Superman - The Last Son of The Planet Krypton • An Part 003

"**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

Clark leaves the mercenaries and attempts to save the plane. At first, he only manages to damage the plane even further but finally manages to slow the its fall and gets it to land in a nearly empty Metropolis park. With such a display of power, there is no way for the hero to hide from the public.

Perry White demands that his reporting staff find out who this man is, saying that the public is clamoring for information and is in a state of near-panic. Looking at video footage of the "angel", Lois dubs him "Superman" after the "S" on his costume's chest. Clark is uncertain about maintaining a public image, but knows that if he keeps acting secretively, people will start to fear him. After a conversation with his parents, who openly disapprove of the methods of Gotham City's protector, Batman, Clark decides to have a private interview with Lois to earn the people's trust.

The newly dubbed Superman takes Lois to a place where they can talk in private. He tells her of his Kryptonian background and that he's not here to scare anyone, only to help people. Lois is skeptical and wants to know his true identity. Superman refuses to tell her, but there is enough information to go public.

At LexCorp, Luthor reads the story of Superman's origins while Lois and Clark are there to interview him about the Lexo-Skel theft. Clark muses aloud that the theft will actually work out well for Luthor. With such a powerful weapon in the hands of terrorists, the U.S. government will undoubtedly contract with LexCorp to build a bigger, more powerful version. Luthor laughs off the idea, but Lois is intrigued, especially when Clark later confides to Lois that Luthor possibly *gave* the suit away.

Back at the *Planet*'s archives, Clark finds a photo of Luthor with the Regent of Kaznia, a country that the United States has placed under a trade embargo, based on evidence that the Regent has been employing a hit squad of terrorists against his political enemies. Clark's theory is that Luthor staged the theft in order to make a secret sale to the Regent.

Lois decides to investigate herself in secret and goes to a Kaznian tanker ship docked in Metropolis Harbor. On the ship, Lois meets up with John Corben, who says he's the head of a diplomatic mission to restore friendly relations with the U.S. However, while she is snooping around the ship, she finds the Lexo-Skel, and is captured.

Meanwhile, back at the *Planet*, Jimmy tells Clark about a smuggling story he and Lois worked on. Clark sees the tanker in one of Jimmy's pictures, and guesses where Lois has gone.

Out at sea, Corben is about to execute Lois, but Superman arrives. He easily defeats the terrorists, but Corben climbs into the battle suit to have a fighting chance against him. Superman flies Lois to safety and then goes to fight Corben. The battle drags from the harbor to Metropolis, with Corben seemingly having the upper hand, until Superman literally tears the suit apart, forcing Corben to surrender.

On Lois' order, the *Planet* stops the presses and re-prints the front page, with a story on Superman's triumph.

Superman pays a visit to Luthor's office. At first, only Luthor talks as Superman gives him the silent treatment. He tells Superman that he has total control over Metropolis, and Superman cannot prove Luthor's connection to Kaznia. Luthor then confides his global ambitions and offers Superman a position. When Superman remains silent, Luthor finally loses his composure and throws a small model of the Lexo-Skel at him. Superman crushes it in his hands and warns Luthor that he'll be watching him.

He then flies through Metropolis while various citizens cheer him on.

Elsewhere, in the deep reaches of space, a crew of aliens discovers Brainiac's satellite. They take it aboard their ship, but before they can study it, the satellite quickly comes to life, kills the entire crew and takes over their ship.

## Continuity

* 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".

## 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.

## Quotes

 **Clark:** Now that the terrorists have your prototype, the Pentagon is *undoubtedly* gonna want you to build a bigger and better version for them. When all is said and done, this could net you a multimillion dollar windfall.

 **Lois:** Nice work, Smallville. You're only the second person I've ever seen get under Lex's skin.

**Clark:** Who's the first?
 **Clark Kent:** Does this mean I'll have to give up my life?

**Jonathan Kent:** No, son. It doesn't matter where you were born or what you can do, you'll always be Clark Kent. Superman just helps out now and then.
 **Superman:** Shall we go a few rounds without the suit?

**Corben:** Uh-uh.
 **Superman:** Call the police and let them know what's happening. I'm gonna try and stop that thing.

 *(Lex Luthor sees Superman hovering outside his bay window, silently staring at him.)*
**Luthor:** I'm afraid we already have a window washer... oh, the silent treatment, eh? Well, I don't know what you thought you heard out there, but I know what you can *prove*, and it's nothing.
(*Superman still doesn't say anything.*)
**Luthor:** You see, uh... *Super*-man... I own Metropolis. My technology built it, my will keeps it going, and nearly two-thirds of its people work for me whether they know it or not. Even you have to admit, it's a model of efficiency. And yet, I've often thought... why limit myself to just one city? A being with your abilities could be very useful to me on a, shall we say, *global* scale? Why don't you float on in and we'll discuss it?
*(Pause; Luthor loses his composure.)*
**Luthor:** SAY SOMETHING!
*(He grabs the model of the Lexo-Skel Suit 5000 and hurls it at Superman, who catches it and crushes it into powder between his hands.)*
**Superman:** I'll be watching you, Luthor.