Superboy (Earth-One)

{{DC Database:Character Template
 * Theme                  = Superman
 * Image                  = Superboy and Krypto.JPG
 * ImageText              = Superboy and Krypto; illustration by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano
 * RealName               = Kal-El
 * CurrentAlias           = Superboy
 * Distinguish1           = Superboy
 * Distinguish2           = Superman
 * Aliases                = Clark Kent; The Boy of Steel; Superbaby; Super-Tot; The Mighty Mite; Superman; Nightwing of the bottled city of Kandor.


 * Identity               = Secret
 * AlienRace              = Kryptonian
 * Alignment              = Good
 * Affiliation            = Legion of Super-Heroes; Partner of Krypto, his puppy from Krypton; future member of the Justice League of America
 * Relatives              = Jor-El II, (father, deceased); Lara Lor-Van (mother, deceased); Jonathan Kent (adoptive father, deceased); Martha Kent (adoptive mother, deceased); Zor-El (uncle); Alura (aunt); Nim-El (paternal uncle, deceased); Tommy Tomorrow (descendent), House of El


 * Universe               = Earth-One; Pre-Zero Hour
 * BaseOfOperations       = Smallville, Kansas and Metropolis current time and in the 30th century.


 * Gender                 = Male
 * Height                 =
 * Weight                 =
 * Eyes                   = Blue
 * Hair                   = Black
 * UnusualFeatures        =


 * Citizenship            = American
 * MaritalStatus          = Single
 * Occupation             = Student, Adventurer
 * Education              = Smallville High School; as an adult, Superboy will graduate school and enroll at Metropolis University.


 * Origin                 = Gains enhanced physical traits while under a yellow sun.


 * PlaceOfBirth           = Kryptonopolis, Krypton (planet destroyed)
 * Creators               = Jerry Siegel; Joe Shuster
 * First                  = More Fun Comics #101
 * Last                   = Superboy Vol 2 #54


 * HistoryText            =

Life on Krypton
Born as Kal-El on the distant planet of Krypton, Superboy was the natural son of the highly decorated scientific genius Jor-El and his wife Lara, a former astronaut on their home planet of Krypton. Like all Kryptonians, Kal-El had no superhuman powers or abilities on Krypton, but like his father was a very astute and intelligent boy who learned to speak and read in his native language by the time he was three years old.

About this time Jor-El made a startling discovery. He learned that solar flare activity from the planet's sun, Rao, had caused a great geological change in the core of the planet Krypton. Within a short period of time, Krypton's core would become unstable and it would explode. Jor-El addressed his fellow colleagues in the Kryptonian Science Council, but they ignored his concerns. Disbelieving Jor-El's prediction, the ruling council refused to warn their fellow Kryptonians, and forbade Jor-El to speak publicly about it too, for fear of widespread panic resulting from Jor-El's claims.

Jor-El returned to his apartment in Kryptonopolis and told his wife, Lara Lor-Van the news. As the forefather of anti-gravity technology, Jor-El had designed a rocket equipped for deep interstellar travel. He had invented Krypton's first lunar module, and even launched his son's pet dog, Krypto, into outer space in a test rocket. The time had come however when hard choices had to be made. The remaining rocket in Jor-El's possession was not large enough to accommodate all three family members, so Jor-El suggested that Lara only accompany their son on the journey to escape the doomed planet. Lara refused to leave her husband deciding that the rocket had a far better chance with only their son aboard. They placed their infant son inside of escape rocket, in the hopes that he might survive Krypton's ultimate destruction. Jor-El plotted a course for a planet called Earth and the Els tearfully waved goodbye to baby Kal-El as the rocket broke free of the planet's atmosphere. Moments later, Krypton exploded.

Voyage Through Space
When his rocket passed into the space-warp between Krypton and Earth, it fell into a parallel universe and landed on a planet populated by cave people. But radiations from his body propelled the inhabitants rapidly through social and technological advancement, until they were a space-age culture. Renamed Sonn, Kal-El grew up, married, sired a son, and became president of his world, until a virus of evil spread terror throughout it. Sonn’s son found his father at almost 100 years of age, scientifically reverted him to babyhood, placed him back in the refueled rocket, and sent it back through the space-warp on a course to Earth. The civilization Kal-El left behind went back to caveman ways, and only two hours had passed in the Earth-One universe since his leaving it.

Crash Landing on Earth
After traveling through space for an indeterminate amount of time, Kal-El's rocket finally reached Earth. It crash landed in a farming community in Kansas known as Smallville. Farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent were driving down the road when they discovered the then smoldering space craft. Extraditing baby Kal-El from the ship, they took him to the local orphanage. (Some later origin stories state the Kents directly kept Kal-El, then turned him over the orphanage for fear of others keeping him once they discovered Kal-El's superpowers.)

Although they were not yet aware of Kal-El's alien heritage, they knew that he was not like other infants as this Superbaby began running amok throughout the orphanage displaying wild feats of super-strength. The administration had no means by which to control him, so the Kents volunteered to adopt the child as their son, naming him Clark after Martha's unmarried surname (as stated in Superman 145 (1961)).

Growing Pains
Raising a babe of steel was not easy for the Kents, but they committed themselves towards providing him with a healthy home and teaching him strong, moral values. Shortly after being adopted, young Clark began adventuring on his own in the surrounding neighborhood, often engaging in various unbelievable feats of strength and speed, mostly helping people. Miraculously, few people made a connection between these random bizarre acts of derring-do and the Kents adopted son, and the identity of Superbaby became something of a tabloid urban legend (See Superbaby for more information on Superboy's adventures as a toddler). During this time, the Kents sold most of their farm and relocated to the main town of Smallville as storekeepers and young Clark began to develop his powers in ever increasing levels and proficiency.

Superboy Appears
At age eight, young Clark began specifically performing as Superboy publicly and later formally began working with Smallville Police Chief Parker and other law officials. Within a few years Smallville would become publicly known as the home of the greatest public costumed hero, Superboy.

Kal-El would continue in this role until the deaths of his foster parents and attend Metropolis University and formally relocate to Metropolis and begin his adult career as Superman (Earth-One) and news reporter Clark Kent.


 * Powers                 = *


 * Abilities              =*


 * Strength               =


 * Weaknesses             =


 * Equipment              =


 * Transportation         = * Supermobile: Usually just flies under his own power, but occasionally made use of a Supermobile to compensate for loss of powers or for protection against non Yellow Sun systems (mostly red sun) whereby Kal-El would lose all of his powers.


 * Weapons                =


 * Notes                  =
 * The character of Superboy was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, trademarked under the name, Superman. Siegel and Shuster's original vision for the character was that Clark never became a costumed hero until adulthood, and they balked at DC's editorial decision to chronicle young Clark adventures under the guise of Superboy.


 * Trivia                 =
 * Recommended            =


 * DC                     =
 * Wikipedia              =
 * Links                  =
 * Superboy cover gallery

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