Tal and Clark

**The relationship between Kryptonian half-brothers Tal-Rho and Clark Kent.**

Clark has been made aware of their relationship in *Loyal Subjekts,* where they finally come face to face with Edge, who reveals to Clark they are half-brothers and that their mother is Lara Lor-Van in *Mother, Where Art Thou?* Superman refuses to join his brother's cause. Angered and rejected, Tal-Rho stopped seeing Kal as a brother and just another enemy and began hurting those Clark loved. He threatened Clark's family until Superman gave himself up. After John and Kal defeat Tal, he reveals how he just wanted to have a family, and Clark states he could have had that with him. After Tal's arrest, Clark reveals his true origins to Chrissy Beppo in an interview for the *Smallville Gazette*. (*Last Sons of Krypton*)

After Clark began receiving visions of another life, he was forced to go to Tal for his help and was tricked into releasing him. At Tal-Rho's fortress, the Kryptonian attacks both Clark and Jordan after pretending to have lost his powers until Clark stops him.

Despite their shortcomings, Kal and Tal learned to improve their relationship after they were both imprisoned by Mitchell Anderson, helped each other escape, and saved each other's lives. After his escape, Tal-Rho returned to help his brother fight Ally Allston. However, Tal disappears in the final act of the battle with Ally, leaving Clark with his problems. Tal even lets Lois and Clark use his villa so his brother and sister-in-law can spend time away from their sons.

## History

### Season One

Many years before the series, Tal-Rho was the first to come to Earth, and his infant brother followed afterward. In his adulthood, Tal-Rho learned that Superman was his half-brother, Kal-El, through their mother, Lara Lor-Van. Determined to expand the Kryptonian heritage by hosting Kryptonians into Smallville citizens, Tal thought of another way to accomplish this goal. However, he was determined to do it with his brother instead of Zeta.

In *Haywire*, during a conversation with Lois Lane, Morgan Edge made derogatory comments about her husband's unemployment and her responsibility to care for their two children. Little did he know that he was speaking about his own brother without realizing it.

In *Loyal Subjects,* Edge has his followers attack Clark and Lois' family for Emily Phan's Kryptonian host to steal Lois' transmitter. He uses it to lure Clark (Superman) into a desert. There, Edge reveals he is a Kryptonian just like Superman, and called him by his birth name, deciding it was time they talked.

In *Mother, Where Art Thou,* Edge informs Superman that his real name is Tal-Rho and reveals their brotherly relationship. Their mother, Lara Lor-Van, was married to Tal's father, Zeta before she divorced him and married Jor-El. Clark refused to believe it until he learned that Tal-Rho was speaking the truth when he talked with Jor-El. Jor-El revealed that the Eradicator was a device Lara designed, intending it to help their dying world of Krypton and he also confirmed Tal-Rho was telling the truth. Clark was (Understandably) angry with his father's A.I., for withholding information about his brother's relationship to Tal-Rho. Kal later went to approach Tal-Rho, attempting to understand why Tal-Rho hated humans and why he reacted this way. He then revealed that he had spoken with their mother, who was inhabiting the body of Lana Lang. Angry, Tal declared that Clark stood with humanity, calling him a traitor to their people If they would not stand next to each other as family, then they would be enemies. In one last attempt to free Smallville's citizens from hosting deceased Kryptonians, Clark found the Eradicator device and destroyed his mother's invention, before being knocked unconscious.

In *A Brief Reminiscence In-Between Cataclysmic Events,* Tal-Rho took advantage of Superman being unconscious. He used a Kryptonian memory device to learn his brother's human identity on Earth. During this time, he learned Kal was more connected to Lois than he thought. He discovered that Kal was Clark Kent, Lois' "unemployed husband" as Tal once described him. Lois and Clark married, but Tal realized that their children were his nephews. Blaming Jor-El for his brother's alignment with humanity, Tal destroyed Jor-El's hologram and attacked the Kent family. Eager to protect his wife and sons, Clark leaves with Tal in exchange for his family's safety

In *Through the Valley of Death,* Clark overcomes Zod after Tal-Rho forces him to undergo the Eradicator's process. He and John Henry made peace before going up against their true enemy.

In *Fail Safe,* after Tal's capture, Clark interrogates him about Leslie Lar's whereabouts. However, Edge does whatever he can to get on his brother's nerves. Clark later took Zeta-Rho's Crystal and showed it to his brother. Tal told him to destroy the crystal as he had done to Jor-El's, but Clark was not going to give him the satisfaction. Tal-Rho continued to mock Clark's faith in humanity, and as the younger son of Lara left his brother's cell, Tal-Rho told Clark that he was just like him.

In *The Last Sons of Krypton,* Clark and John Henry both defeat Tal-Rho, freeing him from the influence of the Eradicator. Defeated, Tal tells Clark that all he ever wanted was a family to love him back. In response, Clark says that he could have had Tal-Rho take a different route filled with love rather than vengeance. Both Clark and John Henry took Tal into custody, where he was taken to an abandoned military base and imprisoned in a red-solar cell which was more powerful than a kryptonite cell.

### Season Two

In *The Ties That Bind*, Clark began suffering visions with his alternative counterpart, Bizarro. Forced to come to Tal, Clark forced him to answer his questions, asking if the Eradicator has something to do with his visions. Tal-Rho tricked Clark into thinking that the solar flare John Irons used left him powerless. However, Clark angry, decides to leave. However, he reluctantly took him to the fortress in the desert. They were reunited with their mother, who believed that this could be a complications because Clark was a victim of the Eradicator. Wanting revenge on Superman for stopping him, Tal revealed he was not weakened and attacked both Clark and Jordan. Angry, Kal finally overpowered Tal-Rho and shouted that he was never coming near Jordan again.

In *Anti-Hero*, Clark was imprisoned in the same red solar cell as his brother. Tal seemed to take some pleasure in his brother being imprisoned with him and sat down, ready to listen to his brother's story and recent events. As they shared the cell, Clark grew more frustrated and considered his brother as a nuisance. Tal-Rho told him that he admitted that he overreacted by attacking Jordan and that he was trying to help Clark in his eyes. Despite their anger towards each other, Clark could not stand by to watch Anderson torture Tal with green kryptonite when he was learning Bizarro's whereabouts. Unable to stand his brother in pain, Clark gave him false coordinates to his fortress up in the Arctic. This bought Tal and Clark enough time to conspire against their captors. The two brothers staged a prison fight and tricked some of Anderson's men into their solar-powered cell. Clark and Tal successfully beat down their captors, with the latter disabling the red solar cell and making their escape to Tal's fortress in the desert. Unfortunately, Mitch Anderson went rogue and attacked Clark, Tal, and Bizarro Kal-El. Mitch shot green kryptonite bullets at the superhero; however, Tal stood in front of Clark, taking the blow. Afraid of his brother slowly dying, Clark asked their mother for a way to save him. Lara instructed her youngest son that he could burn the Kryptonite out of Tal-Rho's system with his heat vision but warned him that if Clark hit the wrong places, he could end up killing him.

After successfully curing Tal of the kryptonite, Clark was still alarmed because Tal Rho still wasn't healing because of the red solar cell and only the yellow sun could activate his brother's regenerative healing factor. Conflicted about saving Bizarro or Tal-Rho, Clark opted to save his brother's life. He flew Tal up to the sun and his brother began healing. With Anderson's insubordination and Tal recovering, Clark returned his brother to his cell but stayed with him until he regained consciousness. Tal was somewhat rattled that Clark was still aligned with the humans despite their past grievances. Before Clark leaves, Tal-Rho asks his brother to apologize to Jordan on his behalf. However, Clark tells Tal that he might be able to do it himself one day before they depart one more amicable term.

In *Bizarros in a Bizarro World,* in a flashback, Tal-Rho's and Clark's alternate counterparts were not only brothers but each other's best friends and confidantes. When they were at their favorite bar, Kal informed Tal of his wife, Lois's pregnancy. Tal-Rho was overjoyed, and was boisterously clear he was going to be an uncle. Many years later, Kal came to his brother for help, but Tal-Rho was already influenced by Ally's teachings because of her loyal follower Lana-Rho, Tal's wife. However, Kal-El tried convincing his brother to abandon it. When it became clear that his brother was different, Kal immediately disowned Tal and tossed him out. In the present day, Inverse Tal-Rho realized the error of his ways. After fighting his brother's alternate counterpart, Tal later helped Earth-TUD25 Superman escape from Ally Allston due to his guilt for not helping his brother when Inverse Superman came to him. In retribution, Ally later killed Bizarro Tal-Rho with his powers. At the same time, Earth-TUD25 Superman never forgot about Inverse Tal-Rho's sacrifice, leading to the events of *Lies That Bind*.

Here, Clark was still willing to explore a better relationship with his brother.

In *Waiting for Superman*, Clark and Tal were reunited when the latter decided to return to the Kent farm to fight for Kal and the rest of his family. Before throwing the charger into the son, Tal-Rho struggled to tell Clark how he felt about him, but Clark told Tal-Rho, "Love you too." However, Tal disappears in the final act of the battle with Ally, leaving Clark with his problems. However, Tal came because he wanted an opportunity to escape from Earth-TUD25 and into the Inverse World. To Clark's annoyance, Tal-Rho used his money and power to buy two fancy SUVs for Jonathan and Jordan. However, both Lois and Clark believed that Tal-Rho's feelings were genuine.

### Season Three

In Season Three, Tal-Rho left his summer house to Clark and Lois whenever they wanted to get away from their children. It is currently unknown if Clark is aware that his brother is on Earth-TUD25.

## Trivia

* In *Waiting for Superman*, Tal-Rho was about to say something to Clark before he threw him into the sun to recharge him. He was likely going to admit that he loved Clark, but his brother beat him to it.
* Clark and Tal-Rho is the third sibling relationship explored in *Superman and Lois*, after Jonathan and Jordan, Sarah and Sophie, and before Lois and Lucy and Jordan, Jonathan and Natalie.
* Starting Season Two, Clark serves as his brother's morality anchor.
* Tal-Rho is very similar to Loki: both are embittered, have a hatred for humanity and have a complex relationship with their brothers, Thor, and Kal-El.
	+ The only difference is that Tal-Rho is the older sibling instead of being younger.
* Tal-Rho and Clark's relationship is somewhat like Astra and Kara from *Supergirl.*
	+ Tal/Astra were both the main antagonists of Clark and Kara's first season, are related (Tal is Clark's brother and Astra is Supergirl's aunt).
	+ Both Tal and Astra tempt Clark and Kara to their side and don't succeed in their plans.
	+ Despite their flawed relationship, both Tal and Astra still care about their family despite hardships.
		- Two differences, however, are that emotionally, Astra/Kara have a maternal/child bond, and Tal-Rho and Clark have a sibling bond.
		- While Astra loved her niece unconditionally, it took Tal-Rho longer to genuinely care for his brother instead.

## Quotes

“*I am, Kal-El. My real name is Tal-Rho. I'm the son of Zeta-Rho and Lara Lor-Van.*”
―Tal-Rho