Superman - The Last Son of The Planet Krypton • An Part 001

"**The Last Son of Krypton**" is the three-part series premiere of *Superman: The Animated Series*. It depicts the origin of Superman. Finding that the planet Krypton is about to explode and unable to convince the populace of his theory, scientist Jor-El sends his infant son to Earth. There, he is found and raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent. On Earth, Clark Kent, as he's been named, discovers that he has amazing powers. After arriving in Metropolis, he adopts the name of Superman and becomes Earth's greatest hero. His first adventure pits him against John Corben, a mercenary employing a battle suit developed by the powerful businessman Lex Luthor.

### Writer

* Alan Burnett
* Paul Dini

### Director

* Dan Riba
* Bruce Walter Timm

## Plot

On the distant planet of Krypton, Jor-El conducts research in the desolate northern region. He is suddenly attacked by a giant amoeba-like creature. He manages to escape the creature and returns to his mobile research platform. While working, Brainiac, Krypton's omniscient central computer, appears on screen and demands for his collected data. Jor-El angrily complies, but his bad mood is dispelled by the appearance of his infant son, Kal-El.

His research complete, Jor-El heads home. Later, he goes over the data and it only supports his theory that Krypton is on the verge of destruction. His father-in-law, Sul-Van, warns him that his theory will only cause Jor-El to lose the respect of the scientific community, and the ruling council. Jor-El's only hope, Sul-Van warns, is that Brainiac will support his theory, or else his career will be over. As he says this, an earthquake rocks Krypton, worrying the populace.

Jor-El reports his findings to Krypton's ruling council, insisting that the planet's core is undergoing a mounting chain reaction that will destroy it soon. The council turns to Brainiac, who dismisses Jor-El's findings and explains that Krypton is only undergoing a slight polar shift. Jor-El warns the council that their blind dependence on the machine will doom them all, but the council is openly outraged when they hear his rescue plan: to send the entire population into the Phantom Zone—a penal dimension housing vicious criminals and creatures—and then have one person travel to a different planet and release them later.

In spite of Brainiac, Jor-El still believes he's right. Heading to Brainiac Operations to check why the AI disagrees with him, he becomes suspicious when Brainiac won't allow him to check what Brainiac's task is inside Satellite Coms. When he breaks into Satellite Coms himself when Brainiac tries to deny him entry, he discovers that he *is* correct, and Brainiac knows it. The AI is in the middle of secretly downloading himself into a satellite to escape the planet's destruction. Confronted, Brainiac fully admits that he lied so that he wouldn't be ordered by the Science Council to waste time preparing an evacuation plan, as the planet will be destroyed in hours. According to his programming, the survival of Krypton's knowledge is more important than that of its people.

Jor-El is tempted to destroy him then and there, but Brainiac reminds him that if he goes, so does the planet's legacy. Jor-El's hesitation allows Brainiac to summon a squad of security guards, advising them to use deadly force against him. He narrowly manages to evade them and returns home.

As it just so happens, Sul-Van is visiting and has been reviewing Jor-El's research, finding that it is actually quite sound. Unfortunately, as Jor-El informs him, it is far too late now. Jor-El quickly makes preparations for his back-up plan: to save his son, Kal-El, by sending him off in the small one-person spaceship he had earlier developed as part of his evacuation plan. It was meant for someone to take a Phantom Zone projector to Earth and release Krypton's population in safety, but now it can only be used as a lifeboat to save one person. Sul-Van is skeptical of this plan, but knowing Jor-El can't outrun the authorities, ultimately volunteers to distract the police so his daughter, Lara, and Jor-El can prepare the ship to launch.

Seeing Lara's grief over losing their only child, Jor-El offers to make some quick flight modifications so that she can be saved along with him. She refuses, saying that her place is with Jor-El and triggers the final preparations herself. In orbit, Brainiac's satellite completes download and launches into space.

As earthquakes rock the planet, the apprehended Sul-Van calmly recognizes it's Krypton's final death throes. Jor-El and Lara launch Kal-El's ship and it successfully lifts off: watching their son disappear from sight, the couple hold each other and kiss while the terrified population witness their world tearing their civilization and itself apart. Behind Kal-El's ship, Krypton explodes. The spaceship then opens a wormhole in space and enters, several chunks of Kryptonite entering into it as well.

## Continuity

* Sul-Van compares Jor-El's ego to Argo in size; later, in "Little Girl Lost", Argo will be revealed to be Krypton's sister planet, and the home of Kara In-Ze/Supergirl.
* Jor-El's original plan to use his spaceship to save Krypton's population in the Phantom Zone explains the presence of the zone projector inside the ship, which Superman finds in "Blasts From the Past".
* After Krypton explodes in the end of Part I, there is a shower of green flaming rocks falling behind Kal-El's ship. These rocks will become known as Kryptonite in "A Little Piece of Home".
* The spaceship that brings Kal-El to Earth is later converted by Professor Hamilton for Superman's outer space pursuits as shown in the beginning of "The Main Man".
* Superman later combines Jor-El and Lara's message tablet with an orb acquired from Brainiac (in "Stolen Memories") to form a Kryptonian computer, as also seen in "Blasts From the Past".
* John Corben eventually becomes Metallo in "The Way of All Flesh".
* Scouts from the planet Almerac record several portions of Superman's final fight with Corben, which brings him into conflict with Queen Maxima and De'Cine in "Warrior Queen".
* When Clark first discusses his powers with his parents, he mentions that he ripped apart a camper like it was cardboard. In the *Justice League Unlimited* series finale "Destroyer," Clark recalls this feeling when he tells Darkseid how he always felt like he lived in a world made out of cardboard.

## Background information

### Home video releases

* Superman: The Last Son of Krypton (VHS)
* Superman: The Last Son of Krypton (Mini-DVD)
* Superman: The Last Son of Krypton (DVD)
* Superman: The Animated Series, Volume One (DVD)
* Superman: The Complete Animated Series (DVD)
* Best of Superman (DVD)

### Production inconsistencies

* Brainiac attributes Jor-El's theory of Krypton's destruction to "human error". This is strange, since Jor-El is technically Kryptonian, although it can be attributed to the fact that Kryptonians on Krypton are virtually identical to humans on Earth.
* The first shot of LexCorp Laboratories, an "e" was used instead of a "b", thereby misspelling the building's sign as "LexCorp Laeoratories". It was fixed in the next shot it appeared in.

### Trivia

* According to James Tucker, breaking the three part structure around Krypton, Smallville, and Metropolis was an attempto to Mimic Richard Donner's Superman film.
* Krypto appears in part one of this episode as a puppy.
* Jor-El calls the creature that attacked him in the ice cave a "shoggoth". Shoggoths were originally created by H. P. Lovecraft for his Cthulhu Mythos, though he described them quite differently from the creature seen in this episode.
* This is the first mention of Kaznia in the DC Animated Universe.
* Part I of this episode is one of the only two episodes in the series where the Superman persona is absent (as he only appears as Kal-El in that episode). The other is "New Kids in Town".
* Martha Kent's comment that Clark should avoid being compared to Batman suggests that, in the DCAU's continuity, Batman began his crimefighting career before Superman made his first appearance in Metropolis.
* As a note to the above, among the passengers of the airliner are Bruce Wayne's secretary Dana Blessing from "The Worry Men" and Ethan Clark from "Prophecy of Doom". A man with a vaguely similar appearance to Arnold Rundle is also seen.
* The energy pistols used by Krypton's security forces are identical in appearance to those used by the inhabitants of Gorilla City in the *Justice League* episode "The Brave and the Bold" and the *Justice League Unlimited* episode "Dead Reckoning".
* Jonathan Kent speculates that Kal-El's ship might be a Sputnik, the first man-made object to orbit the Earth.
* When Jonathan shows Clark's spaceship to him for the first time, he remarks that "some babies are found in baskets", referring to the Biblical legend of Moses, which Superman's origin is partially based on.
* When Martha finds Kal-El, Jonathan and her discussed possible names for their adopted baby. Martha suggested Christopher or Kirk, direct references to Christopher Reeve and Kirk Alyn, who played Superman in other productions. Reeve played Superman in classic Richard Donner's film series and Alyn played Superman in the movie serials *Superman* and *Atom Man vs. Superman*.
* Lois dated Luthor, and subsequently dumped him.
* Lois says "nice S" after seeing Superman's suit. This part was removed from the Toon Disney version, likely because it was a pun on "nice ass", which would be inappropriate for a younger audience. Lobo made a similar pun in "The Main Man, Part II".
* The exchange (or lack thereof) between Superman and Lex Luthor is mirrored by Iron Man and Obadiah Stane at the beginning of part 2 of the *Iron Man: Armored Adventures* series premiere, as both of the bald, successful businessmen are talking in their office about weapons and armor when someone points out the hero floating outside the window. An offer is given to the hero only to be met with continual "arm-crossed" floating. After becoming frustrated at the hero for not responding, the businessmen are both told "I'll be watching you".
* Dana Delany voices Lois Lane, Delany previously voiced Andrea Beaumont in the 1993 feature film based on *Batman: The Animated Series*, *Batman: Mask of the Phantasm*, the producers were impressed with Delany's performance in that film, which led to her being cast as Lane.

## Cast

 Brian George
 Jesse Batten

### Uncredited appearances

* Annie
* Pete Ross
* Jenny

## Quotes

 **Jor-El:** You know, Brainiac, somewhere in all those trillions of files clusters there's got to be one that says "people don't like to be spied on."

**Brainiac:** Then why would they create me?
 **Brainiac:** Good evening, Jor-El. You've been busy tonight. May I be of service?

**Jor-El:** Just trying to find out why we disagree, Brainiac.
**Brainiac:** Human error, I'm afraid.
 **Brainiac:** *(On Krypton's imminent destruction.)* If the council knew the truth, they would put me to work on an evacuation plan, a futile gesture given the time remaining.

**Jor-El:** How long?
 *(An earthquake begins.)*
**Guard:** Not another one!
**Sul-Van:** No, the last one.