- "What if a child dreamed of becoming something other than what society had intended? What if a child aspired to something greater?"
- ―Jor-El[src]
Free will is the capacity to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.
History[]
Darkseid's quest[]
- "Their free will must be ripped from them, like the other worlds. Given absolution in one glorious belief, to serve him."
- ―Steppenwolf[src]
Thousands of years ago, the New God tyrant Darkseid seeks the Anti-Life Equation, a weapon that can eliminate free will throughout the multiverse.[1]
Kryptonian society[]
- "Every child was designed to fulfill a pre-determined role in our society. As a worker, a warrior, a leader and so on. Your mother and I believed Krypton lost something precious. The element of choice, of chance."
- ―Jor-El[src]
After the Kryptonian Expansion, Kryptonians began to focus on genetic cultivation, artificially engineering newborns for pre-determined roles in society. Every Kryptonian child born would eventually fulfill their destiny, not having any choice to what they would want to be for themselves, a culture which Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van criticized.[2]
The Last Son of Krypton[]
- "We've had a child, Zod. A boy child. Krypton's first natural birth in centuries. And he will be free. Free to forge his own destiny."
- ―Jor-El to Dru-Zod[src]
In 1980, Jor-El and his wife Lara decided to conceive a child naturally, resulting in Kal-El, Krypton's first natural birth in centuries, blessed with free will.
Alternate universes[]
Knightmare[]
In a dark possible timeline, Darkseid successfully attained the Anti-Life Equation and eliminated free will, with Superman being one of the first to succumb.[1]
