Superboy-Prime
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Superboy-Prime is a fictional superhero turned supervillain in the DC Universe. He is the second character to be called Superboy. He came from the parallel Earth known as Earth-Prime, in which Superman and the other DC superheroes only exist as fictional characters. Unable to let go of his former life, his convictions and morals are warped by years of solitude in a "paradise" dimension.
Character history
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Superboy-Prime's story starts in a parallel world called Earth-Prime, a near-copy of the real world in which the DC heroes are simply fictional characters. In this world, he is the adopted son of Jerry and Naomi Kent, who found it amusing to name their new infant son "Clark." What the Kents don't know is that the baby, found abandoned in a forest, is actually a young Kal-El, who was teleported to Earth moments before the planet Krypton was swallowed by its sun.
Young Clark lives most of his life as a normal boy. One night in his mid-teens, while attending a costume party dresses as Superboy, his Kryptonian powers suddenly manifest (with the passing of Halley's Comet and the beginning effects of the Crisis on Infinite Earths). At approximately the same time, the Earth-One Superman finds his way into Earth-Prime's reality, and the two versions of Kal-El meet.DC Comics Presents #87, 1985
Superboy-Prime is thrust into the Anti-Monitor's Crisis on Infinite Earths after his universe is destroyed. Although anguishing over the loss of everything he knew, he finds peace knowing that he fights the good fight alongside other heroes.Crisis on Infinite Earths #10, 1985 During the final battle against the Anti-Monitor, Kal-L orders him to escape with Alexander Luthor, Jr. and the other heroes. Fearing that Kal-L would die in battle and knowing the new Earth wasn't his true home, Superboy-Prime joined Superman in the fight against the Anti-Monitor. After destroying the Anti-Monitor, and with no home to return to, Superboy-Prime joins Alexander Luthor, Jr. of Earth-Three and the Lois Lane and Superman of Earth-Two in a "paradise dimension".Crisis on Infinite Earths #12, 1985
Life in \"Heaven\"
Infinite Crisis: Secret Files & Origins 2006 reveals life in the paradise dimension. Superboy-Prime secludes himself from the others, using crystals to watch events from his life on Earth-Prime. His favorite memory is his birthday party, which he watches repeatedly. Superboy-Prime becomes frustrated and angry, and he reaches out to Superman, whose attention is more focused on Lois's failing health.Alexander persuades Superboy-Prime to help him return to reality by showing him the deaths of those he loved on Earth Prime. Alexander also shows Superboy-Prime the negative aspects of the Post-Crisis Earth, and none of the positive. Superboy-Prime hesitates until he overhears Superman say, "I wish this world would let him grow up. He'll never be Superman here". Finally, Alexander shows him his parents and girlfriend dying in an accident on the post-Crisis Earth.
Altering reality
Furious, Superboy-Prime pounds on the barrier wall of his reality but is unsuccessful. This assault on the universe causes "ripples" that alter reality, explaining in-story the real-life changes and retcons in DC continuity for the past 20 years. Infinite Crisis Secret Files & Origins 2006
These changes include:
- Jason Todd's return (He was "never supposed to die"). Batman Annual #25, 2006
- Superman's multiple origins, including The Man of Steel and , combining.The Man of Steel #1-6 (1986), Superman: Birthright #1-12 (2004)
- Hawkman's many incarnations.Zero Hour #4 (1994), Hawkman #0 (1994)
- The cycle many characters experience of death, return, change and reversion to normal - among them, SupermanThe Death of Superman, Hal JordanGreen Lantern #48-50 (1993), Zero Hour #4-0, Final Night (1997), Day of Judgement #1-4 (2002), Green Lantern: Rebirth #1-6 (2005), Jonah Hex, Green Arrow Green Arrow #1, 2000, and Donna TroyTitans/Young Justice: Graduation Day (2003), The Return of Donna Troy'' #1-4 (2005) were affected as each character went through a similar cycle at different times in their careers.
- The original Doom Patrol's re-emergence as new characters, despite the team having years of adventures since the death of Elasti-Girl, who appears as if she had never died. Doom Patrol #1 (2004)
- Donna Troy's multiple origins after the first Crisis.
- The different incarnations of the Legion of Super-Heroes since the first Crisis.
- Catwoman's past as a prostitute no longer exists, but characters she knows from that time do.
Countdown to Infinite Crisis
Superboy-Prime's efforts frustrate him; he is not as powerful in his post-Crisis dimension because it has no yellow sun. Eventually, Alexander reveals that his own powers are returning, and the two combine forces to break through the barrier wall. Together, they set into motion the events that culminated into Infinite Crisis:
- Superboy-Prime pushes the planet Rann into Thanagar's orbit, destroying Thanagar's ecosystem, sparking the Rann-Thanagar War and shifting the center of the universe away from Oa.Rann/Thanagar War, 2005
- Alexander poses as Lex Luthor and starts the new Society of Super-Villains.Villans United #6, 2005
- Alexander recruits the Psycho-Pirate to place Eclipso's Black Diamond in Jean Loring's cell at Arkham Asylum. Loring as Eclipso then seduces the Spectre into destroying all magic, which creates a raw form of magic that Alexander's tuning fork device can tap into for power.Day of Vengeance #1-6, 2005
- Superboy-Prime destroys the JLA Watchtower and abducts Martian Manhunter.JLA #118, 2005
- Alex takes control of Brother Eye from Batman, which gives him control over the OMACs, as well as Checkmate's files on Earth's meta-humans.The OMAC Project
Descent: Infinite Crisis
The Superman of Earth-Two breaks open a portal to the main DC Universe, and the four residents of the paradise dimension returnInfinite Crisis #1, 2005, making themselves known to some characters, particularly Power Girl and Batman. Earth-Two Superman says to Power Girl, "When the universe was reborn, Earth-One became the primary world. The scraps of the remaining worlds were folded into it. But I finally realized— we saved the wrong Earth".Infinite Crisis #2, 2005
Jealous of Conner Kent, the modern Superboy, for living the life he never had, and believing the heroes act more like villains, Superboy-Prime abducts characters from the Earths that had combined to form the post-Crisis Earth, including Martian Manhunter, Power Girl, and Breach to power the vibrational tuning Alexander builds.Infinite Crisis #3, 2005
Superboy vs. Superboy
Superboy-Prime confronts Superboy, saying that he is the Superboy the Earth needs. Superboy-Prime argues with Conner and then attacks him, easily defeating him. Members of the Teen Titans, the Doom Patrol, and the Justice Society of America arrive, and Superboy-Prime accidentally kills and wounds several of them while fighting them, severely traumatizing him.
While he tries to defuse the situation, the heroes continue their assault. Speedy traps Superboy-Prime in the Phantom Zone, using an "emergency Phantom Zone arrow".Teen Titans #32, 2006 Superboy-Prime breaks free and is enraged, saying the Phantom Zone is for "bad guys". Left with no other options, a number of Flashes shove Superboy-Prime into the Speed ForceInfinite Crisis #4, 2006 and banish him to a world bathed in red sunlight, where he stays for several years.
Hours later, an older Bart Allen returns from the Speed Force and tells the heroine Doctor Light to warn the other heroes that Superboy-Prime has escaped.Infinite Crisis #5, 2006
Superboy vs. Superboy: Round Two
Superboy-Prime reappears during a battle between Alexander Luthor and the heroes freed from his tower. He wears a power suit modeled after the Anti-Monitor's armor that constantly feeds him yellow solar energy and boosts his power levels. During the battle, Black Adam discovers Superboy-Prime doesn't have a vulnerability to magic before being beaten by Superboy-Prime and banished to Earth-S. Having lost all compassion during his exile, Superboy-Prime insists that Luthor reinstate Earth-Prime as the only existing Earth.
Superboy-Prime's intention is to make Earth-Prime the perfect Earth, and no one on his home world will know what he had to do to make it possible. After Superboy-Prime threatens to kill Wonder Girl, an enraged Conner Kent attacks him. Conner and Superboy-Prime battle intensely until Conner, realizing that he can't match Superboy-Prime's power, charges Superboy-Prime, sending both of them headlong into Alexander Luthor's apparatus. The machine explodes, re-merging the worlds and apparently foiling Alexander Luthor's plans for good.Infinite Crisis #6, 2006
Conclusion
Alexander and Superboy-Prime quarrel during a massive prison break engineered by the Secret Society. Since the tower has been destroyed, Alexander has to settle for taking over New Earth instead of creating a perfect Earth. Superboy-Prime refuses to help Alex make New Earth the perfect world.Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Earth-Two Superman arrive, and Kal-L confronts Alex about his role in the destruction. Superboy-Prime is destroying Alex's personal equipment when he is attacked by Bart Allen. Superboy-Prime escapes Bart and flies to Oa in an attempt to recreate the universe, with himelf as the sole hero. He eludes capture by the majority of Earth's heroes but is confronted by the Green Lantern Corps in deep space.
Superboy-Prime slaughters 32 Green Lanterns and shatters a 300-mile-thick ring-generated wall, only to be confronted by the two Supermen. They grab Superboy-Prime and fly him deeper into space, dragging him through Rao, the red sun of Krypton. The searing heat melts away Superboy-Prime's armor, and the three weakened Kryptonians crash on Mogo. Superboy-Prime savagely beats Kal-L, who is all but dead when Kal-El manages to intervene.
As they fight, Superboy-Prime claims that he is better than Kal-El, and that his Krypton was superior to Kal-El's. Kal-El responds, "It doesn't matter where you're from, or what you wear... that doesn't make you Superman. It's about who you are and what you do, about action". Nearly powerless, Kal-El manages to knock Superboy-Prime out before collapsing. The Green Lantern Corps arrives and takes Superboy-Prime prisoner, imprisoning him in a quantum containment field surrounded by a Red Sun-Eater and guarded by 50 Green Lanterns. Superboy-Prime carves an S-symbol into the flesh of his chest and swears to find a way out of his prison.Infinite Crisis #7, 2006
One Year Later
In the "Face to Face" storyline running in Batman and Detective Comics, Superboy-Prime appears to Robin in a nightmare induced by the Scarecrow. During the battle with the illusory Superboy-Prime, Robin mentions Conner Kent's death and that he took Superboy-Prime down with him, killing him.Powers and abilities
Kryptonian powers
Superboy-Prime has all the basic Kryptonian powers, including 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 force other than psionics and Kryptonite, except his power-levels are at the god-like stature of the Silver Age Superman of Earth-One before he was depowered in John Byrne's reboot. As such he can travel at speeds faster than light, move entire planets vast distances, and survive in space for long periods of time.Power suit
Despite his growing insanity, Superboy-Prime exhibits the same Kryptonian super-intelligence shared by the pre-Crisis Earth-One and Earth-Two Supermen by designing his power suit. Patterned after the Anti-Monitor's armor, it collects and feeds him yellow solar energy. It is destroyed when the two Supermen fly Superboy-Prime through Krypton's red sun.Weaknesses
Whereas most versions of Superman have a weakness to magic, Superboy-Prime claims he does not. Additionally, most versions are affected by Kryptonite; however, Kryptonite from the modern DC Universe does not affect Superboy-Prime. Furthermore, the Krypton of Earth-Prime's universe, unlike other versions of the planet, did not explode: It was engulfed by its sun Rao, which went nova, thus there are no known surviving pieces of kryptonite from Krypton-Prime that could affect Superboy-Prime.After the speedsters removed Superboy-Prime from their world, they imprisoned him under red sunlight for several years. It should be noted that during Crisis on Infinite Earths, Superboy-Prime was not vulnerable to red solar radiation, as other Kryptonians are, although keeping him on a planet under a red sun for long enough would, in theory, deprive him of the yellow sunlight that fuels his powers. It is this weakness that is ultimately exploited by both Kal-El and Kal-L to defeat Superboy-Prime. This was accomplished by flying him directly through Krypton's red sun, destroying his armor and sacrificing his (and their) powers to even the odds. Some have speculated that the red sunlight now affects Superboy-Prime because he has changed at his core, as noted by Alex Luthor. This change prevented him from returning to Earth-Prime, although it appeared that Alex was about to reach it before he was attacked by Firestorm.
Geoff Johns and Dan Didio on Superboy-Prime
According to Infinite Crisis writer Geoff Johns ,"[Superboy-Prime]'s really frustrated with what his life has turned into and, unfortunately, that frustration is going to be taken out on the world." He also said earlier in Wizard #170 that "He's been wanting to show the world what he can do, because he barely had a chance to be Superboy. He was Superboy a little bit before Crisis on Infinite Earths and then—BOOM!—his world was wiped out and that was it."Wizard magazine #172
When asked how Superboy-Prime's battle with the Teen Titans got out of control so quickly, editor Dan Didio said, "Superboy is a teenager raised in isolation, with raging hormones, a huge chip on his shoulder and the powers of a god. He never learned how to keep his powers or emotions in check, so when confronted, the situation escalated and he had no idea on how to defuse it. Think of a situation where you, as a teenager, lost your temper. Now imagine you have the power to crush a planet. Do you think that situation would have ended differently? This is the moment where Superboy-Prime crosses the point of no return and becomes the greatest threat the universe will ever know."
After the fifth issue was released, Johns said at the "Wizard World LA" con, "That took me a long time to break, because I thought Superboy Prime needed to view the world so narrow. You can see how his world view is so narrow and so black and white and realistically that is not going to work anymore." Originally Superboy Prime started out coming into crisis as corrupted and evil, but the take on the character didn’t work for Johns. "I said to Dan I think Prime does it by accident and is horrified. That panel where’s he’s looking at his hands and goes ‘I didn’t mean to do it,’ that for me is the entire story for Superboy Prime. He didn’t mean to do this stuff. What’s worse making a mistake and fessing up to it or doing something bad and saying ‘You made me do it?’ Superboy Prime is a very simplistic character who has become very complex."[link]
Superman: Secret Identity
The protagonist in the four-issue prestige format limited series is similar to Superboy-Prime as he originally appeared in DC Comics Presents. Clark Kent is a teenager who lives on an Earth like ours, where superheroes only exist in comic books, and he develops superpowers. In his introduction to the collected edition of the series, writer Kurt Busiek writes that Superboy-Prime's appearances in DC Comics Presents and during the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths were the story's inspiration.References
See also
- Superman
- Kal-L
- Alexander Luthor, Jr.
- Crisis on Infinite Earths
- Infinite Crisis
- Alternate versions of Superman
External links
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