Superman (Earth-Two)

"Kal-L" redirects here. For the mainstream Superman, see Superman.

Superman
Kal-L as the original iteration of Superman, battles the Axis powers during World War II, as appeared on a variant cover of Action Comics 1000 (March 2018) by Michael Cho.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Justice League of America #73 (cover-dated August 10 1969) Action Comics #1 (cover-date June 30 1938, retroactive)
Created by	Dennis O'Neil and Dick Dillin based on Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
In-story information
Full name	Kal-L
Species	Kryptonian
Team affiliations	Daily Star Justice Society of America All-Star Squadron Black Lantern Corps
Notable aliases	Clark Kent, Black Lantern
Abilities	See list Superhuman strength, speed, durability and stamina Solar energy absorption Flight Enhanced vision

Superman of Earth-Two (Kal-L) is an alternate version of the fictional superhero Superman, who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was introduced after DC Comics created Earth-Two, a parallel world that was retroactively established as the home of characters whose adventures had been published in the Golden Age of comic books. This allowed creators to publish Superman comic books taking place in current continuity while being able to disregard Golden Age stories, solving an incongruity, as Superman had been published as a single ongoing incarnation since inception. This version of the character first appeared in Justice League of America #73 (August 1969).

Fictional character biography

When the Golden Age of Comic Books ended in the 1950s, most of DC Comics' superhero comic books ceased publication. At the start of the Silver Age, characters such as the Flash and Green Lantern were revamped for more modern times, ignoring or abandoning established continuity and thus making a clean break between the two eras. It was later established that the Golden Age and Silver Age heroes lived on Earth-Two and Earth-One respectively, these being separate parallel Earths in a single multiverse.

Superman was one of the few exceptions; his stories had been published without interruption since his 1938 debut in Action Comics #1. This caused a continuity problem, in that Superman was simultaneously a member of the Justice Society of America on Earth-Two and a member of the Justice League of America on Earth-One. Writer Dennis O'Neil eventually resolved that there were two Supermen. The Silver Age Superman was Kal-El from Earth-One, and the Golden Age Superman was Kal-L from Earth-Two.

Several differences between the two Supermen were established to clarify the distinction. The Earth-One names "Kal-El", "Jor-El", and "Jonathan and Martha Kent" became "Kal-L", "Jor-L", and "John and Mary Kent" on Earth-Two, as in the original Golden Age stories. Kal-L's costume was largely adapted from the 1940s drawing style, retaining the wrist-cuffs, while his S-shield symbol was originally different from the main Superman S-symbol, adapting the 1940s six-sided version with the tail endings and hard-left tilt of the S-edges. George Pérez redesigned Kal-L's 1940s S-shield (starting in Justice League America #197) to be mostly the main S-symbol with five sides, and to merely reflect the tilt connecting the upper edge to the side of shield. Some artists such as Alex Ross and others, including Justice Society series artist Dale Eaglesham, continued to use the specific six-sided 1940s S-shield after Perez's change for Kal-L. Stories featuring both Supermen also indicated that Kal-L was the older of the two, being depicted as late-middle-aged.

These choices helped DC Comics to restore continuity to some of the character's Golden Age stories and led them to experiment with a Superman other than the mainstream one. Several differences between Kal-L and the better-known Kal-El were introduced. Kal-L was written to be different from the original Golden Age Superman, most famously by revealing his secret identity to Lois Lane and eventually marrying her in 1950. Their early marital life was depicted in the feature "Mr. & Mrs. Superman" in DC's Superman Family series, in which Kent kept his secret from Lane and never married her.

Allies

As Superman, Kal-L was considered the first public superhero in the history of Earth-Two, being the first individual to appear regularly in a colorful costume and display superhuman abilities, in contrast to earlier part-time super-powered heroes such as Doctor Occult.

Kal-L received training in his teen years from his Earth-One counterpart, after Superboy was accidentally transported to Earth-Two (and back in time several decades to the early 1930s). In this story, Kal-L is shown to be capable of flight, an account that is refuted in all other stories specific to Kal-L, as he is stated only to be able to jump far until adulthood.

Kal-L began fighting evil on a local level in his base of operations, the city of Metropolis. Later in his career he would consider first the entire United States and then the whole world under his protection. In November 1940, Superman became a founding member of the Justice Society of America. Like Batman, he was referred to as an "honorary member" during the original meeting of the Justice Society. He subsequently appeared with it in two published adventures during the 1940s, aiding them on several other occasions retroactively as a member of the World War II All-Star Squadron. He built a secret citadel in the mountains outside Metropolis as his headquarters, as shown in Infinite Crisis, and eventually built a Fortress of Solitude comparable to that of his Earth-One counterpart.

In later years, Kal-L was considered an elder statesman of Earth-Two's superhero community, the one that later generations of superheroes looked to as an example and role model. In his secret identity as Clark Kent, Superman worked at the Daily Star, of which he was appointed editor-in-chief in the 1950s, replacing George Taylor.

At some time during the Silver Age, Superman's cousin Kara arrived on Earth after a lengthy journey from Krypton. When her father Zor-L discovered that Krypton was about to explode, he placed her in a spacecraft directed towards Earth. Although this occurs at the same time as Kal-L's ship is launched, Kara's ship travels more slowly, and she arrives on Earth decades after her cousin has landed.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

In Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985), Superman is rescued from the destruction of Earth-Two and travels to another dimension alongside Lois Lane, Alexander Luthor Jr., and Superboy-Prime.

Infinite Crisis

The death of Kal-L from Infinite Crisis #7, art by George Pérez.

In the Infinite Crisis event (2005), Lois falls ill and Superman unsuccessfully attempts to heal her by creating a replica of Metropolis and the Daily Star office. Alexander Luthor Jr. and Superboy-Prime use Kal-L's distraction over Lois' health to break out of the paradise dimension and start their plan to recreate the multiverse. However, Kal-L realizes that a perfect Earth does not need a Superman and that Alexander is using him for his own purposes. Kal-L and Kal-El join forces to stop Superboy-Prime, during which Kal-L is killed. Kal-L has largely remained dead since, but was temporarily resurrected as a Black Lantern during the Blackest Night event (2009), while an alternate timeline version of him appeared in the Convergence event (2015).

Powers and abilities

The Earth-Two Superman has super-strength, the power of flight, super-speed, super-breath, arctic breath, super-hearing, super-vision (including X-ray, heat, microscopic and telescopic visions) and invulnerability to most forces other than magic, psionics and kryptonite. He is at least as strong as Superman of the Silver Age from the pre-Crisis continuity, and was capable of landing the killing blow against the Anti-Monitor (who had been already weakened), reducing him to a skull with a "star-shattering" punch.

An additional ability that actual Golden Age Superman possessed, which his modern counterpart does not, is an ability to "mold" his face and body to disguise himself, as chronicled in several Golden Age tales.

Originally, Kal-L was weaker than the Silver Age Superman of Earth-One or the Modern Age Superman; it was later revealed his powers took longer to develop or be discovered. While Kal-L could only super-leap an eighth of a mile until adulthood, as costumed Superman, Kal-L later gained full-fledged flight by the early 1940s. By the time Kal-L and Kal-El met in the late 1960s, the two heroes were almost evenly matched in powers. However, almost all later renditions of the Earth-Two Kal-L showed him exhibiting his more limited abilities, including a temporary reliance on his leaping ability while allied with the Justice Society on a case involving his cousin Power Girl and the immortal criminal Vandal Savage. Kal-L reasoned that his diminished power stemmed from age.

Based on Superman's first origin and subsequent reference by U-Ban, this Superman came from a race of Kryptonians that possessed superhuman strength, leaping ability and some visual aptitudes to compensate for Krypton's greater gravitation pull. Most accounts of the Kal-L's origin state that his powers came from his Kryptonian heritage, not from the energy of a yellow sun. A later conflicting reinterpretation stated that his powers fluctuated when under a red sun.

Black Lantern

As a Black Lantern, Kal-L's black power ring needs to be charged by feeding on the hearts of living beings within the emotional spectrum. The ring appears to have given Kal-L's body all the abilities he would have had as a Kryptonian under a yellow sun, as well as the ability to recall certain aspects of his former life. Wearing the ring, however, places Kal-L under the influences of Nekron and his disciples Scar and Black Hand.

Other versions

See also: Alternative versions of Superman

Post Crisis Earth-2 "missing" Superman and wife

In the final issue of 52, a new multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities. Among them is Earth-2, which is not the same as the pre-Crisis Earth-Two. It is later revealed that the Earth-2 version of Superman has been missing for several years after a major crisis.

The New 52: Earth 2

A separate Earth-2 Superman was introduced in the new Earth 2 series launched in May 2012 as part of "The New 52" continuity reboot. This version of Superman is named Kal-El, the same as the main version, and is closer in age to the main Superman. Superman later learns that he is a clone of Superman created by Darkseid who possesses the original Superman's memories. In response, his wife Lois Lane kills him with a blast of wind.

Writer James Robinson commented on this version of Superman: "Mourning the death of his beloved, Superman carries both a sadness in his heart along with the weight of Earth 2's welfare upon on his shoulders, while never showing this and seeming to all that he is this world's peerless champion."

Val-Zod

Created by Tom Taylor and Nicola Scott, the Earth-2 universe's Val-Zod appears in the series Earth-2. This version is an orphan who was rescued from Krypton's destruction by Jor-El and Lara. After landing on Earth, Val-Zod is taken in by Terry Sloan, who offers to protect him from the outside world.

In other media

Television

• Tom Turbine, a character based on the Atom and Superman, appears in the Justice League episode "Legends", voiced by Ted McGinley.
• A limited series centered on the Val-Zod version of Superman was in development for HBO Max from Michael B. Jordan and his company Outlier Society. Writers were hired for the project by the end of July 2021, with Jordan potentially starring in the series and executive producing alongside Elizabeth Raposo. Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters were revealed in October to be the writers.

Film

The Earth-Two Superman appears in the Tomorrowverse films Justice Society: World War II and Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths, voiced by Darren Criss.

Video games

• The Earth-Two Superman appears as a skin for Superman in Justice League Heroes and Superman Returns.
• The Black Lantern incarnation of Superman appears as a skin for Superman in Injustice: Gods Among Us.

External links

• Superman Through the Ages: Earth-2 Superman
• The Golden Age Superman Site
• JSA Fact File: Superman
• Earth-2 Superman Index