Clark Kent

Kal-El: 1976 - 1994
Kal-El was born on Krypton in Sector 2813. As a member of the Kryptonian Noble House of El, Kal-El lived a life of luxury under their red sun of Rao. Most unpleasant labor was carried out by mechanical servants. Kal-El’s father, Jor-El was a gifted engineer and a scientist of the Guild of Thought; and his mother, Lara Lor-Van, was the Guild of Reason's chosen representative to the High Council of Krypton.

The House of El were not among the ignorant nobles of Krypton. Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van were aware of the cost of these luxuries. They foresaw the destruction of their planet coming. When attempts to stop the impending doom were halted, they took measures to guarantee that the House of El would not perish. Minutes before the machines of Krypton turned against their masters under the command of the A.I. known as Vril-Dox, Lara Lor-Van loaded her young son onto a starship designed by her husband and sent him off into space, heading toward Earth.

Clark Kent: 1978 - 1991
In the midst of the meteor shower, Kal-El crash-landed in Smallville, Kansas, where he was found by an honest couple, the Kents. Unable to produce their own children, Farmer Jonathan and wife Martha chose to take this boy in and protect him. They name him Clark and took steps to make it appear they had adopted the boy.

As Clark grew up under the yellow sun of Earth, his alien physiology reacted and gave him remarkable strength, speed, and a variety of other abilities. Jonathan instilled Clark with an honest work ethic and sense of justice; while Martha urged Clark not to use his powers openly, as she feared exposing his secret would endanger him.

Clark Kent: 1991 - 1994
As a teen, Clark had a literal run-in with Lex Luthor (Lex Luthor hit Clark with his car). After saving Lex’s life, the two became friends, with Lex rubbing off on Clark and making him decide it was important to be his own man. Armed with this confidence, Clark decided to find a way to use his powers to help people, while keeping his powers a secret.

Clark Kent joined forces with two of his schoolmates: sexy and brainy Chloe Sullivan and decent guy Pete Ross to solve crimes in Smallville. This trio also conducted “Wall of Weird” research which focused on the prevalence of so-called “meteor freaks” in and around Smallville. The trio also studied the rising metahuman phenomenon. During these pursuits, CLark's secret was discovered by Pete and I.

Clark really wanted to share his secret with Lex as well, but his parents insisted that Lex was too risky. Clark kept his secret from Lex but Lex knew something was off. This added an element of tension to the two’s friendship, that would eventually cause their relationship to sour.

Clark Kent: 1994 - 2000
All of the effort which Clark Kent, Chloe Sullivan, and Pete Ross put into their high school paper "The Torch" paid off in a big way as all three got scholarships to Midwestern University. It was here at Midwestern's journalism program that Clark Kent would first meet Lois Lane. Interestingly, Clark and Lois did not get along at first. In no time at all the two developed a rivalry. While it may have started over something so trivial as feeling each other's personal relationship to Chloe threatened their own social standing with Miss Sullivan, it only became more intense with every journalism class they shared and every test score result sheet that was posted in the campus halls. Even carrying it beyond college to their first year at the Daily Planet as part of a competitive internship.

Daily Planet editor Perry White believed that the conflict between Lois and Clark was a good thing, pushing each to continually improve. Perry got no small amount of joy playing them off each other. At the end of their internship, when it was down to just Lois and Clark, Perry decided to send his two all-star interns to Gotham City, where he challenged them to write a report on Gotham's vigilante: the so-called "Bat".

While Lois aimed her report at Batman's effect on criminals and the crime rate, Clark aimed for something more ambitious: he aimed to expose the caped crusader as nothing more than a violent vigilante that did more harm than good. Of course, it didn't take Batman long to figure out this was Clark's goal after I tipped him off to the young out-of-town reporters hounding my father for an interview and snooping around GCPD crime scenes. While Bruce Wayne would handle Lois, it was left to the Batman to confront Clark. It was definitely one of Batman's worst ideas ever, but I suppose it paid off in the long run. When Batman showed up to spook Clark Kent in his hotel room, Clark used his x-ray vision to identify the vigilante. Clark then declared that he knew Batman was Bruce Wayne and planned to tell the world about it. This enraged Bruce who promptly punched Clark which may have broke Clark's glasses, but it also broke Bruce's hand (and pride), requiring Batman to make a quick escape back to the drawing board.

Two days later, Clark showed up to speak with what he thought were informants with dirt on Bruce Wayne (actually Dick and I in disguise). But Dick and I didn't show up at the meeting in a Bristol cemetery, but Bruce and Alfred did. After a soul-barring discussion, Clark decided to give Bruce a pass. When Bruce asked Clark what changed his mind, Clark looked at the tombstones of Bruce's parents and shrugged before saying "Our moms share the same name," and walked away. Of course, that was a lie. The truth was Bruce had abilities far surpassing the average man and chose to use them to become a symbol in hopes of making change, that spoke to Clark. So Clark wrote a new report. It was good, but fell short of the hype Clark had built up. Clark lost and Perry gave Lois the job.

Superman: 2000 - 2006
Having failed to land a job at the Daily Planet after his post-college internship, Clark returned home to discuss his plans with his parents. It would be the last time Clark and Jonathan Kent would speak as Jonathan Kent had a fatal heart attack shortly after giving Clark his blessing to carve his own path. After the funeral, Martha Kent gave Clark a mysterious object of alien origin. It was the key to the ship that Clark had come to Earth in, stored in the root cellar of the Kent Family Farm.

Finally able to activate his starship, Clark Kent did so. Clark was able to fumble through the controls enough to find out two other Kryptonian vessels were on Earth: one in the far northern edges of the Canadian wilderness and the other in the depths of the Pacific. Clark delayed his return to Metropolis and headed into the cold. What Clark found was an ancient colony ship of similar design as the one in the Kent's root cellar. In Clark's new Fortress of Solitude were a variety of luxuries, including robot servants and a computer that had received updates from Krypton up until its destruction. The robotic steward Kelex analyzed Clark and identified him as "Kal-El, son of Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van" and even made Clark a suit which proudly displayed the Sigil of El on the chest. Kelex then helped Clark find the ship in the Pacific and rescue its occupant who turned out to be Clark's cryogenically frozen cousin Kara Zor-El. While Kara recovered, learned of Earth, and improved the ancient ship's systems, Clark needed to return to Metropolis.

Shortly after getting settled, Clark heard of a plane going down in the Delaware Bay and decided it was time show off his own caped costume. Flying to the rescue, Clark was able to slow the plane's descent enough to allow the pilot to land on the water and then Clark stuck around to help the passengers get to safety. Clark was surprised to see Lois among the passengers, but was even more startled when she didn't seem to recognize him. So flummoxed by this, Clark agreed to give Lois an interview (even though he had planned to give Chloe the exclusive) and in this interview, Clark came up with the name "Superman", inspired by one of his favorite songs but also some of Jonathan Kent's final words to Clark. And when the story was published, Superman fever was born.

The next morning, Clark woke up to find Bruce Wayne delivering a copy of the Daily Planet and telling Clark that they needed to talk. So was born the Super Friends over breakfast. When he was not adventuring with Bruce and the gang, Clark became an established reporter and Perry White decided to rehire Clark and had him share his office with Lois, who was assigned the "Superman Beat". It took Lois a while, but eventually she figured out Clark and Superman were one and the same.

At the end of 2003, Clark and the Super Friends were called in to thwart an alien invasion as Brainiac tracked down the reactivated Fortress. From the aftermath of this battle, the Justice League of America were born and Clark and Lois were married.

Superman: 2006 - Present
Missing Data

Supplemental Reports

 * (Submitted by Cypher) Something Clark told me was that he doesn't think of himself when he hears "Superman." No, Clark thinks of Jonathan Kent and this reminds him to always be the best he can be. How awesome is that?
 * (Submitted by Valkyrie) I know for a fact that Clark knows the lyrics to every Phil Collins song by heart. That needs to be included in there. It speaks to his greatest strength: incredible taste in music!
 * (Submitted by Mr_Roboto37) Clark's favorite foods are Hot Dogs, Beef Bourguignon, his mom's Rhubarb Pie, and the pretzels from the vendor two blocks down from the Daily Planet (but only with mustard).

Powers

 * Kryptonian Physiology: Superman's cellular structure is much more dense, resilient, and biologically more effective than human tissue. He does not possess superhuman strength levels despite his enhanced cellular ability without his cellular structure charged with yellow solar energy. Without such charging, his physical capabilities are identical to a human of his height and weight who often engages in physical exercise. As an alien, he possesses several organs whose functions are not yet disclosed or understood but are believed to be part of or the source of his biomatrix force field and reclamation aura. Superman's body also stores energy actively within his bio-cellular matrix as an energy pattern that is linked to his body's electromagnetic field. This energy powers most of his electromagnetic capabilities such as flight, heat vision and other "sight"-based abilities while supplementing his physical abilities to superhuman levels.
 * Solar Radiation Absorption: As a Kryptonian, his cells function like a super battery, hyper metabolizing specific wavelengths of radiation as fuel to enable superhuman abilities. Different wavelengths of radiation have different effects on Superman's physiology and well being, but his cells cannot absorb or utilize all types of radiation. The wavelength of his home solar system's red sun enables his body to function at a nearly identical level of a healthy human; while Earth's solar radiation in its filtered state through the Earth's atmosphere acts as fuel to enable all of his powers. Every time Superman uses any of his superhuman abilities, his body utilizes absorbed sunlight and he is capable of utilizing any of them to various degrees through controlled circumstances. The constant exposure to proven "healthy" radiation sources is not required for him to live and utilize his powers, but prolonged periods without exposure to them and/or utilizing his powers will require Kal-El to recharge in order to live and continue using his powers.
 * Enhanced Strength: The exact limits of Superman's strength are unknown, but he has demonstrated the capacity to lift nearly 400 metric tons with exertion, thereby categorizing his strength in the Class 8 Enhanced Strength Threshold as cataloged by ARGUS, making him one of the strongest beings on Earth. Different periods and intensities of exposure to Earth's solar radiation can cause his strength to fluctuate over time.
 * Enhanced Speed: He is capable of moving, reacting, running and flying at superhuman speeds. While not as fast as the Flash or other experienced Speedsters, Superman can still move at speeds on par with a novice Speedster. Superman's running speed has been calculated to be around 4,000 MPH (Mach 5) which is also his cruising speed at flying. His maximum flying speed is Mach 9 (approximately 7,000 MPH).
 * Enhanced Stamina: Superman has the ability to maintain continuous physical actions for an undefined period. Clark is shown to have unlimited stamina if he is consistently exposed to yellow sunlight, though he still prefers to sleep like a normal human as his mind can suffer the effects of sleep deprivation.
 * Flight: Superman is capable of defying gravity and flying at supersonic speeds (maximum speed: 7,000 MPH) in a planetary atmosphere and possibly faster while in space.
 * Ocular Heat Emission (Heat Vision): Superman can fire beams of intense heat from his eyes. These beams can be made invisible, allowing him to work undetected, but when fired at full-strength the effect is displayed as an intense red burst from his ocular cavities.
 * Invulnerability: His body is nigh-invulnerable due to his superhumanly dense cellular and anatomical structure as well as his radiating bio-electrical aura. Superman, under some circumstances, is resistant or immune to different forms and levels of lacerations, blunt force trauma, energy-based assaults, falls from great heights, explosions, the cold void of space, toxins and all known diseases on Earth. His supercharged bio-electric "aura" acts as an invisible "force field" radiating within a few millimeters from his skin. He can willfully utilize his aura strengthening its power to a greater degree to provide an additional defense against certain levels of physical and energy attacks for a considerably short period of time, but doing so can endanger him should the attempted feat prove inefficient for any reason. Superman utilizes his aura by expanding it around a person(s) or object(s) to enable their structural stability when lifting or traveling with them. Superman's invulnerability has been in constant flux dependent on his levels of solar absorption.
 * Super-Breath: Superman can create hurricane force winds by blowing, and also chill his breath to freeze a target. He can also breathe in large amounts of air to dispel clouds of gas by exhaling it.
 * Intense Lung Capacity


 * Superhuman Senses: All of Superman's senses are heightened to superhuman levels.
 * Hearing: Superman has the ability to expand his hearing range, giving him the ability to hear sounds before the sound waves actually reach him. This also gives him incredible hearing at extreme variances of sound and pitch frequency, allowing him to pick up noises from across the globe. He has shown enough control to block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source/frequency.
 * Smell: On various occasions, Superman has demonstrated that his sense of smell is significantly enhanced to the point he can smell odors from up to a mile away.
 * 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, without violating the laws of physics.
 * Microscopic Vision: The ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the sub atomic level.
 * Ocular X-Ray Emission (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 to see through the heat tracks left by a living being or object.

Abilities

 * Journalism: Clark is one of the best reporters on the Daily Planet payroll, bested only by his wife Lois Lane... though Clark is much better at spelling and grammar.
 * Leadership: Superman has proven many times over his ability to command respect and inspire others with his charisma, ardor, and idealism. He often serves as the primus inter pares of the Justice League.
 * Belief in a Better Reality.
 * Inspiring Beacon of Hope.
 * Investigator
 * Writer

Weaknesses

 * Vulnerability to Magic: Superman's biomatrix is his most powerful asset, but the strength of this field is also its greatest weakness. Its permeability to certain wavelengths makes him vulnerable to certain radiations, particularly magical energies whose chaotic electromagnetic or extra dimensional signatures disrupt this force field. Superman's vulnerability to magic varies depending upon the special effects of the magic. Magic can have powerful and unpredictable effects on Superman and his magical enemies have often proven to be the most dangerous.
 * Vulnerability to Chi: Because of Superman's solar based powers, planetary based esoteric and vital forces could have an opposite effect on him. Concentrated doses of such energies could severely cripple Superman and become fatal.
 * Vulnerability to Kryptonite: Since the destruction of Krypton, its remains (rendered radioactive by the explosion) have been spreading throughout the universe as Kryptonite, a crystalline substance whose specific radioactive wavelength is lethal to Kryptonians. The most common form of Kryptonite is Green Kryptonite, and its effect is directly poisonous to him.
 * Lead: Superman cannot see through lead with his x-ray vision powers.
 * Solar Energy Dependency: His 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. When exposed to the same red solar radiation as Krypton's red sun Rao, it causes Superman to lose his powers with a large amount of exposure. Exposure to yellow sunlight will reverse this effect.
 * High-Pitched Noises: Because of his super hearing, Superman's ears are extra-sensitive to extreme noises.
 * Psionics: Superman's mind is vulnerable to psionic effects, even though he has undergone training in telepathic defense and had mental blocks installed by J'onn J'onzz to protect his identity and secrets, he still remains susceptible to telepathic coercion by powerful telepaths and mind controllers.
 * Respiration: Even Kryptonians need to breathe.

Trivia

 * The five guilds in Krypton are:
 * The Guild of Thought (Everything from scientists to engineers)
 * The Guild of Reason (Basically the criminal justice system and lawmakers)
 * The Guild of War (The military)
 * The Guild of Passion (Artists)
 * The Guild of Labor (All the other jobs that required a sentient mind to perform)
 * Clark's actual birthday is unknown. He was about two when he landed on Earth, so Jonathan and Martha Kent made that his birthday and said he was two years old. The date he arrived on Earth was December 15th, 1976.
 * He has a bachelor's degree in journalism.
 * Clark Kent's favorite musical artist is Phil Collins. Rumor has it Clark got the idea of taking the name "Superman" from a line in Genesis' song "Land of Confusion". He also quotes lyrics from his songs during interviews. He received his first Phil Collins record from Lana Lang.
 * Clark's favorite meals include Hot Dogs, Beef Bourguignon, and Rhubarb Pie. He also likes the pretzels with mustard from the pretzel vendor two blocks down from the Daily Planet.
 * In addition to his career as a journalist, Clark has written two best-selling novels "The Janus Contract" and "Under a Yellow Sun". The Janus Contract an espionage thriller. Under the Yellow Sun was about a journalist and his day-to-day frustrations with the job.
 * Clark's favorite book is "To Kill a Mockingbird".
 * He was introduced to Lois by Chloe.
 * His archenemy is Brainiac.
 * He is the eighth member of his family to bear the name Kal-El.

Links and References

 * Appearances of Clark Kent
 * Character Gallery: Clark Kent