Kal-L
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Kal-L is the Kryptonian birth name of the Earth-Two Superman, one of the most iconic comic book superheroes in the DC Comics Universe.
Character history
The Multiverse and Earth-Two
Kal-L was introduced in Justice League of America #73 (1969) after the establishment of the existence of Earth-Two, where Golden Age superheroes were stated to have lived. He was said to have been the version of Superman who had appeared in stories set in the first half of the 20th century (beginning with Superman's debut in 1938's Action Comics #1), all set in a continuity which had been mostly ignored earlier in the Silver Age, despite the fact that Superman was one of the few characters whose stories were published without interruption since his debut, even in the interim between the Golden and Silver ages.With the creation of an alternate version of Superman who not only allowed DC Comics to bring his Golden Age stories back into continuity, but also led them to experiment with a Superman that wasn't the mainstream one, several differences between Kal-L and the more well-known Kal-El of Earth-One were introduced, such as the fact that Kal-L eventually revealed his dual identities of Clark Kent and Superman to the woman he loved, the Lois Lane of Earth-Two, and they were married (as revealed in flashback in Action Comics #484, 1978). Their early marital life was depicted in the feature "Mr. & Mrs. Superman" in DC's Superman Family series. Outside of that series, both parties of the marriage were often depicted as late middle-aged, Kal-L in particular showing greying hair at the temples. This greying hair, as well as his aged appearance, slightly different chest symbol and the different spelling of his name and that of his family members—since Earth-Two stories, to differentiate from common forms used Earth-One stories (such as "Kal-El", "Jor-El" and "Jonathan Kent"), revived forms only used up until the early 1940s (such as "Kal-L", "Jor-L" and "John Kent")—was what visibly set Kal-L apart from his Earth-One counterpart, Kal-El, a youthful man of modern times, when the two were featured in the same stories. Almost all Superman stories published from 1938 up to some point in the mid-1950s were said to have happened to Kal-L, despite the fact that most of those stories contained several Earth-One elements (notably the already mentioned forms of the names of characters).
As Superman, Kal-L was considered to be the first superhero in Earth-Two's history, being the first individual to appear in a colorful costume and display superhuman abilities. He fought against evil, at first on a local level in his base of operations, the American 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 (DC Special #29, 1977), and also served during World War II as a member of the All-Star Squadron. In later years, he 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 also enjoyed success at the Daily Star, of which he was appointed editor-in-chief in the 1950s (replacing George Taylor).
Crisis on Infinite Earths
The reality that was Earth-Two was retroactively erased from existence in 1985's landmark DC Comics series Crisis on Infinite Earths, where the "Multiverse", the collection of several alternate realities where all DC characters existed, was destroyed by the Anti-Monitor, and five realities which had been saved were merged into a single reality combining their histories, with Earth-One having predominance in conflicting points. Thus, history remembered Kal-El, but not Kal-L; Lee Travis (the first Crimson Avenger) became the new reality's first costumed hero, now after being shown a vision of Kal-El's future heroism by an Hindu goddess before the start of his career (keeping a Superman as the inspiration for Earth's superheroes in the new reality as well).
Kal-L's role in various All-Star Squadron adventures was also partially replaced by a character created in Young All-Stars named Iron Munro. Kal-L's roles as the most respected Justice Society of America veteran and finder of his cousin Power Girl were gone as well of course, and given to the Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott and Kal-El respectively. Kal-L was among the heroes from various Earths who fought to save their realities from destruction, and was present at the battle at the dawn of time in which the alternate realities were remade into a single one. Therefore, he still existed and still remembered the history of his home reality, even though no one in the new reality remembered he had existed.
Kal-L was initially near-hysterical when he realized the fact that both he and his wife, along with several friends, had been erased from history as if they had never been, and even more devastated when he saw that there was seemingly no way to be reunited with Lois, due to having fought at the beginning of time being the only reason for his presence in a reality which didn't acknowledge his existence. However, he put aside his grief when it was discovered that the Anti-Monitor was still a threat to the new reality, and stood again with his fellow heroes to oppose the villain in his home dimension, the Anti-Matter universe. In the end, Kal-L, Alexander Luthor, Jr. of Earth-3, and the Superboy of Earth Prime—none of whom now had a place in the new universe—faced the Anti-Monitor alone to give the heroes still remembered in the new reality a chance to survive. Kal-L himself struck the final blow that defeated the Anti-Monitor once and for all.
Alexander Luthor, who had the power to transform himself into a portal between realities, then revealed to Kal-L and Superboy that he had saved Kal-L's wife, the Lois Lane of Earth-Two, from being wiped out of existence by transporting her to "another place" before reality was remade. This "other place" was described by Lois as "beautiful" and by Alexander as a place of "everlasting peace", and Alexander offered the couple and Superboy transport to this realm as an alternative to returning to an Earth where the four were recorded as having never existed. They all agreed, and passed into a paradise from which there was supposedly no return; to reopen that gateway would apparently risk destroying all creation.
The \"paradise\" dimension
As shown in Infinite Crisis Secret Files 2006, Superman was initially content in the "paradise" dimension. He had no desire to leave, and he didn't even consider the possibility until Lois became ill. Seeing this, Kal-L built a replica of the Daily Star building, and eventually Metropolis, believing that seeing home would give her more energy. This failed to help, however, and Kal-L soon began to share Alex Luthor's belief that their "paradise" dimension was eating away at their souls. With Superman distracted by attending to Lois, Superboy-Prime and Alex were able to break out and initiate the chain of events that would culminate in Infinite Crisis. It can be seen that Superboy-Prime's damage to the dimensional barrier affected Lois' health for the worse.
In the 1999 miniseries The Kingdom, it was revealed that Kal-L now desired to escape their paradise, feeling it to be more of a prison than a refuge. Though Kal-L ultimately decided not to leave the "other place" at that time, it was also revealed that he was aware of a "door", a way out that presumably would not cause the destruction of the outside universe's reality.
Infinite Crisis
The escape
In the first issue of Infinite Crisis, it was revealed that Kal-L and his three companions have been observing the post-Crisis DC Universe from their paradise. Kal-L in specific is revealed at the end of the issue to have been the "narrator" commenting on the events of the story.Appalled by the rapidly-deteriorating state of affairs in the world, the four decide to emerge from their self-imposed exile to lend their aid. (In 52 #7, it was noted that the event that swayed Kal-L to this course of action was the murder of his JSA comrades during Zero Hour.) Kal-L batters an exit through a seemingly crystalline barrier which separates them from the rest of reality.
In the second issue, Kal-L meets up with his cousin Power Girl and explains her true origins, as well as the previous Crisis and the merger of the remaining Earths, with Earth-One being dominant and some of Earth-Two's heroes having been lost.
A perfect Earth
Earth-Two's Lois Lane's touch then somehow restores Power Girl's Pre-Crisis memories. The issue ends with Kal-L telling Power Girl that his intent is to somehow bring back Earth-Two. In the third issue, he tries to enlist Batman's aid, to no avail.However, it is implied at the end of the issue, when Power Girl is knocked out by Superboy-Prime because of discovering Alexander Luthor's tuning fork, that Kal-L is actually an unwitting pawn of Alexander, whose purposes appear to be darker than originally implied (as it is revealed that he is the Lex Luthor impostor acting as the leader of The Society).
Alexander's true goal is revealed to be restoring the Multiverse to search for a perfect Earth, using Kal-L as some sort of device for his machinations. Alexander succeeds in bringing about the return of a version of Earth-Two separate from the current Earth, where Kal-L and his wife (along with other heroes formerly from Earth-Two) are transported.
Kal-El vs. Kal-L
Screaming with sorrow as Lois Lane ages rapidly and dies in his arms as soon as they arrive, he is confronted by Kal-El, whom he attacks, blaming him for bringing corruption to Earth-Two as he did on his native Earth. Their blows are so powerful, they force each of the Supermen to live each others lives. It's not clear whether or not this is a hallucination or an actual occurrence.After his battle with Kal-El, he realizes the truth; that a perfect Earth does not need a Superman, and that Alexander must therefore be using him for some purpose. However, as soon as this happens, he starts to scream in agony as Alexander uses him to restore further alternate Earths. Kal-L survives as all the universes combine into New Earth after the Anti-Monitor Tower is destroyed. He is one of the witnesses to the death of Kon-El along with Kal-El, Wonder Woman, Batman, Nightwing and Wonder Girl.
The Sacrifice
Kal-L and Kal-El assault Superboy-Prime, dragging him through Krypton's red star, down to the planet Mogo. There, Kal-El and Kal-L both battle Superboy-Prime, with all rapidly losing their powers after direct exposure to the red sun. During the battle, Kal-L is savagely beaten by Superboy-Prime in a fit of frustration, the former hero screaming that Kal-L has to understand why he's doing this. Superboy-Prime is ultimately defeated by Kal-El, who informs him that being Superman is about what you do rather than what your powers are; a speech that apparently confirms to Kal-L that his counterpart is a true Superman. As Superboy-Prime is imprisoned by members of the Green Lantern Corps, Kal-L dies in the arms of Power Girl, just after whispering his last word, "Lois."In Action Comics #839, Kal-L was seen to have been laid to rest on New Earth in a grave beside those of Kon-El and his wife, Lois Kent.
Powers and abilities
Superman had 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 any other force than magic, psionics and Kryptonite.
Originally, he was significantly weaker than the Silver Age Superman of Earth-One; it was later revealed his powers took longer to develop or be discovered. While he initially could only leap an eighth of a mile, Superman soon gained full-fledged flight by the early 1940s. By the time Kal-L met Kal-El in the late 1960s, the two heroes were almost evenly matched in terms of power levels.
Appearance in other media
In the Justice League episode "Legends", the League team up with the "Justice Guild of America". JGA member Tom Turbine is a cross between Kal-L and the Golden Age Atom.See also
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