Clark Kent

* Clark Kent
* Superman

Kal-El (Born 1979), also known as Clark Kent, is the Kryptonian Vigilante known as **Superman**. As well as a Founding and Council Member of the Justice League.

## HISTORY

### Early History

Kal-El was born in 1979 on the planet Krypton into the prestigious House of El to his parents, scientists Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. Shortly after his birth, Krypton was on the brink of destruction with its core about to explode, so the House of El decided to save their children from the catastrophe by sending them away from the planet. Kal-El was rocketed to Earth alongside his older cousin, Kara Zor-El.

Kal-El came to Earth during the meteor shower which struck the community of Smallville, Kansas, on October 16, 1989. He was sent from Krypton as an infant, but because of the distance from Earth, Kal-El appeared to be between the ages of two and three when his ship crash-landed. Jonathan and Martha Kent found him in Miller's Field: unable to have children themselves, the Kents adopted the young orphan and raised him as their son. Because he owed a favor from Lionel Luthor, Jonathan allowed him to produce forged paperwork that made it official. They arbitrarily picked a May 13, 1987 birth date for their new son and named him Clark, Martha's maiden name.

Clark formed a friendship with another farmer's son, Pete Ross in early childhood. He also was grade school friends with Greg Arkin and Abigail Fine. Clark has been in love with Lana Lang for most of his life. Lana lived a mile away and while growing up, Clark used his telescope in his loft to spy on her. However, Lana almost always wore a necklace with a meteor rock charm on it. As a result, Clark could not even come into close physical proximity without being physically affected but never understood why. Clark met Chloe Sullivan in eighth grade and along with Pete Ross, the three formed an inseparable trio.

Clark was considerably stronger than other children at an early age. Martha noticed his strength the day she brought him home. He even cracked the kitchen table in half and occasionally put holes in the walls during tantrums. He once lifted a 500-pound bed frame as a toddler.

When Clark had to read an essay at school in front of the entire class, parents and teachers, he was very scared but Jonathan convinced him to believe in himself and in what he had written, and gave three key phrases to get it right : "Find your centre, stand your ground and speak your piece."

Because Jonathan and Martha did not want him to inadvertently injure other children, Clark was not allowed in playgroups or to play on sports teams as a child. His father also once mentioned that he was never allowed to play baseball with other kids. Indeed, in an attempt to protect Pete from a bully, he once threw the other child through a door. Clark developed super-speed around age six. Jonathan and Martha taught Clark that his abilities were "gifts", but also that he should never tell anyone else about them. By the time he was 14, he knew that he was adopted, but he seriously began to question his strange powers and confronted his parents, demanding answers.

### Early Vigilante Activities

In his freshman year, Clark's closest friends were Pete Ross and Chloe Sullivan. The three worked on the high school newspaper, the Smallville Torch. Clark's duties were minimal, such as writing the lunch menu and other small articles.

Clark was accidentally hit by Lex Luthor's car, causing them to fall into a river. He was unharmed and swam to the bottom of the river to save Lex from drowning. Although Clark told Lex that the car did not hit him, rather he saw his car fall and jumped in to save him, Lex always had his suspicions. Lex tried to reward Clark with a new truck, but Jonathan refused it. Frustrated, Clark confessed to Jonathan that he didn't dive in after Lex's car: he was actually hit by it. Jonathan told him how he and Martha found him and a spacecraft, which they hid in the storm cellar. Confused and angry, Clark went to a graveyard to gather his thoughts where he had his first conversation with his long-time crush, Lana Lang.

Clark finally realized the effect of meteor rock on him when Lana's boyfriend, Whitney Fordman, saw Clark and Lana talking, then chose Clark to be the traditional Scarecrow, weakening him with Lana's necklace. Whitney strung him up in a field, but Clark was saved from his post by Lex. He then stopped the vengeful metahuman Jeremy Creek, another past Scarecrow, from electrocuting the students of Smallville High.

In retaliation for Whitney's actions, Clark used his super strength to damage and stack his (Whitney's) and his fellow athletes' trucks on top of each other: much to the quarterback's chagrin. Against his parents' judgment, Clark tried out for the football team his freshman year as a starting tailback. However, after stopping Coach Walt Arnold from using his pyrokinetic abilities on others, Clark resigned from the team.

Clark met many metahumans his freshman year: those who used their abilities to keep themselves alive and achieve their vengeful goals, such as Sean Kelvin and Tina Greer, and those that would seem to be cursed with their gifts and use them to help others, such as the blind, precognitive Cassandra Carver, the persuasive hermit Kyle Tippet, and the young telepath Ryan James.

When Clark saved the life of a classmate, depressed and abused Eric Summers, he temporarily lost his powers. Eric wandered away from their geology class field trip and, holding a meteor rock, was about to jump off of a bridge. As Clark tried to pull Eric to safety, the two were struck by lightning and Clark's abilities were transferred to Eric. Clark remarked that his farm chores took two hours instead of five minutes, but it was worth it to be able to play pick-up basketball with his classmates. He also considered the possibility that if he were to get his abilities back, he might not have to keep them a secret because everyone accepted Eric. However, Eric then attacked Clark by throwing him against a car, injuring his ribs. When Eric continued to act psychotically violent, Clark reclaimed his abilities because he realized that, unlike himself, Eric did not have a supportive family to help him manage the responsibility that came with the powers.

By the end of his freshman year, Clark's powers had steadily increased. After being caught in an exploding truck, he remarked that he barely felt the heat from explosion and the debris did not even bruise him.

After personal struggles, Whitney set his differences with Clark aside and asked him to look after Lana after he enlisted in the Marines.

Clark sometimes considered the possibility of a romantic relationship with Chloe, but was worried that it would mean losing her as a friend and still held hope that he and Lana were meant to be together. When Chloe was kidnapped, Clark saved her, and faced with the possibility that he could have lost her forever, he decided to take her to the Spring Formal. They Almost Kissed, but the news of Tornadoes in Smallville interrupted their evening together and he left her to rescue Lana.

Clark was among the hundreds of volunteers who helped restore Smallville after the devastating tornadoes. He urgently searched for his missing father while at the same time trying to sort out his feelings for Lana and Chloe. Trying to mask her hurt from being left at the dance, Chloe convinced Clark that she had decided that they would be better off as friends and Clark believed her.

Clark developed heat vision the first day of his sophomore year. Triggered by hormones connected to his sex drive, he has since learned to control his new gift. Clark was briefly jailed as a suspected arsonist after Desirée Atkins claimed he had set fire to her car. He started a fire in the holding cell and when Sheriff Ethan opened the cell door, he escaped, only to later receive a lecture from the sheriff and cleared of all charges once Desirée was arrested for the attempted murder of her husband, Lex

Defying his parents, Clark revealed his origins and powers to Pete when Pete found Clark's ship in a cornfield and asked Clark to help him move it. At first, Pete was angry with Clark for not trusting him and stopped speaking to him. However, Pete was kidnapped by Dr. Steven Hamilton, who threatened to kill him unless he revealed Clark's secret. Clark came to Pete's rescue and the two worked together to escape Dr. Hamilton. Understanding the responsibility and danger of knowing Clark's secret, Pete forgave Clark for keeping it from him.

Clark bought a class ring that had red meteor rock in it, discovering the drug-like effects it has on him. He became rebellious and somewhat dangerous for the first time. Pete and Jonathan had to work together to overpower Clark and destroy the ring.

Clark met his adoptive maternal grandfather, William Clark, for the first time and was determined to end the strife between William and Jonathan. He was dismayed to learn that his parents became estranged from William when he was adopted, because they didn't think they could trust William with Clark's secret.

After Chloe started to investigate the mystery surrounding the adoption of Clark when a woman claiming to be his biological mother, Clark was upset enough with Chloe and learned what happened after the Kents discovered him in the cornfield that fateful day and why his father hates the Luthors.

Clark discovered the Kawatche Caves, where he met Kyla Willowbrook, a Granville High School student doing research in them. Clark and Kyla had an instant connection and grew very close. For the first time in his life, he felt like everything fit and like they were destined to be together. The caves contained a series of elaborate drawings and symbols, along with a depression in the wall shaped exactly like his key and, according to Kyla, depicted the legend of Naman, which Clark believed contained clues to his origins. After Kyla's death, Clark convinced Lex to preserve the caves. Lex hired Dr. Frederick Walden to do research on the caves and their strange markings, while giving Clark unlimited access to the caves. However, in Lex and Lionel's endless battle for LuthorCorp, Lex lost control and Lionel took over their exploration.

Clark rescued Lionel and Martha from thugs that took them hostage at LuthorCorp and then learned that Lionel has been investigating the symbols of the caves and experimenting with Kryptonite. After Martha recovered the key from Lionel´s vault, she hid it in her house. However, when Lionel started to look at the farm, she had to hide it elsewhere.

Clark decided to ask Lana out on a date and she accepted. However, he had to break their date because Pete and Chloe got infected with a parasite from the cave, which caused wild and impulsive behavior. Pete slipped a piece of red meteor rock into Clark's shirt and Clark joined in on the fun. Not realizing that her friends were under undue influences, Lana got upset with Clark and their relationship stalled yet again. Clark saved Pete and Chloe, but it meant having to lie to Lana about his own behavior.

When Martha and Clark were exposed to meteor-rock-bearing spores in the storm cellar, they became deathly ill. Martha was admitted to the hospital (where her pregnancy was revealed), but Jonathan kept Clark at home to avoid risk of Clark's alien physiology being discovered. Chloe came to visit Clark, and while he was sleeping, confessed her true feelings in the form of a letter. However, Chloe left in tears when Clark called for Lana in his sleep. Jonathan placed the key in the spaceship, causing the craft to unleash a burst of energy that restored Clark and Martha to good health.

Clark began to have dreams of putting the key in the hole in the cave wall and decided to do it, against his parents' wishes. When he did, he learned how to read the alien language and translated it for his parents. Beyond his control, Clark burned the symbol for "hope" into the side of the barn with his heat vision. Dr. Virgil Swann saw the symbol in a newspaper and contacted Clark. Dr. Swann translated a message which had been sent 13 years ago: "This is Kal-El of Krypton. Our infant son, our last hope. Please protect him and deliver him from evil. We will be with you, Kal-El, for all the days of your life." Clark learned that his home planet was called Krypton and all the meteor rocks are also from Krypton.

After returning, Clark and Jonathan opened the ship for the first time and Clark translated the message from his Kryptonian biological father: "On this third planet from this star Sol, you will be a god among men. They are a flawed race. Rule them with strength, my son. That is where your greatness lies." Clark was horrified at the idea that he was sent to conquer and rule Earth.

In his second brush with the law, Clark served 40 hours of community service for a misdemeanor battery charge brought against him after he attacked Andy Arthur, a college frat boy attempting to assault Lana. Andy brought a million-dollar lawsuit against the Kents. Clark later found out that Andy was faking his injuries and he talked Lana into using her newfound karate skills to make Andy drop the lawsuit.

Because he was helping Lana, Clark forgot to write an article for the Torch and he and Chloe got in a fight about it. He subsequently quit the newspaper. Lana decided to give Clark another chance and made him a birthday cake: they shared their first kiss. However, this time, knowing how Chloe felt about Clark, the next day, it was Lana who put a hold on their relationship again, because she was concerned that it would ruin all three of their friendships. Clark convinced her that it was worth the risk and Lana was persuaded, but only if Clark promised to tell Chloe.

On Clark's birthday, the ship began broadcasting the message "The day is coming," which only Clark and Dr. Walden could hear. Clark found Dr. Walden at his barn with the key and with a powerful ability to project energy. Later, Jor-El called to him through the ship, saying that it was time to leave Smallville forever for him to fulfill his destiny. When Clark defiantly resisted, Jor-El burned the sign of his ancestors on Clark's chest as a warning of any future disobedience.

Thinking the only way to escape his biological father's grip was to destroy the ship, Clark stole Lionel's kryptonite key with Pete's help and put it in the ship. The pulse from the exploding ship rolled Jonathan and Martha's truck, causing her to miscarry the baby. Feeling immense guilt and sorrow, Clark stole a red kryptonite class ring from Chloe's desk at the Torch, took his father's motorcycle, and ran away to Metropolis under the influence of red kryptonite.

During his first evening in Metropolis, Clark enters a bar where he meets a woman named Chastity. After a fight with the patrons, Clark takes her to his hotel room. For some additional money, she recommends him to Mick (her cousin) who runs Intergang. After hearing where Clark is from, Chastity mentions that he is a good man to stick around, to which he responds by kicking her out of the room.

He goes to the nightclub Echo Chambers to meet Mick only to be turned away (but not before checking out an envelope containing a flight information). Afterward, Clark hijacks a plane to steal some diamonds. Returning to the city to deposit them, he passes Jonathan by.

Three months later, still under the influence of red kryptonite and living in Metropolis, Clark went under the alias of "Kal." He got involved with a crime lord, Morgan Edge, who hired him to break into LuthorCorp. Jonathan made a deal with Jor-El to help bring Clark back home to Smallville by promising to release Clark to Jor-El when it came time to fulfill his destiny. Jonathan temporarily received Kryptonian powers and battled Clark, ultimately leading to Clark's homecoming. However, Edge tracked him down and demanded that he return Lionel's package (which contained a vial of Clark's blood). Edge learned of Clark's weakness to kryptonite and nearly sold him to Lionel, but Clark escaped. What happened to the money he stole or how he covered it up is unknown: Clark simply said he tipped off the police about the money's whereabouts.

Clark was shot in the hand and shoulder by a kryptonite bullet made by Van McNulty, who believed Clark to be a metahuman. With Clark passed out on the kitchen floor, Jonathan and Martha saved him by extracting the bullet from Clark's shoulder using a knife and pliers.

The Conroys moved to Smallville and into Lana's old house. While studying in his loft, Clark fell into a deep sleep and his dreams were penetrated with cries for help from Sarah Conroy, who was being kept in a drug-induced coma by her uncle and legal guardian, Nicholas. His parents were unable to wake him for over a day. Upon waking, Clark and Lana investigated the situation, but were thwarted by Nicholas. Sarah managed to keep a hold on Clark and he dozed off again while driving, wrecking the family truck. In their shared dreams, Clark was able to save Sarah from Nicholas and wake them both up by encouraging her to face her uncle.

Clark learned that Earth's sun was the source of his powers when a solar flare caused them to go into overdrive or fail completely. During this time, he met the drunk Perry White. Perry witnessed Clark's powers, but since he was perpetually drunk, nobody believed him. Under the effects of the solar flare, Clark became vulnerable and Perry was convinced that everything he saw from Clark was probably a drunken hallucination.

Thanks to some kind of flashbacks, Clark discovered that Jor-El was on Earth forty years ago and that probably he being found by the Kents was not a coincidence as Jor-El had found Jonathan's father on his visit to Smallville. In a series of revelations, Clark discovered that Lionel Luthor also could be more dangerous than he thought.

In an attempt to save Lex's life, Clark revealed his powers to Lex by taking the hit of a car. Lex was sentenced to Belle Reve and Clark began to question the consequences that could lead from Lex knowing his secret. However, Lionel had Lex's mind erased of the past seven weeks, and Clark's secret remained safe.