Kal-El from Krypton - The real name of Superman, "a strange visitor from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men" who lives incognito as a mild-mannered reporter named Clark Kent on the sci-fi series ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN/SYN/1952-58.

Superman from the 1930s to the present
	Superman Comics (Debuted in 1938)
Kirk Alyn  "Superman Serials"  (1940s)	George Reeves "Adventures of Superman" (1952)	Christopher Reeve "Superman" (1978)
John Haymes Newton "Superboy" (1988)	Dean Cain "Lois & Clark" (1993)	Tom Welling "Smallville" (2001)

Kal-El's background story goes as follows: Rocketed to Earth as an infant, when the planet Krypton exploded, Kal-el landed on the planet Earth near Smallville, USA, where he was adopted and raised by John and Martha Kent (also given as Eben and Sarah), a childless farm couple.

Kal-el soon discovered he was superhuman, possessing the ability to fly, see through objects with his X-ray vision (with the exception of lead), hear and see things from tremendous distances, bend steel in his bare hands and retain enormous bits of information via his super memory.

His only weakness was the radioactive-charged substance known as Kryptonite, fragments from the explosion of his home planet. Prolonged exposure to this greenish element, would cause weakness, unconsciousness and possibly the death of Superman.

As an adult, Kal-el moved to the city of Metropolis, USA and assumed the identity of Clark Kent, a mild-mannered reporter working for the Daily Planet, a great metropolitan newspaper. His fellow workers included female reporter, Lois Lane, Cub-reporter Jimmy Olson and Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Perry White.

---

Opening Narration from the 1950s Series

For some strange reason, a pair of dark-rimmed glasses offered an effective disguise from his true identity when he was not out fighting "a never ending battle for Truth, Justice and the American way."

Clark's alter ego of Superman wore a blue body stocking, with red boots and trunks, and a yellow belt with gold buckle circled his powerful physique. On his chest and his red cape was a scarlet "S" emblazoned on a shield of yellow.

Clark's Earth mother had fashioned him this costume from the fabric found in his crashed rocket. It was acid, fire and bullet-proof (I guess she got her son Clark to use his super laser vision to cut the pattern).

A telephone booth was a favorite place for Superman to change into his costume in the comics and on radio. However, on television the man from Krypton chose a storeroom in the Daily Planet newspaper building down the hall from his typewriter and when that wasn't available an empty alley would do.

In the 1950s series, Superman kept his costume at his apartment (5-H) at the Standish Arms Hotel in Metropolis. His costume was hidden in a secret compartment at the back of his bedroom closet. (Later Clark moved to 344 Clinton Street). The costume on the 1950s B/W episodes was actually brown & light gray to allow for better contrast when shooting scenes.

Continued next page >

Back to Top