Clark Kent (Smallville)

## Clark Kent

**Clark Kent** (born **Kal-El**; also known as the Blur, the Good Samaritan, the Traveler and The Last Son of Krypton) is the meai protagonist of the CW / WB television series *Smallville*. He is the young man who is from the planet Krypton after being saved by his biological parents, Jor-El and Lara. After coming to Earth, he was adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent. He is destined to become **Superman**, one of the greatest heroes in the world and nicknamed the Man of Steel and Man of Tomorrow. However, during his early career as a vigilante Clark has been called the **Red and Blue Blur** before becoming the **Blur**.

In 2011, Clark was temporarily the **Green Lantern**. He is the husband of Lois Lane, the ex-boyfriend/close friend of Lana Lang, the best friend/cousin-in-law of Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan, and the best friend of Pete Ross.

He is portrayed by Tom Welling, who reprises his role as Clark on *Crisis on Infinite Earths*.

## History

### Early life

#### Destruction of Krypton

Kal-El was born on the dying world of Krypton to the scientist Jor-El and his wife, Lara. He was only a few weeks old when the planet was on the verge of destruction after Zor-El, Kal-El's uncle ignited Krypton's core and General Zod's war on Krypton. In order to save their son, Jor-El and Lara placed their son in a rocket and jetted him off to Earth. As their son escaped, Lara wondered if the people of Earth world love and accept him. However, Jor-El assured his wife he will, as his pod was sending him to the family Lara and their niece, Kara had once observed when they were on Earth. Everyone in Kal-El's biological family was killed except for his cousin, who was also rocketed to Earth.

#### Adoption by the Kents

Kal-El crashlanded in Miller's Field in Smallville, Kansas, on October 16, 1989 after coming from a meteorite shower. Due to the distance between Earth and Krypton, Kal-El had grown around to two to three years old when he emerged.

He wandered around the small town when he found a couple trapped in their car when it had been flipped on its hood, using his super strength, Kal managed to help the people trapped in it: Martha and Jonathan Kent. Unable to have children themselves, the Kents adopted the orphaned Kal-El. Because he was owed a favor from Lionel Luthor, Jonathan allowed him to produce forged paperwork that made the adoption look official. Lionel, however, blackmailed Jonathan with threats of exposing baby Clark if he didn't convince the Rosses to sell their land to build his plant. To protect his newly adopted son, Jonathan did exactly this. However, his hatred to Lionel Luthor was cemented and was only the beginning of a longstanding rivalry between the Kents and the Luthors

Kal-El was rechristened as "Clark Kent" (named after Martha's maiden name) and given a fake birth date, May 13, 1987. As Clark grew, he has trouble fitting in with the other children. He wasn't allowed to join and sports or other activities because of Martha and Jonathan's fears of his powers being exposed.

Clark always wondered why he had these powers since the age of six Clark later discovered he had powers at the age of six and knew he was adopted since he was fourteen years old and why he was adopted since he was fourteen years old.

In the third and eighth grades, Clark became best friends with Chloe Sullivan, who had just come from Metropolis to Smallville when her dad was transferred to the LuthorCorp plant there. The three became unlikely friends.

## Personality

As Smallville acts as a prequel before his time Superman, Clark is just a teenager and, had not developed his stance as the seasoned hero he is today. However, he is still optimistic and has his older counterpart's need and will to protect the humans of Earth. The show depicts his character development and maturity in the coming of age version of the Superman storyline.

Over time, Clark embraces himself as a full-fledged hero. Prior to this, Clark didn't want anything to do with his Kryptonian heritage because of what others expected him to be. After his encounters with Brainiac, bonding with Kara, Lana's departure and Lex's death, Clark embraced his destiny as a hero, culminating in Jimmy Olsen's published photograph of the super-powered "Red-Blue Blur" on the *Planet* front page and the citizens adopting that name for their own vigilante.

During his time as the Blur, he was publicly acknowledged but made sure no one noticed him. Instead, he left a burnt etching of his "House of El" symbol after coming out victorious of saving people from a crime. However, after Jimmy's death at the hands of Doomsday's human self, Clark was filled with extreme guilt when he was unable to save his friend. He fell out of touch with humanity, began wearing darker clothes, trained vigorously with Jor-El's A.I., and buried his previous relationships, believing these were tying him down. After embracing his Kryptonian heritage, Clark became more violent and less emotional. He put a witness in the hospital, lifted Tess off the ground by the throat, and threatening to destroy Zod and the Kandorians if they didn't stay away from Lois. However, Clark was taken aback by the Wonder Twins' well-intentioned but reckless actions to "help" the Blur and unwittingly tarnish his reputation.

However, everyone believes in the future Clark will one day have. Before his death, Jor-El gave a cryptic message that said he would be a god among men with his powers and to "rule" humanity with his greatness. However, in truth, Jor-El meant Clark should use his powers for good and instead of "ruling" humanity, he means to protect it due to the younger status of the human race. Jonathan's spirit once told Clark that his actions would one day cause him to be a symbol of peace and justice. Additionally, both Lionel Luthor and Tess Mercer have supported the idea that Clark's destiny as Superman will one day, save the world.

### As Kal

 File:Clark as Kal.png
“*I think our not-so-normal son might be going through some classic teenage rebellion.*”
―Martha Kent
When under the influence of red kryptonite, Clark's darker persona "Kal" appears. It removes all his inhibitions, practically turning him into an "Evil version" of Clark: greedy, lustful, and selfish. Martha (correctly) assumes that the while the green kryptonite affects him physically, then the red meteor rocks must affect him emotionally. His personality evolves every time Clark embraces his Kryptonian half. He became more rebellious, such as ditching Lana with Jessie and disobeying both Martha and Jonathan. when he first met Lionel Luthor, Kal insulted him, showing himself to be downright rude. Lionel was surprised by this, finding it unbelievable that a son raised by Jonathan and Martha would be an "unruly" offspring. He also likes to prove he is the "strongest person in the room" when he shot bullets into his hands. However, this (unintentionally) ignited Lionel's obsession about him. He is also sexually attracted to many females, including Jessie, Lana Lang, and Lois Lane. This involved buying two-thousand-dollar long coat and wanting to become more involved with Lex, a "bad boy" who resents his father. After failing to appeal himself, Clark went to Lex and wanted to run away to Metropolis to stay in Lex's penthouse.

However, this personality once again emerges when Clark's guilt for causing his mom to suffer a miscarriage and seeing Jonathan's disgust resorts him to take become Kal again by putting on the Red-kryptonite infected ring again. He became far more rebellious and gained a reputation as being a cold-harden and ruthless person. He coldly rebuffed Chloe with anger and violence when she attempted to convince him to return home and ignored both Lana and his mother's pleas. Without thinking of the consequences, "Kal" stole money from other people and unwittingly revealed to Morgan Edge he had powers. However, Jonathan was able to restore Clark when he destroyed the red kryptonite after acquiring Clark's powers from Jor-El.

However, as an adult, "Kal" becomes more ruthless and violent. He has, surprisingly, newfound respect for Zod and teamed up with his clone to destroy loads of Chloe's Kryptonite arsenal. However, Clark was turned to normal when he was stabbed with green kryptonite by John Corban, who was sent by Tess Mercer and Chloe Sullivan to turn Clark to normal.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

* **Kryptonian Physiology**
	+ **Solar energy absorption**: When being exposed to the radiation of a yellow star, Clark is granted certain powers and abilities. However, if Clark strains himself over his power usage, he will temporarily lose them and need a couple of days to replenish his cells. He is graced with the following powers and abilities.
		- Superhuman Strength
		- Superhuman Speed: Clark can move at Incredible speed and velocity. His super speed is described as being a red and blue blur (which is how he got his name).
		- Superhuman Stamina
		- Superhuman Endurance
		- Invulnerability
		- Super senses: Clark's senses are greatly enhanced. This includes
			* **Heat Vision**
			* **X-Ray Vision**
			* **Telescopic Vision**
			* **Micro Vision**
			* **Super Breath**
			* **Frost Breath**
			* **Super Hearing:** During a robbery, Clark's super hearing first activated when Kryptonite particles were sustained in his eyes, leading him to be temporarily blinded. Because of this, Clark's other senses were heightened instead.
			* **Super Leaping**
			* **Super Memory**
		- **Healing Factor**
		- **Flight**
		- **Longevity**

#### Temporary Powers

* **Telepathy:** The power to communicate to other people through mind links. Clark temporarily had this power when his father's A.I. gave him the power to read minds so Clark could hear every human's thoughts. He used this power to read Lois' mind and learned her true feelings for him. The power disappeared when he had to help his friend, Oliver, saved from the Toyman.
* **Persuasion:** The ability to dominate subjects' thoughts and actions, via verbal commands; however, this only happened when Clark was infected with jewel kryptonite. After he was cured of it, Clark lost this ability.
* **Telekinesis:** Clark used to have the ability to move objects or people with his mind.

## Trivia

* Clark has had several love interests, which went both ways: Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan (who had a crush on him before it dissolves in Season 6), Kyla Willowbrook, Alicia Baker, and his ultimate love, Lois Lane.
	+ Mandy, Maxima and Zatanna have all displayed romantic attraction to Clark however, all three women tried to seduce him.
* Legally, Clark was born on May 13, 1987.
* Clark is one of the main characters who appeared in almost every episode of the series.
* In stark contrast to his comic book counterpart, Clark never wore glasses until the 200th episode and the series finale.
* Martha named Clark after her maiden name.
* Clark has addressed Pete, Chloe and Lex as his best friends.
* The character often wears colors associated with Superman, especially red and blue. In the first few seasons, Clark often had a blue shirt with a red jacket on.
	+ To carry on the tradition, the school colors of Smallville High are, officially, red and yellow
* Clark was three years old when he arrived on Earth in October 1989. Krypton was destroyed because according to Kara, it takes three years to travel from Krypton to Earth. meaning the planet was destroyed in 1986.
* In stark contrast to his comic book counterpart, Clark hardly called Jor-El's A.I. "Father" until it helped cure Chloe.
* Most of Clark's father figures died protecting him.
	+ Jor-El was killed during Krypton's destruction in order and sent his son in a rocket to Earth to ensure Kal-El's survival
	+ Jonathan died of a heart attack after attacking Lionel when he revealed he was aware Clark's powers.
	+ Lionel Luthor died protecting Clark from Lex.
* He was named "Kal-El" by his Kryptonian cousin Kara. It means "star child" in Kryptonian.
* There are several notes that foreshadow Clark and Lois' future relationship.
	+ In the first two episodes, Martha and Lois talk about relationships, where Lois wants a "nerd with glasses" over a farm boy. Martha answers back by saying falling in love with a farm boy "happens to the best of us." This is rather ironic, because Lois marries Clark, who is both a farm boy and a nerd with glasses.
		- Lana was the first to mistake Lois and Clark to having romantic feelings for her.
	+ When Clark talks to Martha about his relationship with Lana , he has doubts of ever finding someone who will get him. A few minutes later, Lois drives up.
	+ Additionally, Lois is often seen wearing blues and reds, colors associated with Superman and ones that Clark often wears. In *Smallville*, characters wear colors associated with the superhero from the comics.
	+ This was further alluded to in Season 6:
		- Oliver also noted Clark and Lois being together in the future. He stated he knew what it was like to hide romantic feelings by masking it in sarcasm, much to Lois and Clark's disappointment.
		- When Clark pretended to be the Green Arrow in order to exonerate Oliver from Lois' suspicions of Oliver being the arrow, Lois admitted to Chloe that the Green Arrow (meaning Clark) was a "good kisser." and could teach Oliver a thing or to.
		- Shortly after breaking up with Oliver, Jimmy attempts to set Clark and Lois up. She ends up using red kryptonite infected lipstick and that enhances Lois' romantic attraction towards Clark.