Superboy-Prime

Superboy-Prime in Infinite Crisis v1 #6.

Superboy-Prime is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Pre-Crisis

Kal-El was a male Kryptonian who was the inhabitant of a Krypton from the Earth-Prime reality in the Multiverse. He was born as the son of scientists Lara and Jor-El who informed the Kryptonian Science Council that their world was doomed from massive solar flare from their red sun. Despite his warnings, the senior figures on his homeworld did not take his warnings seriously and instead looked to discuss the matter in committees. Looking for a means to save his people, Jor-El along with his scientist wife Lara worked on teleportation that would enable them to transport living beings across intergalactic distances. Using this technology, they were able to send their infant child Kal-El to Earth that was a world which orbited a yellow sun. His biological parents then died as Krypton was destroyed by the solar flares from the sun erupting early and due to the interference of Councillor Durkin. On Earth, he was teleported in the woods when a married human couple named Naomi Kent and Jerry Kent found him where the two decided to adopt him with them naming their son Clark Kent after the secret identity of the popular comic book superhero Superman. (DC Comics Presents v1 #87) His adoptive mother Naomi named him Clark Kent after her maiden name, and even though Jerry was not crazy about naming their son after a famous comic book character, he knew Naomi always got her way. Clark loved having the same name as Superman when he was six, and voraciously read DC Comics. By the time he was in high school his name and his interest in comics was a reason for bullies to target him. He grew up with classmate Laurie, and they were incredibly close until she started dating a boy named Cooper in high school. Cooper beat up Clark and tore up one of his Batman comics, so Clark ditched school the next day. Laurie found him and apologized for her boyfriend. She offered to replace his Batman comic, but Clark pouted and yelled, feeling patronized. Laurie stayed by his side to watch the sunset with him. (Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime v1 #1)

Clark and Laurie went to a costume part together, with Clark dressed as Superboy. Cooper hit him and ripped his costume, and Laurie stormed out of the party with Clark, wishing she never met Cooper. They walked to the beach and watched the sun, at which point Clark’s Kryptonian abilities kicked in, and he started flying. Superman of Earth-1 appeared to him, recruiting him to fight against the Anti-Monitor during the Crisis of Infinite Earths, telling him that on Earth-prime he was the only one with superhuman powers. Clark was agog that his comic book superheroes were real, even if they only lived in a parallel dimension. Before he left, Clark, the Superboy of Earth—Prime, kissed Laurie goodbye and promised her everything would be alright. He felt like the hero he always wanted to be, and Laurie exclaimed that she loved him as he left Earth-prime. Shortly thereafter the Anti-Monitor destroyed Earth-Prime and everything Clark held dear. (Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime v1 #1)

Post-Crisis

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Superboy Prime though along with his compatriots were unaffected by these changes and instead existed within their bubble-like paradise outside of reality. Whilst there, the four remained un-aging where they had nothing to do but watch events unfold in the new universe for many years. However, Alexander Luthor, Jr. came to find that this dimension was anything but a paradise where they were forced to see their past constantly. In time, Alex Luthor came to resent the events that forced him trapped in this life. In contrast, his compatriots were content with this life as they could change their surroundings according to their thoughts. This time also saw Alexander becoming jealous of the others for having full lives and looked to cultivate their own hatred of their fate. In this time, Kal-L began to find that his Lois Lane was dying of old age despite all efforts in revitalising her in this world. Meanwhile, Alex began to make Superboy-Prime angry at this world as well and in that moment he came to witness the young Superboy punch reality itself causing a change in the main universe as a result. This led to Luthor believing that their was a means of escaping this dimension and confessed to Superboy-Prime that prior to coming to this realm that he was presented two other realms where one seemed like heaven and another was hell. However, he came to learn that this was actually Apokolips and that they had an option of escaping this dimension and change New Earth according to fulfil their own desires. (Infinite Crisis Secret Files and Origins v1 #1)

For years, he was kept imprisoned in red sunlight but Superboy-Prime found a way out. He then went to recover his special new armour that fed him yellow sunlight where he went to rendezvouses with Alex Luthor Jr. (Infinite Crisis v1 #6)

During the Battle of Metropolis, Superboy-Prime was at the scene where he killed both heroes and villains at the scene. He continued his killing spree until he was confronted by the Flash Bart Allen where he was overwhelmed by the speedster. However, Superboy-Prime decided to depart Earth in order to destroy Oa in an attempt to cause another Big Bang and thus reform the universe into something closer to his original home reality. On his journey, he was responsible for killing 32 members of the Green Lantern Corps who failed to stop the rogue Kryptonian. During his fight against the Green Lanterns, both Kal-L and Kal-El arrived at the scene where they attempted to force Superboy-Prime through Krypton's red sun in an attempt to depower the vastly powerful youth to a point that the other two Kryptonians could handle him. The three came to crash on the living world of Mogo where they continue their fight but even though Superboy-Prime's powers were fading the other two versions of Superman were still unable to defeat their foe. Superboy-Prime was able to beat Kal-L literally to death with his bare fists before turning his might against Kal-El who's powers were fading. However, Superboy-Prime's powers were depleted enough for Kal-El to fight his younger insane counterpart and ultimately defeat him. (Infinite Crisis v1 #7)

Whilst imprisoned, Oa came under attack from the Sinestro Corps who launched a surprise attack with this killing many Green Lanterns. The attack, however, was partly a distraction to free Superboy-Prime who was taken to the Anti-Matter Universe alongside the Cyborg Superman Hank Henshaw. The pair were joined by the Parallax-possessed Kyle Rayner and Sinestro in joining the Anti-Monitor as his heralds the Sinestro Corps War began. (Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special v1 #1)

Superboy-Prime visited Bart Allen’s memorial at the Flash Museum, and recalling how he was instrumental to his defeat during the Infinite Crisis, he became angry and defiled the memorial, marking Bart’s memorial plaque with the phrase “Stupidest Boy Dead,” using his heat vision. An army of Earth’s heroes appeared to take Superboy down, and Flash commented that he was surprised Superbvoy would ever show his face on Earth again after the carnage he wrecked. The heroes focused on wrecking his armor, because after a year on Oa, and away from a yellow sun his Kryptonian body still wasn’t at full strength, and his armor collected sunlight. Superboy bragged that once the sun rose on Earth he’d be at full power. Superboy was battered by Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman, who blamed him for Superboy’s death, as well as Supergirl and Power Girl, who blamed him for the death of the Superman of Earth-2. As the fight went against him, Superboy broke down in tears. He tried to wipe them away, saying that it was impossible foir botys to cry, and then whining that no one ever thanked him for sacrificing his Earth to save the multiverse. The battle lasted until dawn, and he flew into the sunrise. As he achieved full power he declared himself the one, true Superman. The Guardians arrived with Sodam Yat, the new Ion, and pitted him against Superboy-Prime. (Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime v1 #1)

Sodam Yat survived Superman’s attack, and the Sinestro Corps War continued to rage across Earth. Hal and Kyle went to Coast City to protect it from Sinestro, and Hal issued a radio broadcast asking the residents to flee. Not a soul left, everyone had faith Hal would save them from Sinestro. Sinestro and a number of his soldiers engaged Hal and Kyle, and Sinestro told them he’d already won the war. His actions made the Guardians rewrite the Book of Oa, and now that the GLC could use lethal force they would be feared. Sinestro always wanted the GLC to be a more totalitarian police force to bring order to the universe, and he’d succeeded. Sinestro and Hal’s rings were both drained of power, and they squared off in hand-to-hand combat. Hal won, and told Sinestro he was under arrest. In NYC the Anti-Monitor tapped into Earth’s energy and prepared to unleash an anti-matter wave to consume Earth. The GLC ruptured the heart of Anti-Monitor’s Warworld, the Sinestro Corps central power battery, and created a shield around Warworld and the Monitor. The ensuing blast nearly destroyed the Anti-Monitor, and he was finished off by Superman-Prime, who betrayed him for having destroyed his home, Earth-Prime. Superboy was hoping he’d destroy Earth first, but he accused the dead Anti-Monitor of being weak. With the Anti-Monitor destroyed, Sinestro vanquished, and having no way of recharging their rings the Sinestro Corps fled Earth to lick their wounds. Prime went into a frenzy and attacked Earth’s heroes, but one of the Guardians sacrificed his life, exploding into green light and shunting Prime elsewhere into the multiverse. (Green Lantern v4 #25)

This saw him being catapulted to the year 3008 A.D. where he landed in a farm in Smallville, Kansas. The crash caused a fire where he was found by a farming couple who used a weapon to dispel the flames. However, this angered Superboy-Prime who killed them with his heat vision. He quickly determined he was in the future and whilst wandering around he came upon the Superman Museum where he was given a tour by a robot copy of Jimmy Olsen. Whilst there, he came to be angered at finding out that among Superman's villains he was relegated to being a footnote in history with his statue hidden in the very back. This caused Superboy-Prime to destroy the museum and killed any police officers sent to stop him. During the discussion on villains, his robot guide revealed to him about the existence of the Legion of Super-Villains thus leading Prime to Takron-Galtos. He easily broke into the prison world and freed Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen and Cosmic King were he looked to resemble the Legion of Super-Villains. (Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds v1 #1)

He travelled into Earth-15 where he killed that world's Superman who was General Zod that had become a superhero. After murdering him and his pregnant wife, Superman prime proceeded killing the other heroes of the world after seeing them as pale reflections of his reality. He then continued to destroy the planet itself as he continued his search for his true home dimension. (Countdown v1 #24) During his travels, he came to Earth-3 where he found Annataz Arataz who was a witch that was torturing children. Superboy-Prime abducted her and tortured her in kind where he made her use her magic in service to him. It was then that he abducted Mister Mxyzptlk and offered that the two work together by the Imp refused. Thus, he began to torture the 5th Dimensional Imp in order to force him to help Superboy-Prime destroy the other Earth's so that he could find his own reality. To achieve that, he kept the two hostages at his hidden lair by the Source Wall. (Countdown v1 #24)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. He remained trapped there but was freed after the Source Wall was shattered. (Dark Nights: Death Metal v1 #4) After being freed, he journeyed to Earth when the Seven Magiclands had begun to merge with one another. Whilst there, he defeated several members of the Monster Society after Mister Mind had freed them in his bid to conquer the realms. They were defeated by the Shazam Family with Superboy-Prime then battling the heroes. This led to him fighting Shazam and Black Adam who had allied with one another to take down the mad Kryptonian. Using the magic word, they were able to call down enough power that knocked Superboy-Prime unconscious where he was handed over to the Justice League in order to be placed within a special prison to contain him. (Shazam! v3 #14) During the multiversal crisis, all of reality was being moulded by Perpetua with Superboy-Prime seeking out the Batman Who Laughs. (Dark Nights: Death Metal v1 #4) The Batman Who Laughs came to recruit him along with Darkseid and Mobius where they were to change certain moments in history that would allow the villains to win. In this case, Superboy-Prime came to be victorious in the events of the Infinite Crisis and ruled a realm in the new reality. (Dark Nights: Death Metal Trinity Crisis v1 #1) He continued to work for the Batman Who Laughs where he was charge with using a cosmic antennae to direct multiversal energies to the creature from the Dark Multiverse. This was so that he could be empowered to the point that he could ensure the changes to reality were long lasting and thus allowing Prime to rule his world. In this time, he had captured Wonder Woman and intended to continue this goal but she came to convince him to turn against the Batman Who Laughs and trust them to fix the Multiverse. This involved redirecting the energy to the Mobius Chair that was wielded by Wally West thus giving him the power to stop the Batman Who Laughs. Despite turning against the Batman Who Laughs, it turned out that Prime's actions fell in accordance with the villains as he had rigged the chair to redirect the energy to himself thus giving him the power to re-make existence in his own image. (Dark Nights: Death Metal v1 #4)

Overview

Personality and attributes

His biological parents gave him the name Kal-El but on Earth he was given the name Clark Kent by his adoptive parents. That name came from his adoptive mother's family name without the 'e' and also led to him bearing he same name as the secret identity of the comic book superhero Superman. After becoming a superhero, he came to operate under the name of Superboy. (DC Comics Presents v1 #87) As he grew stronger, he preferred to be called Superman-Prime. (Countdown v1 #24)

In time, he came to see every other Earth in the Multiverse as a bad and poor duplicate of his own reality. Thus, he sought to see them all disappear and return to his own 'perfect' Earth where he was the only superhero. (Countdown v1 #23)

In his native reality, he was the biological son of Kryptonians Jor-El and his wife Lara both of whom were noted scientists. They came to die in the destruction of their homeworld but managed to send their son Kal-El away to safety. This led to him being adopted by his human parents with these being Jerome Thornton Kent who owned a successful computer business and his wife Naomi Clarke Kent who practiced law at her own firm in a small town on the New England seacoast. His father Jerry Kent was noted to had kept a collection of comics which included stories about Superman which he read when he was a kid. (DC Comics Presents v1 #87)

Powers and abilities

Kal-El was born on Krypton in his native reality and had the various traits of the species which included superhuman powers when on a world with a yellow sun. However, these manifested late in his life where they only awakened during his teenage years and before then he lived like an ordinary human. It was only later that he began to develop powers which led to him possessing a range of superhuman abilities including strength, invulnerability, flight, speed, vision and other such senses. Initially, due to his age, he was unaccustomed to using his powers to their full potential. (DC Comics Presents v1 #87)

With a clap of his hands, he was capable of creating a powerful sonic boom. (Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds v1 #4)

In fact, his strength was so great that simply punching the barriers of reality resulted in changes to the universe. (Infinite Crisis Secret Files and Origins v1 #1)

From further encounters, his body's cells became swollen with energy and though he was still 19 he came to look like an adult. It was said that once he used up this extra power that he would revert back to his teenage form. (Countdown v1 #24)

He had constructed an armor that was designed after the Anti-Monitor's harness with this being an energy collector that fed him yellow sun energy. (Infinite Crisis v1 #6)

Notes

• Superboy-Prime was created by Elliot S. Maggin and Curt Swan where he made his first appearance in DC Comics Presents v1 #87 (November, 1985).

Alternate Versions

• In Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Infinite Crisis v1 #1 (2019), an alternate version of Superboy Prime was shown to inhabit a world in the Dark Multiverse. On this Earth, Ted Kord killed Maxwell Lord where he came to use the A.I. to help him stop threats to the world. It was shown that Superboy Prime was secretly working with Alexander Luthor, Jr. where they eliminated the Secret Society. The pair then confronted Kord for disrupting their plans with Ted managing to convince Superboy Prime that he was working to bring peace to the world whilst Alexander was working to destroy it. Alexander Luthor, Jr. then killed Kal-L and his wife Lois whereupon he attempted to murder Superboy Prime. This resulted in Superboy Prime using his heat vision to eliminate the villain and he began working with Ted Kord to try and bring peace to the world. Under direction from Brother Eye, Kord was convinced that the greatest danger to the planet was its superpowered population and that this needed to be managed. Ted then sought to contain superheroes and dispatched Superboy Prime to bring in the Teen Titans unharmed. However, Superboy Prime caused the heroes to attack him and he responded with lethal force. Upon seeing this, Kord activated a nanovirus that assimilated Superboy Prime and turned him into an O.M.A.C.

Appearances

• DC Comics Presents v1: (1985)
• Infinite Crisis v1:
• Infinite Crisis Secret Files and Origins v1:
• Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special v1:
• Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds v1: (2008)
• Countdown v1:
• Shazam! v3: (2020)
• Dark Nights: Death Metal v1:

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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