Conner Kent

Match A1: 2006 - 2007
Match A1 came into this world in an unusual manner. He wasn't born. He was created in a lab, Cadmus Labs to be exact. As best we can figure, Match A1 is a clone of Superman, created with the use of tissue and blood samples after a battle between the JLA and the spawn of Trigon during the summer of 2006 in Fawcett City. We suspect that the collected samples had lost much of their genetic integrity in the cloning process and so a human donor was found to help "fill-in" the gaps in the genetic coding. The donor seems to be Lex Luthor, though we are not certain how Cadmus came in possession of Luthor's DNA.

Cadmus originally intended this clone to be part of a plan to eliminate Superman, and replace him. The clone's growth was hastened through genetic tampering and his mind subjected to telepathic training with an emphasis on combat expertise and behavioral programming.

In a matter of months, Match A1 was grown to the biological maturity of a teenage boy at the end of puberty and was scheduled for field testing, but a suspicious fire at Cadmus Labs on July 3rd, 2007 resulted in Match A1's discovery by Aqualad, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash. To deal with these meddling kids, the Cadmus director triggered the release of this very confused Kryptonian clone, whose built-in aggression kicked in, causing him to attack the young heroes.

Unprepared to fight a Kryptonian, Match A1 nearly defeated the first three members of Young Justice, before Aqualad was able to use his limited telepathic ability to establish enough contact with the raging clone to distract him and allow Wonder Girl a chance to bind him with her indestructible lasso. When he still wouldn't calm down, Wonder Girl subdued him with an electrical shock that could have powered the Eastern seaboard.

Superboy: 2007 - 2008
Taken from Cadmus Labs as a "souvenir" by Kid Flash, Match A1 was put on ice using Kara's old spaceship until the team's newest member, M'gann M'orzz could telepathically remove enough of Cadmus Labs' mental programming to allow the clone to function. Once removed from his stasis, the clone was given a name by M'gann, who had chose to refer to him as Conner and given the moniker "Superboy" by Kid Flash.

Upon joining the misfit team called "Young Justice", Conner struggled to find his place in the team. His latent aggression made him a bit of a jerk and only M'gann seemed to be protected from his snide remarks. Still, he was a welcome addition to the team, even though he was mostly kept benched for the first year. At high school, Conner decided to work out his aggression as a football player. M'gann kept his rage in check by joining the cheerleading team and posing as his girlfriend. Though it was originally an act, the romance soon became very real.

Superboy: 2008 - 2014
He developed a close bond with several teammates, particularly those who joined the team at nearly the same time as him: Robin (Tim Drake), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), and Miss Martian. For his freshman year of high school (his first actual experience with school), Conner attended Happy Harbor High School as “Conner Jones” and was somewhat cavalier in the use of his powers at school, and became something of a local legend when he joined the school’s football team. He even dated the school’s head cheerleader, Megan Morse. But when a highlight reel of Conner’s amazing freshman season made its way to the press, Clark Kent came to Happy Harbor to write a story…

Clark persuaded Conner to feign an injury in a car accident to take him out of the spotlight and in exchange, Superman held a press conference to introduce the world to his new sidekick, Superboy. He was a quick hit with the press and when Superman disappeared a couple of months later due to being kidnapped by the alien bounty hunter Lobo, Superboy stepped up and did a fine job as Metropolis’ guardian (even if his “tactile telekinetic” powers didn’t match up to pure-blooded Kryptonian powers). In so doing, Superboy proved he was more than mere sidekick.

This is how it was for Conner for a long while. He spent his school days in Smallville, keeping Martha company and helping her with the Kent farm, and spending his summers in Happy Harbor, working as a member of Titans full-time. Conner was a young, happy-go-lucky hero back in those days. And then his world fell apart.

Shortly after graduating high school, Conner’s dormant Kryptonian powers began to emerge. Investigating the reason for such at the remains of Cadmus Labs, Tim discovered the part Lex Luthor played in Conner’s genetic code. Conner went a bit mental at this information. He broke off his relationship with M'gann, distanced himself from the Kents, and moved to Hawaii.

Superboy: 2014 - Present
While in self-imposed exile to Hawaii, Conner did some soul searching and self-discovery. He also apparently spent a lot of time in the sun, because he was solar-powered in a way that only Kryptonians can. That’s right, sometime between hitting on bikini-clad beach bodies and wrestling with King Shark, Conner found the time to master his nascent Kryptonian powers.

As he did so, his “tactile telekinesis” became less potent until it disappeared altogether, but Conner wasn’t complaining because he was a six year old Kryptonian clone with the mind of a twenty-one year old human male who just got X-Ray vision and a physiology that seemed to be allergic to body fat and retaining water. Seriously, the Kents might be richer that the Waynes if Clark and Conner ever decided to sell calendars… Cass and I once went on a Hawaiian cruise and “bumped” into Conner down there (it may have been a favor from a certain mild-mannered friend), and I saw Conner sauntering out from the beach and talk about abs of steel! Wait, where was I going with this?

So, anyway, after Tim returned from his undercover antics with the League of Assassins, he decided to get his teen buddies back together to bring back “the Team”. First stop: Bring his best friend back. Conner actually came back without much urging, I’m told, after he learned that Tim had not actually become Ra’s al Ghul’s heir apparent. However, Conner had changed. He was not longer all smiles and laughs, he was mad as hell and had really simplified his costume. I guess it was supposed to be edgier?

After working on his rage issues as people like us do best (by kicking bad guys’ teeth in), Conner did seem to lighten up a bit; Though he is still upset with M'gann for some reason. Even I have not been able to figure out why that is and Tim is unwilling to talk gossip about the personal lives of “his” team. That twerp…

Well, it’s a good thing Donna does gossip, as I have learned through her that Conner has recently started dating her successor, Cassandra Sandsmark. Talk about a power couple!

Supplemental Reports

 * (Submitted by Valkyrie) When he was younger, Conner had the psionic powers we suspect are common to all human-Kryptonian hybrids during adolescence. These include tactile-telekinesis and clairaudience. These began to shift to the more usual Kryptonian abilities shortly after his return from Hawaii - possibly as a result of all the extra sunlight?
 * (Submitted by Cyborg) Though Conner seems to prefer sharing his feelings with his pet wolf, Krypto, he will open up to others, particularly Tim and Cassie. Conner has a number of mild fears and anxieties, including an intense hatred for monkeys (great apes too), clowns, people in lab coats, cameras, and bakers (of all things).
 * (Submitted by Jester) Though he was studying Criminal Justice at Metropolis University, Conner decided to drop out and move to Happy Harbor to spend more time with the Team (and be closer to Cassie). He seems to have Wally to do the same and the two recently opened an auto repair shop together.

Resources

 * Kryptonian-Human Hybrid Physiology: Superboy'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. Superboy'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.
 * Enhanced Physicality:
 * Enhanced Strength: The exact limits of Superboy's strength are unknown, but he has demonstrated the capacity to lift nearly 43 tons with exertion, thereby categorizing his strength in the Class 6 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, Superboy can still move at speeds on par with a novice Speedster. Superboy'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 7 (approximately 5,400 MPH).
 * Enhanced Stamina: Superboy has the ability to maintain continuous physical actions for an undefined period. Conner 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.
 * Superhuman Senses: All of Superboy's senses are heightened to superhuman levels.
 * Hearing: Superboy 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, Superboy 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. Superboy 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.
 * 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.
 * Ocular Heat Vision: Superboy 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. As Conner still struggles to master this ability, he tends to rely on a fairly juvenile trick of imagining his female teammates naked as he accidentally discovered this ability is easier to activate while aroused.
 * Flight: Superboy is capable of defying gravity and flying at supersonic speeds (maximum speed: 5,400 MPH) in a planetary atmosphere and possibly faster while in space.
 * Intense Lung Capacity: Superboy 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.
 * Invulnerability: His body is nigh-invulnerable due to his superhumanly dense cellular and anatomical structure as well as his radiating bio-electrical aura. Superboy, 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. Superboy utilizes his aura by expanding it around a person(s) or object(s) to enable their structural stability when lifting or traveling with them. Superboy's invulnerability has been in constant flux dependent on his levels of solar absorption.
 * 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 Superboy'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 Superboy 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 Kon-El to recharge in order to live and continue using his powers.
 * Polyglot: Superboy can understand and speak many languages outside of English. He is at least fluent in Spanish, Atlantean, French, Korean, Arabic and Russian, among other languages. These languages were programmed in him by Cadmus and while M'gann has excised a great deal of their programming from his mind, the linguistics were retained after exhaustive mental probes were conducted to be certain no hidden programming lay in the midst of these processes.

Weaknesses

 * Lead: Superboy 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 Superboy to lose his powers with a large amount of exposure. Exposure to yellow sunlight will reverse this effect.
 * Respiration: Even Kryptonians need to breathe.
 * High-Pitched Noises: Because of his super hearing, Superboy's ears are extra-sensitive to extreme noises.
 * Psionics: Superboy's mind is vulnerable to psionic effects. Due to Cadmus Programming, his mind is unable to support the installation of psionic barriers of any kind, making him extraordinary susceptible to such manipulation.
 * Vulnerability to Magic: Superboy'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. Superboy's vulnerability to magic varies depending upon the special effects of the magic. Magic can have powerful and unpredictable effects on Superboy and his magical enemies have often proven to be the most dangerous.
 * Vulnerability to Ki: Because of Superboy'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 Superboy and become fatal.
 * Weakened by 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. Though, it should be noted, as a half-Kryptonian, Conner is more resistant to most Kryptonite's effect on him and some kinds affect him in different ways than a normal, full-blooded Kryptonian.

Trivia

 * He is very camera shy in recent years, likely afraid someone will recognize his resemblance to Lex Luthor.
 * Conner is an outfit repeater. His closet consists of mostly the same basic outfit.
 * Conner is a closet roleplaying enthusiast. Tim, Steph, Wally, and Marvin have a long-running fantasy campaign they indulge in every couple of weeks and Conner tags along with Cassie who was recruited sometime ago. Conner acts like he only plays to be nice, but according to his internet history Conner spends ample time visiting forums concerning this hobby.
 * Conner does not like surprises and prefers not to celebrate holidays or birthdays.
 * Ever wonder why a Kryptonian's glasses make such an effective disguise? Well, because Conner lacks the character performance abilities needed to help differentiate his civilian and heroic identities, Cassie gave him the glasses he wears now. They are enchanted by Hephaestus and give off a mild psychic impulse that helps prevent people unfamiliar with Conner from making the connection between his two identities.
 * Conner's favorite food is Martha Kent's rhubarb pie.
 * As much as he professed to only like heavy metal, Tim tells Oracle that Conner can't help but tap his toe and sing under his breath to Genesis and Phil Collins.
 * Conner used to have a crush on Karen Starr. He was mortified to learn she was his genetic cousin. His new crush is Dinah Lance. From what Oracle gather, he's got a thing for blondes (or at least apparent blondes - as neither Karen or Dinah are natural blondes).
 * Conner has not decided on his major at Metropolis University, but he is leaning towards Criminal Justice.

Links and References

 * Appearances of Kon-El
 * Character Gallery: Kon-El