- "It's not an S, on my world it means hope."
- ―Superman[src]
Superman was born with the name Kal-El, and when his father, Jor-El, realized that Krypton was doomed, he and his wife Lara sent Kal-El to Earth, where he would be found by Jonathan and Martha Kent and given the name Clark Kent. Using his powers he defends the good people of Metropolis from threats like criminals and more importantly, General Zod.
Biography
Early Life
Arrival to Earth
Kal-El was born on the distant planet Krypton to the scientist Jor-El and his wife Lara Lor-Van in the midst of a planet wide war. Kal-El was a naturally born child, which is outlawed on Krypton where all children are genetically engineered to become a more efficient being. When the planet was about to explode and to ensure their son's survival, they sent Kal-El away in a small ship design to carry him to safety away from the planet, sending him to Earth, where Jor-El knew of a scout ship sent prior where Kal-El would grow up with extraordinary abilities and where he would 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 illegally adopted him renaming him "Clark Kent" after Martha's maiden name.
Outcast
When Clark was 9, his body began to change in a way that would define his life forever. To the shock of Jonathan and Martha, Clark began developing super powered abilities the extent of which none of them knew. When Clark's super hearing and x-ray vision first developed and all the noises he could hear manifested at once, it was troublesome for the young Kryptonian to handle. He ran out of class and into a closet where Martha was called to school and helped Clark control his new abilities.
When he was 13, whilst travelling on a school bus with his class, the bus crashed into a river. With the bus overturned, Clark decided that he must use his abilities to save everybody on the bus and using his strength pushed the bus to safety of the bank. Several children saw Clark do this including Lana Lang and Pete Ross who relentlessly bullied Clark with their parents confronting Martha and Jonathan. Pete's mother even said it was an act of God. Even so, they defended Clark claiming there was nothing special about him.
Back at the Kent Farm, Clark troubled and sat out gazing into the fields where Jonathan tried to tell Clark that he has to hide his abilities from the world if he is to be safe because not everybody will be as understanding as they are, but Clark argued that he shouldn't hide if he can help people. Questioning his place in the world, Jonathan decided to reveal to Clark how he came to them. In the barn under the floor, Jonathan revealed Clark's ship to him along with the House of El Key confirming Clark is an alien and came to them from the stars. Shocked and afraid, Clark asked if he could still pretend to be Jonathan's son who simply hugged his adoptive son and said he will always be his son. Jonathan said that Clark must in time find the reason he was sent to Earth.
Losing Jonathan
When Clark was 17, he was out with Jonathan and Martha stuck in a traffic jam on a highway when a tornado swept through the region. People began evacuating their vehicles with Jonathan telling Clark to get Martha to safety. Clark realised 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.
Shortly after this traumatic episode, Clark heeded his fathers wishes and left Smallville on a quest to find the reason he was sent to Earth.
Savior of Many
As an adult, Clark left Smallville to travel North America, existing on the fringes of society so he could easily melt into the shadows if anyone got too nosy. On his journey, Clark slowly discovered more and more about his own powers.
Getting a job on a crab boat, one day Clark saw a huge Oil Rig ablaze in the distance and jumped overboard to try and help anybody on board. Finding people below deck, he helped them to the helipad where the Coast Guard was arriving to transport people to safety. Clark raced the people to the helipad and ushered them aboard the chopper when a piece of rigging began to fall on the helipad. Clark using his strength held it up long enough for the chopper to get clear before a huge explosion sent Clark flying into the water unconscious. Awaking, Clark swam ashore and stole some clothes before skipping town.
He got a job in a highway bar where he overheard some men talking about the US Military looking for a possible space ship buried under the ice of Ellesmere Island. Some men began to grope a woman indecently and Clark asked them to stop. The man poured his beer over Clark and punched Clark which had no effect. Clark quietly walked out back and took out his anger on the man's truck. He then left town to go unnoticed intending to go and find this alien ship.
Finding the Truth
He gets a job working for a chopper company near to the site, going under the name Joseph gets the bags of Lois Lane who is there to report on the ship for the Daily Planet. Clark then goes to the site himself and away from the watching military, and uses his heat vision to get through the ice down to the ship before the ships defences begin attacking Clark. Lois who see's Clark decides to follow him is also attacked by the defences and Clark sees her and saves her taking her back to the surface revealing to her his special powers.
Wandering around the enermous ship he realises his Command Key is the same technology and finds a port to plug it in. An interactive projection of Jor-El appears and greets Clark. Jor-El informs him of his true name Kal-El, his purpose of why he was sent to Earth and that he must test the limitations of his powers. The ship then activates after thousands of years of being dormant and lands on a mountain top. Jor-El then shows Clark their family crest revealing to him the history of Krypton and the dangers of Zod before a suit which Clark puts on. Kal-El then goes outside and begins testing his powers, trying many times to fly before taking off and soaring high into the sky.
Zod's Message
Clark returned home to Smallville and greeted his mother with a hug after many years away. He explained to her the travels he went on and that he found the answers he was looking for before Lois showed up at the farm with questions about Clark. Clark found Lois at the Smallville Cemetery and the grave of his Earth father 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 sent a message to the world to hand over Kal-El or suffer the consequences. Realising he couldn't put people in harms way after a discussion with Smallville's priest, Clark handed himself over to the military in his new suit. Lois arrived shortly after wanting questions from Clark before Faora arrived in dropship for Kal-El. Kal-El went, along with Lois who Zod requested as they boarded Zod's flagship in orbit Black Zero.
Aboard Black Zero, Superman came face to face with Zod who had Superman tied down as the atmosphere aboard Black Zero was replicating Krypton's leaving Superman virtually powerless. A scientist working for Zod took some of Superman's blood before Zod subjected him to mental probing and torture of the human race dying at his hands with Superman aiding Zod. 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 Superman to regain some strength to break free. Punching a hole in the ship for sun rays to get through, Superman regained full strength and had final words with Jor-El who encouraged him that he could save humanity. Superman then raced after Lois in the falling escape pod catching her just before the pod exploded in a corn field.
As the two shared a tender moment, Superman's super hearing allowed him to hear Zod already at the Kent Farm and threatening Martha. He flew over and tackled Zod away punching him before crashing through a petrol garage. Zod's visor was damaged and all his senses came at once subduing him on the floor. Faora and anther one of Zod's soldiers followed in pursuit and confront Superman with the two quickly outnumbering Superman pummeling him to the ground warning him that he can't win. After being thrown though buildings by Faora, and the soldier went to deal with the incoming military. As Faora was about to kill Colonel Hardy, Clark tackled her and soon subdued the two by clubbing them together. His forces gather their General and retreated back to Black Zero to initiate their plans for Earth while Clark flew home to check on his mother.
Lois then told Superman that the Jor-El hologram gave her instructions to use his ship against Black Zero which he handed over to Colonel Hardy before going to the pacific ocean to destroy the Terraforming Generator that Zod had unleashed. The Generator had defences however and attacked Superman with large tentacles and other defences but Clark eventually overcome the defences and managed to destroy it. He then flew to Metropolis to stop Zod who had unleashed his Black Zero ship upon the city at the same time.
Arriving to find Hardy and Lois under attack from Faora, the warrior threw Lois out of the plane carrying his ship who Clark caught before trying to fly away from the singularity caused by his ship colliding with Black Zero which sucked everything near into a black hole before it closed. He placed Lois beside Perry White and Jenny Jarwich and in a moment of adrenaline, Lois kissed Clark who reciprocated before flying off to confront Zod. He battled Zod in an intense and very destructive battle across the city destroying buildings, cars and almost the entire city.
An enraged Zod declared that in revenge for foiling his plans and killing the chances of Krypton's survival, he would kill all the humans before ripping off his armor and controlling his flying ability. The two then fought mid air before crash landing in Metropolis Central Station where Zod opened his heat vision at civilians. Clark grappled Zod trying to divert his heat vision away before having no choice but to snap Zod's neck killing him. Shocked at what he had to do, Clark let out a bellowing scream of pain as Lois arrived and consoled him as Clark lay on her.
Returning home to his mother in Smallville after saving his adopted planet, he was consoled by his mother as the two thought back to Clark playing as a child in the garden of the farm with a red sheet as cape.
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 who was dubbed 'Superman' before being welcomed to "the Planet" by Lois.
Powers and Abilities
Superman has powers that come from his Kryptonian genetics being almost completely changed from the energy of Earth's sun.
- Solar Battery: Superman gets his powers from both the Sun and Earth's atmosphere. As a Kryptonian, Superman's cells absorb only yellow solar energy, and this in turn, fuels all of his powers and abilities. Superman's cells also store solar energy as well, allowing him to retain his powers under roofed structures or even at night, although he eventually needs a yellow sun to recharge his powers. Superman can also absorb solar energies of other class stars
- Super Strength: Superman had the strength of 20 men as a child. As an adult he was able to carry more than 1,000,000 tons.
- Super Speed: Superman generally uses his super speed while flying to get places faster.
- Invulnerability: Superman's body is nearly invulnerable. Missiles and guns have no effect on him.
- Super Vision: He also possesses a superior sensory arrangement of microscopic, telescopic, infrared and ultraviolet visual capabilities.
- Telescopic Vision: Superman has 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: So far, it appears Superman can see through anything. Kal-El is able to focus his vision past layers of matter, literally seeing "through" them, possibly perceiving x-rays, cosmic rays or other forms of energy invisible to normal human vision which pass through Earth's atmosphere (and solid objects) after emission from stars.
- Heat Vision: Superman has the ability to fire beams of intense heat at a target by looking at it with the conscious act of activating this power. Visually, the power is typically depicted as two beams of red light firing from his eyes. These beams can be made invisible, allowing Superman to work undetected.
- Super Hearing: Superman has 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 or frequency.
- Flight: Kryptonians can fly as long as they are not on Krypton.
Weakness
- Rejection of Kryptonian Nature: Since he was raised on Earth, Superman only was near Kryptonian atmosphere at birth.
Trivia
- Before Henry Cavill was cast as Superman, Matthew Goode, James Holzier, Armie Hammer, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Zac Efron, Dwayne Johnson, Sam Worthington, Patrick Wilson, Robert Pattinson, Colin O'Donoghue and Jon Hamm were on the final shortlist for the lead role. Former Superman actors Brandon Routh and Tom Welling were also on the list.
- Henry Cavill had tried out for the part of Superman in Superman Returns.
- Henry Cavill also tried out for the part of Batman in Batman Begins.
- Henry Cavill is the first English actor to portray Superman.
- Cavill wore Christopher Reeve's Superman suit in his audition.
- This is the first vision of Superman to drink alcohol, but since he has multiple abilities the beer has no effect on him.