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Kal-El (Absolute Universe)

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Kal-El is the last son of Krypton and the hero known as Superman. He is a lone, wandering champion of the exploited and downtrodden.

Origins

Kal-El was born on the planet Krypton, a society with a rigidly stratified class system ruled by the elite Klerics of the Science League. Despite their genius intellects, his parents had both been denied entry to the Science League due to heterodox opinions and were instead consigned to the Labor Guild, the lowest caste of Kryptonian society. His father Jor-El was a mining engineer and his mother Lara was a farmhand and mechanic. However, they wore their low status with pride and taught Kal-El that the Labor Guild were the "People of Steel", the last on Krypton to work with their hands. Kal-El spent his childhood on a farm in the "Redlands", the hinterlands outside Krypton's great cities.[2]

Kal-El was an exceptionally average child, not athletic enough to enlist in the Law Guild or able to get good enough grades to apply to the Kryptonian Science Academy, the two paths Labor Guild children usually took to escape their caste. He struggled in school and often did not pay attention in his remote classes, sleeping or playing with the family pet Krypto instead. He wrote assignments himself rather than generate them via Krypton's repository of information called the Luminarium; a break with three thousand years of Kryptonian tradition and considered deeply concerning by his teachers. However, he could not help it as writing his own words made him happy while the Luminarium's were sterile; and his parents encouraged him to follow his own path no matter what anyone else thought. Due to his shyness and unusual behaviour he had no friends among his peers. Kal-El seemed destined for a life as a simple labourer, but did not mind as unlike most of his contemporaries he was happy with his station in life.[3][4]

One day, Jor-El and a group of miners were attacked underground by a herd of subterranean creatures called Magmoles. Although he hated doing it, Jor-El was forced to kill the creatures to escape with his life. when he told Kal-El about it later that day, Kal told him that he had done the right thing, but Jor-El replied that "the right thing" was just what people told themselves to feel better about tough decisions. He told Kal-El that there would always be tough decisions in the Redlands, and people would sometimes have to be cruel, but they should never lose sight of what constituted cruelty and inhumanity, and so not let those things become normal. Kal-El asked if they still sometimes had to do bad things to save people's lives and if there was no other way. Jor-El replied that sometimes they had to be the cruel ones to protect their home.[5]

Jor-El believed that Krypton had been over-mined and was doomed to a global catastrophe. Six years ago Jor-El was proven right when a mine which had appeared stable suddenly collapsed, releasing clouds of deadly radioactive vapour.[2] Kal-El's parents tried to put on a brave face and keep the truth from him, but he was able to tell that something was wrong, particularly when he heard them crying in the night during a camping trip to the Rao Mountains.[4]

In the days after they returned from the Raos, Kal-El noticed that his parents seemed consumed with work, with his mother Lara always building something in her workshop and Jor-El bringing huge quantities of Sunstone home from the mines. One night he snuck down and listened in on them and heard Jor-El say his proof was irrefutable and needed to present his findings and Lara's designs to the Science League before it was too late. He then heard Krypto barking outside and went out to see what was happening; he found dozens of dead animals scattered outside the house, their flesh melting off their bones and green smoke rising from the bodies. Kal-El went out on his bike to investigate the Redlands and found that similar environmental catastrophes had happened all over, as well as rumours of worse in the wider world like boiling seas, the Gold Volcano running dry and the Fire Falls raging out of control. He realised that something was sick inside the planet and Krypton was dying; however the official news media denied that anything was happening, and insisted that these were isolated incidents caused by natural gas leaks. Kal-El came to believe that his parents planned to shoot him into space alone using an experimental spacesuit that Lara had designed as a child.

A week after the trip to the mountains, Kal-El's class went on a field trip to Kandor. Along the way they passed a multi-train derailment, and Kal-El saw the green smoke rising from the bodies of some dead laborers in the wreckage. He wrote about everything he had seen and how the Science League were concealing the truth. He posted the story on the school's online news board, but by the time they arrived at Kandor it had been taken down, all his notes remotely deleted from his personal device and an appointment was set for his parents to see the school administrator.

In Kandor, the class were taken to the Halls of High Wisdom, the headquarters of the Science League, although all the Klerics were mysteriously absent. Kal-El's classmates, who all dreamed of joining the Science League when they grew up, eagerly followed the teacher deeper into the building, but Kal-El hung back and looked out of the window from the top of one of the towers and wondered why anyone would want to work so far from the ground. Suddenly, he heard his father shouting and turned a corner to see Jor-El being dragged away by three Law Guild officers. Jor-El saw Kal and told him to get out of there. One of the cops knocked Jor-El out, and effortlessly pushed Kal-El away when he tried to attack them. Unable to help his father, Kal-El ran home and told Lara what had happened.

Lara donned the suit and armed herself with a lava gun, planning to storm the Central Law Guild Office in Kandor. They returned to Kandor and when they went to the Law Office they also tried to arrest Kal-El, but Lara instead fought her way in to save Jor-El. She left Kal-El to take shelter in a security office and Kal-El noticed that Lara was facing only minimal resistance and no reinforcements were arriving to help the cops. He wondered where all the rulers of Krypton had disappeared to and forced one of the cops Lara had injured to give him access to their systems. He saw that the Klerics had built a fleet of starships and realised that they already knew Jor-El was right and had secretly built ships to allow the upper classes to escape while leaving everyone else to die. He posted the information to the Luminarium and it quickly spread around the world, letting all of Krypton know that their leaders planned to abandon them to planetary devastation.

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 accused them of planning to shoot him into space alone with the suit, but they told him they would never send him off by himself and showed him they had built a ship big enough for their family as well as their friends and neighbours in the Redlands. 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 the story about the Klerics' fleet. 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.[4]

The entire El family were sentenced to death and an army of Law Guild shock troopers attacked their home, but the Els were able to fight their way out and escape with their ship to the Rao Mountains; where the people they had told about the coming apocalypse and their plans to escape were waiting for them. As he looked out on the planet breaking apart, Kal-El swore to himself that they would make the next world better, no matter what it took. The people hurried onto the ship but Kal-El hung back to gather a handful of Kryptonian soil. A rent opened up right beneath his feet and he almost fell in, but was saved by Krypto.

When Kal-El boarded the ship it formed one of Lara's spacesuits, controlled by an A.I. known as Sol, around him. The El's ship took off successfully, while every ship the Science League tried to launch from the cities was either destroyed by rioters or crashed immediately. Once they were in the air, Kal-El felt a strange sense of peace and even hope. He comforted a younger child who was looking out of the viewscreen at the planet breaking apart and told them that they were on the best ship that had ever flown. However, before they could leave the atmosphere the ship was destroyed by a rouge chunk of the exploding planet. Each refugee's spacesuit formed a personal rocketship around them as Lara had intended. Kal-El was able to see Krypto in one ship and his parents in another. The fleet of rockets tried to escape the asteroid field but every ship except Kal-El's was destroyed, including Jor-El and Lara's. Kal-El tearfully broadcast on the ship's comms for any other survivors, calling for anyone to answer him, but got no reply as the ship rocketed away into space.[6]

Kal-El and Sol flew through space for seventeen months and fourteen days trying to find a habitable planet to settle on, but to no avail. The trauma of seeing his planet and family die, the prolonged isolation and seeming hopelessness sent Kal-El into deep despair, then rage and frustration, and then finally depressed acceptance. Nine million light-years from Krypton, he finally gave up hope and decided to end his life, asking Sol to fly them into the yellow sun of the Solar System they had just entered. Sol refused to let Kal-El kill himself as it was programmed to preserve him at all costs, and as it scanned the system realised that the third planet was capable of supporting life. It informed Kal-El that they had finally found a new planet, but as they drew nearer to the yellow sun Kal-El felt intense heat and then pain as his body started to absorb the yellow sunlight.

Kal-El's rocket crashed on Earth, landing on the Kent Farm in Smallville, Kansas. Kal-El emerged from the crash on fire and screaming in agony as his cells were flooded by the unfamiliar solar radiation. As Sol's power cells were depleted it powered down, and the ship and armour shrank into a smaller form. Jonathan and Martha Kent ran pover to the crash site and found Kal-El, who called out to them for help in Kryptonese before finally passing out. Jonathan was afraid of him, but Martha believed that he was an angel and insisted on taking him into their home. Kal-El spent weeks drifting in and out of unconsciousness as his body adapted to Earth's unfamiliar environment, suffering high fevers and intense seizures as his powers developed. Finally, his symptoms passed and he woke up, healthy and empowered by the sun.

He fled from the Kent farmhouse, smashing through the wall and moving at incredible speeds. By the time he realised what he was doing and stopped he was already well into the fields. He saw the sun setting over a wheat field and realised that the place he had landed was much like the place he had left. He returned to the farm and spent the next two weeks living with the Kents, using his powers to help them. Although they could not understand each other, the Kents quickly came to care for Kal-El, seeing him as the son they had never and finding hope for the future in him. Eventually Sol reactivated and was able to download the English language into Kal-El's mind so he could communicate with the Kents. He introduced himself to them and Sol disabled weather control drones in the sky above the farm which the evil multinational corporation Lazarus Corp had been using to engineer a drought in order to force the Kents to sell the farm.[7]

Lazarus Corp

It looked like Kal-El had found a new home. However, Darkseid had created the Absolute Universe to be a world where heroes were the underdogs, and lacked the advantages of their Earth 0 counterparts.[8] Therefore, Superman would not grow up with loving adoptive parents, and instead Lazarus private security forces known as Peacemakers quickly came to the farm to capture him. Kal-El tried to talk to the Peacemakers; to explain who he was and tell them about Krypton, but they did not care. The Kents told him to run and save himself, and Kal-El tearfully flew away.[7]

After being forced to leave the Kents, Kal-El chose to totally separate himself from humanity. His armour's ability to form into a spacecraft had been exhausted, leaving him stranded on Earth, and so Kal-El decided to live alone in the remote parts of Earth where humans could not. However, Sol told Kal-El that while he had no physical needs under the light of Earth's yellow sun, he still needed companionship to remain sane. Reluctantly, Kal-El agreed to rejoin human society. Although Sol said he could achieve a position of highest status on Earth with his abilities, Kal-El chose to live as a true son of the Redlands and the Labor Guild. He travelled to the Philippines and worked on a sugarcane plantation owned by Lazarus Corp. A motherly farm worker named Carmelita approached Kal-El in the fields and tried to befriend him. Kal-El tentatively took her hand, but the solar radiation he had absorbed made his skin superheated and he accidentally burned her when they touched. Peacemakers responded to Carmelita's cries of pain and immediately began beating her for stopping work. Kal-El tried to intervene and accidentally ripped the Peacemaker's arm off. He fled in terror to the top of a mountain in China. Kal-El was first horrified that he may have killed the man, then became enraged by Lazarus' cruelty and starting shouting that he should kill them all. Sol tried to calm Kal-El, telling him that if his parents were there they would tell him that he did not have the right to simply execute people. Kal-El fell into despair and asked Sol to give him some time to think alone. Sol formed a cocoon of Sunstone around Kal-El for a day to give him some solitude.[9]

Kal-El travelled around the world for the next five years without a home or family, waging a one man crusade against Lazarus. Now known as Superman, he moved between deserted islands and Lazarus' mines, corporate farms and factories in the developing world, where exploited workers worked hard and dangerous jobs for poverty wages. Superman would go in, secretly remove all hazards and complete the work overnight, allowing the people to be paid without risking their lives or safety. He would then leave as unnoticed as he had arrived, always staying one step ahead of Lazarus and their attempts to capture him and exploit his abilities.[2] He would secretly return to Smallville every so often, even as the town was bought up by Lazarus. He secretly visited Martha in her nursing home and covertly saved the people from accidents and natural disasters.[10]

In Brazil, he joined the Lajes Creek mining camp, where workers were forced by the Peacemakers to mine diamonds by digging through asbestos. Overnight he removed all asbestos from the mine and dug up and processed the diamonds. This exertion left him exhausted and solar-drained, so he overslept and was still in the camp the next day rather than sneaking away first thing in the morning as he had planned to.

When the miners came out of the mine almost immediately with the processed diamonds, the Peacemakers knew that Superman was in the camp. After a headcount, they realised that one worker had not reported for their shift and made a full assault on Superman's shack, complete with armoured vehicles and large-calibre rifles, utterly indifferent to collateral damage. Despite Sol advising him to run, Superman insisted on staying and fighting to protect the miners, blaming himself for the escalation of violence. Despite the Peacemaker's advanced weaponry, which Sol identified as being from outside the Milky Way Galaxy, Superman was able to fend them off, and told the workers to take the diamonds and run. When Lazarus Corp's crack Phenomena Field Team arrived Superman attempted to flee but one of them; Agent Lois Lane, cuffed herself to him with advanced restraints and pointed an energy blaster at his head, saying she would fry him if he tried to run.[2]

Sol told Kal-El he needed to flee but he was unable to break the cuffs despite his strength. Lane ordered him to surrender and shot him when he did not; it did not injure him but did cause him pain. Sol sent the armour to flow over the cuffs, but they were also made with alien technology and reformed as quickly as Sol was unable to cut through them. The assembled Lazarus troops fired on Superman in a hail of bullets, despite the danger to one of their own. Superman shielded Lane with his body and had the armour release a cloud of Sunstone to protect them both. Lane again blasted him and told him to give himself up, claiming that Lazarus did not want him dead, but he obviously didn't believe her. As Sol could not break the cuffs Superman decided he would have to take her with him and told Sol to envelop her in the cloud to protect her, then leapt into the air.

They were shot down by a Lazarus helitank and fell to earth in a village eight miles to the East. Superman made sure Lane was shielded by the cloud and that he held her as she landed to protect her from the impact; but as soon as they landed she once again blasted him. While he was temporarily incapacitated she tried to call for backup but Sol blocked her transmission. Superman asked Lane why she wants to arrest him after he had saved her life several times and they argued; with her accusing him of endangering her and everyone around him by being so powerful. He told her that she represented everything wrong with "your planet", letting slip that he was from another world.

Sol warned Superman to stop talking, but suddenly the helitank fired on their position and barely missed. The villagers fled for shelter in a church and Kal-El told Lane that this proved Lazarus only viewed people as livestock. He hurled a car at the helitank and declared that people like the villagers were not playthings, they were the people of steel. He brought the tank down, but unfortunately it crashed into the church and Superman ran in to save the people with Lane still cuffed to his wrist. At one point he was once again forced to use his heat vision and was temporarily overwhelmed struggling to get it back under control. While he was doing this Lane had the chance to shoot him but didn't and he thanked her. Lane was flustered and awed at seeing him rescue everyone and stammered until she could say "you're welcome". Kal-El told her that most worlds in the universe were dead, and one like Earth that could support life was precious. He was about to tell her about Krypton when Sol was finally able to crack the cuffs. Lane asked Kal-El to stay but he leapt away without a word. Superman obtained a new set of civilian clothes to hide his armour and began hiking towards Venezuela.[3]

Superman's rage had been awakened in Brazil, and he now started attacking Lazarus directly rather than simply helping the people they exploited. He battled with the Peacemakers all over the world, and although he destroyed trillions of dollars worth of hardware, he never killed or seriously hurt anyone. Lane followed Superman to the site of his latest battle in Orangi Town in Pakistan and walked out into the slums alone in the hopes of drawing him out. He dropped down out of the sky to confront her as she was being attacked by two members of the Omega Men. The Omega Men were overjoyed to see him and eagerly asked them to come with them as they wanted to help him in his fight against Lazarus; but he simply pushed them aside and angrily ordered Lois to stop trying to find him. She said that she simply wanted to talk to him but he said he had nothing to say to her. A squad of Peacemakers rolled in and pulled Lois out, believing that Superman was threatening her. Superman froze the Peacemakers in ice with his arctic breath and leapt away again.[11]

After being freed from the ice a Peacemaker named Christopher Smith, who had also been at Lajes Creek, massacred a group of nearby civilians who he believed were laughing at him. Enraged, Superman broke into the Peacemaker base looking for Smith, only to find that he was not there. He ordered Sol to hack into Lazarus' database and find Smith, while he grabbed a random Peacemaker and demanded to know where Smith was. The terrified man said that he didn't know and begged for his life. Superman was horrified at himself and his rage left him. Sol reported that Smith's location was encrypted beyond Earth's technological capabilities, but while infiltrating Lazarus' systems they had been contacted by a being calling himself Brainiac, who had offered to trade Smith's whereabouts if Superman would meet with him. However Superman was afraid of what he might do to Smith if he got him hands on him and told Sol not to take the offer. Wanting to be alone and reminded of home, he returned to Smallville.[6]

Kal-El visited Martha in the nursing home at night, bringing her a gift of seashells from all five oceans that he had collected on his travels. She woke up and didn't recognise him due to her advanced Alzheimer's disease and started calling for help, so he fled at super-speed. As he was walking down Smallville's main street he was approached by both Lois and Jimmy Olsen, one of the Omega Men he had encountered in Pakistan. Jimmy tried to convince him to join the Omega Men while Lois simply wanted to speak to him. The two of them quickly started arguing with each other and Superman slipped away, watching them from the roof of the nearby Sequoia Theatre. Sol told Superman that neither of them were worth speaking to and he should stay out of it, but when he heard them arguing about why he came to Smallville he got annoyed. He sent a powerful gust of sunstone down the street and flew down in front of them both. He yelled at them that he had come to Smallville to stop himself from killing Smith.

Suddenly, he was hit in the chest by a bullet made of a mysterious green glowing material which somehow punched through his armour and his invulnerable skin, lodging deep in his chest. He collapsed to the ground and nearby a force of Peacemakers rappelled down from their helicopters onto main street. Lois and Jimmy agreed to put their conflict aside and carried Superman into a nearby drugstore. Sol attempted to use the armour to extract the bullet but found that it couldn't. To Sol's shock, the chemical composition of the bullet matched that of the irradiated remains of Krypton. Jimmy suggested that he could call the Omega Men to extract them, but before he could do anything Smith, now a powerful cyborg, smashed through the wall and attacked. Superman fought with Smith, but Smith's new strength and the bullet sapping Superman's powers meant the crazed Peacemaker was able to overpower him.

Lois and Jimmy ran out to defend Superman and Lois ordered the Peacemakers to arrest Smith for his murders in Pakistan but they refused. A group of Smallville citizens armed with rifles also came out and ordered them all to get out of the town. A Peacemaker suggested to Smith that they simply take superman and go but smith refused as he wanted to kill Superman then and there. Superman activated the armour's "Tornado Mode", tapping all its stored solar reserves to boost his powers and summoning up a cyclone of sunstone that scattered everyone. He hit Smith a thousand times in thirty seconds, bringing the mad behemoth to his knees, but Smith just mocked Superman for being afraid of his own rage and power and shot Superman repeatedly with the irradiated bullets. The armour's systems failed and Superman collapsed. Although he still tried to resist, he was helpless and Smith moved in for the kill.

Fortunately, before Smith could finish Superman off, Brainiac remotely shut him down as Lazarus Corp's Director wanted him taken alive. Realising he would likely die without immediate medical attention, Superman weakly asked Jimmy to get him out of there. Jimmy called in the Omega Men who teleported in via Boom Tube and carried Superman through it to safety, but refused to let Lois follow.[10]

Omega Men

The Omega Men took Superman to their headquarters, a decommissioned Lazarus oil rig. They successfully removed one of the bullets, but they were forced to operate without anesthetic as Superman was immune and his screams of pain destroyed all their instruments so they could not find the others. Superman pulled the second bullet out himself with a set of forceps but then passed out from the pain, and Sol could not remove the bullet as its systems were still rebooting. Over the doctors' objections, Omega Prime used an advanced device known as "The Box" to remove the final bullet, which it did so successfully. The Box communicated with Superman, telling him that it was a Father Box. It showed him a vision of a world with fire pits the size of oceans and endless slums filled with tormented masses. He thought at first that this was an alien world, but then realised that it was Earth's future.

After he recovered, Superman agreed to help the Omega Men on their missions against Lazarus, but insisted on using non-lethal force only. Weeks after his fight with Smith in Smallville, Superman and the Omega Men returned to Karachi to attack the Lazarus headquarters in the city. Superman prevented Primus from beheading a Peacemaker and then ran on ahead, telling the Omega Men to hold back as he was used to working alone. He knocked out everyone in the closest building, then ran to the motor pool to destroy the Peacemaker's tanks. Sol told Superman that it was offended by his remark about working alone and Superman apologised, saying that he didn't mean Sol. As he was melting the tanks, Sol warned Superman not to exert himself in case he reopened his wounds, but Superman sadly replied that all he was is wounds now. He was attacked by two Peacemakers wearing mecha-suits who were able to restrain his limbs and began to try and pull him apart, reopening the bullet wounds. Sol destroyed the mechas using the armour's solar-flare mode, but warned Superman not to allow the Peacemakers to use the Father Box on him again, no matter what happened.

They returned to the oil rig, where Superman had his wounds bandaged up again. He spoke to Jimmy and asked him what he knew about the Father Box, but all Jimmy could tell him were rumours, although he revealed that Primus claimed it came from God. Superman revealed the vision he had seen and Jimmy predicted that he had seen what would happen if Lazarus was not stopped, since Primus said that Lazarus' director Ra's al Ghul was a dangerous maniac. Superman asked Jimmy if he trusted Primus and Jimmy honestly replied that the Omega Men may go too far sometimes, but after seeing the scale of the evil they faced he wasn't sure if "too far" was far enough. However, he also advised Superman not to trust anyone on Earth.

Primus came up and told them that a group of protestors in Orangi Town calling for Smith's arrest had been violently attacked by the Peacemakers and many of them had been taken prisoner. She ordered a full mobilisation, including Jimmy, to rescue the prisoners. Superman volunteered to come, as he owed Primus a debt, but once again insisted on no killing. Primus told him he was on the wrong planet but allowed him to join them, as she believed that her deity, the "One True Omega" had plans for him.

Superman and the Omega Men fought their way back into the Peacekeeper base in Karachi. As he was battling the Peacemakers Sol once again warned him about the Father Box and told Superman he was worried about how the corruption of Earth may change him, but Superman told Sol he was tired of people telling him who he was and yelled at Sol to shut up. In response Sol deactivated voice mode and fell silent. With his x-ray vision Superman saw the protestor's dead bodies hanging by their necks in an adjacent building and furiously smashed his way in. The Omega Men saw that the people they had come to save were already dead and were horrified. More Peacemakers ran in and in a rage Primus attacked two of them, disarming them and knocking them to the ground. She picked up a dropped gun and prepared to execute them with it as Jimmy yelled at Superman to do something. Superman almost let Primus kill the Peacemakers but he caught the bullet at the last moment. The Omega Men fought off the second wave of Peacemakers and escaped back to the oil rig.

Sol was shaken by his hesitation and tried to call for Sol to speak to him, but the AI remained silent and Superman decided that he needed to get away from humanity. Primus confronted him over stopping the bullet, telling him that he should understand from what he saw that Lazarus will kill anyone who gets in their way and they cannot fight something like that by being restrained. She urged Superman to go back to Pakistan with her, kill every Peacemaker there and then kill Smith and Ra's al Ghul, while Superman weakly asked her to stop talking. He finally refused and told her that he was leaving and not to follow him. Just then an Omega Man ran up and told her that Jimmy had been left behind in the retreat.[12]

Son of the Demon

Superman and the Omega Men assaulted the heavily fortified Lazarus Corp research facility in Greenland where Jimmy was being held. Due to the darkness of the polar winter, the longer the fight lasted, the weaker Superman would become. He flew in and destroyed the aircraft Lazarus had patrolling in the skies, then destroyed their anti-aircraft batteries. He still refused to kill the enemy troops, simply transporting and stranding the Peacemakers miles away. After he had taken out these initial defences, the Omega Men Boom Tubed in and engaged the Peacemaker's ground forces.

Smith was also on the scene and flew up to engage Superman, armed once again with his "Krypto-Meteorite" bullets. However, this time Superman was ready for him and beat Smith senseless in four seconds, sending him crashing down to Earth. Smith still weakly tried to point his gun at Superman and Omega Prime screamed at Superman to kill him. Although Superman was strongly tempted to finish Smith off, he remembers Jor-El's lesson to him from the day he was forced to kill the Magmoles and hesitated. Omega Prime yelled that if he wouldn't do it, then she would and tried to decapitate Smith, but at the last second Superman melted her sword's blade with his heat vision.

He landed next to her and she yelled at him that he was a coward. An army of Peacemakers, including Jimmy and Lois and lead by Ra's al Ghul himself, surrounded Superman and the Omega Men. Ra's told Omega Prime that she should not dare to speak in such a way to the son of the demon. Lois was confused but Ra's quickly clarified that he did not mean by blood, and said that the blood was what came next. Smith weakly said that Superman couldn't be the chosen one, and it should be him as he gave Ra's everything. Ra's knelt down and took the gun from Smith's hand, telling him that he was just a sheep in wolf's clothing. Smith begged Ra's not to kill him, saying that he never got to fire his bullet. Ra's callously replied "I know" and fired right at Smith's head. Superman blocked the bullet, injuring his hand.

Ra's told Superman that he understood the anger he felt against the state of the world, and that the anger was righteous. He told Superman that together they will use his anger to save the planet from itself and remake the world, calling him "my son". Superman defiantly told Ra's that he was not his son, and Ra's replied that he will be. Suddenly, Omega Prime stabbed Superman in the back with a blade made of Krypto-Meteorite. Lois ran to try and help Superman but Omega Prime knocked her out with a kick to the head. Ra's, Omega Prime and the Peacemakers massacre the Omega Men, while Superman was wracked with pain and started to glow yellow and green as he heard the Father Box chime. Ra's told Superman that he was not yet worthy of being called a child of al Ghul, but that he and his "sister" will teach him, revealing that Omega Prime is actually his daughter Talia al Ghul. Talia declared "All hail the Omega" as energy crackled around Superman's body.[5]

Brainiac put Superman in a simulation where he would be repeatedly put under great pressure until he snapped and killed his tormentors. This was done to desensitise him to the idea of murder until he became utterly ruthless as Ra's al Ghul wanted him to be. The simulations started at Phase One, where he would see the Science League sentence his parents for a hundred years hanging over Kandor for spreading the word of Krypton's destruction. He went through this scenario at least five-hundred and fifty-seven times, each time breaking down and slaughtering the entire ruling class of Krypton. He progressed quickly through Phase Two and Phase Three, which involved slaughtering Peacemakers. After five days Brainiac deemed him ready for Phase Four, where Superman was allowed to believe he broke out of the simulation and killed Brainiac himself. However, Superman held back and refused to kill Brainiac. For the next seven days Superman resisted the program and started to whisper to the slave clones that Brainiac used as technicians. Speaking so softly that he could only be heard on a subconscious level, he incited the clones to rise up against Brainiac, and they did, requiring Brainiac to kill them all.

For the next two days Brainiac forced Superman to watch an endless loop of his murdering the clones to try and incite Superman to kill him, but it still did not work. He then forced Superman to relive the day Lazarus came to take him away from the Kents. He killed the Peacemakers, and the simulations of Ra's al Ghul and Talia. Meanwhile in the real world Lois and Jimmy escaped from the cell they were being held in and broke into the lab to free him. In the simulation, the Kents told Kal-El that there was no safe place unless he fought for it. He replied that he had been trying, but everyone kept telling him who he was meant to be and didn't listen. The Kents told him they were proud of him and embraced him. Surrounded by the bodies of the people he had killed, they told him to keep doing what he had done. Superman woke up and grabbed Brainiac by the throat, but unlike in the simulation he tightened his grip and rose up into the air with a blank expression on his face. A barely alive clone released his Sunstone dust from its containment unit and it swirled around him. Sol reactivated and told Superman it was getting them out of there, but Superman did not respond, silently glaring at Brainiac.[13]

Battle of Kansas

Superman almost killed Brainiac, but Sol was able to talk him down and help him break his brainwashing. Sol took control of Superman's armor and flew him, Lois and Jimmy to Kansas. He once again placed Superman in a Sunstone cocoon to decompress, and once he had calmed down he emerged from the cocoon and flew to the abandoned Kent farm. As he walked around the deserted barnyard Sol spoke to Kal-El and apologised to him that he was never able to help Kal-El find a community or home and that he had spent his time on Earth alone and on the run. However, Kal told Sol that he was wrong and that Kal had never been alone because he had always had Sol with him. He told Sol that he was his brother, Sol-El.

Lois and Jimmy followed him to the farm. Kal-El told Lois that he was sorry for her loss and promised her that her father's killers would face justice. They properly introduced themselves to each other and Lois said they needed to leave before Lazarus found them. However, Kal-El's telescopic vision allowed him to see that Ra's al Ghul was already heading towards them with an army of Peacemaker troops.[9]

The Peacemakers and their tanks marched down Smallville's main street and the townspeople came out to stand against them. Superman flew in to help and ordered Sol to use his entire supply of Sunstone to fortify the town, leaving him without the protection of his sunstone "cape". Sol created Sunstone barricades around the town, preventing Lazarus from moving in their heavy artillery and requiring them to rely on air power and parachuting their troops in.

To protect the townspeople from Lazarus airstrikes, Superman dug out a network of tunnels for them to shelter in. After he lead them down there, a man named Jed Cochran approached him and admitted that he was the one who reported him and the Kents to Lazarus. Although Superman wanted to kill Jed, he restrained himself from doing so and publicly forgave him, although inside he thought to himself that Smallville was not his home and its people were strangers who feared him; that he was nothing and no-one.

Superman fought a full-scale war against the Lazarus invaders for six weeks, he was even able to fight off "Peace-mechs" which had been enhanced by the Father Box. However, Lazarus created a heavy cloud bank to limit the amount of sunlight Superman would have available, and he was forced to fight constantly without a chance to recharge, gradually wearing him down. Brainiac was eventually able to hack into Sol and shut him down, then take control of the Sunstone. He brought down the barricades, allowing Lazarus to march in with their full power. They overpowered the weakened Superman and Ra's al Ghul, wielding a broadsword made of Kryptonite, told Superman that the final judgement was done and by the time the day was out Superman would kneel before him and beg to be his son.[14]

Ra's al Ghul ran Superman through with his sword, and he had a vision of the afterlife and his family. He told Superman to acknowledge him as his father, them rise and take his place as Earth's saviour. Superman refused, even spitting his blood into al Ghul's face, and al Ghul ordered Brainiac to kill Superman's friends to free him of "that which encumbers him". When Brainiac tried to use the Sunstone to kill Lois and Jimmy, Sol reactivated and refused to be party to murder. Sol could not refuse Brainiac's commands as his code had been corrupted, so he said goodbye to Kal-El and permanently deleted himself instead. With Sol's death, Brainiac lost control over the Sunstone.

Enraged and devastated by Sol's death, Superman hit Ra's al Ghul with a full-power blast of heat vision, but al Ghul withstood it due to his invulnerability granted by the Lazarus Pits. Ra's hit Superman with a blow that sent him flying and he crashed into a Peace-mech. The mech grabbed him and declared that Superman was theirs. The people of Smallville turned out to help him and got in an armed standoff with the Peacemakers. Suddenly Ra's al Ghul furiously attacked the mech and cut his way into the cockpit to kill the pilot, yelling that he did not have leave to lay a hand on his son. He swung down at the pilot but Superman blocked it. Ra's kicked him in the gut, decrying his weakness, and ordered the Peacemakers to kill the townspeople.

Superman yelled at them to stop said he would do anything Ra's wanted if he let them go. Ra's told him that he wanted Superman to cast aside his old life and embrace his destiny, and in response Superman ripped the crest of the Labour Guild from the chest of his armour, dissolving it into crystal. He said that it was a symbol of his people, but he didn't have a people anymore, he was a son of nowhere and nothing. Ra's ordered him to kill the people while he watched, but instead Superman formed the crystal in his hand into a sword and attacked. Ra's blocked the swing and ordered the Peacemakers to open fire on the townspeople but the mech pilot, whose name was Joe, told them to stop. He said that he didn't sign up to kill farmers or fight wars in Kansas; the other Peacemakers realised that what they were doing was wrong and lowered their weapons.

Superman and Ra's al Ghul duelled in front of the crowds. Despite Ra's' greater skill with a blade he was unable to defend against Superman's ability to fly. Superman had another vision of the afterlife and told his parents he was ready to come home. They replied that they missed him, but that he was already alone. The vision faded away as Superman broke Ra's' sword and defeated him. Ra's told Superman to kill him and become who he was meant to be, screaming that he had killed thousands of people and to give him what he deserved to make Krypton's sacrifice worth something. However, Superman instead carried Ra's to Orangi Town and handed him over to the people there to face trial for his crimes. The people asked him who he was, and Superman just forlornly looked at the rent in his armour where the crest used to be.

Superman gathered up all the Sunstone crystal in Smallville. Although his Sunstone "cape" still functioned, it was now simply a machine without Sol. Lois and Jimmy's broadcasts made it out of Smallville and the national media arrived to report on what had happened. As a result Lazarus Corp was ruined, although Talia al Ghul managed to escape and disappear. Kal-El spent weeks hiding in the fields, absorbing sunlight until he had healed sufficiently from his injuries. He then went to Martha's retirement home to visit her, but the nurse told him that she had passed away the night before. The nurse told him that all through the Lazarus occupation Martha's mind had cleared and she had spoken about her son often. She gave him a box that Martha had wanted him to have. Kal-El took the box out into the fields and opened it. Inside he found a blue costume with the crest of the Labour Guild on the chest and a note from Jonathan and Martha calling him their son: "Clark Kent".[1]

The Never-Ending Begins

In an attempt to deal with the avalanche of negative press and salvage some value from what remained of the company, Lazarus Corp severed all ties with Ra's al Ghul and divested of all their holdings in Smallville. This allowed Superman to purchase and move into the Kent Farm, his first permanent home since arriving on Earth. He modified his armour to match the colour of the costume Martha had made for him and chose to work the land on the Kent Farm without using his powers.

Superman investigated the Lazarus R&D facility in Nevada which had served as Brainiac's base, but discovered that Brainiac had already destroyed his laboratory and fled. This included destroying all his bottled cities and killing the people who had been trapped inside them. He also intimidated callous businessmen whose companies harmed or killed people, warning them that while their wealth had made them untouchable before, they were not untouchable to him.

He also regularly visited Ra's al Ghul in prison. Without access to the Lazarus Pits which he had used to extend his life over the centuries, Ra's was now rapidly aging. Superman told Ra's that hundreds of years ago he had realised the world was heading to collapse and tried to save it, but since then n he had lost sight of what he was trying to save. On every visit he read to Ra's from a book of prayers, poems and mantras written by children from the slums of Orangi Town who had been orphaned by Lazarus Corp. At first Ra's raged and cursed at him, then as he grew ever older his threats became weaker and halting. Finally, when he seemed close to death, Ra's al Ghul started reciting the passages to himself.

In addition to everything else Superman continued to respond to emergencies around the world, unable to ignore the calls for help around the world, rarely even taking time to rest or recharge his powers. Overwhelmed by the stress of his responsibilities, he flew up into the stratosphere and screamed to drown out the noise of people in pain. A winged man appeared behind him and asked what he thought he was doing.[15]

Powers

  • Kryptonian Physiology: Under the effects of a "yellow" sun, Superman possesses the same potential powers as an average Kryptonian. These include:
    • Solar Energy Absorption: Under optimal conditions, this is the main source of Superman's super powers as they are contingent upon exposure to solar radiation from a yellow sun star system. His biological make up includes a number of organs which lack analogues in humans and whose functions are unknown. It is believed that between one or more of these and his bio-cellular matrix, "yellow" solar energy is stored for later use. This allows for the use of these powers to fade when yellow solar radiation is not available instead of immediate failure.
    • Heat Vision: Superman can, as a conscious act, fire beams of intense heat at a target by looking at it. He can vary the heat and area affected.
    • Super-Hearing: Superman's hearing is sensitive enough to hear any sound at any volume or pitch. With skill and concentration, he can block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source or frequency.
    • Enhanced Vision: Superman's vision processes the entire electromagnetic spectrum as well as allowing vast control over selective perception and focus.
      This umbrella ability includes the following:
      • Electromagnetic Spectrum Vision: Superman can see well into most of the electromagnetic spectrum. He can see and identify radio and television signals as well as all other broadcast or transmitted frequencies. Using this ability, he can avoid detection by radar or satellite monitoring methods. This also allows him to see the aura generated by living thing.
      • Telescopic Vision: This is the ability to see something at a great distance, without violating the laws of physics. Though limited, the exact extent of the ability is undetermined. In function, it is similar to the zoom lens on a camera.
      • X-Ray Vision: This is the ability to see through any volume of matter except lead. Supermans can see things behind a solid, opaque object as if it were not there. He can focus this ability to "peel back" layers of an object, allowing hidden image or inner workings to be observed. The exact type of energy perceived—such as x-rays, cosmic rays, or some other energy invisible to normal humans—is unclear. This ability perceives an ambient energy source though, it does not involve the eye projecting a concentrated, possibly toxic, beam to be reflected back from objects.
      • Microscopic Vision: This is the ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the atomic level.
      • Infrared Vision: Superman can see with better acuity in darkness, and to a degree in total darkness.
    • Flight: Superman is able to manipulate graviton particles to defy the forces of gravity and achieve flight. This ranges from hovering to moving in any posture, in any direction.
    • Invulnerability: Due to the interaction of his dense molecular structure and supercharged bio-electric aura, Superman is nigh-invulnerable to extreme energy forces. In addition, his extends this protection against toxins and diseases.
    • Superhuman Stamina: Superman is able to maintain continuous strenuous physical action for an indefinite period of time. This based on his body converting yellow solar radiation directly to energy but is limited by physiological and psychological needs to eat, drink, and sleep.
    • Superhuman Strength: Superman's strength is augmented by yellow solar radiation interacting with the greater than human density, resilience and biological efficiency of his musculature. His strength is more an act of conscious will on energy fields than actual physical strength. It is this act of conscious will that enables him to perform physical feats that are beyond the mere application force, such as moving a mountain top without said rock crumbling under its own mass.
    • Superhuman Speed: Superman is able to move at incredible speed by sheer force of will. This extends to his perceptions and allows for feats such as catching bullets in mid-flight as well as covering vast distances in little or no time.
      This also confers:
    • Super-Breath: Superman is able to create hurricane force winds by exhaling air from his lungs. He can chill the air as it leaves his lungs to freeze targets. He can also reverse the process to pull large volumes of air or vapor into his lungs.
    • Longevity: Superman can live longer than regular humans, remaining at his prime as long as he was under the exposure of the "yellow" sun.
    • Accelerated Healing: As long as he can absorb sufficient yellow sunlight, Superman can recover from grievous injuries.[1]
    • Sound Manipulation: Superman can scream loud enough to shatter solid objects nearby,[12] or whisper so quietly that he can only be heard on a subconscious level.[13]
    • Self-Sustenance: Superman's body can sustain itself solely on solar radiation. Under the light of a yellow sun, Superman does not need food or water and only minimal sleep.[9]

Abilities

Weaknesses

  • Solar Energy Dependency: Superman's abilities will eventually weaken without replenishing his energy reserves with normal (yellow) sun radiation. When exposed to the same red solar radiation as Krypton's red sun Rao, it causes Superman to lose his powers within a large amount of exposure until exposure to yellow sunlight reverses this effect.[2]
  • Power Loss: Superman is in danger of using up his stored solar reserves if he overexerts himself, leaving him weakened and exhausted.[2]

Equipment

  • Superman's Armor: Superman wears an advanced combined spacesuit and spaceship designed by his mother Lara-El. Its spaceflight capabilities were damaged beyond repair after the crashlanding on Earth.[9] The armour can repair from damage or reshape itself to suit Superman's needs, including a battle configuration known as "Tornado Mode".[3][10] It was equipped with an artificial intelligence known as Sol which monitors his energy levels and helps him process solar energy and control his powers. The armour can deploy a solar panel to absorb yellow sunlight in order to recharge his powers when he drains his body's reserves and incorporates solar batteries which Superman can tap into to boost or replenish his powers. It also generates electromagnetic interference which prevents Superman's face being recorded by digital cameras and can block transmissions.[2][3][7][10] Sol later deleted himself to prevent Brainiac using the Sunstone to kill Superman's friends.[1]
    • Sunstone Dust: The armour can release and control a cloud of finely-ground Sunstone, which hovers around Superman like wings or a cape. He can use the cloud to create powerful dust storms,[11][10] as a shield, to carry people or objects, or to heal minor injuries.[3]
    • Solar Flare: The armour can immediately expel all of its stored solar energy in one gigantic burst of explosive force.[12]


Related

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Absolute Superman #14
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Absolute Superman #1
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Absolute Superman #2
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Absolute Superman #3
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Absolute Superman #10
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Absolute Superman #5
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Absolute Superman #6
  8. ↑ DC All In Special #1
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Absolute Superman #12
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Absolute Superman #8
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Absolute Superman #4
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Absolute Superman #9
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Absolute Superman #11
  14. ↑ Absolute Superman #13
  15. ↑ Absolute Superman #15
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