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Superman (Henry Cavill)
Henry Cavill Superman Black Adam BA
Debut Man of Steel
Portrayed by Henry Cavill
Statistics
AKA Kal-El
Classification Kryptonian
Abilities Kryptonian Powers

Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman is a protector of Earth and hero of the city of Metropolis. He is a being of immense power, strength and invulnerability who uses his powers to protect and save others. He was born Kal-El on the planet Krypton, as the son of scientists Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. When his parents realized that their planet was doomed, they sent Kal-El to Earth, where he would be found by Jonathan and Martha Kent and given the name Clark Kent. When he grew up, Clark discovered he had superhuman powers and decided to use them for good.

He is a central character in the DC Extended Universe franchise, a shared cinematic universe of interconnected films centered on the DC characters. He is portrayed by Henry Cavill in Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the theatrical and director's cut of Justice League. He also makes an appearance in SHAZAM! (2019) played by Ryan Handley, albeit only being shown from the shoulders down.

Biography[]

Man of Steel[]

Early Life[]

Kal-El was born on the planet Krypton to the scientists Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van in the midst of a planet-wide civil war. Kal-El was the first Kryptonian child in centuries to be naturally conceived and birthed, a practice that was outlawed on Krypton, where all citizens were artificially created and genetically engineered to fulfill a specific predetermined role in society. When the planet was about to explode due to the council's decision to harvest the planet's core to serve their depleted energy reserves, Jor and Lara sent Kal away in a ship designed to carry him to safety and ensure his survival, sending him to Earth, where Jor-El knew of a scout ship sent prior where Kal-El would grow up with extraordinary abilities but look identical to the planet's natives. His ship landed undetected in Smallville, Kansas, where he was found by a local farming couple, Jonathan Kent and his wife Martha. They took him in and adopted him, renaming him "Clark Joseph Kent".

Clark's early years were difficult, as his Kryptonian biology reacted in extreme ways to Earth's environment. As a young child, he sometimes had difficulty breathing, and his growing strength led to accidents and physical damage.

When Clark was nine years old, his super hearing and x-ray vision first developed while he was in class and all the noises he could hear manifested at once. Overwhelmed by everything around him, he ran out of class and hid in a closet. Martha was called to school and helped Clark control his new abilities with breathing and meditation exercises.

When Clark was thirteen years old, whilst traveling on a school bus with his class, the bus blew out a tire, veered off a bridge, and fell into a river. Clark, using his super strength, pushed the bus out of the water, with Lana Lang and Pete Ross spotting him. Sometime later, Pete's mother, Helen, confronted Martha and Jonathan about the unusual events that occur around Clark, but they insisted nothing strange is going on.

Later that night, Jonathan admonished Clark for exposing himself, stressing the importance of keeping his powers secret because people are afraid of what they don't understand. When Clark pressed him for answers, tearfully wondering how and why he has these abilities, Jonathan revealed the Kryptonian space pod Clark arrived to them on, which he kept hidden in a basement under a barn on the Kent farm. Shocked and frightened by the revelation that he isn't human, Clark asked if he could still pretend to be Jonathan's son, who hugged and reassured Clark that they are still family. However, Clark must, in time, find out where he's originally come from and the reason why he was sent to Earth.

A short while later, a group of boys led by a football player named Kenny Braverman confronted Clark when he was waiting for his father while reading a book in their family's pick-up truck. Kenny dragged Clark out of the truck and pushed him to the ground to try and prove there was nothing special about the quiet young boy. Clark was visibly desperate to hit Braverman, but managed to stifle the urge by crushing the metal fence-post behind him. The group of bullies walked away when they realized Jonathan was a short distance away watching them with the owner of a shop; Pete then held his hand out to Clark to help him up. Clark admitted to his father that he wanted to hurt Kenny, which Jonathan couldn't help but agree with; ultimately though, it would've accomplished nothing in the end. Jonathan believed that one day, Clark would change the world.

When Clark was seventeen years old, he was out with Jonathan and Martha, stuck in a traffic jam on a highway. Clark and Jonathan had an argument in which Clark vocally and momentarily disowned Jonathan before a tornado swept through the region. People began evacuating their vehicles with Jonathan telling Clark to get Martha to safety. Clark realized he could help people with his abilities but Jonathan told him to to not use them and to keep them secret. As Jonathan was helping other people, Clark came to help, taking a little girl to safety. In the ensuing chaos, Jonathan died, filling Clark with guilt.

Adulthood[]

Shortly after his father's death, Clark decided to leave Smallville and try to figure out his origins. Over the next several years, he drifted aimlessly around the country, working odd jobs and helping people using his powers. At thirty-three, Clark found work on a fishing boat, soon encountering danger as an oil rig exploded. Clark took it upon himself to save the people that were caught in the fire. He then swam to shore and found a new job in a bar. While at work, Clark overheard a pair of soldiers discuss a strange object found under the ice of the Arctic. Later, Chrissy, a waitress, was getting harassed by a local to the bar, Ludlow. Clark stepped in, only to have a beer thrown in his face. Clark was tempted to hit the trucker, but Chrissy persuaded him that it was not worth it. Ludlow continued to taunt Clark as he left. Clark then proceeded to wreck Ludlow's eighteen wheeler, spearing the cab and trailer with pieces of timber.

After sneaking into the military site, Clark posed as a worker and carried Lois Lane's bags to her living quarters. Clark then went to investigate the object in the ice for himself, unaware the reporter was following him. Using his heat vision, he melted his way through the ice down to a massive alien ship. As he wandered around the enormous ship, he finds a port to which fits the Command Key, but is attacked by the ship's automated defense system. He uses the key to give himself access to the system. He explored the ship, finding four pods, three containing long dead bodies and the other completely empty.

During Clark's exploration, Lois entered the ship and accidentally activated the defense system, getting injured in the process. Clark saved her by destroying the defense robot and cauterizing her wounds with his heat vision, revealing his existence to her before she passed out. Leaving her outside in an area she would be safe and found quickly by the military, Clark returns to the ship which automatically takes off for a remote area of the Arctic.

An interactive projection of Jor-El appears and greets Clark. Jor informed him of his true name, Kal-El, his people's history on Krypton and its downfall. Jor-El shows him technology on the ship, including the Genesis Chamber, a technology Kryptonians used to procreate. Jor-El then showed Clark their family crest, the symbol of "Hope" for the Kryptonian people and Kal's unique nature as the first naturally born child of Krypton in generations, a being who can choose his own purpose. Jor-El finally gives him a suit he had the ship create for Kal-El before imploring his son to keep pushing his limits to be a symbol of hope for the people of Earth.

Clark then began testing his powers, trying many times to fly before taking off and soaring high into orbit of Earth.

Clark returned home to Smallville and greeted his mother with a hug. He explained to her the travels he went on and that he found the answers he was looking for. Meanwhile, Lois was investigating her mysterious savior and eventually found her way to the farm with questions about Clark, leading her to the cemetery where Jonathan was buried. Clark found her at the cemetery where he revealed the reason he died to protect Clark from the world, convincing her to not publish a story revealing him to the world as Clark Kent.

Whilst in the farm house General Zod, the Kryptonian Military leader from his home world his father had told him about, arrived on Earth with his army and sent a message to the world to hand over Kal-El or suffer the consequences. Realizing his existence on Earth was no longer a secret and that he couldn't put people in harm's way after a discussion with Father Leone, Smallville's priest, Clark decided to hand himself over to the military in his new suit in order to protect his mother. Flying outside a military base he knew was imprisoning Lois, he confronted the base's military leader General Swanwick and his army, offering to hand himself over into their custody in exchange for Lois' freedom. Clark attempted to assure the military he only wanted to help and posed no threat to humanity. Unfortunately the military had orders to hand him over Zod, who sent his second in command Faora-Ul to collect Clark and Lois, whom Zod specifically requested join them on his ship, Black Zero. On route to the ship, Clark slipped Lois his House of El Command Key as Faora acquired a respirator for Lois so she could process the Kryptonian environment on the ship.

Aboard Black Zero, Clark came face to face with Zod, but started to cough up blood and struggle to breathe as Black Zero's life support systems were replicating Krypton's atmosphere, an environment he had never known. The effect left Clark virtually powerless so Zod could subject him to mental probing. Zod learned all about Kal's life and showed him plans to destroy the human race to resurrect Krypton with the genetic Codex of the Kryptonian race that his birth father Jor-El had stole and sent with Kal to Earth. Clark broke free from the probing to see Zod standing above him, explaining his remorse for killing Jor-El, but declaring there was nothing that could stop him from resurrecting Krypton. Jax-Ur took some of Clark's blood and ran tests on it which would later reveal that the Codex that Zod was searching for had been embedded in Kal-El's genetic structure, making him a living repository of the Kryptonian race. Lois however, had brought Jor-El's AI aboard Black Zero and it helped her escape using an escape pod before changing the atmosphere for Clark to regain some strength to break free. Punching a hole in the ship for sun rays to get through, Clark regained full strength and had final words with Jor-El, who encouraged him that he could save humanity. Clark then raced after Lois in the falling escape pod, catching her just before the pod exploded in a corn field.

Realizing that Zod most likely knew his ship was located in Smallville, Clark flew off quickly to his family's farm. Upon his arrival, he found Zod and a group of soldiers threatening his mother to locate the Codex. An enraged Clark violently attacked Zod, flying him through several grain silos and repeatedly punching his face, damaging his helmet. Their fight led them to Smallville's Main Street, where Zod's soldiers rescued him. Clark was forced to battle two Kryptonians sent as a diversion, managing to hold his own with the veteran warriors. Clark also managed to save some of the US military personnel led by Colonel Hardy. The Kryptonians eventually withdrew after a devastating battle. Recognizing Superman's contribution to protecting them, Colonel Hardy allowed Clark to leave by citing him as an ally. Clark flew to his family's farm to check on his mother who was unharmed and was reunited with Lois, who was told by Jor-El that they could use Clark's ship to open a focused black hole which would send the Kryptonians to the Phantom Zone.

Clark delivered his ship to the military and flew to the Indian Ocean, where Zod had deployed a World Engine to terraform Earth and make it into a new Krypton. After some struggle, Clark was able to fly through the gravity beam the ship was emitting, destroying it while also knocking himself unconscious. After regaining consciousness, Clark flew to Metropolis to find Zod attacking the military with the scout ship that Clark had found. After damaging the ship and entering it, Clark ignored Zod's pleas to spare the ship, stating that Krypton had had its chance. Using heat vision he damaged the ship, causing it to crash.

The military unit led by Colonel Hardy and Lois fell under attack from Faora, who disabled most of the crew before the Colonel managed to crash into Black Zero. Lois was thrown from the ship as it crashed and Clark caught her before trying to fly away from the singularity caused by his ship colliding with Black Zero. He placed Lois beside Perry White, Steve Lombard and Jenny Jurwich and in a moment of adrenaline, Lois kissed Clark who reciprocated before flying off to confront Zod. Having mastered the ability to fly, Zod engaged Clark in a battle that almost destroyed what was left of Metropolis. The two then crash-landed in Metropolis Central Station where Zod unleashed his heat vision upon an innocent civilian family. Clark grappled Zod trying to divert his heat vision away, even pleading with the other Kryptonian before having no choice but to snap Zod's neck, killing him. Shocked and horrified at the loss of the final fellow Kryptonian at his own hand, Superman let out a deafening, bellowing scream of agony as Lois arrived and consoled him.

Returning home to his mother in Smallville after saving his adopted planet, Clark wishes Jonathan had lived to see who he had become and is consoled by his mother as the two think back to a moment Jonathan stared with awe at a young Clark playing as a child in the garden of the farm with a red sheet as cape. Superman also confronts General Swanwick, who had been using military drones to search for him. Superman explains that America can continue to count on him as an ally, but it needs to be on his own terms. He tells the General he's trusting him to make the U.S. government understand.

Clark then got a job at the Daily Planet in Metropolis. Arriving on his first day, he decided to wear glasses to conceal his identity as the alien hero known as "Superman" before being welcomed to "the Planet" by Lois.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice[]

A little over a year following the Battle of Metropolis and Superman's introduction to the world, humanity and society in general has been greatly upended by the revelation of the existence of aliens, with Superman himself becoming a figure of controversy. Following an incident in the Afircan country of Nairomi, where Superman saves Lois from nearly being killed by a drone strike and by a terrorist leader, he's accused of killing several bystanders and causing the country's civil war to escalate. Clark and Lois's relationship is still stable however, with the two having moved into an apartment together and their love for one another still strong.

Clark's activities as Superman, however, have attracted the attention of two different men - Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor. Bruce, who has been operating as the Gotham vigilante known as Batman for nearly twenty years, personally witnessed the battle between Superman and Zod in Metropolis, which destroyed one of Wayne Enterprise's office buildings and killed some of the employees and left another (Wallace Vernon Keefe) permanently crippled. Meanwhile, Lex wants to forge weapons with the newly discovered mineral called "kryptonite". Both are convinced Superman could turn into a threat later on down the road and are determined to stop him in their own ways.

Justice League[]

In both versions Kal-El gets brought back to life by collective efforts from the five superheroes that were formed by Batman. At first he fights all of them due to amnesia and basically "defending" himself from all of them, despite being stronger, faster, more durable or more experienced, or all of it than Any of the heroes combined. A representation of only physical side of Superman, without any of his morality.

In both versions Clark is now much stronger after revival (like in comics) than he ever was shown before in previous films. He also excercised iconic freeze breathe (in "Josstice" League it is long gust of wind similar to the most of versions, in Zack Snyder's it is faint and subtle exhale of small freezing air that in time overcame the entire structure of Steppenwolf's axe rendering it fragile for a super-punch that followed) only this time, as well as , for the first time in DCEU, was shown flying Without his Kryptonian suit. It is unclear whether any new abilities were result of motherbox reviving him or he always had them just never had any reason to use before.

In both versions Superman easily overpowers Steppenwolf and helps Cyborg to separate motherboxes from a process called unity.

Shazam![]

After defeating Sivana ,and in order to fully reedem himself in front of his foster brother Freddie, Billy somehow contacts Superman and brings him to his school to participate in a lunch with other kids.

Black Adam[]

Due to worldwide's concerns over the presense of the virtually unstoppable The Man in Black in Kandaq and in the world in general, Amanda Waller asks a favor from Superman who personally confronts Black Adam in Kandaq and asks him to talk, possibly about terms of his confidement within the borders of his country.

Trivia[]

  • DCEU Superman can be seen briefly in Superman (Rebirth) #16 Multiplicity : Conclusion, in the cover at bottom center (only Superman without back logo on his cape), as well as his logo and (Man of Steel) suit details can be briefly spotted.

Gallery[]

Versions of the character Superman
Historical Versions William DunnThe SupermanKal-El
Alternate Universes Earth-OneEarth-TwoEarth-31Red SonTangentCalvin EllisUltramanInjustice
Future Versions Kingdom ComeSuperman XWilligigKalebSuperman of the 30th CenturySuperman of the 67th CenturySuperman XIISuperstarSuperegoKal KentSuperciliaTitanoKanLaynaSuperman of Xudar
In Other Media Serials ContinuityAdventures of Superman TV Series ContinuityFilms ContinuityDCAU ContinuityLois & Clark ContinuitySmallville ContinuitySuperman Returns ContinuitySuperman of TokyoMan of Steel Continuity
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