Superman

Superman, born as Kal-El of Krypton and named Clark Kent by his human foster parents, is Earth's greatest hero.

Biography

Birth on Krypton

On the distant planet Krypton, unable to convince Kryptonian elders, scientist Jor-El promises that neither he nor his wife, Lara, will leave the planet. However, he sends his infant son, Kal-El, to Earth to ensure his survival, just as Krypton begins its death throes. Kal-El's spaceship crash-lands three years later in Smallville, Kansas, where the boy is found and adopted by a childless couple, Jonathan and Martha Kent, who name him Clark after Martha's maiden name.

Clark is no ordinary child: he is incredibly agile and strong. But at the urging of his parents, he keeps his abilities hidden, frustratingly accepting the ridicule and scorn of his peers as he assumes a mild mannered temperament, fading into the background rather than becoming the star of the football team. But as Jonathan Kent reminds him, Clark was put on Earth "for a reason... (and) it's not to score touchdowns." Soon after, Jonathan has a fatal heart attack and dies, after which a grieving Clark conveys helplessness about having "all [these] powers and I couldn't even save him".

After a few months pass, Clark hears the call of a mysterious green crystal hidden in his parents' barn. He realizes that it is time to discover his purpose, and bids an emotional farewell to his Earth mother. He soon departs on a journey to the Arctic and uses the crystal to build the Fortress of Solitude, a majestic crystal palace in the architectural style of his home planet, Krypton. Inside, Kal-El learns the reason he was transported to Earth and his future role on the planet from holographic recordings of his father. After 12 years of education and training within the Fortress of Solitude, he emerges garbed in a red cape and blue body suit with the El family symbol on the chest and flies off.

Clark returns to civilization, arriving in the city of Metropolis. He's hired as a reporter for the Daily Planet newspaper by its editor-in-chief, Perry White. While there, he meets teenage photographer Jimmy Olsen and the paper's star journalist, Lois Lane. Clark becomes immediately infatuated with Lois, but is unable to properly gain her affection while in the bumbling guise of Clark Kent. It isn't long before Clark's true nature is unveiled when, in his blue suit and red cape, he publicly rescues Lois from a helicopter accident atop the Daily Planet building.

Clark Kent — Clark in his reporter guise.

Following a series of incidents in which Clark in his yet-unnamed guise comes to the rescue and saves the day, Perry White issues to all his reporters to find out as much information as possible about this mysterious hero. Lois receives an invitation to meet someone at her place, signed only "a friend". Following a perfunctory interview with the Man of Steel, Lois joins him on a flight over Metropolis, ostensibly to see how fast he can go. After their romantic flight, the costumed hero flies off and Lois says to herself, "What a super man", then pauses, and says "Superman!," thus giving the mysterious man his name.

Meanwhile, super criminal Lex Luthor is intent on committing "the greatest real-estate swindle of all time", with the unwitting aid of the U.S. government and the test launching of two ICBMs. To accomplish this, Luthor hopes to cause a major earthquake in California by using the missiles, one of which he has programmed to hit the San Andreas Fault (the other has been programmed to head east to detonate in Hackensack, New Jersey, providing a diversion for the westbound rocket). The quake will cause most of California to slide into the ocean, killing millions of people while simultaneously making the vast tracts of worthless desert land that he had quietly purchased skyrocket in value when it becomes the new West Coast of the United States.

With Superman's fame rapidly spreading, Luthor perceives him to be a serious problem, luring to his lair with a phony threat to gas the population of Metropolis. Having succeeded in attracting his attention, he traps the superhero with a nodule of kryptonite — the only thing to which he is vulnerable. However, Superman effects an escape with the help of Luthor's assistant, Eve Teschmacher, who is both attracted to Superman and frightened for the fate of her mother, who happens to live in Hackensack.

Superman keeps his promise and diverts the path of the Hackensack missile first, forcing it into space. In the meantime, the California missile hits the San Andreas Fault, triggering the massive earthquake Luthor had intended. The length of the fault is devastated by the initial quake, but Superman prevents the catastrophic landslide Luthor intended by plunging deep into the earth to shore up the fault line. However, the quake's violent aftershocks still cause massive damage that creates multiple disasters. As he builds a natural dam from rocks and boulders to stop the flooding caused by the breaching of the Hoover Dam, Superman realizes that he has forgotten about Lois. He discovers her car, fallen into a crevasse that opened up behind it and closed again, trapping her inside and crushing her to death.

Overcome with grief and fury, Superman flies into the upper atmosphere of Earth, where he hears Jor-El's voice forbidding him to interfere in human history. Disobeying his father, Superman flies around the Earth until he is moving faster than the speed of light, thus travelling back in time. This is visually represented by the Earth appearing to spin backwards.

By reversing time, he prevents the Hoover Dam burst, and fixes the fault line in such a way that the crevasse doesn’t reach Lois’ car. The reversal stops at the point where the earthquake began. He then flies back to Lois, who is alive and well. Superman bids farewell and flies off, with a task to finish. Jimmy Olsen then mentions that it is unfortunate Clark is never here to see Superman, and it is this moment only that Lois suspects that Superman and Clark may be the same person, only to dismiss it as "the silliest idea". Superman captures Luthor and Otis and delivers them to prison. The prison warden thanks Superman for his efforts, while Superman modestly demurs, insisting that "we're all part of the same team" before flying off.

Giving up his powers for life with Lois

Clark learns from Perry White that Lois is in France, where terrorists seized the Eiffel Tower and threatened to level the city with a Hydrogen Bomb. While in the course of rescuing Lois, the bomb was activated and Superman threw the elevator out of the atmosphere and into deep space, where it exploded. The blast shattered the Phantom Zone mirror, releasing the Kryptonian criminals General Zod, Ursa and non. Clark and Lois ext went on assignment in Niagara Falls, Ontario, investigating what Perry calls a "honeymoon racket". Superman rescues a boy who falls over the railing, and Lois suddenly decides it is far too convenient that Clark disappears every time Superman makes an appearance. She tries to prove it by jumping into the Niagara River, screaming for Superman to save her. Clark never changes identities but, unbeknownst to Lois, uses his heat vision to break off a tree branch for Lois to use to stay afloat. However, later in their hotel room, Clark's powers are revealed when he quickly retrieves his fallen glasses from the fireplace with his bare hands. Realizing that he wasn't burned, Lois realizes the truth. After some hesitation, Clark admits the truth and takes Lois to the Fortress of Solitude, showing her the crystals which created and control the operations; Lois leaves the primary green crystal under her purse, outside the control panel. Kal-El speaks to his father through hologram about his desire to give up his responsibilities as Superman so he can live a normal life with Lois. Jor-El criticizes Kal-El for his decision, but nonetheless offers him a choice. In order for him to relinquish being Superman, he must enter a crystal chamber and be exposed to harnessed rays from Krypton's red sun. He will, therefore, lose his powers permanently and no longer be invulnerable as he has been before. Despite his father’s pleas to reconsider, Kal-El, without hesitance, enters the chamber and undergoes the de-powering process, which culminates in the destruction of the crystal control panel. The two retire to his bedchamber and sleep together.

Meanwhile, the three Kryptonian criminals had devastated a joint NASA-Soviet moon expedition, killing three astronauts. They arrived at Earth, which they initially believed to be a planet called "Houston" (having overheard radio transmissions with Mission Control in Houston, Texas). They wreak havoc on a small town, easily defeating the U.S. military. After defacing Mount Rushmore, the trio conquered the White House, where Zod forced the President of the United States to kneel before him.

Returning from the Fortress of Solitude, Clark is beaten up in a diner by a bullying truck driver. His despondent mood worsens when, in horror, he watches the President announcing the surrender of Earth to General Zod. The President suddenly pleads for Superman's help and Zod issues a challenge to Superman to face him. Realizing the danger posed to the world and the terrible mistake he made, Clark heads back to the Fortress, now a darkened sanctum, and calls out to his father for help. Dreading that there may be no hope left, he then notices He sees the green crystal glowing where Lois accidentally left it– the same green crystal that called out to him at the start of his journey. He used the crystal to activate the panel, and once more. The hologram "spirits" of his parents could no longer appear to him, but they used the last of their Krptonian essence to restore his powers.

Defeating Zod and his followers

Lex Luthor managed to notify Zod at the White House about Superman being For-El's son. Luthor manipulate the Krptonianian criminals into luring Superman into a trap, so they could eliminate his enemy. They arrive at the Daily Planet offices and seize Lois, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Superman, his powers fully restored. A destructive battle ensues among the four Kryptonians as Superman struggles with the new experience of battling multiple enemies of his power level. During the battle, Ursa and Zod discover Superman's weakness, his concern for human life, and use this against him. Finally, Superman flees, seemingly in defeat. Luthor convinces the villains that they must pursue Superman to his Fortress.

At the Fortress of Solitude, Superman attempts to distract the villains with a hologram that creates multiple images of himself. However, after grappling with Zod, Ursa and Non threaten to tear Lois limb from limb, and Superman agrees to release Zod and capitulate to them to spare her life. Superman manipulates Luthor into tricking the criminals, counting on Luthor to double-cross him. Superman is forced into the same depowering chamber he used before, and the red light that drains super-powers is actually set loose on the Fortress while Superman is safe inside the chamber. Superman feigns weakness and then crushes Zod's hand after seemingly accepting it in submission. Superman holding Zod up over his head as he curled into a feadal potion. Superman threw Zod at the slanted wall of the fortress, where slid safely to the ground level exposing him to the arctic elements outside. Lois easily punched Ursa, Non leapt toward Superman, only to find he could no longer fly. They both also fell through the fog of the fortress. Superman notified the U.S. Arctic Patrol and the four criminals were arrested outside. After it was all over Superman, realizing the secret of the fortress was compromised, then took took Lois to an iceberg. Lois realized that Superman must continue to serve humanity, conforming to his father's wishes. After Superman flies her home, Lois began to break down in despair. Although life would never be the same, she heartbreakingly assures Superman that she can be trusted to keep his secret identity, which Superman acknowledges consolingly, and he flies off. Superman, realizing that life with Lois can never be he kissed Lois by mysterious means and erased her memory of their romance. She began to belittle him and boss him about as though nothing had happened.

Clark, now with his powers restored as Superman, decided to revisit the diner and confronts Rocky, who was more than willing to pick a fight with him. Much to everyone's surprise, Clark humiliates the trucker, spinning him at super speeds, eventually sliding him across the counter and sending him crashing into the pinball machine, knocking him unconscious. Clark then offers to pay the owners of the diner for the damage. With those around wondering how the stranger was able to beat the bully, Clark simply replied: "Oh, I’ve been... working out." Soon after Superman restored the American flag atop the White House and apologized to the President, assuring him that he'll never let him down again.

Re-connecting with Lana Lang

Clark retuned to Smalvile for a High School Reunion where a small romance blossomed between him and Lana Lang. During this time a computer genius named Gus Gorman exposed Kal-El to Synthetic Kryptonite at a public function, creating a dark version of Superman. Superman's costume became visibly darker during this time and he began to exhibit negative behavior culminating in a one night stand with a woman named Lorelei Ambrosia, whom he met on the Statue of Liberty. After creating a disturbance at a bar, the corrupted Superman was spotted by Lana and her son Ricky, who pleaded with Superman to become great again. As he took flight, Ricky's words echoed in his mind, reaching his buried conscience, causing him psychical pain. After landing in a Junkyard, Superman let out a primal scream and split into two beings. His true Kent persona emerged, the embodiment of Superman's remaining good qualities, engaged in an epic battle at a deserted automobile graveyard, where Clark emerged victorious and rejoined with uncorrupted Superego, restring his costume.

Later, Gorman's greatest creation, the Ultimate Computer, severely weakens Superman with a Kryptonite ray before Gorman has a change of heart and attacks his own machine. Superman prevailed and destroyed the computer. Realizing Ross Webster was was behind the whole scheme, Superman took Gus and offered him a fine job for man of his skill.

Return of Lex Luthor

Superman learns that the United States and the Soviet Union may soon engage in nuclear war, threatening the survival of the planet. Before taking action, he departs to the north pole to seek advice from the spirits of his Kryptonian ancestors at the Fortress of Solitude. Once again, they warned Kal-El that interring with human politics is forbidden. However a letter from a young boy named Jeremy changes his mind.

At a meeting of the United Nations, he tells the assembly that he is going to rid the Earth of all nuclear weapons. Over the next several days, Superman takes all the nuclear weapons, and gathers them into a gigantic net in orbit above the planet. When he has almost all the weapons, he closes the net and tosses it into the sun.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor's nephew, Lenny, helps break Luthor out of prison. The pair steal a strand of hair that Superman had donated to a museum. Luthor creates a genetic matrix from the strand of hair, and attaches it to the final American nuclear missile. After the missile is fired off into the air, Superman grabs the missile and throws it into the sun. A few moments after the missile explodes on the sun's surface, a ball of energy is discharged from the sun, which rapidly develops into a "Nuclear Man". Nuclear Man finds his way to his "father", Luthor, who establishes that while he is indeed powerful, he will completely deactivate if isolated from the sun's rays or suitably bright artificial light.

A worldwide battle soon follows between Lex's creation and the Man of Steel. While successfully saving the Statue of Liberty, Superman is injured by the radioactive nails of Nuclear Man. The Daily Planet, to Lois' disgust, blares the headline that Superman is dead. Felled by radiation sickness, Clark staggers weakly to the terrace of his apartment, where he retrieves the last remaining crystal from Krypton, which he took from the barn in Smallville at the beginning of the film.

Nuclear Man develops a crush on Lacy Warfield, daughter of the tycoon who has purchased The Daily Planet, and threatens mayhem if he is not introduced to her. Superman agrees to take Nuclear Man to Lacy. In an attempt to disable the villain, Superman lures Nuclear Man into an elevator in the building, traps Nuclear Man in it, and pulls the elevator out of the building and flies to the moon, heaving the elevator onto the ground there. Superman doesn't realize the doors have opened a crack. As the sun rises, Nuclear Man breaks out of his makeshift prison and the two resume battle on the moon's surface. At the end of the battle, Superman is driven into the ground by his nuclear-charged opponent.

Nuclear Man returns to Earth, abducting Lacy and flying her into outer space (where she, strangely enough, is unaffected by the lack of breathable atmosphere and air pressure). Meanwhile, the Man of Steel pushes the moon out of its normal orbit, casting Earth into a solar eclipse which shuts off Nuclear Man's powers. He then rescues Lacy from the arms of Nuclear Man, of whom he disposes by returning him to Earth and sealing him into the core of a nuclear power plant.

Later, in a press conference, Superman declares only partial victory in his peace campaign, stating: "There will be peace when the people of the world want it so badly, that their governments will have no choice but to give it to them."

Visit and return from Krypton

Later life

Main article: Clark Kent (Earth-96) on the Arrowverse Wiki.

Powers and abilities

Powers

Superman's superhuman abilities are powered by the energy of Earth's yellow sun. His abilities usually appear suddenly and he must learn to control them. They seem to get stronger as Clark gets older.

Kryptonian physiology: Superman's cellular structure allows him to absorb, store and metabolize the energy spectrum of yellow sun radiation to fuel all of his abilities. His cellular matrix stores solar energy and allow for the use of his powers to fade gradually when yellow solar radiation is not available instead of immediate failure.
- Super strength: Superman's strength is augmented by yellow solar radiation interacting with the greater than human density, resilience and biological efficiency of his musculature. His strength is aided by a electromagnetic field that enables him to perform physical feats that are beyond the mere application force, such as moving a mountain top without said rock crumbling under its own mass. Superman can crush coal into diamond, and even move the entire moon out of orbit and move it back into orbit again.
  - Super leaping: Superman is capable of leaping great heights and distances, even prior to developing the power of flight.
- Super senses: All of Superman's senses are heightened to superhuman levels.
  - Super vision: Superman also possesses a superior sensory arrangement of visual capabilities.
    - Electromagnetic spectrum vision: He can see into all of the EM Spectrum. Superman can see and identify radio/television and any and all broadcast/transmitted frequencies, allowing him to avoid detection through radar or satellite monitoring methods.
    - Telescopic vision: The ability to focus his vision to see something at a great distance.
    - Microscopic vision: The ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the sub-atomic level.
    - X-ray vision: The ability to see through anything except lead. Since it is passive, this ability would not generate harmful radiation in the same manner as a focused projection of hard X-rays.
    - Thermal vision: The ability of see through the heat tracks left by a living being or object.
    - Infrared vision: Superman can see with better acuity in darkness, and to a degree in total darkness.
- Super hearing: Superman's hearing is extremely acute, allowing him to hear the faintest sounds, even while he's in orbit (while sound cannot be transmitted through a vacuum, space, especially near Earth, is not a perfect vacuum and sound can be detected with high enough sensitivity). He can also hear a larger range of frequencies than humans.
- Heat vision: Superman can, as a conscious act, fire beams of intense heat at a target by looking at it. He can vary the heat and area affected.
- Flight: Superman is able to defy the forces of gravity and achieve flight. This ranges from hovering to moving in any posture, in any direction.

- Invulnerability: Superman is nigh-invulnerable to extreme energy forces. In addition, his extends this protection against toxins and diseases. His eyes have enough invulnerability to withstand a bullet without blinking.
- Super stamina: Superman is able to maintain continuous strenuous physical action for an indefinite period of time. This based on his body converting yellow solar radiation directly to energy, but is limited by physiological and psychological needs to eat, drink, and sleep.
- Super-breath: Superman is able to create hurricane force winds by exhaling air from his lungs. He can chill the air as it leaves his lungs to freeze targets. He can also reverse the process to pull large volumes of air or vapor into his lungs.
- Telekinesis: Superman exhibits a level of telekinesis, being able to slow people's fall with his sight. He can also fire blue beams out of his eyes to repair damage to structures, sometimes referred to as Masonry Vision.
- Super healing: When Superman is wounded, he heals quickly if not instantaneously.
- Vocal abilities: Superman has shown possession of various vocal abilities. Stories have shown him being capable of raising his voice to loudspeaker levels, for purposes such as delivering a message to a large crowd.
- Super hypnotism: This power enabled Superman to hypnotize anyone. He could make people forget incidents or obey his commands. This power was often used to safeguard his identity. He also has a minor form of telepathy, which he uses to erase Lois' recent memories with a kiss.
- Super speed: Superman speed is augmented by yellow solar radiation interacting with the greater than human density, resilience and biological efficiency of his musculature. This extends to perceptions and allows for feats such as catching bullets in mid flight as well as covering vast distances in little or no time.
  - Super agility
  - Super reflexes
  - Time travel: Superman can reverse the flow of time by flying around the Earth faster than the speed of light.
- Longevity: Superman can potentially live indefinitely with little to no ageing to his being, so long as he continuously retains enough yellow solar radiation in his body.
- Self-sustenance: He does not need to eat or sleep (but is still capable of doing so) and doesn't require oxygen to breathe enabling him to travel in space and underwater unprotected.
- Enhanced sense of touch: Kal-El could "read" the content of wire recordings with his fingers.
  - Photographic memory: He could learn surgery in minutes by reading the appropriate books, and re-build an exploded computer by recalling where each component was. Superman's data processing speed is equivalent to a TRS-80.
  - Super-memory:

Abilities

Basic hand-to-hand combat: In combat situations, Superman makes use of an improvised fighting style that relies on overwhelming force and speed.
Genius level intellect / Super intelligence: Superman display an unusually high level of intelligence, maintaining a high degree of control over his powers, being an experienced tactician and scientist. People from Krypton already had genius-level intellect, being a society thousands of years ahead of Earth in technology. In the presence of a yellow sun, Superman's intelligence is further enhanced, literally to super-humanoid levels, giving him super intelligence and allowing his brain to operate faster than a supercomputer.
- Journalism: Clark is one of the best reporters on the Daily Planet, rivaled only by Lois Lane.
Indomitable will: Superman has shown to have a powerful spirit, free of corruption and temptation. Having been raised by a kindly Kansas farmer and his wife, he was taught to protect life and help others. He is very optimistic and never gives up, even when things look bad.
Leadership: Superman has the ability to command respect and inspire others with his charisma, ardor, and idealism.
Expert combatant: In combat situations, Superman makes use of an improvised fighting style that relies on overwhelming force and speed.
Ventriloquism: Used to practice in high school.
Investigation: Both as a superhero and as a journalist, Superman is an expert at gathering evidence from all kinds of sources.
Intimidation:
Agriculture: Growing up on a farm, he learned a lot about agriculture.
Charisma
Limiters: Over the course of his life and acquisition of power under a yellow sun, Superman has learned how to place mental inhibitors on his own power. These "limiters" as he calls them, are used to keep his power in check so that he doesn't accidentally "flex and cause the tectonic plates to shift." Though it is known that he has placed several of these limiters within his own mind, it is unknown how many and just how powerful he would be if he decided to release them all. To him, they are the barriers that allow him to be human enough to live a normal life, and he only ever releases one of them when fighting a particularly powerful opponent or performing a predominately difficult task. When he punches a normal human, his punch is considerably pulled, otherwise they could be knocked clear to another planet, and die instantly.

Weakness

Superman is vulnerable to Kryptonite, radioactive remnants of his home planet, Krypton. The known variations of kryptonite affect him in different ways. Superman can protect himself from kryptonite radiation using lead. Removal of the substance reverses the effects.

Kryptonian physiology: Superman possesses the same potential weaknesses as an average Kryptonian. These include:
- Kryptonite: Although Superman is invulnerable to nearly everything, under the yellow Sun, Kryptonite is the one substance that can destroy him.
  - Green kryptonite: Green K renders Superman physically weak and painfully ill.
  - Red kryptonite: Red K has effects on Superman that are unpredictable.
- Red solar radiation: Natural in Krypton's planetary system, red solar radiation replaces the higher-yield yellow solar energy in Superman's cells, robbing him of the fuel for his powers.
- Lead: Although the element lead is the one substance that blocks kryptonite radiation (one of Superman's weaknesses), it is also the one substance through which Superman cannot see with his X-ray vision.
- Solar energy dependency: Superman's abilities will eventually weaken without replenishing his energy reserves with normal (yellow) sun radiation, especially if he doesn't have any direct contact with yellow sunlight. If he engages in strenuous physical activity for a large amount of time without continuous solar energy absorption, he will expend his stored solar energy and will continue to be weakened until he either dies or replenishes his solar "fuel".

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Superman suits: Originally just the normal Kryptonian cloth that infant Kal-El was swaddled with during his flight to Earth, Superman's costume becomes just as invulnerable as he himself is, if not actually more so, under the radiation of a yellow sun. Evidence of the possibility that Superman's costume becomes more durable than himself on Earth includes the fact that fights with various enemies capable of physically harming Superman still fail to tear or rip his costume. As a result, Superman's costume provides some measure of protection even when Superman is stripped of his superpowers, as it can resist the effects of drastic temperature change and physical abuse, though this says nothing about the ability or lack thereof of its wearer to sustain this type of damage under circumstances of powerlessness. Superman's costume is also known to be able to shield its wearer (or anything wrapped in its cape) from the effects of friction.
- Superman can also create enlarged cellophane versions of the S-insignia on the costume and throw them at opponents to trap them like a net.
Kryptonian Lenses: Clark Kent can use glasses with lenses from his Kryptonian spaceship to project his heat vision without melting them.
Supercomputer: Superman's highly advanced supercomputer, located in the Fortress of Solitude.

Personality

Most of Superman's personality traits are the direct result of his modest farm upbringing. Being very close to both of his parents, Superman was respectful, obedient and highly valued their approval. Raised with a strong moral background, he does not like invasions of privacy, thinks villains should be punished and wants things to be fair. Superman is also hard-working and usually does not place much value in material possessions.