landed. Kara’s Symbioship is designed to keep her in stasis during the journey and provide her with life experiences and education in the form of a virtual reality. By the time she arrives on Earth, Kara is in her later teens to early twenties.
The Symbioship provided virtual copies of Zor-L, Alura and fellow Kryptonians from within her home city of Kandor. Once removed from the ship, this virtual reality ceases to exist. Only Kara - Power Girl, as she would later be known - was known to interact with this virtual Kryptonian reality.
Kal-L was one of the heroes from various Earths who fought to save the Multiverse from destruction during the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths and was present at the battle at the dawn of time in which the five remaining Earths were merged into a single universe. As a result, Kal-L still existed and still remembered the history of his home reality, even though no one in the new reality remembered he had ever existed.
After grieving over the loss of his wife Lois and his friends from Earth-Two, Kal-L joins the remaining heroes for a final battle with the Anti-Monitor in the Anti-Matter Universe, where the Anti-Monitor has absorbed all life in that universe. Kal-L strikes the final blow that kills the Anti-Monitor once and for all.
Alexander Luthor of Earth-Three then reveals to Kal-L that he saved the Lois Lane of Earth-Two from the collapse of the Multiverse. Alexander then transports Kal-L, Lois Lane, Superboy of Earth-Prime and himself into a paradise dimension, sealing themselves off from the universe.[8]
As a tribute to the Earth-Two Superman before the Superman character was recreated by John Byrne in the Man of Steel mini-series, Kal-L's origin was retold in Secret Origins #1 (April 1986), written by Roy Thomas and drawn by former Superman artist Wayne Boring.
In post-Crisis continuity, Kal-L's role in various All-Star Squadron adventures was taken by the character Iron Munro from the Young All-Stars series. Kal-L's roles as the most respected member of the Justice Society of America and the person who found his cousin Power Girl were given to the Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott and Kal-El respectively. Lee Travis (the first Crimson Avenger) became the post-Crisis universe's first costumed hero after being shown a vision of Kal-El's future heroism before the start of his career (keeping Superman as the inspiration for Earth's superheroes in the new universe as well).
Kal-L later felt that the paradise was more of a prison than a refuge, and eventually discovered a doorway that would allow him to leave the "paradise" dimension without causing the destruction of the universe.[9]
Kal was initially content to stay in the "paradise" dimension until Lois began to fall ill. Kal then created a replica of Metropolis and the Daily Star office building in an attempt to help. After the attempt failed, Kal-L began to believe Alexander's claims that the "paradise" dimension they were in was eating away at their souls. Alexander and Superboy used Kal-L's distraction over Lois' health to break out of the "paradise" dimension and start their plan to recreate the Multiverse.[10]
Appalled by the rapidly deteriorating state of affairs in the world, Kal-L, along with his three companions, decide to emerge from their self-imposed exile to lend their aid. Kal-L batters an exit through the crystalline barrier which has separated them from the rest of reality.[11]
Kal-L then meets up with his cousin Power Girl, explains her true origins to her, (as well as the previous Crisis and the merger of the remaining Earths, with Earth-One being dominant and some of Earth-Two's heroes having been lost), and enlists her help.
After having her memories restored by the Earth-Two Lois' touch, Kal-L then reveals to Power Girl that his plan is to bring back Earth-Two.[12] Kal-L then attempts to enlist Batman's aid by claiming that Batman's distrust of the heroes has been caused by Earth-One’s darker nature, and promises that he will always stand by Bruce when the 'right' Earth returns. Batman, however, asks Kal-L if the Dick Grayson of this Earth is a corrupted version of the one that Kal-L knew, and attempts to use the Kryptonite ring against him. Kal-L destroys the ring and departs.[13]
Power Girl is knocked out and captured by Superboy-Prime after discovering Alexander Luthor Jr.'s tuning fork, which he plans to use to restore the Multiverse in order to search for the perfect Earth. Alexander succeeds in recreating Earth-Two, which causes Kal-L and the Earth-Two Lois, (along with the heroes who originated there), to be sent there.[14]
Soon after their arrival on Earth-Two, the Earth-Two Lois dies after telling Kal-L she was happy to have lived such a long life. Kal-El hears Kal-L's screams of sorrow from the current Earth and investigates. A griefstricken Kal-L angrily attacks Kal-El upon his arrival and blames him for corrupting Earth-Two as he did on his own Earth. During the fight, both Supermen experience lucid visions of the other's life and attempt to change things on the other's Earth for the better. However, they both eventually fail.[15][16]
After his battle with Kal-El, Kal-L realizes that a perfect Earth doesn’t need a Superman and that Alexander is using him for his own purposes. Kal-L then survives the collapse of the alternate Earths into New Earth and then witnesses the death of Kon-El, which makes him realize he condemned the wrong Superboy.[17]
Kal-L and Kal-El then join forces to defeat Doomsday and Bizarro during the Secret Society’s assault on Metropolis.
The two Supermen then team up to take down Superboy-Prime by dragging him into space through Krypton’s red sun Rao (which cause the three of them to lose their powers), and then crash landing on the planet Green Lantern Mogo. Kal-L and Kal-El, without powers, fight Superboy-Prime on Mogo’s surface, where Superboy-Prime savagely beats Kal-L to death.
Kal-El then intervenes and eventually manages to take down Superboy-Prime, who is then imprisoned by several Green Lanterns. Kal-L passes away in Power Girl’s arms after telling her that he’ll always be with her and whispers "Lois" as his last word.[18]
Kal-L and his wife Lois Lane Kent of pre-Crisis Earth-Two return to the DC Universe as soulless Black Lanterns in the midst of the Blackest Night. After killing an unknown number of residents of Smallville, they attack the Kent family by kidnapping Martha to lure his modern counterpart and Conner Kent into a confrontation. Kal-L and Lois have stated their intention, among the scheme of Black Hand and the Black Lantern Corps, is to reunite the family with Jonathan Kent in death.[19] Kal-L proves to be almost unstoppable,[20] until Conner steals the Black Lantern Psycho-Pirate's Medusa Mask, using its emotion-creating powers to draw Kal-L's ring away from his body, returning Kal-L's corpse to its lifeless state once more.[21]
Kal-L's corpse is placed in Justice Society headquarters away from the Black Lanterns, his wife Black Lantern Lois tries to get close enough to her husband's body when Power Girl prevents her.[22] Black Lantern Lois sacrifices herself by removing her ring and giving it to Kal-L to reanimate him once again.[23] During the battle between Kal-L and Power Girl, Mr. Terrific creates a machine powered by Alan Scott's ring, the Helm of Nabu, Lightning's electrical abilities, and Stargirl's cosmic rod, that destroys Black Lanterns. Mr. Terrific activates the machine, which severs the Black Ring's connection to Superman.[24]
Although he was retconned out of existence by the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths and All-Star Squadron #60, he was restored to continuity in The Kingdom #2. He was killed by hero-turned-villain Superboy-Prime in Infinite Crisis #7, but later resurrected as a Black Lantern, along with his wife Lois.
Action Comics #850 (2007) presents the latest revision of Superman's origin, since the history of the DC Universe was reset in Infinite Crisis. The new timeline is indicated to revise the complicated web of origins in a panel which shows a progression of four to five successive versions of Superman that are viewed by Kara Zor-El, clearly aping the art styles of Joe Shuster, Curt Swan, John Byrne, Dan Jurgens and Leinil Francis Yu.
Written collaboratively by Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza and Geoff Johns, the new version includes details such as Krypto's presence on Krypton, Jor-El's frustrations with the Council of Krypton refusing to evacuate the planet, Clark's awareness of his adopted status from a young age, having interacted with Lex Luthor at a younger age, Clark not being the direct cause of Lex's baldness, his wearing glasses as far back as his early teens in Smallville, and using his powers to help others at a younger age. The new version also supports the portrayal and aesthetic design of Jor-El, now similar to Marlon Brando's portrayal of the role, and Krypton, as featured in the ongoing Richard Donner co-authored arcs of Action Comics (essentially rendering Krypton closer in style to his and Bryan Singer's shared film continuity), as well as the fitting in with the discovery in The Lightning Saga that Clark was a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes during his adolescence and still retains possession of a Legion flight ring.[25] Superman is established as a founding member of the Justice League in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #0.
A version of Superman, from an alternate reality appears and might the Superman of Earth One. "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" is a 1986 comic book story featuring the DC Comics character of Superman. The story was published in two parts, in the final issues of the series Superman (Vol. 1) (#423) and Action Comics (#583), both published in September 1986. Written by Alan Moore, pencilled by long-time Superman artist Curt Swan, and inked by George Pérez (Superman) and Kurt Schaffenberger (Action), the tale incorporates the Mort Weisinger-era style but has a distinctly modern twist. The story was intended to close the book on the original character's history subsequent to the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths and in preparation for the following The Man of Steel reboot by John Byrne, and was Swan's final major contribution to the series, though he would later occasionally return for special occasions. Superman (vol. 1) #423
The framing device of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? is the tale of a Daily Planet reporter, Tim Crane, in the then-future year of 1997, paying a visit to former Planet reporter Lois Lane-Elliot, hoping that she, as the last person to have seen Superman alive, can shed some light on the mystery of the Man of Steel's disappearance ten years previous. The majority of the story is told in flashback, as Lois recounts for Crane the tale of Superman's final days. After the interview is over and Crane leaves the Elliot residence, it is indirectly revealed that the mechanic Jordan Elliot, Lois' husband, is in fact Superman himself — apparently now without powers and living the life of a typical working-class suburbanite with Lois and their son Jonathan (very likely named after Jonathan Kent) — meaning he did not in fact die in the Arctic, although exactly how he did survive is never revealed. He seems to prefer the life of a normal man, finding great pleasure in his job as a car mechanic and stating, "Superman was overrated. Too wrapped up in himself. Thought the world couldn't get along without him." At his feet, his son, Jonathan, playfully squeezes the coal in his hand. Opening it he stares gleefully at a large, glimmering diamond. The final image is of Jordan delivering a classic "Superman" wink to the reader, as he and Lois continue to "just live happily ever after". The elder Superman, in Superman/Batman 3: Absolute Power, maybe either of these other Supermen. The Jordan Elliot Superman is clearly linked to the Elder Superman of Absolute Power by having a similar ending as the previous tale and his costume is somewhat similar to the Golden Age Superman, to the same or a similar version.
Superman has super-strength, the power of flight, super-speed, super-breath, arctic breath, super-hearing, super-vision (including X-ray, heat, microscopic and telescopic visions), and invulnerability to any force other than magic, psionics, and Kryptonite.
An additional ability he possessed which his modern day counterpart didn't was an ability to "mold" his face to disguise himself, as chronicled in several Golden Age tales. This specific ability was never specifically ascribed to the Earth-Two Superman or shown in any specific Earth-Two Superman story, and only happened in actual Golden Age Superman stories.
Originally,[26] he was significantly weaker than the Silver Age Superman of Earth-One or the Modern Age Superman; it was later revealed his powers took longer to develop or be discovered.[26] While he initially could only leap an eighth of a mile, Superman soon gained full-fledged flight by the early 1940s. By the time Kal-L met Kal-El in the late 1960s,[27] the two heroes were almost evenly matched in terms of power levels. However, almost all later renditions[28] of the Earth-Two Kal-L showed him exhibiting his more limited abilities including reliance for a time in his leaping ability while allied with the Justice Society on a case involving his cousin Power Girl and the immortal criminal Vandal Savage.[29]
Based on Superman's first origin and subsequent reference by U-Ban, this Superman came from a race of Kryptonians that inherently possessed superhuman strength, leaping ability, and some visual aptitudes while on that planet to compensate for its greater gravitation pull. Most of the Earth-Two Kal-L origin stories state his powers originated with his Kryptonian heritage and not the energy of a yellow sun (Secret Origins #1 [1986]) and retained his powers in red sun systems (Superman Family #186 and 207). A later conflicted re-interpretation stated Kal-L's powers fluctuated when under a red sun as noted in Infinite Crisis and All-Star Comics.
As a Black Lantern, Kal-L's black power ring needs to be charged by feeding on the hearts of living beings within the emotional spectrum. The ring appears to have given Kal-L's body all of his previous abilities as a Kryptonian under a yellow sun would have, as well as his brain being able to recollect certain aspects of his former life. Wearing the ring, however, places Kal-L under the influences of Nekron and his disciples Scar and Black Hand.
In the final issue of 52, a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities. Among the parallel realities shown is one designated "Earth-2". As a result of Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the pre-Crisis Earth-Two, including an alternate Superman along with other Justice Society of America characters. However, the names of the characters and the team are not mentioned in the panel in which they appear.
Based on comments by Grant Morrison, this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-Two.[30]
This separation was confirmed in Justice Society of America Annual #1 (2008) when during the battle between the JSA and Justice Society Infinity, it is revealed that this universe's Superman has been missing for several years after a major crisis. The Post-Crisis Earth-2 Power Girl was searching for him for years.[31]
It was revealed by Starman that the missing Post-Crisis Earth-2 Superman was still alive (Justice Society of America [second series] #23) despite being lost, unlike Kal-L who is dead.
In the Justice League episode "Legends", the League team up with the "Justice Guild of America", an analogue of the Justice Society. JGA member Tom Turbine is a cross between Kal-L and the Golden Age Atom.[32] He also appears in the video games Justice League Heroes and Superman Returns as an alternate costume for Superman.
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