Clark Kent (DCEU)

**Clark Joseph Kent**, born with the Kryptonian name **Kal-El**, is an incredibly powerful alien superhero of the House of El, son of Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van, adopted son of Jonathan and Martha Kent, a journalist of the Daily Planet, and one of the extremely few survivors of the destruction of Krypton. In addition, Kal-El is the first (and last) Kryptonian of natural birth in centuries and the host of the Kryptonian Growth Codex.

When Kal-El's father, Jor-El, realized that Krypton was doomed, he and his wife Lara sent their son to Earth, where he would be found by Jonathan and Martha Kent. Using his superpowers, he defends the people of Metropolis from threats, such as the terraforming attempted by the Kryptonian war criminal General Zod, using the moniker **Superman**.

Two years later, Superman would grow increasingly wary of the vigilante Batman, and was ultimately forced into a fight with the Dark Knight by a new and greater enemy, this time, the malevolent supergenius Lex Luthor. However, the two of them would ultimately settle their differences and team up with Wonder Woman, together managing to take down the unleashed monster Doomsday, though Superman himself was killed in the process by the dying monster. Earth's greatest hero was honorably buried in Heroes Park, with the world mourning his passing, and his heroic sacrifice posthumously inspiring both Batman and Wonder Woman to begin establishing the valiant Justice League, in order to battle any future threats to the world.
Amanda Waller cites the emergence of Superman as the reason why the government needs to use metahumans before they are used *against* the government, as there is no way to predict the allegiances of "the next Superman". Thus, Superman is, in a way, indirectly posthumously responsible for the formation of not only the Justice League, but also the Suicide Squad.

A year following Superman's death, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman and Cyborg successfully resurrect him from the dead with a Mother Box, even rendering him more powerful than before, though it takes some time for Superman to regain his memory and personality. With the team now fully assembled, Superman greatly contributes to the successful offensive against Steppenwolf, forcing the alien invasion into retreat. Following this, Superman officially joins the Justice League as their new leader, and returns to his life of superheroism (now unanimously accepted by the world), and agreeing to race Flash to the Pacific shortly thereafter.

## Biography

### *Man of Steel*

#### Birth and Journey to Earth

"*Goodbye my son - our hopes and dreams travel with you.*"
—Jor-El's farewell to Kal to Man of Steel
Kal-El was born on February 29, 1980, on the faraway planet Krypton to Jor-El, a scientist in the Kryptonian Thinker Guild, and his wife Lara Lor-Van in the wake of a military coup d’état led by his father's lifelong friend and commander in the Kryptonian Warrior Guild, General Dru-Zod. When he made his first cries, they were heard by some Rondors grazing near the House of El Citadel.

 File:Jor-El and baby Kal-El.jpg
Kal-El was the first (and, tragically, last) naturally born Kryptonian child on the planet in centuries (due to artificial population control and genetic engineering having been established after the end of the age of Krypton's cosmic expansion), and thus not appointed into any of the predetermined Kryptonian Guilds. Foreseeing that the planet was about to explode, his father dispatched him in a small starship to carry him to safety, sending him to Earth, located in Sector 2814 of the galaxy, many light years away from Krypton. Jor-El knew of a colonial settler ship sent millennia ago, where his son would grow up with astonishing powers (becoming a godlike being to the people of Earth), while looking identical to the planet's population. Right before bidding his son farewell, Jor-El bonded the genetic information within Krypton's Growth Codex to the cell's of Kal-El's body, after which he finally placed a Command Key into the starship, so that Kal-El might be able to one day meet and converse with his father's AI.

Just as Jor-El was about to launch the ship, however, General Zod barged into the Citadel with his Sword of Rao and engaged his former friend in a fierce duel, desperate to retrieve the Codex and abort the launch. Lara, however, succeeded in launching the starship, inducing an enraged Zod to stab her husband, lethally injuring and killing him. Determined to get the Codex at any cost, Zod ordered a loyal Sword of Rao pilot to shoot Kal-El's starship down, but at that moment, the pilot himself was shot down by a starship of the Sapphire Guards. This gave just enough time for the Phantom Drive of Kal-El's ship to activate, opening a portal through the Phantom Zone to Earth's solar system through which the starship disappeared, just as Zod and his loyalists were outnumbered and forced to surrender to the Sapphire Guards.

#### Early Life

"*The World's too big, Mom.*"
—Clark to Martha to Man of Steel
Kal-El is discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent.
The starship emerged near to the gas giant planet Saturn, and promptly made its way to Earth, flying right by the Moon in the process. It landed undetected in the rural town of Smallville, Kansas, where it was found by Jonathan Kent, a local farmer, and Martha Clark-Kent, a diner waitress. The childless couple promptly adopted the infant Kal-El inside, giving him the name of "Clark Joseph Kent" (combining Martha's maiden surname with Jonathan's) and hiding his true origins from others and even Clark himself for most of his childhood.

 File:Clark as a child.jpg
Growing up, Clark Kent's adoptive parents helped him learn to use his secret superpowers in clandestinely. At age 9, his body drastically began to change to adopt his super powers. To the amazement of his parents, Clark began evolving abilities, the extent of which none of them knew. His super hearing and X-ray vision first developed while attending Weisinger Primary School, but all the noises he could hear manifested at once, it was troublesome for the boy to come to terms with them. Frightened, he ran out of his classroom and into a closet, so his mother was called in to help calm Clark and control his new aptitudes. While traveling on the school bus at age 13, the bus drove off a bridge into a river. With the bus submerged, Clark determined to use his abilities in order to save the passengers by pushing the bus to safety. Numerous kids saw Clark do this, such as Lana Lang, his best friend and girlfriend, and Pete Ross, the school bully.

 File:Jonathan shows Clark his ship.jpg
Pete’s mother confronted Martha and Jonathan, but they defended Clark claiming there was nothing special about him. Back at their home, Jonathan told Clark that he had to hide his gifts from the world if he were to be safe, even if it meant letting people die, as not everybody will be as understanding as they are, but Clark questioned why he shouldn't help people if he can. Inquisitive as to his place in the world, his father decided to divulge to Clark his origins by revealing the Kryptonian ship he and his wife found him in to him from under the floor of the barn, proving Clark is an alien. He hugged Clark and said he will always be his son, but Clark owed it to himself to discover who he really is and the reason he was sent to Earth.

 File:Clark watches as his father is killed by a tornado.jpg
At age 17, Clark was driving with his parents on a highway when a tornado swept through the area. People began abandoning their vehicles with Jonathan telling Clark to get his mother to safety. Clark realized he could help people with his abilities but his father told him not to use them, safeguarding his secret. As Jonathan was helping other people, Clark carried a little girl to safety. Jonathan went back for the dog who was still in the car, but upon rescuing it, he injured his leg. Just as Clark was about to step in and save his adoptive father, Jonathan held up his hand and signaled for him to stay put before getting subsequently swept away in the tornado and dying, lending much guilt to Clark.

#### Finding himself

"*You were sent here for a reason. And even if it takes you the rest of your life, you owe it to yourself to find out what that reason is.*"
—Jonathan's guidance to Clark to Man of Steel
Not long afterward, Clark followed Jonathan's bidding as well as following his own growing desire to find himself, leaving Smallville, Kansas in pursuit to find the reason why he was sent to Earth. He traveled across North America for years, easily surviving on the borders of civilization, so he could help if he ever came across others in need, and swiftly disappear if anyone became too inquisitive.

Sixteen years after Jonathan's death, Clark was still on his journey and ended up getting himself a job on the Debbie Sue fishing boat. One day, Clark saw a huge oil rig on fire and jumped overboard to try and help the occupants. Discovering people there, he helped them to a helipad where a chopper was arriving to transport people to safety. The helicopter got clear before a huge explosion sent Clark flying unconscious into the water. Awaking shortly thereafter, Clark swam to the shore and skipped town.

 File:Clark hitchhiking.jpg
Later, he got a job as a busboy in a truck stop bar where he overheard some men talking about the US Military observing a strange construct buried under the ice of Ellesmere Island, Canada. Clark then started working for the Arctic Cargo helicopter company near to the site, calling himself "Joe" (using his actual middle name, Joseph). It was there on Ellesmere where he met Lois Lane, an intrepid female reporter who is there to write a story on the find for the Daily Planet. Clark and his boss escort her to the site, with Clark carrying her heavy bags. Clark then went to the site himself at night, away from the military. He used his heat vision to make a path through the ice to the ship before the ship's Kryptonian Android begins attacking Clark. Lois who sees Clark and followed him is also attacked by the Android; Clark sees her and saves her taking her back to the surface revealing to her his special powers, by using his heat vision to cauterize an internal wound, saving her life.

Walking around the enormous ship he realized the key Jonathan gave him as a child, was of the same technology and plugs it into a port.

 File:Jor-El's consciousness reveals the truth to Kal-El.jpg
An interactive projection of Jor-El appeared and welcomed Clark, referring him by his birth name, Kal-El. Jor-El enlightens him of his heritage, why he was sent to Earth and the obligation to test the limits of his powers. The Scout ship then activated after thousands of years of dormancy and landed on a mountain top. Jor-El then displayed to Clark the coat of arms of the House of El, which consists of a stylized letter "S" enclosed within a diamond-shaped outline, and showed him the history of Krypton and the dangers of other Kryptonians, before giving Clark a Kryptonian skinsuit, which the latter put on. Due to Jor-El's explanation, Clark was now finally able to accept his alien heritage as Kal-El, and embrace his powers, finally able to overcome his weakness of mental power suppression, and so he went outside and began to test the limits of his powers, gradually learning how to fly.

 File:Clark wearing his suit for the first time.jpg
Clark returned to Smallville and visited Martha after several years of being abroad. He described to her the explorations he went on and that he found the answers to the questions he had, before Lois Lane showed up at the farm with questions about Clark. Clark found Lois at the Smallville Cemetery over Jonathan's grave, where he told her that he died in order to protect Clark from the world. His sacrifice convinced her to not publish her story revealing him to the world.

#### General Zod's arrival and surrender to humanity

"*I'll surrender, but only if you guarantee Lois' freedom.*"
—Kal-El to General Swanwick to Man of Steel
 File:Superman surrenders to the army.jpg
Meanwhile, General Zod, the maniacal Kryptonian military leader, sent a message to the people of Earth to hand over his missing citizen or suffer his wrath. Recognizing that he couldn't put people in danger after a discussion with a Smallville priest, Clark voluntarily handed himself into military custody wearing his new suit.

Lois arrived shortly after wanting questions from Clark and was about to give him a name, but was interrupted by Dr. Hamilton and General Swanwick, who made their intentions regarding delivering Kal-El to General Zod clear. Shortly thereafter Sub-Commander Faora-Ul arrived in a dropship for Kal-El, but she also unexpectedly requested for Lois to join them as well, much to the dismay of both Kal-El and Colonel Hardy.

 File:Superman's drowns in a nightmare of skulls.jpg
Once aboard the Black Zero starship, Kal-El came face to face with General Zod, who had him tied down, as the atmosphere aboard was replicating Krypton's, leaving Kal-El practically helpless, due to it rendering him unable to access his stores of solar energy. Zod's leading scientist Jax-Ur then proceeded to take some of Kal-El's blood, before Zod exposed him to mental probing.

General Zod attempted to sway Kal-El to his side, requesting the location of the Kryptonian Growth Codex that Jor-El had sent with the latter to Earth. Kal-El, however, promptly refused to sacrifice his adopted planet, even if that meant restoring his native one.

#### Showdown in Smallvillel

"*You can save her, Kal. You can save all of them.*"
—Jor-El to Superman to Man of Steel
 File:Superman after saving Lois Lane.jpg
Lois, however, had brought Jor-El's key aboard the ship and he helped her escape using an escape pod before changing the atmosphere for Kal-El to re-claim some strength to break free. Joe-El instructed Kal-el to beat a hole in the ship for yellow sun rays to get through, for Kal to recuperate his full strength, while Jor-El imparted his final words to his son, encouraging him to save mankind. Kal-El then raced after Lois in the falling escape pod, reaching her just before the pod exploded on impact.

Kal's super hearing alerted him to General Zod, already at Kent Farm and threatening Martha. He flew over and attacked Zod. They subsequently collided into a gas station, which exploded. Zod's breather mask was damaged and all his senses were subsequently overwhelmed, causing him to collapse from the mental strain of trying to process the sudden information from his senses. Faora and Nam-Ek followed and confronted Kal-El, with the pair outnumbering him, beating him to the ground and cautioning him that he won’t prevail.

 File:Superman fighting Nam-Ek.jpg
He was thrown through numerous buildings in Smallville by Faora, while Nam-Ek went to confront the incoming military forces. Before Faora could kill Colonel Hardy, Kal-El tackled her and eventually defeated them both.
General Zod’s forces retreated back to space to begin their plans for terraforming Earth, while Kal-El flew home to check on his mother.

Hardy, after witnessing Superman's efforts to save them, then proclaimed that Superman was not mankind's enemy, much to the former's thanks.

#### Battle of Metropolis

"*If that thing is making Earth more like Krypton, won't you be weaker around it?"
"Maybe. But I'm not about to let that stop me from trying.*"
—Lois and Superman to Man of Steel
Lois then told Kal-El that Jor-El’s AI gave her directions to use his starship against Zod’s, with Kal-El then promptly taking his infant starship over to the Northcom base, handing it over to Colonel Hardy, before flying to the Indian Ocean to destroy the World Engine that General Zod had unleashed. At the US Military Northcom base, General Swanwick gives a green light to the operation against Zod, with a soldier under his command telling him that the alien Kal-El (who has now been dubbed by others in the military as "Superman") and Colonel Hardy are on the way.

The World Engine’s defenses attack Superman with many huge tentacles of molten-hot Liquid Geo, but he eventually manages to break through them, and destroy the World Engine by flying up the colossal gravity beam. Taking a few seconds to lie in direct sunlight to recover from the battle, Superman then flies to Metropolis on the other side of the planet, to stop General Zod who had unleashed his Black Zero starship upon the city at the same time.

 File:Superman destroys the world engine.jpg
While Superman flies back, Colonel Hardy and Lois are under attack from General Zod, the latter attempting to shoot their plane out of the sky with the Fortress of Solitude. Superman, however, returns right in time to collide with the Fortress (incapacitating it's targeting systems) and destroy its Genesis Chamber, much to Zod' dismay. The Fortress is thus swiftly brought down onto the ground in Metropolis, colliding with many skyscrapers in the process. Meanwhile, thanks to the efforts of Colonel Hardy and Dr. Hamilton, the Phantom Drive of Superman's infant starship is activated, and the plane successfully collides with the Black Zero, creating a temporary Phantom Zone energy singularity that sucks in the Black Zero and the plane.

At this time, Superman emerges from the crashed Fortress, and flies up, just in time to catch Lois, who had fallen from the place shortly before the collision. Due to him also having been once exposed to Phantom Zone energy, Superman struggles to escape the tremendous gravitational pull of the singularity, which he ultimately succeeds in doing. He then proceeds to put Lois beside Perry White and Jenny Jarwich and in a moment of adrenaline, Lois kissed Superman, who responded, before confronting General Zod, who was revealed to still be on Earth, having been too far from the singularity.

#### Final duel with General Zod

"*Don't do this! STOP!!*"
—Superman pleading General Zod to surrender. to Man of Steel
 File:Superman vs Zod.png
Superman went to face Zod, who speculated how he could have built a new Krypton out of Earth if Superman hadn't betrayed them. Vowing to avenge his people on Superman, Zod promised that he would take away all whom Superman loved, and then attacked him. Superman, seeing no other way to reason with Zod, Superman vowed that he would stop him no matter what it took He fought General Zod in the intense and incredibly destructive Battle of Metropolis, destroying buildings, vehicles and property, including the Wayne Financial Building brought down by Zod's heat vision, much to the dismay of Bruce Wayne, who witnessed it occur from the streets.

The battle intensified once Zod managed to master his heat vision and Superman struggled to counter the Kryptonian's superior experience and skill in honing his abilities. Zod efficiently gained the upper hand in the fight, before ripping off his armor and finally grasping his flying ability, now on even footing with Superman.

 File:Superman hugging Lois after killing Zod.jpg
The two then clashed climactically in mid-air, with Zod hurling Superman through numerous skyscrapers, and tackling him into outer space, destroying a Wayne Enterprises satellite in the process. The two mighty aliens then crashed in Metropolis Central Station, where General Zod, feeling that he was beginning to lose the fight, opened his heat vision on innocent civilians. Superman grappled Zod, trying to divert the latter's heat vision away, before resorting to breaking Zod's neck to save the civilians, causing him to scream in brief trauma. However, he was then consoled by Lois, who had just gotten to the station by that time.

#### Starting a new life

"*Welcome to the Planet.*"
—Lois Lane to Clark. to Man of Steel
 File:Clark Kent joins the Daily Planet.jpg
Superman flew back home to Martha in Smallville. He was consoled by her, as Martha was alright, with only some damage to her house. Clark later got a job as a junior reporter at the Daily Planet newspaper in Metropolis, on the recommendation of Lois. Upon arriving at his first day at work, Clark chose to wear a pair of glasses in an attempt to conceal his identity as "Superman", with only Lois recognizing and promptly welcoming him to "the Planet" (a clever pun that only both of them understood).

### Life after the Black Zero Event

#### Early superhero and journalism careers

In his first days of openly being a superhero, Superman took to dealing with natural disasters (notably the wildfires in the home forests of the state of Senator Stearns, that had almost claimed hundreds of lives), crime and humanitarian missions, but he notably avoided getting involved in controversial political disputes, such as wars between the nations of Earth.

 File:Superman delivers medical supplies.jpg
As such, a massive silvery statue of Superman is built in Metropolis (on the epicenter of what was left after General Zod's terraformation attack on the city, in the new commemorative Heroes Park), and online message boards are created, with numerous people from all over the world using them as a means to ask Superman for help, regarding both trivial (helping to pay their rent) and severe (curing their cancer) matters.

At one point, Superman also prevents a missile strike, rescues victims from a building explosion, and prevents a devastating earthquake (by shifting an entire tectonic plate).

As Clark Kent, he is quickly promoted from just a junior reporter, quickly rising through the ranks at the Daily Planet after promptly displaying exceptional insights and investigative skills, which leads to Perry White assigning him bigger and bigger stories for the Planet. After only a year working as a reporter, Clark had already twice received the Elliot Prize for Investigative Journalism, being the first of any of the reporters on the Daily Planet staff to earn such prestige so quickly.

#### Superman committee established

At the same time, a number of survivalist militias also emerge, who believe Superman to be the advance scout for a future, larger alien invasion of Earth. Businessman Lex Luthor, whose prolific philanthropic efforts made some claim that he is as much a hero to Metropolis as Superman, claimed that the alien superhero is a figure too mysterious and controversial for him to be a good comparison, but in light of Superman's debut, Lex claims that recognizing the importance of the "ordinary" citizens of Metropolis (such as rescue workers, first responders, and countless ordinary citizens, who also helped save others in the Battle of Metropolis) has become more important than ever. Thus, US Senator Finch believed that before an ultimate decision regarding Superman is made, the issue of his existence must be approached objectively, and she, therefore, advocated for the creation of a committee to study and learn more about Superman.

#### Bangladesh floods

One day, Lois and Clark swiftly exit the Daily Planet newsroom, as Lois heads off to expose the corrupt Hanford Technologies CEO Mark Hanford (who had been illegally profiting from the sale of Kryptonian weapons on the black market), while Clark heads off to help with floods in Bangladesh as Superman, warning Lois to be safe in his absence.

#### Rescuing a train

 File:Superman saves train.jpg
Some time later, Superman saves a runaway train full of passengers. As he uncouples the cars, he runs out of track and has to settle the front cars on the desert by lifting them up. Shortly thereafter, video footage of the event is recorded, and studied by Professor Garcia, after which he discusses it with a woman named Teri and another man. Garcia goes out of his way to argue that Superman tries to save lives, with the superhero having done so even in the infamous Battle of Metropolis. Garcia also defends Superman's decision to avoid getting involved in wars, as intervening in political disputes (such as unilaterally disarming a country's military) could actually make the situation worse. Teri appears to agree with the professor, but as it turns out, she is only speaking the words spoken to her through an earpiece by Lex Luthor.

#### S.T.A.R. Labs field trip

Some time later, Clark took a school class from Metropolis on a school trip to S.T.A.R. Labs Metropolis branch. At the facility, the S.T.A.R. Labs team display their Tachyon Transfer technology, that can send objects vast distances across space. They proceed to open the portal, but grotesque alien creatures, called the Ko'erst came through. They were controlling Dr. Forsythe to keep it open, so that they could invade Earth. Clark managed to swiftly leave in the confusion, and return as Superman, after which he managed to swiftly overpower and tie up the Ko'erst, before they were sent back through to their home world.

#### Wayne Enterprises field trip

 File:Superman apprehends Kryptonian armed criminals.jpg
Some time later still, Superman, having learned of criminals attempting to steal Kryptonian technology from the Wayne Enterprises Research & Development Facility, promptly arrives and confronts them. While they initially make him retreat with Kryptonian plasma rifles (due to Superman's unwillingness to hurt them), Bruce Wayne gets a hold of a Kryptonian Signal Jammer, and utilizes it at a high frequency to incapacitate them all, though Superman recovers much quicker than the criminals, and thus, he manages to hand them over to the Metropolis Police Department, though not before confiscating the stolen Kryptonian tech.

### *Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice*

#### Saving Lois at Nairomi

"*Let the record show that this committee holds him responsible.*"
—Senator Finch to Kahina Ziri. to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Superman confronts Amajagh.jpg
After Lois is kidnapped by the Nairomian warlord Amajagh (who also had his bodyguard Anatoli Knyazev murder CIA agent Jimmy Olsen), and threatened with death, Superman flies to her rescue, flying right through the incoming missiles and drone of the CIA on the way. He smashes right through the roof of the building that Amajagh has Lois trapped in, arriving just in time. When the warlord holds a gun to Lois, she approvingly nods to Superman, so he responds by tackling Amajagh away from Lois in the blink of an eye, right through two walls. However, moments before Superman's arrival, Anatoli Knyazev and his men murder Amajagh's men, and Knyazev then proceeds to mutilate the corpses with his flamethrower, making it appear as if they had been murdered by Superman's heat vision.

This incident generates quite a bit of controversy throughout the world, with Senator Finch and her committee (responsible for studying Superman), after interviewing Nairomian Kahina Ziri (actually an actress hired and blackmailed into testifying by Lex Luthor), hold Superman responsible for what occurred in the North African desert. However, Kahina pretends to take little solace from this, claiming that the US government would never be able to force Superman to answer to them, since he seemingly answers to no one, not even to God.

#### Conversation with Lois

"*I just don't know if it's possible?"
"If what's possible?"
"For you to love me and be you.* "
—Lois Lane and Clark Kent to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Batman-vs-superman-trailer-screengrab-26.jpg
Returning home to his and Lois' apartment, Clark sees Lois in the bathtub and said he wanted to surprise her by cooking up something. When the subject shifts to the controversy surrounding his actions in Nairomi, Clark makes it clear that he is unconcerned, as Lois could have been killed; also adding that he didn't murder anyone. When Lois questions if whether or not it is possible for him to love her and be Superman, he responds by giving her one of the roses he bought and getting into the bathtub with her despite being fully-clothed; kissing her passionately before his glasses come off. Clark then proceeds to take off his shirt.

#### "End of Love Affair with Man in the Sky?"

"*To look him in his eye and ask how he decides which lives count and which ones do not.*"
—Nairomian Kahina Ziri to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
On the morning news, while cooking, Clark hears Nairomian Kahina Ziri being interviewed regarding Superman, and she states that had Superman been in her presence she would ask him how he decides: "which lives count, and which ones do not?" Clark is visibly uncomfortable at the accusation.

 File:Clark saddened by the news of the vandalism at Heroes Park.png  Later that same day, Clark is assigned by Perry to travel to Gotham City and cover the Metropolis vs Gotham football game (being given the headline "Underdog Dreams Dashed - 10 Yards Between Gotham and Glory") when the news reports on Wallace Keefe vandalizing the Superman Statue by spray-painting the words "False God" in red on the chest before he is arrested. Clark is visibly saddened about this hate crime. Perry, while also quite upset, gives Jenny the headline "End of Love Affair With Man In the Sky?" Before Clark departs, Perry advises the former to watch himself in Gotham, due to the city's high crime rate.

#### Visiting Gotham

"*There's a new kind of mean in him - he's angry, and he's hunting!*"
—a Gotham citizen to Clark, about Batman to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Clark then promptly follows through on his assignment, boarding the ferry from Metropolis to Gotham City, passing a kissing gay couple in the process.

He first visits Kahina Ziri's apartment complex, but is told by her neighbors (who initially mistake the reporter for a police officer) that she left some time ago. One of the neighbors, an old man, claims that Kahina made the right choice by leaving Gotham, and recommends that Clark leave soon as well before the night, unless Clark wishes to run into the infamous Batman, who, according to the old man, is imbued with "a new kind of mean". Kahina's other neighbor, however, adamantly disagrees, stating that Batman should be feared only by those to have a reason to be fearful. Dismayed at this news of brutal terror-based vigilantism, Clark heads back.

#### Conflict with Perry

"*It's like a one-man reign of terror. This bat vigilante has been consistently targeting the port and the adjacent projects and tenements, and as far as I can tell the cops are actually helping him!*"
—Clark Kent and Perry White at a staff meeting to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Clark tells Perry about Batman.png  At a staff meeting shortly after his return from Gotham, Clark begins his pursuit of Batman by bringing up his repeated targets in the poor areas of Gotham and alliance with the local GCPD, which earns him mockery from Perry, who also asks if whether or not he began work on the football story he assigned him to. Clark insists that this story is worth printing as it shows that the common civilian matters and that the press has zero tolerance for Batman and other vigilantes, but Perry retorts by saying “the American conscience died with Robert, Martin, and John”. At that point, Lois enters the meeting, displaying a bullet found in Nairobi, letting Perry know that she intended to fly to Washington DC to further investigate, and briefly making eye contact with Clark.

Somewhat upset, Clark confronts Lois shortly thereafter, inquiring as to why she had kept the bullet a secret from him until now, also remarking that her "digging up snakes" is bound to be dangerous. She responds stating that this is exactly why she didn't tell Clark.

As Lois walks away, Clark has a worried expression on his face, but he is promptly approached by Perry, who states that some influential billionaire (actually Lex Luthor) had insisted that Clark be the reporter to attend and cover his Metropolis library fundraiser event.

#### Meeting Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor

"*Bruce Wayne meets Clark Kent! I love it! I love bringing people together!*"
—Lex Luthor to Clark and Bruce Wayne to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
While observing other arriving guests at Luthor's fundraiser, Clark has his attention swiftly attracted by Gotham City billionaire Bruce Wayne, just as the latter exits his car.

While listening to Lex Luthor's greeting speech, Clark's super-hearing quickly picks up on the voice of Alfred Pennyworth, coming from Bruce Wayne's earpiece. Clark notices Bruce sneaking away from the crowd, as per Alfred's instructions. Hence, a suspicious Clark is quick to use his reporter status to interview Bruce Wayne, as soon as the latter returns, asking Bruce about his position regarding Batman.

 File:Clark and Bruce meet Lex.jpg
Bruce initially attempts to brush the reporter off, condescendingly referring to the younger man as "son", and sarcastically asking if the Daily Planet belongs to him. Clark persists, claiming to have personally seen how Batman considers himself to be above the law and causing civilians to live in fear, despite having never seen Batman in action. Bruce is quick to point out the hypocrisy in Clark's words, noting that every time Superman carried out a trivial deed, journalists like Clark are quick to shower him with praise, and instead argues the godlike alien should instead be feared, as there would be seemingly no way of stopping him, if Superman were to suddenly decide to go rogue. Clark is angered by this unexpected and personal criticism, but calmly points out that most of the world doesn't share Bruce's opinion on the alien superhero, but Bruce responds by claiming that perhaps his view is based on the bad history that Gotham has with "freaks dressed like clowns."

At that precise moment, however, they are abruptly interrupted by Lex Luthor, who enthusiastically introduces himself and invites Bruce to visit the LexCorp Industries research and development facilities. However, Mercy Graves comes up and lets Lex know that a governor wants to speak to him. As Bruce walks off, a suspicious Clark attempts to follow him, having heard Alfred's voice in the earpiece again, but he suddenly sees a TV news report of a girl stuck in a burning factory in Mexico, and instead chooses to save her over pursuing Bruce.

#### The Superman question

"*We're talking about a being, whose very existence challenges our own sense of priority in the Universe.*"
—Neil deGrasse Tyson on Superman to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Superman being worshipped by Day of the Dead followers.jpg
After saving the Mexican girl, Superman descends into the crowd of people in Díos de los Muertos apparel, and the civilians all surround and stretch out their hands towards him, eager to touch the godlike alien.

As the days go by, Superman continues his heroic career, notably saving a family from a flooded house, rescuing Russian astronauts from a rocket that collapsed during launch, and towing a half-sunken steamship through Arctic ice.

Meanwhile, however, the world continues responding to Superman and what his existence means to the world (much like how Jonathan Kent had once predicted), with the media referring to it as "The Superman Question". The question sparks quite a bit of controversy worldwide, with many being quick to express their opinions.

 File:Neil deGrasse Tyson (character).png  Astrophysicist and cosmologist Neil deGrasse Tyson, while seemingly not opposed to the alien superhero, remarks that Superman's very existence challenges humanity's sense of priority in the Universe. Openly negative views on "The Superman Question" are held by Internet blogger Glen Woodburn and author Andrew Sullivan. Wodburn's concern is based on humanity having a track record of following people with great power, down paths that led to huge human monstrosities. Sullivan questions whether there are any moral constraints on Superman, and that, due to there being International Law, every one of Superman's acts is a political one.

Finally, Senator June Finch is interviewed on the matter, with her interviewer wondering aloud if it is really surprising that Superman, as the most powerful man in the world, is viewed as a figure of controversy. He proceeds to ask her if she would be personally comfortable with saying to a grieving parent, that Superman could have saved their child, but couldn't because the government had not wanted him to act. Finch admits that while Superman's engagement in state-level interventions should be cause for concern, she proceeds to explain that the problem is not Superman's actions, but that he should not be carrying them out unilaterally. This makes her interviewer conclude by saying that the overall question is in fact, “must there be a Superman?”; to which she simply replies that “there is”. Clark himself sees this interview on television, and is visibly dismayed, feeling more unsure of his place than before.

Shortly thereafter, Clark calls his mother, Martha Kent. Not having it in him to tell her about his problems right away, he instead asks her why Jonathan had never left Kansas. A bit confused, Martha says that this was so because her late husband had felt that he was "already there", and he thus had no need to travel. Clark sighs, saying that he wished things were simple. Martha, however, gently disagrees, claiming that "nothing was ever simple."

#### Bat Brand of Justice

The next day at work, Clark comes across an online page of a Gotham Free Press article, on how being branded by Batman is a death sentence among Gotham City prison inmates, with there having been 18 reports of people getting branded with "bat-brands" by the ruthless vigilante. An angry and frustrated Clark then becomes determined to take an active initiative.

#### Second conflict with Perry

"*Nobody cares about Clark Kent taking on the Batman!*"
—Perry White to Clark to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Clark and Perry argue.jpg
Shortly thereafter, Clark is confronted by Perry, who is furious with him for having not covered the Metropolis football match or Lex Luthor's fundraiser for the Metropolis Library. Clark argues by saying that the press has the responsibility of showing integrity and exposing Batman for the criminal that he is, bringing up the fact that the Daily Planet had an upstanding reputation for displaying such character at its foundation. Perry responds by mocking Clark’s values, saying that “it’s not 1938” and life is no longer simple enough for someone like Clark to be admired for upstanding character alone; therefore, he is ordered to cease his pursuit of Batman, as no one will find such a thing interesting. Clark is agitated, but undeterred.

#### Investigating Cesar Santos

While still pondering over this theme while working at his cubicle, Clark receives some anonymous mail. Inside are pictures of Cesar Santos' corpse (as he had been murdered by his fellow inmates), with the words “judge", "jury", "executioner", and "justice?” written at the bottom of them. At this moment, a frustrated Clark finally decides on a different, more direct approach. Unbeknownst to him, Santos' murder and the murders of the other branded convicts were all a setup orchestrated by Lex Luthor (through Anatoli Knyazev), in order to incriminate Batman in Superman's eyes.

Clark travels to Gotham City once more, intent on learning more regarding Santos' murder. When unable to obtain information from the penitentiary, Clark comes across Santos' girlfriend Adriana (with her baby child), and promptly interviews her. Adriana angrily complains about Batman's brutal methods, claiming that one man deciding who gets to live cannot be justice. As a reporter, Clark implores her to tell him more, so that he might change things. Adriana, however, declines, saying that words from Clark's pen cannot stop Batman, as the only method to actually do so is "a fist", implying that only severe punishment is an effective deterrent against Batman.

An infuriated Clark thus decides to take a more direct approach to dealing with Batman, this time as Superman.

#### Meeting the Batman

"*Next time they shine your light in the sky, don't go to it. The Bat is dead - bury it! Consider this mercy!*"
—Superman to Batman to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Superman and Batman stand on the Batmobile.jpg
That evening, while Batman was intercepting Lex Luthor's men transporting Kryptonite, Superman interrupted the chase, damaging the Batmobile after Batman tried running him down, and again when Superman tore the doors off. With Cesar Santos' death (and subsequent orphaning of the latter's son) being the last straw, Superman threatens the Dark Knight, warning him to give up his crusade, to ignore the Bat-Signal the next time it lights up, and that he should consider Superman's warning a mercy. As he turned to leave, Batman countered with a threat of his own, expressing his determination to make the godlike alien "bleed". Not impressed with Batman's threat, Superman flew off, while Batman promptly drove back to the Batcave in the damaged Batmobile.

### Insurgency Knightmare

"*She was my world, and you took her from me!*"
—Tyrant Superman to Batman. to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Supsmare.png
In an alternate future (shown to Batman by that future's Flash), Superman is unhinged with grief at the death of either Lois Lane or Martha Kent, and thus becomes dark and malevolent, taking over the Earth as its tyrant ruler, and founding the Regime Stormtroopers to aid him in his totalitarian Regime of Earth, mercilessly killing anybody who opposes him. Batman promptly founded the Insurgency in order to combat this new threat, thus beginning a long war.

Batman, in desert clothing, exits a bunker, and watches his Insurgency allies approach. He meets with them and asks for the Kryptonite rock, the only remaining hope of defeating Superman. However, they open the box to reveal only green light bulbs. They apologize to him and hold Batman at gunpoint. He follows through with their commands as the undercover Regime Stormtroopers reveal themselves to Batman and the Insurgents. They

 File:REB SUPERMAN EVIL.png  execute them, as Batman watches helplessly. Angered, he begins a killing spree and guns down multiple stormtroopers, while helping some of his surviving Insurgents escape the area. Although he manages to take down most of the Regime Stormtroopers while Parademons invade the area and abduct many humans there, Batman is eventually overwhelmed by the remaining stormtroopers there who could barely restrain him. He snaps one of their necks, but then is brutally (but barely) beaten by the other stormtroopers. Seeing the damage that Batman was inflicting on the stormtroopers and their inability to restrain him, a Parademon knocks Batman unconscious.

Batman recuperates chained up in the bunker with his few remaining Insurgent allies, eyeing them helplessly. Superman himself then lands in the bunker, and his Regime Stormtroopers reverently kneel before their leader. He approaches Batman, swiftly murdering the other Insurgency members with his heat vision. Superman then unmasks the horrified and visibly scared vigilante. He expresses his anger at Bruce for letting "her" die, as she was "his world". Superman gives Batman one final sinister sneer, and ruthlessly kills him by tearing Batman's heart from his chest, thereby ending the war.

### Hearing in Washington

"*Today is a day for truth.*"
—June Finch to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
While the rest of the world is still busy debating on "The Superman Question", Clark returns home to Smallville to visit his mother Martha. There, she advises him that either way, he shouldn't be concerned with what others think of him, assures him that he is neither a threat, nor a killer, and that ultimately, he doesn't owe planet Earth a thing.

 File:Superman stands in court.jpg  Despite much media speculation to the contrary, Superman arrives to speak and answer at Senator Finch's committee, at the US Capitol in Washington DC. While there are notably quite a few anti-Superman protesters gathered there (with banners labelled "SuperDeath", "Thanks for the "Help"!", "Earth Belongs to Humans", "God Hates Aliens" and "Aliens Doom Nations", a House of El glyph with a Nazi swastika, as well as an alien-shaped head on a pole), Lois stands there as well, for additional support.

 File:Superman stands in the flames at the Capitol.jpg  The trial is also attended by Lex Luthor's personal assistant, Mercy Graves. Right before the trial, Kahina Ziri approaches Senator Finch, revealing herself to be an actress that Lex had hired to lie, so Finch resolves to mention this in the trial as well, intending to clear her name. When Superman enters, Finch starts out by pointing out to him a witness/victim of Superman's actions, Wallace Keefe, who lost his legs during the Black Zero Event. After suddenly noticing a distasteful note left for her by Lex Luthor (a jar of urine, labelled "Granny's Peach Tea"), a startled Finch stops in mid-speech, before a bomb (hidden inside Keefe's lead-lined wheelchair by Lex) explodes, killing her, Graves, Keefe, and everyone else present, except for the invulnerable, but mortified Superman.

Right after the explosion, Superman stays to help, carrying an injured woman to safety. He begins to look around him and sees dozens of dead bodies and injured civilians, he begins swelling with guilt and self-doubt, and throws a glance of sorrow and regret at Lois, before launching into the air.

#### Self-doubts and exile

"*Superman was never real. Just the dream of a farmer from Kansas.*"
—Superman to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Clark tells Lois his doubts.png
That evening, Superman flew back to Lois' hotel room and spoke to her on the balcony. While Lois assured him that he was not to blame and was about to tell him of Lex Luthor's involvement (having learned it from S.T.A.R. Labs weapons and ballistics specialist Jenet Klyburn), Superman insisted that he hadn't been able to prevent the bombing because he hadn't been looking for a potential bomb in the first place. Now, mortified at how his actions had so far consistently lead to horrible consequences, Clark claims that the whole idea of "Superman" had never even been real in the first place, with it only ever being "the dream of a farmer from Kansas." Lois insisted that this "dream" is all that most people have to give them hope, and she pointed to his House of El glyph, stating that it still means something. However, Clark sadly replies that while it did on Krypton, that world no longer exists, and he then promptly flies off, into self-imposed exile. Meanwhile, in the news, many are suspecting that Superman might have been involved in letting the Capitol bombing happen, so a mob of protesters assembles outside the building's wreckage, burning a large ragdoll of Superman, while chanting in outrage.

 File:Clark's self-imposed exile.png  Superman flies to the faraway mountains, dons civilian clothing, and hikes up the snow-covered slope. He passes some people, with an old man remarking (in Mexican Spanish) that since Clark knows that the mountain he's climbing isn't passable, the logical conclusion is that Clark has come to die.

Much to Clark's surprise, he suddenly experiences a vision of his adopted father, Jonathan Kent. The vision spoke to Clark, telling him of how he himself had once believed himself to be a hero after saving his farm from a flood during the age of 12, yet inadvertently thereby flooding the Langs' farm. He encouraged Clark, and let his son know that he both loves and misses him.

### Lex Luthor's ultimatum

"*And now God bends to my will!*"
—Lex Luthor to Superman to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Superman carrying Lois Lane.jpg
Superman returns to Metropolis and rescues Lois just in the nick of time after Lex Luthor throws her off of the roof, and flies back up to deal with him. Superman angrily vows to bring the malevolent supergenius in "without breaking him". However, Luthor confidently retorts by revealing that he knows Superman's secret identity, and proceeds to tell Clark about his views on both him and God, stating that "God is tribal." Lex then reveals that his father, Alexander Luthor Sr., while seemingly affable in public, was egregiously cruel and evil behind closed doors, abusing his defenseless son with both fists and "abominations." Due to there having been no "man in the sky" to protect Lex from this unjust suffering, he subsequently became a misotheist, burdened by the theological problem of evil (that if God is truly all-powerful, then He cannot be all-good, and vice versa), and concluding that power cannot be innocent. When he shows Superman the bandaged-cut on his right hand and said "the blood on your (Superman) hands", Superman realizes that he and Batman were deviously framed by Lex the whole time. Hence, Superman, due to his own godlike power, has the same problem of evil applicable to him in Lex's eyes, and Lex is now determined to prove this to the world by having him engage Batman in a mortal duel.

 File:Superman bows to Lex Luthor.png
When Superman attempts to refuse, Lex reveals that the former's mother, Martha Kent, is held in captivity in a top-secret location by Knyazev (producing several photos of a horrified tied up Martha as proof). An incredibly furious Superman seems ready to destroy Lex with his heat vision, but the latter says that if Superman attempts to kill him or flies away, Martha will be burned alive, and the only way for Superman to save her, is to fly to Gotham City, fight and kill Batman in a vicious duel to the death, and subsequently bring the vigilante's head to Lex. An incredibly furious Superman is left with no choice but to comply with Lex's orders, and flies off, much to the delight of Lex.

Superman is shaken up by the power Lex's ultimatum hold over him, since despite his disapproval of Batman's morally gray methods, Superman recognizes him as a good (albeit misled and unnecessarily brutal) man, so this conflicts with his morality even more than the murder of General Zod. Hence, Superman flies to Lois and briefly explains the situation to her, but then adding that he will instead try to convince Batman to help. He then sadly concludes by saying that "no one stays good in this world", before flying off.

#### Duel with Batman

"*Stay down! If I wanted it, you'd be dead already!*"
—Superman to Batman to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Batman and Superman face each other.png
Superman arrives in Gotham, where Batman is waiting for him. Superman tries to reason with Batman, beginning with an apology for wrongly accusing him of being a criminal and trying to explain what Luthor has done, but accidentally triggers a pair of sonic emitters, stopping him in his tracks. Superman rips a manhole cover in half and flings the scraps of metal into the emitters, destroying them. Now visibly frustrated, Superman once again attempts to reason with Batman, who refuses to listen, resulting in Superman giving him a light shove, sending him tumbling across the concrete for over 60 feet. Batman activates another trap: a pair of .50-caliber machine gun turrets. Superman puts up his guard for a moment, before flying above them and incinerating the turrets with his heat vision.

As Batman regains his footing, a very angry Superman grabs him and hurls him down the street. The Dark Knight rises to his feet again. Frustrated at his adversary's resilience, Superman grabs hold of Batman and pushes him through the side of a building. Emerging through the roof, Superman violently hurls Batman right through the Bat-Signal. He again tries to reason with Batman, telling him that if he wanted to kill him he could easily and would have done so already.

 File:Batman vs Superman.jpg
Batman gets up and activates a smoke grenade before tossing it towards his opponent. Superman dashes through the lead-smoke cloud to find Batman gone. Now behind him, Batman fires a round from his riot gun, only for his opponent to catch it. However, it releases a cloud of Kryptonite gas, severely weakening him.

Batman taunts him as he writhes in pain. Superman attacks Batman, who easily counters his attacks thanks to his superior fighting skills. Batman kicks him against a skylight and stomps down on him, crashing through it and onto the top floor of the building. Superman tries to regain his footing, but Batman gives him no such respite. He beats his foe senseless, flooring him with a powerful left cross. However, Superman senses the return of his powers and counters one of Batman's kicks, throwing Batman through a wall.

 File:Batman vs Superman Alt.jpg
The two combatants charge at one another. Batman swings Superman back against the wall and pummels him repeatedly, however Superman's invulnerability begins to return, rendering Batman's assault ineffective. Batman eyes his steel glove and backs away nervously, knowing the tables have turned yet again. Superman shoves him down through the floor into an abandoned bathroom. Batman attempts to get up, but even in his weakened state, Superman easily overpowers him. Getting a hold on Batman's armored suit, he picks him up and flings him through several rows of urinal partitions.

Batman, in extreme pain, lifts his head and loads another round in his gun. Superman races to beat him to it and leaps into the air, fist drawn back. He takes the next Kryptonite round full in the face, but not before landing a brutal punch to the side of Batman's head, shattering his helmet and sending him flying through the air.

Batman recovers from the shock and gets to his feet, while Superman rolls over helplessly, engulfed by the toxic mist. Batman wrenches a sink basin from its porcelain pedestal and brings it down hard on the back of Superman's head, momentarily knocking him unconscious.

#### The Dark Knight's redemption

"*You were never a god. You were never even a man!*"
—Batman to a defeated Superman to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Superman Defeated.png
Batman carries Superman to a staircase balcony and drops him over the edge, leaving him to plummet a dozen stories to the floor below, flat on his back. After grappling to the floor, Batman binds Superman's feet with a cable, then slams a button on his grapnel gun, pulling Superman towards him. He uses the momentum to swing Superman around, smashing him through a ring of concrete pillars. The badly wounded Superman is then placed on his back and taunted by Batman, who claims that Superman was not only never a God, but never even a man, before cutting the latter's cheek with his Kryptonite spear and raised it for the killing blow.

 File:Getting through to Batman.png
Aware of his impending death, Superman implores Batman to save "Martha". Batman, confused and shocked by this (as "Martha" was the name of his own late mother), pauses his killing blow, and yells at Superman, demanding to know why the latter had uttered that name. At that moment, Lois finally arrives, and explains to Batman that it is the name of Superman's mother. Batman then realizes his own hypocrisy - that he has allowed Lex Luthor to twist his anger from the Black Zero Event and turn him into the very monster he swore to fight. Hence, Batman hurls the spear away in disgust, horrified at what he had almost become, and he is now prepared to help Superman, whom he now better understands, while also redeeming himself in his own eyes in the process.

The two then converse, and Superman reveals Lex Luthor's plan, meaning that his mother is losing time every second. A repentant Batman, now finally seeing Superman for the selfless person that he is (instead of an inhuman alien threat, since when threatened, Superman had pleaded to save his mother, rather than his own life), tells him that they should work together to stop Luthor, the true enemy that had been deviously manipulating both of them this whole time. After some persuasion from Batman, Superman resolves to confront Luthor, while Batman promises him that he will save Martha.

### Facing Luthor

"*You've lost."
"I don't know how to lose."*"
—Superman and Lex Luthor to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Screen Shot 2016-07-03 at 4.33.42 pm.png
Having partially recovered from the Kryptonite gas and exposure, Superman flies to the Fortress of Solitude and smashes through the starship's hull to face Lex Luthor, letting the latter know that Martha is safe, Batman is now an ally, and that Lex had lost. The malevolent supergenius, however was unfazed by the news of his failed plan, claims not to know how to lose, and he is quick to finally reveal his far more grandiose and extreme contingency plan - a massive hybrid Kryptonian monster grown from General Zod's corpse and Lex's blood (in an ancient Kryptonian ritual, long forbidden by the Law Council), Superman's "Doomsday". Lex gleefully added that now Superman was "as good as dead".

### Doomsday

"*Ancient, Kryptonian deformity! Blood of my blood! Born to destroy you! Your Doomsday!*"
—Lex Luthor to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Superman catches Doomsday's punch.png
Doomsday then proceeds to swiftly break out of the ship's birthing matrix, loudly roars, and hurls a monstrous punch at Lex, but Superman intervenes and catches his massive fist before beating him back into the network of cables. Doomsday catches Superman in his giant hands and leaps out of the Fortress of Solitude and pummels Superman, sending him hurtling into Heroes Park.

As Superman struggles to his feet, Doomsday lands nearby. He eyes the face of his enemy in the giant Superman Statue, then looks down at the smaller real-life version standing below.

 File:Superman and Doomsday face off at Heroes Park.png
Doomsday's strength and durability surpass that of Superman, momentarily stunning the Man of Steel and sending him flying into a building. Doomsday is then shot at by military helicopters, but his body takes it all, adapting and only becoming more durable, generating a huge electrical shockwave.

In desperation, Superman tackles Doomsday and takes him into space. The US President intends to shoot the alien monster down with a megaton nuke, and it is carried out, despite the protests of Calvin Swanwick. Superman defiantly holds Doomsday in place as he sees the missile approach, determined to have the monster destroyed. The resulting explosion is so gigantic, that Batman can clearly see it from Earth's surface.

 File:Superman holds down Doomsday.png
Doomsday's body lands on the abandoned Stryker's Island, but he is far from dead, as the megaton nuclear explosion seems to have only made the monster stronger and more durable still, with its body once again regenerating, and generating another electrical shockwave, considerably larger and stronger than the first.

 File:Superman nearly dead.png
In the meantime, Superman, appearing undead, and withered, is floating in space being extremely weakened by the nuclear missile blast that knocked him out completely.

Soon, however, he is exposed to radiation from earth's yellow sun, which reinvigorates Superman's cells, returning him back to life and full power. He then proceeds to fly back towards the Earth's surface, and joins in the battle against Doomsday by flying towards the monster, sending Doomsday flying into a gas tank, generating a massive inferno explosion.

### The Trinity Unites

"*This thing is from another world. My world.
"I've killed things from other worlds before.*"
—Superman and Wonder Woman to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman stand strong.png
Superman and a recently arrived Wonder Woman then proceed to jointly attack Doomsday in tandem, while Batman tries to expose the monster to Kryptonite, which would exploit its only known vulnerability. Wonder Woman soon manages to cut off the monster's right arm, but that only results in a sharp bony protrusion growing back in its place.

 File:Superman stares down Doomsday.png   In the meantime, Lois is in Gotham City, trying to retrieve the Kryptonite spear from underwater. Superman is able to hear her drowning, and flies off to rescue her, retrieving the spear in the process, while Wonder Woman manages to temporarily restrain Doomsday with her indestructible lasso. Superman sees that the only way to stop Doomsday will end up putting his life at risk, since brute force alone had been proven ineffective. Hence, he says a tender goodbye to Lois, before taking hold of the spear and flying back to the battle scene, exposed to the substance himself in the process, though he manages to temporarily bypass the Kryptonite's weakening and superpower negation effects with a tremendous amount of willpower and determination.

### The Death of Superman

"*This is my world... You are my world!*"
—Superman to Lois Lane, Superman's last words before his sacrifice to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
A weakened Superman returns back to the battle and stabs Doomsday with the Kryptonite spear, causing more electrical energy than ever before to pour out of Doomsday, making Wonder Woman momentarily lose her footing. This allowed Doomsday to slip out of the Lasso of Hestia binding him, and plunge his bony arm protrusion into Superman's chest. Superman, however, is undeterred by his impending death, and defiantly fights against the incredible pain, plunging the spear deeper into Doomsday's chest with his last ounce of strength, as well as letting the monster's bony protrusion sink deeper into his own chest, thereby allowing the spear to pierce Doomsday's body completely. The two give one final joint bellow of agony, before their lifeless bodies hit the ground.

 File:Batman and Wonder Woman stand over Lois cradling Superman's corpse.jpg
Superman's unexpectedly human sacrifice visibly shell-shocks and saddens Batman (as it again proved Batman's image of Superman wrong), and he promptly retrieves Superman's lifeless body, enveloping him in his own cape, and giving the body to Wonder Woman (who was astounded to have finally, after 100 years, meet a person who had both the phenomenal godly might of Ares, and the self-sacrificing morality of Steve Trevor, and equally saddened at his death), who gently places it on the ground, seconds before the arrival of a devastated Lois Lane. Lois proceeds to cradle weep over her fallen beloved, as Batman and Wonder Woman stand next to her in respectful lamenting silence (recalling having been in Lois' position when witnessing Steve Trevor die), though Batman in particular, as he becomes guilt-ridden about being so devastatingly wrong about Superman and wasting 2 Kryptonite gas grenades on him, while they might have instead been used to kill Doomsday without having to lose Superman.

#### Dawn of Justice

"*I failed him in life. But I won't fail him in death.* "
—Bruce Wayne to Diana Prince to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
 File:Superman's ceremonial coffin.png
In order to posthumously cover up Superman's secret identity, Lois reports that Clark Kent has also died during the heroes' devastating battle with Doomsday, having chosen to carry out his duties as a reporter and cover it, and ultimately getting caught in the crossfire.

Perry White prints a special edition of the Daily Planet paper in honor of Superman and his efforts (still thankful to the superhero for saving him during the Black Zero Event), headlining it "Superman Dead: Night of Terror, Morning of Loss".

Superman is honorably buried in Heroes Park in Metropolis, in a grandiose military ceremony (that is attended by Secretary of Defense Swanwick and Carrie Farris), with Superman's black coffin (with a silver House of El glyph) being wrapped in the US flag. Afterwards, Swanwick is presented the folded American flag. So many devastated people attend the citywide funeral, that all of the usually crowded and busy streets of Metropolis are empty.

Later, numerous visibly saddened, remorseful and repentant people of Metropolis come with candles to Superman's resting place, to pay their respects to Earth's greatest hero, who had selflessly died saving the world from its greatest threat, a

 File:Monument.png   Hero that so many of them had failed to properly accept during his life. Hence, while Superman's monument is still broken (in the aftermath of the great battle with Doomsday), his tomb (also decorated with the Kryptonian glyph) reads: "If you seek his monument, look around you", emphasizing how Superman's heroic sacrifice guaranteed that the entire world and humanity are still around, first saved from General Zod's terraformation apocalypse, and then from Doomsday's unstoppable bloodthirsty rampage of apocalyptic proportions.

However, the coffin in Metropolis is actually empty, as the funeral of Clark Kent is held in Smallville (being anonymously paid for by Bruce Wayne), with Father Leone presiding over it and delivering a eulogy (containing the biblical resurrection prophecy from Isaiah 26:19), and with Bruce, Diana, Perry, Jenny, and Lois in attendance, along with Pete Ross and Lana Lang. An afte function is held at Martha's home. Lois is in Clark's bedroom when Martha enters (after having placed a photo of Jonathan in Clark's coffin). She gives Lois a letter, revealing to her that Clark had intended to propose to her.

 File:Screen Shot 2016-07-03 at 4.41.52 pm.png
Still, at the cemetery, Bruce expresses his guilt and remorse over his crimes against Superman, and by extension, the world. He and Diana share a conversation about bringing the other metahumans together, in order to fill the void left after Superman's death, and protect Earth in case a threat of that scale ever should arise, honoring Superman's heroic sacrifice. Diana questions the necessity and inquires why Bruce is proposing it. He replies that it is simply due to a feeling he has that things will imminently get worse (in reality, he was following the instructions given to him by the Future Flash, who appeared in one of his "dreams", as well as heeding Lex Luthor's enigmatic warning).

Superman's coffin is then shown, with the handful of dirt (scattered on it by Lois) beginning to rise into the air, implying that Superman might still, in fact, be alive.

### Metahuman Emergence

"*What if Superman had decided to fly down, rip off the roof of the White House, and grab the President right out of the Oval Office? Who would have stopped him?*"
—Dexter Tolliver to Suicide Squad
Even after his death, Superman still continues to have a profound impact on the world - his alien heritage and usage of his powers for selfless heroism make Superman a beacon of hope and inspiration for metahumans like the Flash, inducing them to also more openly use their powers and come out into the light, with the Flash notably apprehending the notorious bank robber Captain Boomerang as a result. Humans were also significantly impacted, with a vendor on the street exemplifying their deep posthumous respect for Superman - he is seen selling black and blue T-shirts with the House of El glyph on their chests, labelled "Superman" on the front, and "remember" on the back (thus extolling the hero's selfless sacrifice).

ARGUS Director Amanda Waller however, has a much more negative view on Superman after his death, since while she posthumously respects Superman himself for his benevolence and selfless heroism, she recognizes that there could very well be other beings out there, beings with equally tremendous godlike power, coupled with far less friendly intentions (what she refers to as a potential "World War III"). Fearing the inability of humans to stop such beings, Waller promptly advocates for the creation of Suicide Squad - her own potentially disposable team of individuals with exceptional powers, abilities, and skills (most notably Deadshot, El Diablo, and Enchantress), which could be forced to battle against such formidable threats as a contingency, whereas a normal non-disposable human army would be powerless. When Waller first meets up with Admiral Olsen and Dexter Tolliver, Olsen reprimands her for looking cheerful in light of Superman's recent death, since he considers him "a national hero."

Waller's fears ultimately prove to be valid, as a pair of incredibly powerful, but far less benevolent metahumans (Enchantress and her brother Incubus) would prove to be such a threat - like the Flash, they would also be inspired by Superman to come out into the light, attempting to use their vast mystical powers to conquer Earth and subjugate its inhabitants to their will. Thus, the Suicide Squad's implementation became necessary.

#### Waller's files

Ultimately, after getting saved by her Suicide Squad from the clutches of Enchantress and her army, Amanda Waller also proves herself a useful situational ally for Batman, with her helping him honor Superman's sacrifice and establish the Justice League by giving him files on the specific metahumans that he requested (including Arthur Curry and Barry Allen), in exchange for the Dark Knight promising her to take care of the rumors following the aftermath of the calamitous mystical events in Midway City.

### Rebirth

"*You won't let me live, you won't let me die..*"
—Superman to Batman after his resurrection to Justice League (film)
Shortly after Batman and Wonder Woman had founded the Justice League and had their first battle against Steppenwolf, Batman comes to the conclusion that they need Superman if they truly wish to save the Earth. Flash and Cyborg are sent to retrieve Superman's body and bring him to the Fortress of Solitude.

There, Cyborg guides the Flash to use the Speed Force to jump start the Mother Box and power the Genesis Chamber in order to revive Superman. They succeed and Superman's wounds are healed as he reawakens and bursts out of the ship before stumbling before the shattered statue at Heroes Park. Suffering from Amnesia, paces around the fragments of the statue, trying to recollect his thoughts.

Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman arrive to confront him. However, Superman remains on edge, hearing Aquaman's rapid heart beat. This causes Cyborg's security systems to kick in and fire a missile at Superman, which Superman promptly dodges. Superman then returns fire with his heat vision. The League members move in to restrain Superman, however due to his exposure to the Mother Box's power, Superman is able to shrug off their advances, swatting aside Aquaman, knocking down Wonder Woman and taking Cyborg's blasts. Wonder Woman tries to snap Superman out of his rage by using her Lasso and calling him by his birth name. While her words seem to make their way to him for a moment, Superman quickly re-engages, now fighting off the combined might of Wonder Woman, Cyborg and Aquaman. Flash attempts to flank Superman, however Superman is able to keep up with him and eventually knock Flash out.

Batman then appears and calls for Superman. Superman recognizes Batman and angrily moves toward him. Wonder Woman tries to keep him back, but Superman stops her attack and headbutts her into the ground before hitting Batman into a nearby police car. Batman attempts to get through to Superman, but Superman responds with anger, believing Batman wished to only deny him peace before echoing Batman's old threat to him.

However, at that moment, Lois, who Batman had sent for, arrives and manages to snap Superman out of his anger. Superman's memories seem to flood back to him as Lois embraces him. Superman then flies the both of them to the Kent Farm.

### War on Earth

After a day, Superman reunites with his mom and recuperates his memory, Lois warns him about Steppenwolf, and Clark put his Superman suit on and stops Steppenwolf when he was nearly about to kill the Justice League, easily defeating the general.

After helping subdue Steppenwolf, Superman goes to Batman and Cyborg to try and help however he suddenly hears screams of innocent people and helps Flash save the civilians loading up a building full of people. Superman returns to the battle and helps Cyborg separate the Mother Boxes which results in a huge explosion although fortunatly they both survive, Steppenwolf however is not down yet and Superman uses his new artic breath to freeze Steppenwolf´s Ax allowing Wonder Woman to break it.

Superman and the rest of the league watch as a defeated, battered, and humiliated Steppenwolf is attacked by his own Parademons due to his fear and a portal transports him and the rest of the Parademons away ending the invasion.

#### Joining the League

After the battle, Clark sees the wonderful work that Diana and Bruce had done with the team and gives thanks to them both for not losing hope in the people, Clark gives thank to Bruce as the latter reacquires the Kent Farm for Martha. The two having now started a very close friendship, and as Clark returns as Superman, he is offered the role of leadership by Batman to lead the new mighty team of Earths protectors while Batman is now second-in-command of the group.

### Racing the Flash

"*If I win, Bruce said something about you having to take us all to brunch?"
"Oh see, now that's cold, that's a betrayal. I feel stung by that...Okay, but if I win I get to tell everyone!"
"Deal.*"
—Superman and Flash to Justice League (film)
A few days later, Superman was challenged by the Flash to racing in a race to the Pacific to find out who is the fastest. Superman agreed and joked with the Flash, betting that if Superman wins, the Flash must leave the Justice League, but both end up betting insignificant things and the race started between the Man of Steel and the Scarlet Speedester.

## Personality

"*You will give the people of Earth an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun, Kal. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.*"
—Jor-El to Superman. to Man of Steel
Superman is exceptionally kind-hearted, possessing a strong sense of justice, honor, honesty, patriotism, and selfless benevolence. Indeed, Jor-El foresaw how his son would become "an ideal" for humanity to strive towards, and even Batman, who had initially had his doubts, later claimed that Superman is a "beacon to the world", one who doesn't just save people, but also "made them see the best parts of themselves." Also, despite being an alien from Krypton by birth, Superman is utterly human in personality, with Batman even claiming that the former's personality and values make Superman more human than him.

In addition, Superman, as the son of Thinker Guild genius Jor-El, is himself a prolific and eclectic genius, having been a nerdy and bookish wunderkind as a teenager, and becoming a brilliant Daily Planet reporter as an adult (often labelled a "nerd" by Perry White), almost rivaling the far more experienced Lois Lane herself, with Superman able to instinctively tell that General Zod couldn't be trusted, and even able to deduce Batman's secret identity. Despite being a prominent eclectic genius, however, Superman was still in many ways considerably intellectually surpassed by supergenius Lex Luthor, who successfully manipulated Superman as a pawn in his grand scheme, successfully killing him in the end with Doomsday.

Growing up as the only person of his kind, thus being very different and alienated by his peers, Clark grew up a very confused, lonely, and lost person. Hence, this, as well as his inability to understand his superhuman powers, made Clark subconsciously suppress them, with him unable to reach his full potential for many years (until he finally met Jor-El). Instilled by his parents, he grew up to selflessly care for other people and to do the right thing. Realizing that he could help others with his powers, Clark went against his father's (Jonathan) wishes to help others. Clark would even go out of his way to save Peter Ross, a boy that had relentlessly bullied him not long ago. This selflessness and faith in others shows that even before meeting Jor-El, Clark already strived to uphold what the House of El had always stood for.

With the passing of his adopted father Jonathan Kent, Clark went on a long journey of discovery, in which he eventually discovered his true name, and true purpose on Earth, going out of his way to always selflessly save people in need along the way, if it that meant exposing his alien superpowers and losing an acquired job, such as when Clark promptly abandoned his job on the "Debbie Sue" in order to rescue workers trapped in a collapsing oil rig. While he initially tended to be quite serious and sometimes even brooding, when Clark meets Lois Lane and receives empathy from her upon revealing himself as an alien (while also revealing his lingering guilt about heeding Jonathan Kent's request not to save him from death), Clark begins to enjoy life a bit more, with her spunky and sometimes flirty personality having a gradual effect on Clark. Lois, in turn, was so smitten with his selfless heroics, that she decided to drop what could have been the biggest story in human history for him.

Due to still not understanding his alien powers and heritage, however, Clark subconsciously suppressed his superpowers, and while still incredibly powerful, this mental block considerably limited Clark relative to his full potential, and prohibited him from mastering the power of flight. However, once Clark finally meet the AI projection of his birth father Jor-El and learned of his Kryptonian heritage and true name (Kal-El), Clark finally permanently overcame this weakness and gained his full potential, becoming not only much more powerful than ever before, but also finally unlocking his power of flight, in addition to becoming more optimistic and confident as Kal-El. He now resolves to uphold what the House of El's stands for: hope, embodied in which is the potential that every individual has to be a force for good and righteousness.

As he matured, Clark learned early on how to stay calm and collected in tough situations, to control his pent up anger, instead of releasing his incredible alien power on mere humans, he instead found different means, like secretly crushing a metal pipe when aggressively dared by Ken Braverman to fight, and wrecking the truck of Ludlow when the latter insulted Clark and indecently groped Clark's female co-worker. As a result, Superman grew accustomed to holding back his incredible strength and powers quite a bit unless absolutely necessary, which is evident when Superman expressed his intention of taking in Lex Luthor "without breaking" him, and when Superman greatly held back while fighting the far weaker Batman. More notable instances of Clark holding himself together in angering situations are when he calmly confronts the obnoxious Ludlow (even when the latter insults and pours been over Clark's face), when he doesn't react to Byrne's insulting reprimanding (as the latter had just attempted to save his life), when he expertly interviews Bruce Wayne and answers the latter's accusations regarding Superman with calm objective statements (ignoring Bruce's condescending manner of addressing the younger reporter), when he calmly debates with his frustrated boss Perry White about the necessity of exposing Batman through the press (despite Perry being somewhat condescending), and when he does not get insulted when people (such as Perry and Kahina Ziri's neighbor) mistake him for a meek pushover (when he's disguised as a human) and advise him to be careful. Despite this, however, Superman is capable of terrifying displays of rage when provoked, shown when General Zod and Lex Luthor threatened his adopted mother Martha, with Superman promptly releasing his incredible rage upon and temporarily beating Zod into submission, and Superman seemingly threatening to destroy Lex with his heat vision, until told that his mother would die if he were to kill Lex.

Due to his indomitable will, great power, selfless morality, and natural birth, Jonathan Kent believed that his adopted son would one day "stand proudly in front of the human race" and ultimately "change the world", while Jor-El believed in his son's ability to represent "the best" of both Earth and Krypton, and to one day give the people of Earth "an ideal to strive towards", helping humanity "accomplish wonders", especially since Kal-El Krypton's Growth Codex within his cells. Both of Kal's fathers are ultimately proven right, since despite having felt isolated from humanity for most of his life due to his alien superpowers, when Kal-El heard General Zod's menacing message to Earth, he immediately chose to protect humanity by finally revealing himself to them, even allowing himself to be handcuffed before he is brought before Zod. Upon hearing of General Zod's plans to restore Krypton on Earth, however, Kal-El is horrified and chooses to protect humanity over Krypton, absolutely refusing General Zod's offer to help the Sword of Rao sacrifice Kal-El's adopted people for the sake of a planet that had already been destroyed decades ago. Kal-El thus agreed with his father Jor-El that "Krypton had had its chance", and that its time had long since passed, so Kal-El did not hesitate long before destroying Zod's Genesis Chamber.

Due to Kal-El being the first (and last) Kryptonian of natural birth in centuries, he is somewhat looked down upon by his fellow Kryptonians of the Sword of Rao (who were all genetically engineered in Genesis Chambers and assigned to their respective Guilds), as the orthodox General Zod views Kal-El's method of coming into existence as a "heresy", and Faora is quick to mock Kal-El for his sense of morality, since she believes that trait makes him weak and unconfident, giving the genetically engineered Faora (who was specifically bred to be incapable of empathy) an "evolutionary advantage" over him. Ultimately, however, Kal-El's natural birth actually grants him several advantages over them, since, having not been genetically engineered and bred with a specific purpose, Kal-El has a far better grasp at free will (the lack of which on High Eminence Lor-Em's part also contributed to Kryptonians' near extinction), and is far less prone to tunnel vision, while his sense of morality allows Kal-El to coexist on Earth among humanity (as their hero "Superman") instead of, like Zod and Faora, alienating humanity away with the arrogant preconceived notion of the physically weaker human race being inferior. Finally, Kal-El's natural birth makes him far less likely than General Zod to lose the will to live - the latter being utterly devastated and genetically unable to move on with his life after his "life's purpose" (restoring and protecting Krypton) is taken away, while Kal-El, despite being utterly mortified after much of the world forsakes him (due to Lex Luthor's manipulations), is ultimately still willing to unconditionally carry out his life's purpose (protecting and saving Earth) regardless, as he returned to save Lois Lane from Lex, and then gave up his life to save the ungrateful and forsaking world from Doomsday.

It was ultimately Kal-El's indomitable willpower, loyalty and refusal to give up even under seemingly insurmountable odds (most notably when he faced the combined might of Faora-Ul and Nam-Ek, both much more skilled combatants, without hesitation, persisting against them until he finally gained the upper hand and forced them to retreat) that allows Nathan Hardy to trust the alien superhero, and respect him as an ally. In admiration of his tremendous superpowers, perseverance, willpower, and heroism, the US Armed Forces nickname Kal-El "Superman." Upon learning of Jor-El's plan to defeat General Zod's invasion, Superman promptly flies off to destroy the World Engine, despite knowing that being in proximity to it might potentially kill him, and successfully does so. He returns to Metropolis just in time to save Lois Lane, stubbornly flying against the tremendous force of the Phantom Zone singularity to do so.

When General Zod is revealed to have survived and voices his plans to wipe out the entire human race in retribution against Superman, the two mighty aliens engage in a duel of epic proportions, with Superman's tremendous fortitude and perseverance allowing him to ultimately defeat the more experienced and skilled Zod. However, when General Zod expresses his refusal to stop and threatens to burn alive a cornered family, Superman is forced to kill him, making an incredibly hard choice that greatly conflicts with his morality. Hence, despite his victory, Superman screams out agony and tears at what he had to do, fully remorseful of the murder. After the invasion, however, Superman resolves to continue operating openly as Earth's superhero protector, and he trusts General Swanwick to persuade Washington DC of the selflessness of his intentions.

In order to successfully maintain his double identity as a human reporter of the Daily Planet (during the time that he isn't protecting and saving others as Superman), Clark tries to be as small and invisible as possible, in order to attract little attention to himself and to avoid inducing anyone into thinking that he could possibly be the mighty godlike Superman. As a result, Perry White appears to think of Clark as somewhat of a meek pushover, shown when he goes out of his way to advise Clark to watch himself in Gotham City, due to the city's high crime rate.

Shortly after Superman's debut to the world, a huge statue of him is built in Heroes Park, Metropolis, and online message boards are created, which numerous people from all over the world use as a means to ask Superman for help. However, during the next two years, despite the world's majority having a positive response to Superman, due to the extraordinary heroics he demonstrated when defeating General Zod, there are many who are more than slow to accept the supremely powerful godlike alien with unrestrained power, since as Jonathan Kent had warned Clark, that "Superman" would change the whole world, ranging from beliefs to "notions of what it means to be human", and Jor-El had warned him that while the people of Earth would eventually "join [him] in the sun", they would initially "stumble" and "fall" while "racing behind him". Hence, while Vikram Gandhi and Senator Finch express openly positive views (that Superman, as a representation of the Messianic savior figure found in all religions, is "just a guy trying to do the right thing", and that only actions carried out unilaterally by Superman are problematic), astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is worried about the paradigm shift that Superman's very existence, as an alien on Earth, has in challenging humanity's sense of priority in the Universe (much like how Copernican Heliocentrism and Darwinian Evolution had done before), while Glen Woodburn and Andrew Sullivan are extremely skeptical, bringing up humanity's horrible track record of following people with great power in the past (down paths that led to huge human monstrosities), as well as questioning the moral constraints on Superman, since International Law renders every one of Superman's acts as a political one. Even more skeptical, however, are Batman and Lex Luthor, however, as the former fears the possibility of Superman becoming malevolently corrupted (having seen many seemingly benevolent individuals become corrupted during his long career), while the latter, due to his intense misotheism and deluded godlike self-image, sees Superman's very existence as a "sin." Hence, both of them, for their own respective reasons, resolve to kill Superman.

Despite Superman making a point to stay out of potentially controversial political disputes (such as wars between the nations of Earth), he is eventually forced get involved in the Nairomian Civil War in order to rescue Lois Lane from Amajagh, and in the process, is superbly framed by Lex Luthor and Kahina Ziri for the murder of many Nairomians. Despite the horrific incident, Clark and Lois are determined to make their burgeoning romance work, with Clark being romantic, flirty, and affectionate towards her, enough that Clark could get into a tub with Lois, while he himself was fully clothed. However, Clark refuses to ignore the incident, so shortly thereafter, he initially attempts to talk to Kahina Ziri and help resolve her issues with him following Nairomi, and when that proves unsuccessful, he resolves to cooperate with Senator Finch as Superman, and attend a Capitol hearing on the Nairomian incident.

Due to his own unwavering selfless morality, Superman is initially disgusted by Batman and the latter's morally gray methods of dealing with crime in Gotham City (which Superman distastefully called a "one-man reign of terror"), as the latter had a penchant for ruthlessly torturing, branding, and even killing certain criminals, with those branded by him being murdered in jail by other inmates (notably Cesar Santos, though those murders are later revealed to be secretly orchestrated by Lex Luthor, who intended to pit the two superheroes against one another), and the general public fearing Batman. As such, while Clark initially intends to expose Batman through the press, he soon doubts the effectiveness of this method after learning that the GCPD is actually helping Batman, quarreling with Perry White, who considers Clark's views on morality somewhat outdated (claiming that "American conscious died with Robert, Martin and John"), and hearing from Adriana Santos (whose son was now orphaned following Cesar's murder) that words from Clark's pen cannot stop Batman, as the only method to actually do so is "a fist", implying that only severe punishment is an effective deterrent against Batman. Hence, an infuriated Clark decides to take a more direct approach to dealing with Batman, this time as Superman. His anger and frustration with Batman render Superman somewhat darker than usual - he abruptly confronts the Dark Knight, ordering Batman to give up his crusade, to ignore the Bat-Signal the next time it lights up, and to consider this warning from him mercy, with Superman tearing off the Batmobile's doors for good measure. As he turned to depart, Batman counters with a threat of his own, expressing his determination to make Superman "bleed". Not impressed with Batman's threat, Superman flies off.

While there are notably quite a few anti-Superman protesters gathered before the Capitol on the day of the Nairomi hearing (with banners labelled "SuperDeath", "Thanks for the "Help"!", "Earth Belongs to Humans", "God Hates Aliens" and "Aliens Doom Nations", a House of El glyph with a Nazi swastika, as well as an alien-shaped head on a pole), Lois stands there as well, for additional support. However, after Lex Luthor orchestrates a devastating bombing during that hearing (via hidden explosives in Wallace Keefe's wheelchair), Superman is speculated by the media to have been somehow involved, so a mob of protesters assembles outside the Capitol building's wreckage, burning a large ragdoll of Superman, while chanting in outrage.

Superman is utterly mortified by the incident, with him claiming that he hadn't been able to prevent the bombing only because he hadn't been looking for a potential bomb with his X-ray vision in the first place (not knowing that Lex Luthor had lined the wheelchair's interior with lead). Devastated at how his actions had so far consistently lead to horrible consequences, Superman claims that the whole idea of "Superman" had never even been real in the first place, with it only ever being "the dream of a farmer from Kansas," with him coming to doubt that he could ever represent "the best of both worlds" and be "an ideal to strive towards" if humanity is so self-destructive in nature, no matter what he does. When Lois insists that that this "dream" is all that most people have to give them hope, pointing out that his House of El glyph still means something. However, Superman sadly replies that while it did on Krypton, that world no longer exists, and he then promptly flies off, into self-imposed exile.

While in exile, however, Superman recalls how Jonathan Kent had once told him how the latter, at the age of 12, had believed himself to be a hero after saving his farm from a flood, yet inadvertently thereby flooding the Langs' farm. Jonathan reminds Clark that every action has consequences and that it is imperative to accept them whether they are beneficial or catastrophic. Jonathan also mentions how meeting Martha Kent allowed him to recover from the guilt of flooding the Lang farm and kept him grounded. Encouraged, Clark promptly returns to Metropolis but not before he says to his father that he misses him dearly.

Lex, however, promptly forces a malevolent ultimatum upon a returned Superman - to fly to Gotham City and kill Batman in a vicious duel to the death, and subsequently bring the vigilante's head to Lex, all in order to save the life of his kidnapped mother Martha Kent. Superman is shaken up by the power Lex's ultimatum holds over him, since despite his disapproval of Batman's morally gray methods, Superman recognizes him as a good (albeit mislead and unnecessarily brutal) man, so this conflicts with his morality even more than the murder of General Zod. Hence, Superman, sadly remarking that "no one stays good in this world", instead resolves to reason with and persuade Batman to help him escape this ultimatum and rescue his mother from Luthor. Hence, despite Superman's ability to effortlessly kill Batman, he holds back while fighting the latter, determined to get through to him, though Batman's sudden implementation of Kryptonite gas grenades make that extremely difficult. In the end, however, when weakened and pinned down by Batman who intends to kill him, Superman desperately implores him to help him save his mother Martha, which allowed Batman to finally realize that Superman is in fact a truly selfless person. The fact that both of their mothers share the same name ("Martha") enables Batman to see Superman as being fundamentally just as human as himself, despite his alien heritage and superpowers, so Batman renounces his former brutal murderous methods with disgust (seeing just how far gone he had become due to them), hurls aside his Kryptonite spear, and agrees to team up with Superman against Luthor.

Trusting his new ally to save his mother, Superman flies back to confront and bring in Lex Luthor, but the latter unexpectedly unleashes the bloodthirsty monster Doomsday upon him. Despite the malevolent manipulations and horrific ultimatum than Lex had just put him through, Superman once again showcases his exceptional benevolence by blocking a punch from Doomsday (who was too bloodthirsty too distinguish between friend or foe) aimed at Lex, saving the latter's life. Superman then once more demonstrates his indomitable will by persisting against his seemingly unstoppable opponent, endangering himself in order to ensure that a nuke hit Doomsday. When that proves ineffective, Superman defiantly teams up with Batman and Wonder Woman against the unstoppable monster and continues fighting. Eventually, Superman sees that the only way to stop Doomsday will end up putting his life at risk (since brute force alone had been proven ineffective), so, despite much of the world having forsaken him, Superman is still willing to sacrifice himself in order to save it, so he takes hold of the Kryptonite spear and charges, with Superman's tremendous willpower and determination being enough to temporarily bypass the Kryptonite's weakening and superpower negation effects just long enough for him to pierce the monster. Despite the dying Doomsday managing to mortally wound Superman, the latter ignores the incredible pain of his impending death and persists defiantly up until his own dying breath (to further plunge his weapon into Doomsday), much to Batman and Wonder Woman's admiration, respect, and astonishment. Indeed, Wonder Woman was astounded to have finally, after 100 years, meet a person who had both the phenomenal godly might of Ares, and the self-sacrificing morality of Steve Trevor, and she was therefore equally saddened at Superman's death.

Hence, despite much of the world having forsaken Superman at the time of his death ("stumble" and "fall" while "racing behind him", as Jor-El had put it), all of those who doubted and harshly criticized him (except for Lex Luthor who was exuberant and gleeful at his archnemesis' death) would come to mourn his passing in guilt-ridden fashion, finally coming to posthumously see, admire, and look up to Superman as Earth's greatest superhero (a "national hero", as Admiral Olsen claimed), and an "ideal to strive towards", with the words "If you seek his monument, look around you" being written upon his tomb, emphasizing how Superman's heroic sacrifice had guaranteed that the entire world and humanity are still around, saved from Doomsday's unstoppable bloodthirsty rampage of apocalyptic proportions. In addition, Superman's heroic death would inspire Batman and Wonder Woman to establish the Justice League, posthumously honoring him, with Batman determined not to fail Superman in death. Also, Superman's noble sacrifice seems to have finally given Batman a more optimistic and hopeful outlook, since he says to Wonder Woman that despite their many flaws, "men are still good", and that they do in fact have the potential in them to rebuild and improve (a crucial House of El-based belief held by Superman himself in life). Even the extremely amoral and manipulative Amanda Waller posthumously respects Superman (fondly saying how he had shared humanity's ideals), while also noting that quite a few metahumans were also inspired by Superman's selfless sacrifice, which induced them to finally come out into the open and reveal themselves to the world as well, with a notable one of them being the speedster superhero Flash. Even villainous metahumans, like Enchantress, and Incubus would be similarly inspired.

Another consistent trait in Superman, as Batman put it, was to make others "see the best parts of themselves." This is what allowed Superman to inspire Pete Ross (who had previously bullied him) to become a good man, to inspire Lois Lane to do the right thing (despite her previously just wanting to publish the alien's story), to gain the trust and respect of General Swanwick and Colonel Hardy (despite them initially being gruff, fearful, xenophobic, and not even seeing him as human, to inspire Dr. Hamilton to risk his life to defeat the Kryptonian invasion (despite him usually being shy and soft-spoken), to inspire Perry White to risk his life saving his DP employees (despite him usually being gruff and controlling), to inspire Steve Lombard to risk his life saving Jenny Jurwich (despite him usually being sleazy and unfriendly), to gain the respect of the US Armed Forces and inspire them to give his superhero nickname (despite them initially being hostile, fearful, and xenophobic towards him), to inspire the brutal fallen Batman to snap out of his rage and once again become a selfless superhero (despite him having initially wanted to kill the alien), and also to inspire the cynical and almost hopeless Wonder Woman to finally become a full-time superhero again (despite her having stepped away 100 years ago). Indeed, the only time Superman ever failed to inspire a flawed individual to "see the best parts of himself" and do a heroic deed was when he saved Lex Luthor from Doomsday, since despite this disproving Lex's main reason for hating God and Superman, Lex was already too far gone and too malevolent an individual to change his ways.

Despite Superman's inspirational selfless benevolence, however, Batman's original fears were not entirely unfounded, as Superman is ultimately not completely incorruptible, since, as seen in the vision of a possible future (shown to Batman by that future's Flash), when either Martha Kent or Lois Lane were brutally murdered, Superman's devastation and incredible grief would unhinge him, inducing him to become dark and malevolent, going so far as to take over the Earth (with a newly founded army of Regime Stormtroopers) as its tyrant totalitarian ruler, forming an alliance with Darkseid's Parademons in the process. This version of Superman wore a permanent sinister scowl, and was able to kill Insurgency enemies to his Regime without any reluctance and in the most ruthless and brutal of ways, allowing him to burn his Insurgency prisoners into ash with heat vision, and to murder that future's Batman by ripping out the latter's heart. Indeed, this evil version of Superman was so dark, hardcore, and fearsome, that even Batman himself showed visible signs of fear when Superman confronted the imprisoned vigilante, holding the latter at his mercy. Thankfully though, the present day's Batman seems to have successfully altered that timeline, as he heeded the advice of that future's Flash - to find and assemble the Justice League.

After being forcibly resurrected by Batman, Flash and Cyborg with a Mother Box, Superman temporarily lost all memories of his past life and (after Cyborg accidentally provoked him) developed a cold and sinister persona, similar to the one he had in Batman's vision of a possible future, with Superman sneering and mocking Batman with the threat the latter had once said to him. As amnesiac Superman swiftly overpowered the combined might of the Justice League and prepared to kill Batman, Lois Lane saved them all by arriving on the scene, since seeing the love of his life again made Superman start to recall his identity and past life. After spending a day with Lois on the Kent Farm and reuniting with his mother Martha, Superman's memories were fully restored, with him even having a more optimistic attitude than ever before. As he officially joined the Justice League and personally defeated Steppenwolf, Superman swiftly struck up friendships with his teammates - thanking Batman for everything the latter had done for him thus far (beginning a close friendship with him), developing a close mutual respect with Wonder Woman (as she hated having to fight him before his memory restoration), sharing a laugh with Cyborg (after they successfully pry apart the 3 Mother Boxes), and developing a friendly rivalry with Flash (even agreeing to the latter's challenge of a race to the Pacific coast, to see which one of them was truly faster). Indeed, Superman's glorious return from the dead inspired Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg to finally openly reveal themselves to the world, becoming official superheroes.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Kryptonian Physiology:** As a Kryptonian, Superman's bone structure is almost identical to that of a human. On a planet near a red class M main-sequence star (like Krypton with its sun Rao), Superman would have physical attributes nearly identical to those of humans, but if on a planet near a yellow G-type main-sequence star (like Earth), he has many new abilities and powers, all of them far beyond the capabilities of humans, and even metahumanss, making Superman appear godlike, and indeed rivaling an Olympic God in power, surpassing the might of Steppenwolf, making him the Justice League's most powerful member. His father Jor-El states that Superman has become more powerful than the former ever could have imagined and that the only way to know just how powerful, is for Superman to "keep testing the limits". Batman once even went so far as to say that this phenomenal power makes Superman capable of single-handedly wiping out the entire human race, later even claiming that Superman is "stronger than a planet". Hence, Superman often withholds his godly power unless absolutely necessary, due to the incredible destruction it can potentially cause.
	+ **Solar Battery:** Superman's Kryptonian cells absorb only yellow solar energy and this in turn fuels all of his alien powers and abilities. His cells also store solar energy as well, allowing him to retain his powers under roofed structures or even at night, although he eventually needs a yellow sun to recharge his powers. However, due to being on Earth for years and having adapted to Earth's environment, Superman is more powerful than any Kryptonian that has immediate exposure. In fact, direct exposure to sunlight can allow Superman to recover and heal almost instantly from most of his weaknesses, notably otherwise incurable Kryptonite-inflicted wounds and damage.
		- **Super Strength:** Superman has a tremendous level of superhuman strength, virtually incalculable, as he is able to lift and carry over millions of tons, and is the physically strongest member of the Justice League, with Doomsday, Zeus, and Darkseid being the only known beings to slightly surpass his strength. As a teenager, he was able to push a school bus out of a river and effortlessly bend a solid metal pole just out of clenching his fist in anger. As an adult, even while considerably limited by his mental block, Clark was still incredibly strong, enough to swiftly destroy Ludlow's truck with lumber, to crush an extremely durable Kryptonian Android, and to hold up an oil rig's collapsing drilling derrick, though the latter somewhat strained him. After finally reaching his full potential as Superman, he became considerably stronger, with his punches being powerful enough to generate large shock waves, with him now able to effortlessly kill humans (tearing the heart from Batman's chest in a nightmare vision of a possible future), to effortlessly hurl semi-trucks across extreme distances, to instantly destroy mountain tops, to break through the extremely thick hull of the Black Zero star ship with a light punch, to break out of Kryptonian Liquid Geo constructs, to fight evenly against fellow Kryptonians General Zod, Faora, and Nam-Ek (despite them all being considerably more experienced and skilled combatants), to tow a gigantic steamship by its anchor chain through Arctic ice without strain, to shift an entire tectonic plate, and to even stand up against the tremendous force of a World Engine's gigantic gravity beam, and then proceed to fly up against it. Superman also managed to briefly knock the larger Kryptonian Nam-Ek unconscious with a tremendously mighty punch, and even break through the invulnerability of fellow Kryptonian General Zod, breaking the latter's otherwise virtually unbreakable neck without the need of Kryptonite. Superman was even able to hold his own in a prolonged ferocious battle with the slightly stronger and much larger monster Doomsday (sending him flying with the tremendous might of his blows, and even managing to restrain Doomsday long enough for a nuke to hit them), ultimately bringing the seemingly unstoppable monstrous juggernaut down, albeit only succeeding nearly at the cost of his own life. After getting resurrected with a Mother Box, Superman becomes even stronger, with him effortlessly swatting Batman as if he were a mere fly, easily carrying a huge building away from Parademon forces, yanking himself free of the Lasso of Hestia, prying apart the 3 Mother Boxes with his bare hands, easily single-handedly overpowering Steppenwolf (making the latter bleed with a single punch), and even single-handedly overpowering the combined might of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and Flash rather quickly (forcing Lois Lane to save them). Hence, even while holding back, Superman still swiftly and easily beat the heavily armored Batman (whose strength was enhanced 28 times by the Armored Batsuit) to the ground three times - first sending him flying over 60 feet with a light push, then lightly tossing him down an alleyway, and finally hurling him lightly into the Bat-Signal, shattering it and a large portion of the surrounding roof. Even before fully recovering from a Kryptonite gas attack and regaining only a small fraction of his strength, Superman was already strong enough to block a mighty kick from the armored Batman, and to hurl the latter through a thick concrete wall, both without any strain.
			* **Super Leaps:** Superman is able to use his incredible strength to perform super jumps, shown when he leaped tremendous distances in the Arctic, while trying to master his power of flight. After bypassing his mental block (after finally meeting Jor-El's AI) and learning how to fly, however, Superman hardly ever uses this power anymore.
		- **Super Stamina:** Superman almost never grows tired if he is continuously powered by the yellow sun of Earth. He doesn't need to eat, sleep, or breathe. He is able to survive flying into outer space and diving underwater. There was originally a limit to his stamina, as Clark showed strain while lifting an oil rig's huge collapsing drilling derrick, but that was before he reached his full potential (being considerably limited at the time by a mental block), and he was still ultimately able to lift it. After embracing his heritage and reaching his full potential, Superman hardly showed signs of fatigue, notably even towing a gigantic steamship by its anchor chain through Arctic ice without any strain. While he did grow tired after destroying the World Engine, Superman was able to recover almost instantly under direct sunlight, and to swiftly fly back to Metropolis, battle the pull of a Phantom Zone energy singularity, and fight General Zod, all without needing to catch his breath. Even during his ferocious mortal battle with the slightly stronger Doomsday, Superman, despite being considerably pressured by the huge ever-evolving monstrous juggernaut, never slowed down.
		- **Super Speed:** Superman can run and fly at tremendous hypersonic speeds. During his first flight, Superman traveled all the way from the Arctic to the savannahs of Kenya and then to the Monument Valley in Utah, all in a matter of minutes. At full speed, he was able to fly right through the World Engine and destroy it. Hence, Superman managed to tackle an armed Nairomi terrorist away from Lois before he managed to shoot her in the head. Superman flew back from the Indian Ocean to Metropolis in less than a minute, which easily makes his speed greater than Mach 900. Superman was even able to use his speed to escape the tremendous gravitational pull of a Phantom Zone energy singularity. Superman is thus the second fastest member of the Justice League, with the only known being capable of moving faster than Superman being the speedster Flash. After getting resurrected with a Mother Box, Superman becomes even faster, as even Flash had some trouble dodging the former's punches (even getting hit once), and he later challenged Superman to a race to determine which one of them was truly faster.
			* **Super Reflexes:** Superman's speed seems to extend to his reflexes as well, as he managed to easily catch a Kryptonite gas grenade shot at him by Batman at close range, caught a punch from the larger Kryptonian Nam-Ek while being pinned down by him and Faora, from whom he also managed to catch a punch, and was able to avoid a couple of strikes from the equally fast and far more skilled General Zod. After getting resurrected with a Mother Box, Superman's reflexes become even more powerful, as he was able to easily stop Wonder Woman from clashing her bracelets together, easily managed to dodge all of Steppenwolf's blows, and was even able to react to Flash's incoming superspeed attack, despite simultaneously battling the combined might of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Indeed, much like Flash's speedster reflexes, Superman (when focusing) sees humans like Batman frozen in place, bullets flying in slow motion, and even the otherwise superhumanly fast Wonder Woman and Aquaman seem to be moving in slow motion from Superman's perspective, with only Flash appearing to be moving at normal speed, like Superman himself. While in this state, Superman was shown to still be able to outpace not only moving objects, but the speed of other forces, such as gravity, allowing him to move faster than an object can be affected by gravity and begin falling, with him notably turning and reacting to Flash's incoming superspeed attack before Wonder Woman, Aquaman, or Cyborg (whom he momentarily released) hit the ground.
			* **Momentum Negation**: Superman, after getting resurrected by a Mother Box, demonstrates superhuman stopping power, which makes him able to come to a full stop, despite the extreme momentum of his motion, as seen when Superman stops in his tracks when Lois Lane appears, right after battling Flash at superspeed.
		- **Invulnerability:** Superman's body is nigh-invulnerable, virtually indestructible, so he is nicknamed the "Man of Steel" as a result, being the most durable member of the Justice League. Hence, Superman can withstand the extreme heat of an oil rig conflagration (along with said oil rig's collapse), the extreme cold of the Arctic, an exposure to the vacuum of outer space, falls from great heights, a collision with the Batmobile (causing it to harmlessly glance off of him), a high-speed collision with a mountain top (sheering it off in the process), high-caliber bullets (from both military jets and automated machine guns), anti-tank depleted uranium rounds, Maverick missiles, plasma bolts from Tor-An's Kryptonian Dropship, contact with extremely hot constructs of Liquid Geo, numerous mighty blows from fellow Kryptonians (notably surviving a tremendous beating from the combined might of Faora and Nam-Ek), was barely affected by a mighty headbutt from Wonder Woman and even many tremendously mighty blows from the stronger Doomsday, attacks of other Kryptonians' heat vision (though it does cause him burning pain on contact), a direct powerful blast from Cyborg's arm cannon with little to no effect, and even the full force of a World Engine's colossal gravity beam, specification from a Phantom Zone energy singularity, as well as the stupendously destructive electrical shock wave and thermal blasts from Doomsday, and the full force of a megaton nuke (which did, however, extremely weaken him, if only temporarily, though this may be because he was exposed to Kryptonite gas twice shortly beforehand). While Superman can be affected by the considerable force of powerful impacts, they only at most cause him to stumble and briefly knock him down, leaving him unscathed. The only things capable of breaking through Superman's invulnerability and actually harming him are Kryptonite and beings of comparable incalculable strength (such as other Kryptonians, Olympian Gods, or the monster Doomsday), as they are strong enough to physically break through his invulnerability, shown when Superman himself managed to kill fellow Kryptonian General Zod by breaking his otherwise invulnerable neck, and when Doomsday killed Superman by stabbing right through the latter's otherwise invulnerable chest with his tremendously hard and sharp bone protrusion. Superman's corpse maintained its invulnerability after death, however, and the lack of cell decay is what allowed the Justice League to resurrect him with a Mother Box.
			* **Healing Factor:** Superman, in the rare instances when he is hurt, is shown to heal at superhuman speeds, such as when he was knocked unconscious by the explosion and collapse of an oil rig, taking a tremendous beating from the combined forces of Faora-Ul and Nam-Ek, and the full force of the gigantic beam of the World Engine. He almost instantly recovered from the World Engine, once exposed to sunlight. A wound on his face inflicted by Kryptonite left Superman with degraded cells within the wound, and this did not disappear until only after Superman was directly exposed to the sun. After being hit by a megaton nuke, Superman survives the tremendous explosion, but is greatly weakened, with his body desiccated into a slightly disintegrated corpse-like state (though this may be because he was exposed to Kryptonite gas twice shortly beforehand, and had not yet fully recovered without solar exposure), but as soon as he is exposed to the sun's radiation, his cells are reinvigorated almost at once, allowing Superman to recover to full power in mere seconds, and resume fighting Doomsday. However, if the injuries are serious enough to instantly kill him (such as when Superman broke fellow Kryptonian General Zod's neck, and when he himself was mortally stabbed by Doomsday), his healing factor will not be able to save him. By the time Batman, Flash and Cyborg resurrected him with a Mother Box, the chest-wound on Superman's corpse had fully healed, and he fully recovered from post-mortem amnesia after just a day.
		- **Flight:** Superman can fly due to him being able to manipulate his own gravity field (since Earth's gravity is considerably lighter than Krypton's) and absorbing yellow sunlight. Combined with his speed, Superman can fly at tremendous hypersonic speeds (beyond Mach 900), allowing him to take off into the atmosphere and even outer space and land safely back onto the planet's surface with ease. He can also maneuver with precision in any direction, as well as hover in one place.
		- **Super Breath:** Superman, as long as he is exposed to yellow solar radiation and can access his energy stores, is capable of surviving without the need to breathe, allowing him to walk through a burning oil rig, travel at tremendous hypersonic speeds, remain underwater, and even in the vacuum of outer space, all for lengthy periods of time without suffocation.
		- **Arctic Breath:** Superman, after getting resurrected with a Mother Box, gained the ability to significantly freeze objects just by breathing on them. This ability was so powerful in fact, that when used against Steppenwolf's nigh-unbreakable Electro axe, the weapon became brittle, and shattered after getting hit by Wonder Woman.
		- **Super Vision:** Superman has superhuman eyesight far beyond that of humans. He thus possesses a superior sensory arrangement of telescopic, infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma ray visual capabilities. He can see the entire electromagnetic spectrum when he desires, through mental focus. However, in his youth, his vision overwhelmed him as he saw everything at once, though he managed to hone his senses and bypass that weakness after some encouragement from Martha Kent.
			* **Telescopic Vision:** Superman has the ability to focus his vision to see something at a great distance, by mentally zooming in. Hence, he was able to see the Black Zero in space from Smallville, and (in combination with his X-ray vision), he saw Lois inside the falling capsule.
			* **X-ray Vision:** Superman can see through almost any object, with him able to focus his vision past layers of matter, literally seeing "through" them, possibly perceiving X-rays, cosmic rays or other forms of energy invisible to normal human vision which pass through Earth's atmosphere and solid objects. He is able to clearly see through the one-way glass in the interrogation room, reading Dr. Hamilton's ID badge in the latter's pocket, and simultaneously see through several walls into adjacent rooms, clearly seeing the soldiers in them. The only known materials known to be impenetrable to Superman's X-ray vision are lead (making him unable to see the bomb in Wallace Keefe's lead-lined wheelchair), the force field of a Kryptonian Breather (when rendered opaque), as well as the Kryptonian metal which the walls of the Fortress of Solitude were composed of.
			* **Heat Vision:** Superman has the ability to fire thick beams of intense heat at a target by looking at it with the conscious act of activating this power. Visually, the power manifests as two thick laser-like beams of red light firing from his eyes. These beams can be made less intense, rendering them invisible, allowing Clark to work undetected. He has extremely fine control of this ability, as Superman was able to swiftly cauterize Lois Lane's wound without fatally burning her, for instance. At full power, Clark can utilize his heat vision to instantly disintegrate humans (Batman's Insurgency allies in a nightmare vision of a possible future), instantly melt a thick steel beam, swiftly burrow a wide cylindrical passage through an Arctic glacier, momentarily stun other Kryptonians (causing them burning pain on the impact), destroy the Fortress' Genesis Chamber, and even bring down an entire skyscraper in one blast (as evidenced by General Zod doing so to the Wayne Financial Building). However, Superman's heat vision was not quite as powerful as that of Doomsday, seen when the latter's much thicker optical beams were able to relatively quickly overpower his when Superman meet them head-on.
	+ **Super Hearing:** Superman has incredible hearing at extreme variances of sound and pitch frequency, allowing him to pick up numerous sounds (including both infrasound and ultrasound) and noises from immense distances. In his youth, this along with his superhuman vision overwhelmed him, but he eventually learned to control it. After honing his senses, he has shown enough control to block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source or frequency. Hence, Superman was able to clearly hear Alfred's voice in Batman's earpiece, clearly hear General Swanwick and Dr. Hamilton's voices and heartbeats from within a soundproof interrogation cell, clearly heard Martha Kent in distress at the Kent Farm from miles away, and even heard Lois Lane drowning miles away, over all of the noise of his ferocious battle with Doomsday. Superman's hearing also extends to objects moving at superspeed, with him notably hearing Flash's incoming attack, despite also fighting the combined might of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Cyborg at the same time.
		- **Lie Detection**: Superman can tell whether people are lying or not, based on the rate of their heartbeats, which he is quick to warn General Swanwick about.
	+ **Super Smell:** Superman has incredibly acute olfactory senses, as he was able to detect the "distinct saline odor" of the Genesis Chamber on the Fortress of Solitude, in spite of the very thick translucent barrier that separated him from it.=
	+ **Longevity:** Superman, as a Kryptonian under a yellow sun, has a lifespan far greater than that of a human. As such, he doesn't show signs of age as long as the yellow sun is there to empower him. As Superman is unaffected by earthly diseases and draws energy from the sun to live, he is effectively an ageless immortal on Earth.
* **Genius-level Intellect:** Superman is extremely intelligent, due to him being the son of Jor-El, one of Krypton's greatest scientists of the Kryptonian Thinker Guild, and thus became a prolific genius himself. Clark's intelligence was implied at an early age, as Clark won a science fair at age 9 and was shown to be reading "The Republic" of Plato, a highly complex piece of historical literature (concerning philosophy and political science), when he was only 13, effectively making him a wunderkind prodigy. As an adult, Clark managed to successfully falsify information concerning his identity, name, and work history, and stay hidden as he traveled the world for many years, with even extremely skilled reporter Lois Lane needing weeks of research to track him down. Clark also displayed basic medical knowledge when cauterizing Lois Lane's wound, and could instinctively tell that General Zod couldn't be trusted, based on his past criminal actions during the Kryptonian Civil War (revealed to him by Jor-El) and threat against humanity. As an investigative reporter, Clark is considered a "nerd" by Perry White, managing to twice receive the Elliot Prize for Investigative Journalism after only a year at the Daily Planet (the first of any of the reporters on the Daily Planet staff to earn so quickly), and was swiftly able to deduce that Batman targeted poorer areas in Gotham City, and his aid from the city's police in his anti-crime crusade. Superman's brilliant intellect extends itself to his exceptional science, writing, investigative reporting, leadership, and tactical skills. However, Superman is notably not quite as intelligent as supergenius Lex Luthor, with the latter thereby successfully outsmarting and manipulating Superman into battling and almost killing Batman with a sophisticated ultimatum.

### Weaknesses

* **Kryptonite:** Superman's greatest weakness is this radioactive green xenomineral from Krypton, as it is extremely deadly to him. It does so by degrading his cells, causing them to degenerate and decay on contact. Kryptonite exposure makes Superman instantly lose his powers and invulnerability, and induces somewhat fever-like sickness symptoms in him (including nausea, weakness, dizziness, vertigo, fatigue, immense amounts of pain, and near loss of consciousness), which collectively weakens Superman to almost human levels, to the point that Superman was relatively quickly incapacitated, defeated, and almost killed by a heavily armored Batman wielding the Kryptonite spear. Hence, the spear is one of the extreme few weapons capable of actually    killing the Superman, with Batman very nearly doing so in their duel. In addition, wounds inflicted by Kryptonite will not vanish after the xenomineral is removed from proximity to him (making Superman unable to regain full power even after his superpowers subsequently return), and they will only heal upon Superman being directly exposed to yellow solar radiation. However, it should be noted that even when affected by Kryptonite, Superman, while incomparably weaker, is still superhumanly strong and durable, as Batman was only able to go toe to toe with weakened Superman while wearing his Armored Batsuit (which enhanced his strength 28 times), and weakened Superman sustained little damage after being hurled 60 ft down, and then smashed through multiple stone pillars. Also, with a tremendous amount of determination and willpower, Superman was able to temporarily overcome the weakening and superpower negation effects of the Kryptonite spear for several seconds, long enough for him to fly up to Doomsday and plunge the weapon into the monster.
* **Red Sun Radiation:** Superman is robbed of the powers that he gains under a yellow G-type main-sequence star when exposed to the radiation of a red class M main-sequence star. Because of this, any environment filled with red sun radiation (such as Krypton with its sun Rao) will render him to human levels.
* **Magic:** Superman, just like Doomsday, is vulnerable to magic-based attacks and weapons, so he can therefore be cut and wounded by Wonder Woman's Sword of Athena, Katana's Soultaker sword and Aquaman's trident, can be restrained by the Amazonian Lasso of Hestia (which is magically rendered unbreakable), and he would have been vulnerable to the extremely powerful mystical attacks of Enchantress and Incubus, as well as those of Zatanna, John Constantine, and Etrigan the Demon. However, after getting resurrected with a Mother Box and becoming more powerful, Superman was able to use the durability of Wonder Woman's magic lasso to his advantage - making her loosen the noose on him by yanking on his end.
* **Nuclear Energy:**  File:Superman nearly dead.png  Superman, as seen from his duel with Doomsday, is somewhat vulnerable to high-powered nuclear weapons. Hence, Secretary Swanwick himself was hesitant to use a megaton nuke on Doomsday and Superman, when the latter brought the former into space, as he believed that Superman would die. While not enough to kill him, the combination of both the tremendously powerful gigantic explosion and radiation of the megaton nuke flooded Superman's cells of the solar radiation that fueled him, with his skin slowly beginning to disintegrate, and him being left floating in an almost corpse-like state of unconsciousness. However, direct exposure to sunlight allowed Superman to completely heal and recover from this, regain consciousness and full power, all in mere moments.

 File:Faora vs Kal.jpg
* **Beings of Equal Power:** Superman, when fighting beings of comparable might, such as other Kryptonians, Olympian Gods, the monster Doomsday, the magically enhanced Shazam and Black Adam, or the New God Darkseid, is more vulnerable, as they can generate enough force to knock out, injure and even kill Superman, breaking through his invulnerability without the need of Kryptonite, much like how Superman himself was able to kill General Zod by breaking the latter's otherwise invulnerable neck. In addition, due to Superman's lack of formal combat training, opponents with comparable might and considerable fighting skills pose a greater threat to him, with Superman thus being unable to defeat Faora in a straight-up fight, and forced to do so by utilizing his flight and vision powers (not yet obtained by her), exploiting her weakness, and catching her off-guard. After getting resurrected with a Mother Box and becoming more powerful, Superman staggered slightly from Wonder Woman's mighty blows, but was ultimately able to overpower the Justice League's combined might (forcing Lois Lane to save them).
* **Lead:** Superman's X-ray vision cannot see through lead. Lex Luthor was able to exploit this during his attack on the US Senate, as he had lined the bomb in Wallace Keefe's wheelchair with lead, making it invisible for Superman, and in, turn, rendering Superman unable to stop the bombing in time. Batman used this to his advantage as well, being able to momentarily conceal himself from Superman by throwing a gas grenade between them, as the gas contained lead.
* **Sensory Overload (Formerly):**  File:REB SUPERMAN OVERLOAD 3.png  As Superman has superhuman senses, his brain can be overwhelmed by the information it takes in. Though he can gradually learn to hone his senses, an attack on his sight and/or hearing can briefly stun him. But he will recover from the attack afterwards. Clark, however, permanently overcame this weakness as a child, though focus and with guidance from his mother Martha. Hence, a sudden intense attack from Batman's sonic emitters only affected him for a few seconds, with Superman able to swiftly recover and destroy them.

### Equipment

* **Kryptonian skinsuit:** Superman's traditional Kryptonian skinsuit, which he wears when openly demonstrating his powers as a superhero, by helping others in need. While virtually indestructible, it was ultimately damaged in his mortal duel with Doomsday, when the monster pierced Superman's chest.
* **Clark Kent glasses:** Clark's pair of glasses, which he always dons whenever he needs to conceal him being Superman File:Clark tells Perry about Batman.png  , notably while posing as a mild-mannered human reporter at the Daily Planet.
* **House of El Command Key (Formerly):** Superman's piece of highly advanced Kryptonian technology, made of Liquid Geo, which allowed him to operate and use the Fortress of Solitude, as well as communicate with Jor-El's artificial intelligence. He wore it on his neck as a pendant during his many years of searching for answers. It was, however, ultimately sucked into the Phantom Zone.
* **Infant Starship (Formerly):** Superman's former starship (equipped with a Phantom Drive), which Jor-El and Lara had used to send him to Earth as an infant. It was, however, ultimately sucked into the Phantom Zone.
* **Scout Ship 0344:** Superman discovered this ancient Kryptonian scout ship deep under Canadian ice, after which he promptly took possession of it. He made the Fortress his temporary residence, when he communicated with the AI of Jor-El. The Fortress used to contain a Kryptonian Genesis Chamber with Aquabots, though Superman was forced to destroy it when General Zod briefly stole the Fortress and attempted to exploit it. However, after the Black Zero Event, the Fortress of Solitude would fall into the malevolent hands of Lex Luthor, and later (after Lex's imprisonment) into the hands of Silas Stone and his S.T.A.R. Labs coworkers. After Superman's resurrection though, the ship fell back under his control. The Scout Shiip is equipped with extremely advanced technology, which impressed even the technopath Cyborg.
* **Growth Codex:** Superman's cells have been bonded by Jor-El to the Kryptonian Growth Codex, which constituted the intended DNA makeup of over a billion Kryptonians. However, as revealed by Jax-Ur, it would have still been potentially possible to extract the Codex from Superman's body even if the latter had been killed.

## Relationships

### Family

* House of El
	+ Jor-El † - biological father, savior, and mentor (as AI)
	+ Lara Lor-Van † - biological mother
	+ Kelex - service android, midwife
	+ Kelor - service android, midwife
* Kent Family
	+ Jonathan Kent † - adoptive father and mentor
	+ Martha Kent - adoptive mother and mentor

### Allies

* Justice League - posthumously-inspired team; now member
	+ Batman - enemy and attempted killer turned respected ally and teammate
	+ Wonder Woman - respected ally and teammate
	+ Aquaman - temporary enemy turned ally and teammate
	+ Flash - inspired hero, co-resurrector, temporary enemy turned fan, ally, teammate, friendly rival, and close friend
	+ Cyborg - co-resurrector, temporary enemy turned ally, teammate, and friend
* Alfred Pennyworth - respected ally
* Daily Planet
	+ Lois Lane - co-worker, Confidant, Girlfriend, and memory savior
	+ Perry White - boss
* United States Armed Forces
* ARGUS
	+ Amanda Waller - admirer
* Dr. Emil Hamilton † - enemy turned ally
* S.T.A.R. Labs
* Smallville
	+ Lana Lang - friend and childhood crush
	+ Pete Ross - bully turned friend

### Enemies

* DCEU - archenemy and manipulator, indirect killer
* LexCorp Industries
	+ Anatoli Knyazev † - mother's kidnapper and her intended killer
* Sword of Rao
	+ General Zod † - enemy and victim
	+ Sub-Commander Faora-Ul - enemy and intended killer
	+ Nam-Ek - enemy and intended killer
	+ Jax-Ur - experimenter
	+ Tor-An - enemy and intended killer
	+ Car-Vex - prison warden of friend
* Doomsday † - victim and killer
* Nairomian terrorists
* New Gods
	+ Darkseid
	+ Steppenwolf - defeated opponent
		- Parademons

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Man of Steel: The Official Movie Novelization`
2. ↑ How Strong is the DCEU Batman?
3. ↑ Zack Snyder Defends Aquaman’s Honor