In a simulation of what could have been, Zal-El was the brother of Superman.
History
During a meeting with Batman and Robin at his Fortress of Solitude, Superman gets the idea to load his Univac Computer with everything he knows about Krypton and ask it to compute what would have happened if Krypton never exploded. The machine came up with an alternate history in which Jor-El and Lara had a second son named Zal-El. Unfortunately, this imaginary brother to Kal-El would die tragically with Jor-El and Lara when a rocket they are flying in space crashed landed on a magnetic meteor and exploded. A monument to the dead family was later built by Futuro, a super-powered being who befriended Kal-El.
Notes
- In Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths (2006), it was revealed that the computer simulation was relating events that actually happened in an alternate universe -- Earth-132. So Zal-El did actually exist in that universe.
- This version of Zal-El, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–86 Crisis on Infinite Earths event and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the Dark Crisis of 2022-2023. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.
Related
- 2 Appearances of Zal-El (Earth-132)
- 1 Images featuring Zal-El (Earth-132)
- Quotations by or about Zal-El (Earth-132)
- Character Gallery: Zal-El (Earth-132)
Footnotes