Superman has always been known as the Last Son of Krypton. But in one alternate universe, that premise gets turned on its head when human baby Clark Kent is rocketed from the doomed planet Earth to a new life as Kal-El of Krypton! Things only got stranger from there when Kal/Clark earns the attention of a certain Green Lantern Corps…
The story, Superman: Last Son of Earth, is a DC Elseworlds tale – a variation of Marvel’s popular What if --? series. Where Marvel’s alternate universes usually only altered one small aspect of a character’s history, however, Elseworlds could twist a person’s story in unimaginable ways, leading to chronicles that would normally be impossible.
How Clark Kent was Sent to Krypton
In this universe, Jonathan Kent isn’t a simple Kansas farmer but a genius astrophysicist who learned Earth would be hit by an asteroid that would destroy all life on the planet. Unwilling to doom his infant son to this grim fate, Jonathan builds a rocket ship designed to keep newborn Clark safe by taking orbit around the Earth until the post-impact damage falls to a survivable level on the surface. Instead of just orbiting the planet, however, Clark’s ship ends up falling through a wormhole and ends up light years away on the planet Krypton.
This Krypton is the version introduced by John Byrne (and referenced somewhat in Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel movie). A cold, sterile place where citizens are forbidden from even touching each other, Krypton proves an inhospitable place for baby Clark – as its heavier gravity and atmospheric pressure threatens to crush the infant. Luckily, Clark is rescued – by Kryptonian scientist Jor-El and librarian Lara.
By placing Clark in a null-gravity field, Jor-El is able to keep the baby alive until he grows into a toddler. He then gradually increases the gravity until Clark’s biology adjusts to Krypton’s heavier gravity (although Clark must also wear an exoskelton bio-suit like all Kryptonians just to survive on the alien planet). Remarkably, where other Kryptonians (including Lara) are afraid of different species, Jor-El grows attached to Clark and renames him “Kal-El.” Kal also provides a way for Jor-El to bond with Lara, who also develops affection for the child and the Kryptonian scientist she ends up being betrothed to.
How Kal-El Became a Green Lantern
Several years later, while on an archeological dig, Kal makes a fantastic discovery. After an earthquake cracks open a mountain, Kal discovers a Green Lantern power battery and ring within the wreckage – along with the corpse of the alien soldier who used them thousands of years ago. Picking up the battery and ring, Kal becomes imbued with its power – and transforms in a Green Lantern.
Elated that the ring’s power allows him to survive and even fly without his exosuit, Kal goes home where Jor El has just discovered Krypton is about to explode. Unwilling to accept this, Kal uses his ring’s powers to stabilize Krypton’s core, averting its destruction. Shortly after, however, Kal begins remembering early memories and gets Jor El to reveal his true origins. Before even that revelation has time to settle though, Kal gets summoned to another planet – Oa.
From Krypton to Earth
Greeted by the Guardians of Oa, Kal El learns he was chosen to be a Green Lantern of Krypton’s space sector (meaning this Green Lantern managed to save Krypton in a way the Lantern of the “mainstream” DC universe could not). The Guardians also teach Kal to recover his lost memories with the ring’s power, allowing Kal to learn he is from Earth – which it turns out has not been destroyed.
Enraged that the Green Lanterns were too occupied to save his birth world, Kal flies to Earth and discovers that while the asteroid devastated the world, humanity still managed to survive – albeit barely. Themyscira and Atlantis have both been destroyed and only a couple million humans are still alive. Using his Green Lantern powers, Kal helps several of the survivors – which include Lois Lane, Jimmy Olson… and Martha Kent. Unfortunately, Lex Luthor is also still around, and is attempting to bring Earth’s survivors under his rule.
While Kal chooses to use his power to aid Lois’ “tribe,” his ring runs out of power and he gets captured by Luthor’s men. Lois and Jimmy try returning Kal’s lantern battery, but Lex captures them too and locks them up with Kal. As Kal grows furious about becoming a “weakling” again, he punches the wall – and learns that he’s still strong enough to break it with his bare hands.
How Green Lantern Became a “Superman”
Turns out that all those years living under Krypton’s heavy gravity had a nice side benefit – because Kal’s human muscles adapted so well to such conditions, on Earth his strength his now superhuman. While he doesn’t have any of Superman’s more exotic powers like heat vision, his skin is invulnerable to normal bullets and he can leap great distances (not unlike the original Golden Age Superman). Using his new powers, Kal takes back his power ring and dethrones Luthor. However, the Guardians later inform him that if he chooses to stay on Earth, Kal must give up his Green Lantern abilities. Kal responds by using his last twenty-four hours as a Green Lantern to clean up and help rebuild the Earth (using Kryptonian technology). He then relinquishes the ring and battery, choosing to stay on Earth as its protector.
In the aftermath, readers learn Kal El also had a profound effect on his adoptive parents Jor El and Lara, who chose to turn their backs on Krypton’s sterile ways by shedding their bio suits and returning to traditional Kryptonian ways (similar to how Krypton was depicted in the Silver Age of Comics) that Kal had discovered in his archeological digs. Thanking Kal for showing them a new way to live, Jor El and Lara go on to show Krypton a new way to live.
More than a simple mash-up of Superman and Green Lantern, Superman: Last Son of Earth offers a skewed look at a Superman story where Clark Kent starts out as one of the weaker members of his adopted race before gaining his powers. At its core though, it shows that Superman’s true strength lies more in his character and convictions than his abilities – Green Lantern’s or otherwise.