Kal-El (Earth 2)

Superman was one of the cousin of Power Girl, killed early on in Steppenwolf's invasion.

History

Origin

Kal-El was one of the last survivors of the planet Krypton, doomed by his father's Jor-El's own attempts to avert its sun's destruction. Rocketed to Earth, he was found by Jonathan and Martha Kent; growing to maturity and gaining great powers under Earth's yellow sun, he would grow to be the mighty Superman, defender of the Earth alongside the likes of Batman (his own childhood friend) and Wonder Woman in the "Ternion", themselves members of Earth 2's Wonders of the World. After over a decade of adventures, he and his wife Lois Lane found and raised his cousin Kara as if she was their daughter. She eventually adopted the identity of Supergirl, although later on her time with her friend Helena Wayne on Prime Earth would have her become Power Girl.

In spite of warnings throughout the years--the New God of Apokolips Intri attempting to abduct him numerous times throughout his life for her lord Darkseid, and a meeting along with Batman with their counterparts from Earth 0 arranged by the chaos-bringer Kaiyo that would be wiped from the minds of all involved--when Steppenwolf erected Boom Towers across the world in order to invade it with his Parademons, even in Metropolis, Superman was completely unprepared for a threat of such a scale. In one of the Wonder's battles against Apokolips, Terrence Sloan used opal Kryptonite on Superman causing him to become insane, in order to distract Superman from his plans. As Superman attacked Wonder Woman, Terry continued and succeeded with his plans of destroying several places under Darkseid's Anti-Life Equation, despite Batman's intervention. The opal Kryptonite self destructed as programmed by Terry.

As the war raged on, Lois died and Metropolis fell; during their final day, Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman attacked the Metropolis tower in an effort to destroy them all in a chain reaction. Superman provided the distraction but was completely overwhelmed and unfocused by the horde of demons attacking his dead city. The Parademons restrained him and he was forced to watch as Steppenwolf killed his friend, while he was restrained and his physiology exploited to cause him to be apparently killed with an enormous burst of solar energy.

Rise of Brutaal

At some point in time, Darkseid managed to manufacture a clone of Kal-El in almost every facet. This clone had all of Kal's memories, including his upbringing with the Kents. This clone believed, and was able to convince the world, that he was the Superman they had known and that he had been brainwashed by Darkseid.

When the clone clashed with Val-Zod, now wearing the symbol of the House of El as the new Superman, Val realized that something ws wrong with 'Superman'. He realized the scars around Superman's eyes are not scars, but cracks in his skin. He cracked the skin to reveal a broken, haphazard being with an inverted House of El symbol, which Lois destroyed what little remained of as it decayed into dust.

World's End

Superman himself was preserved and somehow revived by DeSaad, who was using him as genetic source for Kryptonian clones for five years on his labyrinth^[1] until he was found and rescued by the new Wonders^[2] who released him and took him to safety.^[1]

He told them that the extraction of DNA from his body after so many years corrupted him, leaving him powerless. He told Lois that they might still have hope when they were confronted by DeSaad^[3] who unleashed the Red's Avatar upon them.^[4]

Telling Batman that his blood is poison to the clones and the entire cloning facility, he asked him to distract them^[5] while he connected himself to the entire labyrinth network which destroyed the entire place, sacrificing himself.^[6]

His sacrifice placed an end to the Parademon factories and released the Red's Avatar from DeSaad's control which ceased the massive abductions and the Parademon hordes, saving untold millions across the planet. He was finally buried by his cousin and successor as Superman in the shade of a tree on a peaceful hill overlooking a mountain, the final resting place of Earth's champion: the symbol from his uniform would from then on be worn by Kara in remembrance.^[7]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Kryptonian Physiology: Under the effects of a "yellow" sun, Kal-El possesses the same potential powers as an average Kryptonian. These include:
  • Solar Energy Absorption: Under optimal conditions, this is the main source of Kal-El's super powers as they are contingent upon exposure to solar radiation from a yellow sun star system. His biological make up includes a number of organs which lack analogues in humans and whose functions are unknown. It is believed that between one or more of these and his bio-cellular matrix, "yellow" solar energy is stored for later use. This allows for the use of these powers to fade when yellow solar radiation is not available instead of immediate failure.
  • Heat Vision: Kal-El 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.
  • Super-Hearing: Kal-El's hearing is sensitive enough to hear any sound at any volume or pitch. With skill and concentration, he can block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source or frequency.
  • Enhanced Vision: Kal-El's vision processes the entire electromagnetic spectrum as well as allowing vast control over selective perception and focus.
    This umbrella ability includes the following:
    • Electromagnetic Spectrum Vision: Kal-El can see well into most of the electromagnetic spectrum. He can see and identify radio and television signals as well as all other broadcast or transmitted frequencies. Using this ability, he can avoid detection by radar or satellite monitoring methods. This also allows him to see the aura generated by living thing.
    • Telescopic Vision: This is the ability to see something at a great distance, without violating the laws of physics. Though limited, the exact extent of the ability is undetermined. In function, it is similar to the zoom lens on a camera.
    • X-Ray Vision: This is the ability to see through any volume of matter except lead. Kal-Els can see things behind a solid, opaque object as if it were not there. He can focus this ability to "peel back" layers of an object, allowing hidden image or inner workings to be observed. The exact type of energy perceived—such as x-rays, cosmic rays, or some other energy invisible to normal humans—is unclear. This ability perceives an ambient energy source though, it does not involve the eye projecting a concentrated, possibly toxic, beam to be reflected back from objects.
    • Microscopic Vision: This is the ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the atomic level.
    • Infrared Vision: Kal-El can see with better acuity in darkness, and to a degree in total darkness.
  • Flight: Kal-El is able to manipulate graviton particles to defy the forces of gravity and achieve flight. This ranges from hovering to moving in any posture, in any direction.
  • Invulnerability: Due to the interaction of his dense molecular structure and supercharged bio-electric aura, Kal-El is nigh-invulnerable to extreme energy forces. In addition, his extends this protection against toxins and diseases.
    • Enhanced Immunity
  • Superhuman Stamina: Kal-El 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.
  • Superhuman Strength: Kal-El'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 more an act of conscious will on energy fields than actual physical strength. It is this act of conscious will 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.
  • Superhuman Speed: Kal-El is able to move at incredible speed by sheer force of will. This extends to his perceptions and allows for feats such as catching bullets in mid-flight as well as covering vast distances in little or no time.
    This also confers:
    • Superhuman Agility
    • Superhuman Reflexes
  • Super-Breath: Kal-El 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.
  • Longevity: Kal-El can live longer than regular humans, remaining at his prime as long as he was under the exposure of the "yellow" sun.

Having spent longer under the yellow sun than his Prime Earth counterpart, this Superman discovered a greater breadth to his abilities prior to his death, including by the age of 29 a further extension of his ocular capabilities that allowed him to reconstruct damaged human cells.^[8] Even the modern incarnation of the Prime Earth Superman noted, upon seeing his double shortly before the latters' death, that the Superman of Earth 2 was tremendously faster.^[9]

Weaknesses

• Kryptonian Physiology: Under the effects of a "yellow" sun, Kal-El possesses the same potential weaknesses as an average Kryptonian. These include:
  • Vulnerability to Kryptonite
  • Vulnerability to Magic

Related

• 32 Appearances of Kal-El (Earth 2)
• 15 Images featuring Kal-El (Earth 2)
• 3 Quotations by or about Kal-El (Earth 2)
• Character Gallery: Kal-El (Earth 2)

Footnotes

Superman Family member This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Superman, and a member of the Superman Family. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Superman Family members" category.

Justice Society of America member This character is or was a primary member of the Justice Society of America in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice Society of America members" category.