Jor-El was a mining engineer on Krypton and the father of Kal-El, aka Superman.
History
In his youth, Jor-El was a star pupil at the Kryptonian Science Academy, and looked set to enter a high-ranking position in the ruling Science League upon graduation. However, at the graduation ceremony he gave a speech criticising the League's pursuit of progress at all costs, warning that they were damaging Krypton's natural environment and putting the planet at risk of a global catastrophe. For this deviation from orthodoxy, he was kicked out of the Academy and the League, and consigned to the Kryptonian Labor Guild, the lowest caste of Kryptonian society. However Jor-El wore this low status with pride, as the labourers were the only people on Krypton who still worked with their hands, deeming himself and his fellow workers as the "Children of the Sun" and the "People of Steel".
Jor-El became a mining engineer and married Lara, another genius blacklisted from the Science League for heterodox opinions. Together they had a son named Kal-El. When Kal-El was a boy, Jor-El's old theory proved true: a group of miners heard loud splintering in the rock when down a mine shaft; and although all sensors showed it as stable, Jor-El ordered the mine evacuated. He went down with a group of engineers to examine the rockface, which appeared to be fine, although Jor-El insisted more detailed investigation was required before it could be reopened. The mine manager demanded that the shaft be opened immediately, when suddenly the ground cracked open and radiaocative gas burst up from below, the result of the overmining Jor-El had warned against. Jor-El feared that this was the planetary catastrophe he had predicted all those years ago and Krypton would soon explode.[1]
Jor-El gathered evidence to prove his theory, while Lara worked on building a prototype spacesuit she had invented as a child. He hoped that if he could provide proof of the coming disaster and a plan to save the people of Krypton then the Klerics of the Science League would listen, but Lara predicted they would ignore anything they had so say simply because they were Labour Guild. Jor-El promised her that if that happened he would steal enough Sunstone for her to build a ship large enough to save everyone they loved, and their family would escape to the stars.[2]
Jor-El's research eventually proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Krypton was doomed and they had at most months before total planetary collapse. True to his word he stole vast quantities of Sunstone, allowing Lara to not only complete the suit but also build a ship large enough for the El's and all their friends and neighbours in the Redlands. When everything was ready Jor-El decided to go to Kandor to present his findings and Lara's designs to the Klerics. Lara told him that she knew that he felt he had to try, but predicted the Klerics would not listen and asked him to give up on them when they did.
Jor-El went to the Halls of High Wisdom in Kandor on the same day that Kal-El had a field trip to the very same building. He tried to see the Klerics but could not get past the Law Guild guards who declared him a "science heretic" and arrested him. As he was being dragged away he saw Kal and told him to run home and tell his mother what had happened. Jor-El was taken to the Central Law Guild Office in Kandor, where he was quickly tried and sentenced to death. Lara fought her way in using the suit and a homemade gun which fired lava and saved him before he could be killed.
The El's returned to the farm and Jor-El and Lara tried to tell Kal-El that Krypton was doomed, but he revealed that he already knew. He believed that they planned to shoot him into space alone with the suit, but they told him they would never send him off by himself and showed him the ship. Lara lamented the fact that the ship wasn't big enough to save everyone and told Jor-El that she was right and the Klerics didn't want to know the truth. However, just then Jor-El got a notification on his tablet and saw that the Klerics already knew and had been building ships to save the upper classes while hiding the fact that Krypton is doomed from the people. The story was all over the Luminarium and had just been uploaded from the Central Law Guild Office. They both realised that Kal-El had released the story and smiled at him with pride. Kal-El looked up at the ship and asked where they were going.[3]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
Notes
- Jor-El was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, first appearing in the Superman comic strip. However, the Absolute Universe version of Jor-El first appeared in Absolute Superman #1 by Jason Aaron and Rafa Sandoval.
Related
- 4 Appearances of Jor-El (Absolute Universe)
- 4 Images featuring Jor-El (Absolute Universe)
- Quotations by or about Jor-El (Absolute Universe)
- Character Gallery: Jor-El (Absolute Universe)
Footnotes
  Superman Family member |