Character/DC

Superman

Clark Kent / Kal-El / Kal-L

Part of the Superman mantle · 5 known bearers →

Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 (1938-06), published by DC. 17,518 appearances are indexed across 60 series.

Also known as Clark Kent

Decades ago, the planet Krypton exploded. Moments before that happened, a scientist named Jor-El and his wife Lara (sometimes Lora) placed their toddler son, Kal-El, in a small rocketship and sent him into space. The craft landed in a field outside of the rural town of Smallville. A couple named the Kents witnessed the crash and found the child inside, completely unharmed. They named him Clark and adopted him as their own son. The Kents soon discovered he possessed remarkable powers, and concluded that they should keep it a secret. When Clark was a young boy, he donned a colorful costume and became the hero named Superboy. When he reached adulthood, Clark changed his codename to Superman. Clark Kent became a reporter in the city of Metropolis, where he met and fell in love with fellow reporter, Lois Lane. Superman's powers include: invulnerability, super-strength, flight, super-speed, super-senses (x-ray, telescopic, microscopic, and infrared vision; super-hearing; super-smell; super-taste; super-touch), heat vision, super-breath and freeze-breath, super-hypnosis, faster-than-light space-travel, and time-travel. Superman's weaknesses include: green kryptonite (pain and weakness, followed by death), gold kryptonite (permanent loss of powers), red kryptonite (unpredictable effects), red solar radiation (loss of solar-based powers), high gravity (loss of gravity-based powers), and magic. Superman's nicknames include "The Man of Steel" and "The Man of Tomorrow".