SUPERBOY (Kal-El/Clark Kent)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Kal-El/Clark Kent
Occupation: Adventurer, Student
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Jor-El (father; deceased), Lara (mother; deceased); Jonathan Kent (adoptive father), Martha Kent (adoptive mother)
Base of Operation: Smallville, Kansas
Group Affiliation(s): Legion of Super-Heroes
Gender: Male
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 163 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
First Appearance: More Fun Comics #101 (January-February 1945)
Creators: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

OVERVIEW

Quite simply, Superman when he was a boy. A resident of the pre-Crisis Earth-1 and an honoured member of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

HISTORY

Seeing that the rest of the Science Council of the planet Krypton did not believe his suspicions of the imminent demise of the planet, Science Council member Jor-El built a prototype spaceship in order to get his infant son Kal-El to safety. In this, he sent baby Kal-El's puppy, Krypto up in to orbit. When his suspicions came true and the first tremors began he sent a second rocket containing Kal-El away from the exploding planet. Eventually the spaceship crash-landed just outside the city of Smallville, Kansas. Here the baby Kal-El was found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who adopted the kid and soon afterwards named him "Clark." A few years later, Krypto's ship landed here as well.

Due to the lesser gravity and yellow solar radiation, as opposed to Krypton's red solar radiation, the Kryptonian quickly developed superhuman powers. By his teenage years, when he had gained full control of these powers, Clark adopted a career as the costumed hero known as Superboy.

Although Superboy was initially a solo hero, his super-powered dog, Krypto and Kal-El shared many adventures. To conceal Krypto's identity, Krypto wore black makeup and went by the name Spot when others were around. Clark's girlfriend, Lana Lang also shared adventures with the duo in the costumed identity of Insect Queen. Young Clark Kent and Lex Luthor were good friends at this time until Superboy inadvertently caused an accident that made young Lex lose all of his hair. Although Superboy had saved Lex's life during this accident, this event started a rivalry that went on for as long as the two lived.

The legend of Superboy was so remarkable that it endured more than 1000 years, and in the middle of the 30th century billionaire R.J. Brande formed a group of superpowered teens, the Legion of Super-Heroes, using Superboy as their inspiration.

Despite the fact that young Kal-El was a teen in a distant past era, he would be asked to join their ranks. Once the Legion had learned to master time travel, the founding members of the group; Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad, went back to 20th century Smallville and inducted the Boy of Steel into their Legion. During the following years, Superboy travelled to the 30th century to aid the Legion in their adventures on numerous occasions. In order to make it possible for the Legion to summon Superboy, the Boy of Steel had some special Legion statuettes that would light up whenever he was needed. Early in his Legion career, Saturn Girl created a post-hypnotic suggestion that made Kal-El forget all he learned of his future life while in the 30th century upon his return to his own era.

Although the Legion knew all about Superboy's future, one member, Triplicate Girl (later known as Duo Damsel) continued to try to date Superboy. Her attempts to drive Kal-El away from his destiny of dating Lana and later Lois Lane were unsuccessful. She later dated and then married fellow Legionnaire, Bouncing Boy.

Superboy grew up to be the Superman of Earth-1. However, as a result of the timespanning event known as Crisis, this version of Kal-El was assumed to have been erased from all reality and could no longer have been the inspiration in the creation of the Legion. Seeing that this change would cause the sorcerer known as Mordru to become supreme ruler of the 30th century, the Legion's greatest enemy, the Time Trapper created a Superboy of his own in a pocket-universe that he artificially connected with the Legionnaires future.

However, this was not the only multiple Superboy event young Kal-El faced. The modern Superboy and Kal-El teamed up numerous times due to an event called Zero Hour and later, the modern Superboy's ability to transverse Hypertime. Although the two initially thought the other an impostor, once the two realized what was happening, they became fast friends. Because of the continued existence of this Earth-1 Superboy, it can be assumed that this Kal-El's timeline is still thriving somewhere in Hypertime.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

Superboy's powers include super-strength, the power of flight, super-speed, super-breath, super-hearing, super-vision (including X-ray, heat, microscopic and telescopic visions), and invulnerability to any force other than magic and Kryptonite. Superboy can also travel through time under his own force.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Superboy in chronological order click here