SUPERBOY	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett

Superboy; Art by Francis Manapul

PERSONAL DATA

Full Name: Conner Kent, Kon-El
Aliases: Carl Krummett (undercover identity)
Occupation: Adventurer, Student; formerly Cadmus field agent, Metropolis S.C.U. Deputy
Space Sector: 2814
Citizenship: American
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Cloned from Superman and Lex Luthor (formerly thought to have been cloned from Paul Westfield; DNA at one point restructured by Roxy Leech's genetic template)
Base of Operation: Smallville, Kansas, formerly Cadmus (just outside of Metropolis), the Young Justice Cave in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, and Hawaii
Group Affiliation(s): Teen Titans
Group Affiliation (former): Young Justice, Legion of Super-Heroes (Earth-247) (honorary), The Ravers, Justice League of America
Gender: Male
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 150 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
First Appearance: Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993)
Creators: Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett

I call it Tactile Telekinesis. It's trademarked. You say it without my permission, I can deck you! - Superboy Quote taken from Showcase'96 #8 (September 1996)

OVERVIEW

A teenaged clone of Superman, created by the Cadmus Project after the great hero's "death" at the hands of Doomsday, Superboy has been adopted by Superman as his cousin, and is a member of the Teen Titans. Recently he has learned that half of his DNA came from Lex Luthor.

HISTORY

After Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday, his body was taken to the Cadmus Project where director Paul Westfield unsuccessfully tried to clone Superman. Whereas the Cadmus scientists had not been able to clone Superman's DNA, other experiments based on Superman's aura combined with the DNA of Paul Westfield, director of Cadmus at the time, were successful and resulted in the clone now known as Superboy. During the growth period the clone was stuffed with various memory implants (including math, science, history, and movies) that matched up to his body's biological age of 15. The clone was also made to believe that he was actually the clone of Superman. When the new Newsboy Legion discovered that Westfield and Carl Packard tried to implant code words that would enable them to control the clone once completed, they broke free the not yet fully grown clone. Aided by the new Newsboy Legion, the clone escaped the Cadmus Project. When one of the newsboys called him Superboy, the kid was extremely annoyed and noted that his name was Superman. [Adventures of Superman #500/4 ~ Superboy #0]

He then took of and headed towards Metropolis, where he ran into Sidearm, a criminal equipped with a couple of robot arms. Still believing himself to be Superman's clone at the time, Superboy was counting on his super-vision powers to give him an edge in the battle. As he could not make those powers kick in, due to the fact that he was not Superman's clone, Sidearm almost brought the 'Metropolis Kid' to a quick demise. But then his tactile telekinesis powers kicked in and short-circuited Sidearm's robot arms. Superboy then used those arms to hang Sidearm on a lamppost for the police to find. [Superboy #0]

The following morning he saved a young woman from being run over by a group of young street punks that had stolen a cap. The news of that incident, unlike that of the kid's battle with Sidearm, quickly found its way to the media and joined a number of other reported Superman sightings. Along with the appearance of Superboy, three other persons had taken on the S-shield and begun adventuring as Superman. [Adventures of Superman #501]

Superboy soon met Tana Moon, an aspiring reporter. Her exclusive interview with the clone got her a job at GBS, and she and the kid became a consistent ratings getter. While doing another publicity stunt for GBS, Supergirl showed up and invited him to join her and Lex Luthor II for dinner. Infatuated by Supergirl he accepted. At the dinner Luthor tried to convince Superboy that he would be in a better position at WLEX than at GBS, but it wasn't until Supergirl mentioned that they would be working together every day that 'The Kid' was won over. After the dinner he met up with Vinnie Edge and Tana at Clark Kent's old apartment. As Clark was presumed dead during the Doomsday incident, Edge had arranged for Superboy to move into his now available apartment. Before Superboy had the chance to tell them about his new arrangement with Luthor, Edge introduced Superboy to his close personal friend Rex Leech, whom he had hired to manage Superboy's affairs. This included some staged events to boost Superboy's popularity. To this day, Superboy doesn't know that Rex has arranged these events. Before long Superboy ended up signing a contract with Rex who immediately got on with the business of trademarking the name of Superman for the kid. [Adventures of Superman #501-#502]

When Coast City was destroyed the Cyborg Superman summoned Superboy to investigate the crises at his side. Superboy quickly left for Coast City where he met up with the Cyborg Superman and a GBS News team all of whom then went into the blast zone in search of the rogue Superman. Just as the group was approaching the remains of Coast City the Cyborg used his heat vision to blow up the GBS helicopter killing everybody inside. Before Superboy had any time to react the Cyborg was over him and although he fought valiantly the Cyborg eventually brought him down. [Adventures of Superman #503]

While the Cyborg had Superboy restrained, he told him of his plans to destroy Earth and make it into another Warworld. While the Cyborg and Mongul were elsewhere planning their next move, Superboy panicked and triggered his tactile telekinetic powers, blowing up his restraints. Although exhausted The Kid managed to escape. Knowing that he couldn't take on the bad guys himself and knowing that the JLA were in space he went back to Metropolis to find help.

After a flight home, Superboy found Steel, Supergirl, and the real Superman who had come back to life, and to Metropolis The four heroes headed to the former Coast City, Engine City where they went up against the Cyborg, Mongul and their minions. When the Cyborg launched an Engine City missile, headed for Metropolis, Superboy grabbed onto it and managed to deflect it just before before impact and instead it blew up over the sea. [Adventures of Superman #504]

Superboy barely survived the blast, but stayed in Metropolis for a short while to help solve a string of crimes by aliens. During this time he became a deputy of the Metropolis Police Department's S.C.U. (Special Crimes Unit) Then he headed back in Engine City and assisted Superman, Steel, Supergirl, the Eradicator, and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) in bringing down the Cyborg and Mongul [Superman Vol. 2 #82]

They were victorious, and returned to Metropolis. Later at Superboy's apartment, The Kid was taking a well deserved rest, until he was woken by Tana, who stopped by to let him know that she has quit GBS and is leaving Metropolis. [Adventures of Superman #505]

Some days later Superboy was attacked by a group of Payback D.N.Aliens from Cadmus and only the timely intervention of Superman saved the kid. Later the Guardian caught up with The Kid and assured him that Cadmus wasn't trying to kill him. Superman showed up and asked The Kid to give the Guardian the benefit of a doubt and go back to Cadmus and furthermore he promised Superboy that he wouldn't be taken prisoner or harmed. To ensure this, Kal-El went with them to learn the truth about Superboy's origin. All three then went to Cadmus where they learned that that he is not really a clone of Superman and that his powers are connected to experiments involving Superman's aura. Guardian then suggested that they have Dubbilex keep tabs on him while acting as the projects goodwill ambassador. [Adventures of Superman #505]

That evening, back at Superboy's apartment, The Kid sold back the Superman trademark to the real Superman for one dollar. Kal-El then allowed the SB to use the S-shield and the name Superboy if half the profits went to charity. After giving it a little thought (and throwing a temper tantrum) he realized that maybe it isn't such a bad name after all. At least it indicated that he'd be next in line. Meanwhile, Rex decided that it was time for a world tour to establish the new name. [Adventures of Superman #505]

Before long Superboy found himself on tour. After stopping off in Hawaii, The Kid decided to make it home. Along for the ride were Rex, his tough-as-nails daughter, Roxy, and Dubbilex. Not long after arriving in Hawaii, Superboy learned that Tana Moon, the TV reporter who had covered his adventures in Metropolis, was now living in Hawaii as well. The two became something of an on-again-off-again item.

In a relatively short time, Superboy had encountered foes including Sidearm, Scavenger, King Shark, Silver Sword, and Copperhead and many others! He'd formed a confusing and dangerously flirtatious relationship with the meta-human called Knockout, who would just as soon kiss him as kill him. He had also formed an alliance with head of the Honolulu S.C.U., Sam Makoa and run afoul of truant officer Mack Harlin, who corralled Superboy into going to school. Although Superboy had to leave his placement tests early, his implanted knowledge caused his test scores to be high enough to be a sophomore in Ilupani High School. Here he met one of his best friends, Hillary Chang. Later Mack Harlin allowed The Kid to be home schooled by Dubbilex after a fight with Apokolips' Female Furies destroyed his school.

The Kid has also earned the trust of heroes throughout the universe and timestream! He was a member of the old JLA, was the leading force of good in an intergalactic/interdimensional rave, he was such an influence that his return inspired the ravers to victory against some evil Khunds, and the Earth clique even named them selves Superboy and the Ravers! He is also an honorary member of the 30th century's Legion of Super-Heroes, was invited to join a team of the Teen Titans, and subsequently joined a junior branch of the Justice League called Young Justice.

Superboy has managed to survive a deadly clone plague, the meltdown of his genetic structure, fighting a mindless clone of himself, as well as helping save Superman from capital punishment at the hands of the Intergalactic Tribunal, and was a key factor in breaking up the Silicon Dragons, a deadly hi-tech gang of criminals that held Hawaii in a grip of terror. Through all of this, he has learned much, but come out relatively unscathed. The only permanent injury he bears is an inability to age due to the meltdown of his genetic structure, a parting gift from the Agenda when they kidnapped and made an evil clone of him named Match. Therefore he will continue to appear 16 years old for the rest of his life.

Until lately Superboy was a very popular public figure in Hawaii. Due to his mismanaged public appearances, and lack of respect to the old Hawaiian legends, he found his approval rating falling. After his visit to the "Wild Lands" he decided to be a field agent for the newly restructured Cadmus outside of Metropolis.

Around the time of Superboy's 2nd birthday, on a trip to Superman's Fortress of Solitude, Kal-El officially adopted Superboy as a cousin, and named him Kon-El. This was one of Superboy's proudest moments. Before this, he never felt he needed a real name, that he was just Superboy. Now he uses the name with great pride.

Shortly thereafter, a Superboy died on the table of the JLA, and Superboy was sent through Hypertimelines by the JLA to defeat the villain Black Zero from destroying every timeline of the universe. During this trip through Hypertime, Kon-El found out that Clark Kent was Superman when he teamed up with an alternate Kal-El who was Superboy at the age of 13.

More recently, evidence has been uncovered suggesting that everything Superboy had thought about his genetic heritage is false, and that he is in fact cloned using 50 per cent Kryptonian DNA from Superman and 50 per cent human DNA from Lex Luthor. He currently lives with Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville, using the alias Conner Kent, and is a member of the Teen Titans which formed after Young Justice disbanded.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

Superboy's powers are connected to the experiments involving Superman's aura that were an important factor in his creation. The scientists at Cadmus were able to translate that aura into a telekinetic field which gives Superboy the power of tactile telekinesis, a power that can simulate most of Superman's powers.

Tactile telekinesis makes Superboy capable of doing a wide variety of things, but it seems he barely understands how to use these powers beyond their basics. It is possible they were on the verge of teaching him what he can really do with his abilities, when he prematurely escaped Cadmus.

Tactile telekinesis is pretty much an energy field that surrounds Superboy's body much like Superman's. The difference though is that this is his only power. The theory now is that if he can picture moving it with his mind, and he can touch it, it will be done. This enables him the equivalent of super strength, practical invulnerability, and the ability to fly. As of yet, he doesn't know how to deflect energy, and gets hurt a lot easier by energy form attacks than by solids. He does keep improving though. Recently, he's learned he can extend his field under water, allowing him to move liquids. As time progresses, he's learning to develop an invulnerability to energy attacks, and can withstand much more than he used to. Recently, he and Green Lantern were thrown into molten lava, and he was able to both save both of them and walk away from it virtually unscathed.

In regards to strength, Superboy can do a lot of the same things Superman can. About the heaviest thing he's lifted so far was the world's largest yacht. He has also prevented a train from crashing into another train. Although this would rate him among the strongest heroes on Earth it can't really be counted as true super-strength. Once he was bound up with chains that was surrounded by a force field, and since he can't yet manipulate energy, he was virtually helpless and unable to free himself. It is known that at least for now, he can get hurt by energy, but most forms can't kill him. This is mainly due to the fact that he seems to resist energy attacks better than a normal person can, and is getting better at resistance.

Tactile telekinesis seems to affect his metabolism as well. Superboy has a super-healing factor which means that if he ever gets hurt he heals really fast, and a lot faster than a normal human being would. This in part has probably helped him survive nuclear annihilation, recovering from diseases that would kill normal humans, and the ability to get up after getting smacked around by super-strong types such as Valor and Knockout. When unconscious, Superboy's telekinetic field drops, and he can get hurt like any normal human. Having a "super-metabolism" can also mean that under stressful conditions, Superboy's reflexes get lightning fast. He has stopped bullets in mid air, and has met fist with fist against Valor.

However, he does not by definition have super-speed. Under normal conditions, if he and Robin had a race, Superboy would win quite easily. However, he once raced Impulse (he flew while Impulse ran), and got beaten quite badly. When flying, he is much faster, but still isn't considered to be super-speed. At top speed, he can outrun a high speed train, or fly coast to coast in under 4 hours, and has outflown a jet flying at Mach 3.

Since Superboy can't touch gases, he gets as easily hurt by them as any normal human would. He has been hit with knockout gases before and has never fared too well. Superboy has also gotten a little more creative with his powers and has learned to manipulate the ground to cause explosions through sheer will power. Of course he must be touching the ground to do this. With the exception of Kryptonite and magic none of Superboy's weaknesses are a given.

For a time Superboy wore an eye-visor made by Professor Emil Hamilton that gave him Infrared Vision, Microscopic Vision, Telescopic Vision, X-Ray Vision, and Heat Vision. This weapon was lost, then used against The Kid, so he destroyed them to prevent anyone from getting hurt if they were ever taken by a villain again. However, since then the Scavenger has picked up the remnants of them, and has them hidden away in one of his many secret bases.

Recently, Serling Roquette, a geneticist at Cadmus, has found that as Superboy ages, he will gain more powers like his clone Match has already. These include vision and aural powers. Although no one is sure exactly which powers he will receive, in a vision of his future shown by a future Superman, he say his fellow members of Young Justice yelling for him to use his heat vision.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Superboy in chronological order click here

PROFILE REFERENCES

Team Superman Secret Files #1 (May 1998)
Young Justice Secret Files #1 (January 1999)
Young Justice: Sins of Youth Secret Files #1 (May 2000)
Superman: Secret Files 2009 (October 2009)