The Silver Age Superman

Kal-El (Earth-One, Pre-Crisis)

Kal-El of Krypton was just three years old when his planet was destroyed. His father, Jor-El, was one of few individuals that forsaw this destruction, and sent his son away to the planet Earth. There, empowered by this world’s yellow sun, Superman experienced a vast increase in power. He was found by an elderly couple named Jonathan and Martha Kent. They named him Clark, and raised the child as their own. The young boy began mastering his powers, and quickly became a superhero – one of the first of his world. He called himself Superboy, meeting and working with several other new and young heroes of his era, including Bruce Wayne, Oliver Queen, and Aquaboy. As a hero, he also first encountered and made an enemy of Lex Luthor, who would become his archnemesis, while he also befriended the likes of Lana Lang, Pete Ross, and his Kryptonian dog named Krypto. It is this version of Superboy that had trained Kal-L of Earth-Two, after finding himself on that world during one adventure, while this version of Superboy also travelled to the future for a time, working in the 30^th century as part of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

In the summer following Clark’s graduation from high school, both of the Kents passed away. A saddened Clark decided to move on to the city of Metropolis, where he studied journalism at Metropolis University. He got a job as a reporter at the Daily Planet, working for Perry White, and where he first met co-workers Jimmy Olson and Lois Lane. As with many other Supermen, Clark and Lois had romantic feelings for one another and eventually started a romantic relationship. Upgrading his hero name to Superman, Clark continued secretly fighting crime and protecting the world from threats such as Brainiac, Starro, and Chronos.

During his career as a superhero, Kal-El met survivors of Krypton living in the bottle city of Kandor, who he helped settle on another planet, and also befriended his cousin Kara, who he helped settle on Earth and who eventually would become this world’s Supergirl. Superman, along with Batman, Wonder Woman, Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter together formed an alliance called the Justice League, a team dedicated to protecting the world from threats they could not handle individually.

Batman in particular proved a close ally of Kal-El, and the two would often work together. The two discovered each others’ secret identities early on in their superhero careers, but agreed to keep this information to themselves. Their teamwork proved formidable, and they forged a bond of deep respect for each other that lasted throughout their time as superheroes.

Superman with his long-time ally and friend, Batman.

Kal-El consistently worked to protect his world as Superhero right up until the Crisis of Infinite Earths. This Superman found himself in a massive battle as a being called the Anti-Monitor tried to destroy all of reality, including alternate versions of Superman such as his old friend Kal-L of Earth-Two. During this event, his version of Supergirl was tragically killed, and ultimately, most of reality was destroyed in this encounter. Thanks to the surviving heroes, including this version of Kal-El, the Anti-Monitor was defeated and a single universe was saved.

A surviving version of this Superman joined the Legion of Superheroes during the Convergence event.

Superman returned to Earth and continued to operate as a hero, until he and his history were ultimately erased, converted into a new individual, with a new history, on a new Earth. Though this is a different Superman, a version of this Kal-El survived during the events of Convergence, when a being called Telos looked over a collection of surviving cities collected by Brainiac before certain worlds were destroyed. This version of Kal-El was Superboy from when he was living in the 30^st century, and his final fate is currently unknown.