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.
History
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. 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, where his mother Lara was a farmhand and mechanic.[1]
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 laborer, but did not mind as unlike most of his contemporaries he was happy with his station in life.[2][3]
Kal-El's father, Jor-El, was a mining engineer who 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.[1] 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.[3]
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.[3]
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.[4]
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, he 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 home 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. He 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.[5]
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.[6] 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.[5]
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.
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.[1]
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.[2]
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, 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.[7]
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; and that that he wanted to be alone and reminded of home. He travelled to Kansas and started walking towards Smallville.[4]
Powers and Abilities
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.
Abilities
- Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic)[1]
- Intimidation[4]
- Mechanical Aptitude[5]
- Multilingualism: Sol can download any human language into Superman's mind.[5] As such he can speak English, Spanish and Portuguese in addition to his native Kryptonese.[1]
Weaknesses
- Kryptonian Physiology: Under the effects of a "yellow" sun, Superman possesses the same potential weaknesses as an average Kryptonian. These include:
- 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.[1]
- Power Loss: Superman is in danger of using up his stored solar reserves if he overexerts himself, leaving him weakened and exhausted.[1]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Superman's Armor: Superman wears an advanced combined spacesuit and rocketship designed by his mother Lara-El. The armour can repair from damage or reshape itself to suit Superman's needs.[2] It is 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. It also generates electromagnetic interference which prevents Superman's face being recorded by digital cameras and can block transmissions.[1][2][5]
- 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 as a weapon[7] or shield, to carry people or objects, or to heal minor injuries.[2]
Notes
- Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, first appearing in Action Comics #1. However, the Absolute Universe version of Superman first appeared in DC All In Special #1 by Scott Snyder and Wes Craig.
- Superman's characterisation as a champion of the common man rather than a paragon of law and order is closer to his original Golden Age incarnation.
Recommended Reading
Related
- 10 Appearances of Kal-El (Absolute Universe)
- 23 Images featuring Kal-El (Absolute Universe)
- 1 Quotations by or about Kal-El (Absolute Universe)
- Character Gallery: Kal-El (Absolute Universe)
Footnotes
  Superman Family member |