Superman Movie
Superman created by: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
By: Duvonya Milan
DISCLAIMER
I, Duvonya Elijah Marquis Milan, make no claims to any and all characters, names, logos, story lines, and any other trademarked, copyrighted or otherwise protected by any federal, state, international, or intellectual property of law in this story. It is for entertainment use only, and not intended for any sales or commercial use of any sorts. "Superman Movie" is not in any way, shape, or form affiliated with or sponsored by Warner Bros., DC Comics, the heirs and estates of Jerry Siegal, Joe Shuster, Richard Donner, Zach Snider, Bryan Singer, Christopher Nolan, the Salkind estate, or any other affiliates or licensees. This story is solely for the entertainment of the author of "Superman Movie" and other Superman fans.
Part 1: The Beginning
Jor-El is standing inside of the rings in front of the Science Council on Krypton. As Jor-El stood before them, he said, “General Zod cannot be trusted. I have reason to believe that the man is trying to destroy Krypton.” One of them, the only woman, said, “ And what evidence supports this, Jor-El?” Jor-El bowed his head. “I have no evidence, your Greatness.”
“Then you shall not have access to the Phantom Zone.”
“But I created it! Shouldn't I have access and power to who must enter and who must not?”
“Yes, Jor-El,” said one of the men. “you created the Phantom Zone. But what you created was so dangerous, it mustn't be taken lightly. You created a world in which the horrible criminals of Krypton can go and have a different life. But the life in the Phantom Zone is so horrible, sending people who have not committed crimes there would be...”
“Preposterous?” said a mysterious man.
“Zod,” said Jor-El. “What are you doing here?”
“Your Greatness', may I talk to Jor-El, alone?”
“As you wish, General Zod,” said one of the men.
The rings went away. The top one went up and the bottom one down. The faces on the screen turn off. Zod grabs Jor-El by the shirt.
“Now, you listen to me, Jor-El. I have worked too hard to let you send me to a place as horrible as the Phantom Zone. You should spend less time trying to bring me to justice and more time trying to save your new-born son. What's his name? Kal-El?”
“You are not worthy enough to say my son's name aloud.”
“Jor-El, I promise you. One day, you will kneel before me.”
“I will die before I kneel before a barbaric monstrosity like you.”
“Your tragic death will be sooner than you expect, Jor-El. You might wanna go ahead and say goodbye to your loves ones.”
Right when Zod said that, Krypton had an earthquake. (or Kryptonquake?! :))
Jor-El runs back to the House of El. “Lara!” yelled Jor-El. Krypton shook again.
“Jor-El!,” said Lara, holding little Kal-El. “What is going on? What's happening?”
“It's Zod.”
“Zod?! How? What? What is he doing?”
“He's going to destroy Krypton. We have to get Kal-El out of here.”
“What!? How? Where would he go?”
Jor-El walks over to these crystals that are in the House. “A few month ago, I met with Zod. He told he what he was doing. I was going to stop him, but his plan was foolproof. So I created a ship for Kal-El.”
“A ship? Where will he go?”
“Years ago, my father told me to go to a planet. He said I could wander around it. I met a great couple. Kal-El will be safe with their spouse. The Kents.”
“The Kents? You told me that they were great people. You talk about them like gods.”
“And if Kal-El lives upon them, he will be safe.”
Jor-El took out a crystal and slid it into a slot on a different set of crystals. It lit up bright, then a ship appeared. “Kal-El will have a safe journey in this, to Earth.” The ship hovered over in front of Jor-El. The ship was small enough to only fit Kal-El. The ship opened up. Inside, it had Kryptonian writing on it. Jor-El looked over at Lara and then pointed to the ship. Lara walked over to the ship and held little Kal-El in her arms, as if she never wanted to let go. She kissed little Kal-El on the forehead and slowly put him in the ship. “Lara,” says Jor-El as he puts his hand on her shoulder. “Kal-El must know about his origins. I put a piece of Krypton in his ship and he'll be able to talk to me. So I can guide him. He can be the savior of the Earth. The planet will tear itself apart without little Kal-El.” Jor-El takes out a crystal and puts it back in the other way. The ship then starting whirring. It lifted up and took off.
“Jor-El!” yelled Zod.
“Zod,” said Jor-El. “What are you doing here? You are not welcome here.”
“Was that little Kal-El? Where did you send him?”
“A place where you and anyone else on Krypton can't hurt him.”
“Where? Is it where your little Martian lives, Mars? Or is it that one planet, what was it called? Oh, I remember. Earth.
Jor-El stood there in silence.
“Oh, so it is Earth. Well, You have to technology for that. You can go to Earth, whenever you want.”
“I closed all the portals to any world.”
“What about this portal. The only one that can't be closed.” Zod picked up a crystal and started squeezing it.
“No! Zod! Earth is too far! The time-space continuum will blast you into the-”
Before Jor-El could finish, Zod was gone in a flash of light.
Kal-El flies through space as Krypton is destroyed.
3 years later, in a little town in Kansas called Smallville.
Jonathan and Martha Kent are the one of the most known couple in all of Smallville. They live on one of the most wealthiest of farms. They were happy and content. But they did carry around a burden. Martha Kent's genetic makeup is different then most women. It allows to not be able to have children. The only thing she wants most is children.
Jonathan and Martha come out of a little flower shop owned by one of their neighbors. “Thanks, Nell,” says Martha. “You're welcome,” replies Nell. Jonathan and Martha get into their truck. Martha bows her head in sadness.
“What's wrong, Martha?”
Martha sighs. “I want one so bad.”
“I know, Martha. But you know what the doctor said. It's impossible.”
“Well, what about adoption?”
Jonathan sighs. “You know what? First thing in the morning. 'Kay?”
“Okay.”
Jonathan starts the truck and starts driving home. As they are driving down the road, Jonathan turns up the radio. The radio man said, “Meteorologist say that meteors are heading for Smallville. Everyone is advised to take evasive action immediately.
“You hear that, Martha? We need to get home, quick.” Jonathan starts breaking the speed limit. As they are driving at top speed to their home, they see the first meteor come down. It hits Baker's Field about ½ a mile away. The second one hit about 200 yards behind them. Martha screams, “Jonathan!” The third one hit about 10 feet away from them and the impact made their truck flip over and land in Baker's Field.
As Jonathan and Martha are in their truck, upside down, it was like their entire life flashed before their eyes. Martha was thinking about when she was a child. Martha loved baking. She had told her father that she was going to open a bakery. “Martha Clark's Big Bakery,” she called it. Jonathan thought about how he was going to take care of the farm when his father, Hiram, died. His father said that that will never be necessary because he'll never die.
“Martha!” yelled Jonathan. “Martha? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I'm fine,” replied Martha.
Jonathan looked out his window and saw a small boy approaching the truck. “Martha, look.” Martha looked over and saw the small boy, naked, with shaggy black hair and a big smile. Jonathan chuckles. “I don't suppose you can get us out of here, huh?”
The little boy looked at the truck. He took the upside down truck by the driver's seat door and started lifting. The little boy barely got it over his head. Then pushed to make the truck sit on its side. Jonathan and Martha looked at each other in astonishment. The boy pushed on the roof of the truck to make a dent. Then the truck tilted over and stood up straight. Jonathan and Martha get out of the truck. Jonathan stumbles over to the little boy. He looks at him for a second. The little naked boy. Martha gets out a blanket and covers the little boy with it. She picks him up and holds him in her arms. “Where did you come from,” asked Martha to the little boy. The little boy points toward a small hill where they saw one of the meteors land. They walk over there. When they get to the top of the small hill, they look down to see the ship. The little boy was little Kal-El. Jonathan goes down and examines the ship. He touches it then rubs his fingers together.
“Feels like... water.”
“Water?”
“Martha, whatever the hell this is, it's not from this Earth. And if that little boy is right, neither is he.”
“Well, can we keep him?”
“Martha, he isn't a stray dog. We can't just take him. We need to get him the proper care.”
“Yeah. 'Proper care.' Translation: Lab experiment.”
“What do you mean, Martha?”
“He has abilities. He lifted our truck with his bare hands. Once they see his powers, we don't know what they will do with him.”
“Well, if we do keep him, what are we going to tell people? That we found him out in a field?”
“We didn't find him. He found us.”
Part 2: Discoveries
12 years later
It was like everything was standing still but him. Everything. The little butterfly that was going as fast as its little wings could was standing perfectly still in mid-air. Every time he would touch something, it would move for a split second, then come to a halt. It was like stopping time itself, which was supposedly impossible. But to Clark Kent, everything is possible.
To Jonathan and Martha, it was like he was moving too fast for the eye to see. It was just a blur. It was like Clark Kent was the fastest man alive. Jonathan and Martha named Clark after Martha's maiden name. It was a “spur-of-the-moment” kind of thing. Martha thought back to that day as Clark ran through the garden as fast as he could.
It was the night of the meteor shower. Martha is letting little Kal-El play with some toys they had.
“Good thing you kept those toys,” says Jonathan.
“What are we going to do with him?” asked Martha.
“I don't know, Martha. If he really is an alien, then we're going to have to call in that favor.”
“Jonathan, you said so yourself, the Luthors are bad news.”
“Martha. Do we really have any other option?”
“No, I guess not.”
Right then, Jonathan and Martha hear a knock on the door.
“Martha, take the kid upstairs and don't let him come down here.”
“Okay.”
Jonathan answered the door and, to his surprise, it was the sheriff.
“Hey, Ed. What going on?”
“Just checking up on everyone on this side of Smallville. Just making sure everything's okay.”
“Yeah. Everything's fine.”
“Good. No meteors hit any of your crops or livestock?”
“No. Everything's fine.”
Sheriff Ed took a peak into the house and saw little Kal-El run through.
“Who is this?” asked Ed as he lets himself in.
“Sorry,” said Martha. “He's a strong little boy.”
Little Kal-El started playing with the little toy plane that he was playing with before Martha took him upstairs.
“This is.... uh....” Jonathan didn't know what to say.
“This is Clark!” exclaimed Martha.
“Clark?” said Jonathan and Ed simultaneously.
“Yeah. I thought maybe I should give him my maiden name. Its nice.”
“And you guys are adopting him?” asked Ed.
“Yeah. All the paperwork will be filled out tomorrow.”
“Good. Good. I know how much you guys wanted kids. He looks like such a sweet little boy.”
Little Clark looked at everyone and the only thing going through his little mind was, What in the world are they talking about. Out of fear, and thankfulness, little Clark gave Martha a big hug. Martha's heart filled with love and kindness after that.
Clark walks into the house, takes off his glasses, rubs his eyes, then puts them back on. Even though he was running as fast as he could, he wasn't panting or even breaking a sweat. “Hey, Dad,” Clark said. “Can I go on the roof?”
“Why do you need to go on the roof?” said Jonathan
“Because, I can do it this time.”
“Son, you said that last time, then you put a huge hole in our roof.”
“Yeah, but then I fixed it,” Clark snaps his fingers. “Just like that.”
“I need you to promise me you won't break our roof. Promise?”
“Promise.”
Clark runs out the house. He walks down the steps, turns around, and looks up. Clark crouches down real slow-like. He can feel the air beneath him. He can feel the power he's creating. He can feel the greatness running through him. In a flash, he jumps, high. He lands on the roof of his house. He looks out over his huge farm and sees a mile of meadow in every direction. It's beautiful. As Clark looks around, he can see everything. He can see every little bug on every little plant. Every little detail on every bit of grass. He can hear everything in Smallville, and a little bit of Metropolis, which borders Smallville. He looks into the direction of his barn. He turns the other way, where there is nothing but grass. Clark is feeling very nervous. He walks over to the edge of the house and looks down. Clark has always been afraid of heights, which makes what he's about to do so much more difficult. Clark takes a couple steps back, starts running toward the edge and jumps as high as he could. At first, he was just gliding through the air. It was an amazing feeling. He had no thoughts. Just relaxation. When he reached the peak of his jump, in the clouds, he felt himself coming down. He thought, Here we go. This is it. You can do it, Clark. Clark started coming down fast. He saw the green grass and focused on it. He was trying. Trying hard. He thought he wouldn't be able to do it. Then he closed his eyes and imagined a blissful place. Right before his face hits the ground, Clark shoots back up. There was a sign of relief on his face. Now he was thinking, I did it. I actually did it. I'm flying. I'm flying! Clark turned around and started flying back to his home.
“I did it!” Clark exclaims as he barges in to his home.
“Did it? You mean, 'it?'” said Jonathan.
“Yeah. I flew.”
“Clark, you have many abilities. Strength, speed, heat vision, x-ray vision, super-hearing...”
“Don't forget super-breath.”
“Yeah, super-breath too. But with all of these abilities comes a great deal of responsibility. Don't forget that, Son.”
“Dad, you won't let me forget it.” Clark walks over to the kitchen table and sits down. “Dad. I think it's time we had 'the talk.'”
Jonathan sits next to Clark. “'The talk.' Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I wanna know everything.”
“Well, Son. Sex is--”
“Whoa! Dad!”
“What?”
“Not that talk. The talk about, you know, where I came from.”
Jonathan looks over at Martha and sighs. They sat there in silence.
“Fine, Dad. Don't tell me.” Clark speeds off into his barn. Jonathan looks at Martha.
“You know, you should tell him,” suggests Martha.
“Yeah, but this is what we've been protecting him from. He can't know.”
“It's unfair for him not to know.”
Jonathan lets out a long sigh. He decides to go into the barn to talk to him.
“Clark?” Jonathan sees Clark sitting on his couch in his loft.
“It is unfair, Dad.”
“I know. It is.”
“So, do you guys even know where I'm from?”
“Not exactly. But we have a general area.”
“Where.”
Jonathan looks up into the sky. Clark follows his eyes.
“What are you saying, Dad? That I'm from outer space?” Clark smiles. Jonathan looked at Clark seriously. “Oh, come on, Dad. Are you serious?”
“Clark, I want to show you something.”
Jonathan took Clark to their shed.
“Dad. Why are we going to the one place that you tell me never to go?”
“Because, Son, this is the reason why I didn't want you to come down here.”
The shed was small and in it were shelves of food and spices. In the very back was something big covered up with a thick sheet.
“What's that?” asked Clark.
“This is the reason why I didn't want you down here.” Jonathan pulls the sheet off to reveal Clark's spaceship.
“Whoa. What's that?”
“It's how you came here, Son. You came in this ship.”
“Wow.” Clark felt the ship. There was a spot on it where it had a piece missing. It was octagonal. “There's a piece missing.” Jonathan looked. “Yeah, there sure is,” said Jonathan. “Wonder what goes there.”
“What would happen if I punch it?” asked Clark.
“I don't know. Try.”
Clark looked at the ship and made a fist. He lifted his fist and punched it as hard as he could. The metal on the ship bounced back and the energy pushed Jonathan to the ground. Clark looked at his fist and he was bleeding.
“Dad, I'm bleeding.”
“What? How? I thought your skin was impenetrable.”
“So did I.” Clark's blood dropped onto the octagonal missing piece. The piece started glowing and the ship opened up. Clark and Jonathan saw the Kryptonian writing in it. Then Clark and Jonathan saw Jor-El in a holographic projection.
“My son,” Jor-El's voice said. “My name is Jor-El. I am your father. And you are from the planet Krypton. I have sent you to the planet Earth for the well-being of you and Earth. If I'm correct, you should have powers beyond any mortal man. You should use these powers not for your gain, but to save the people of the lower-class planet I have sent you to. If my coordinates were correct, you should have been founded by the Kents. I had you to be founded by them because you will be safe with them. My son, inside of your ship is a crystal and the crystal will give you knowledge of your home planet.”
A diamond-type shaped crystal came out of the bottom of the ship. Clark picked it up to examine it. “What is it, Son?” asked Jonathan.
“I don't know,” replied Clark. Clark looked at it for a second then heard a high-pitched noise. But Clark was the only one that heard it. Clark covered his ears. “Do you hear that, Dad?”
“No, Son. What is it?”
“Its like a......” Clark yells in pain. “Its like a high-pitched noise.” Clark yells again. “I gotta go.” Clark speeds off trying to follow where the noise is coming from. No matter how hard Clark tried to ears, the sound couldn't be blocked out. Clark kept looking and the sound kept getting louder. Clark hesitated to go further in fear that his eardrums will burst. But he kept going. When he was in the middle of nowhere in Smallville, the sound suddenly stopped. Clark looked around to see if there was anything around. Once he was sure that there was nothing around, he start walking back toward his house. As soon as he started walking, the noise started again. Clark took a few steps back to make the noise stop again. He knew that there was something about this spot that had something to do with the mysterious man that he saw on his ship. Clark looked down to examine the ground. He noticed that where he was standing was a weaker part of the ground. He x-rayed it to find a cave underneath. Clark stood up and spun around in super-speed. The ground weakened and Clark fell through. Before Clark hit the ground, he made himself float. Clark gently came down and stood there in amazement. The caves had writing on it. They looked like hieroglyphics. Then Clark heard a mysterious voice.
“Who the hell is down here. No one is allowed here.” The man came from around a corner in the cave. The man looked at Clark as if he looked familiar. “Um... Who are you?”
“I'm sorry if I startled you, sir. I, uh, fell through the ground there.”
“Do you weight 600 pounds, 'cause that's the only way to just 'fall through the ground.' Seriously, who are you?"
“I'm, uh, Clark.”
“Kent?”
“Yeah.”
“I know your parents. Nice people.”
“So, what are these drawings.”
“They tell a story of a man who came down in a rain of fire, has the strength of ten men, and can shoot fire from his eyes.”
Clark thought for a second, then knew who he was talking about. Me.
“What was his name?”
“Übermensch.”
“What's that? German?”
“Yeah.”
“What's it mean?”
“Superman.”
The mysterious man noticed the crystal in Clark's hand. “What do you have there, kid?”
“Nothing, just some toy my dad gave me.” Clark tried to hid the crystal.
“You look a little old for toys. Let me see.”
“It's, uh, really valuable. I would rather not.”
“It's the shape, isn't it?”
“The shape?”
“You're Übermensch.”
“That's crazy. I didn't come down in a rain of fire. I don't have the strength of ten men and I definitely can't shoot fire from my eyes.”
“But he also has the skin of steel.” The man pulls out a gun and shoots Clark. The bullet bounces right off of him. “You really are Übermensch.”
Clark didn't know what to say. The man recognized Clark because the man had met Clark's father. “You have your father's eyes.”
“You know my father?”
“Yes. I do. Come with me.”
The man takes Clark into a part of the cave that has a big round stone table. In the middle is the same diamond-type shape as the crystal given to Clark. Clark sets the crystal in the middle and the room lights up.
The next thing Clark knew, he was in the middle of the Arctic. Clark was furious. “He tricked me. He tricked me!” Clark, out of anger, threw the crystal into an empty spot in the Arctic. Clark turned around, looking for any sign of civilization. No luck. Then, the ground beneath him started shaking. He turned around to see enormous pillars of ice coming out of the ground. Clark was amazed. He started walking toward the giant pillars. He entered. To him, they were big pillars of ice. But it was the House of El. Clark walked in and saw ice crystals everywhere. He saw a big pillar and in front of it had crystals coming out. The crystals started glowing. Clark, out of intuition, pulled out the middle one. Jor-El's face came on the screen.
“My son,” said Jor-El. “If you are watching this, you have already discovered that you are from another planet. My name is Jor-El, your father. And your mother is Lara. Your birth name is Kal-El. The planet that you are from is named Krypton. Not long after you were born, an evil man named General Zod destroyed our planet. I was fortunate enough to be able to launch you to Earth. If I was correct, you should have arrived there around the age of three. I'm sure you have many questions about your origins. I want you to know, Son, that we did not abandon you, we saved you. And now it is your turn. Where you are now is an exact replica of the House of El, your Fortress of Solitude. You can come here when you need guidance.”
“So, I can talk to you?”
“Yes.”
“You said Krypton was destroyed. You were destroyed with it. How am I talking to you?”
“What you are talking to is a computer. The technology on Krypton is much more advanced than the technology on Earth. I downloaded all of my knowledge and memories into this computer.”
“So, you really are.... dead?”
“The physical version of me is, yes.”
“If you sent me to Earth with a mission, what is it?”
“To save the people of Earth. You are a symbol of hope. You are the light, the protector the people of Earth long for.”
“How do you expect me to save an entire planet single handed?”
“With the powers that the yellow sun gives you, you can do anything. If I was correct, you should have the strength of ten men, the speed of sound, shoot fire from your eyes, hear a pen drop from ten miles away, freeze anything with a whistle, see through just about anything, and to defy gravity itself.”
“Are there any other..... what would you call them, Kryptonians?”
“No, you are the last son of Krypton.”
“How do I become the hero you want me to be?”
“You shall bear the symbol of hope.”
Behind the screen that shows Jor-El, a pillar of ice came out of the ground. It was a white costume with a white cape and a black “S” on it. Clark walks over to examine it.
“What am I suppose to do with this?”
“This is your costume. In order to protect your identity on Earth, you need to have a costume. The 'S' on the chest of the costume is our family crest. It means 'hope.'”
Clark broke the ice and took out the suit. Clark was thinking of a lot of things. So many thoughts were going through his mind. Like, How was Krypton destroyed? and What was Krypton like? All of these questions were ones that he knew would never be answered. Clark put the suit on and walked back over to the screen.
“Thanks...... Father.” Clark shut off the screen by inserting the crystal back into its original spot. Clark then flew home.
Flying home took a lot longer than he thought. At top speed, it took Clark about 10 minutes (In super-speed mode, that's a long time). Clark walks into his home, with the costume Jor-El gave him in one hand. As soon as Clark walks in, he gets a huge hug from his mother.
“Thank God, your okay,” said Martha with a little bit of worry in her voice.
“I'm fine, Ma.”
“What happened, Son?” asked Jonathan. “Where did you go.”
“The Arctic.”
“The Arctic? Why?”
“The man that was on the projection screen. He told me about my origins.”
“Well,” said Martha. “we wanna now everything you know.”
“Well, that's not much. I'm from the planet Krypton, my real name is... uh.... Kal-El. Krypton was destroyed by some evil man named Zod. My father's name is Jor-El. My mother's name is Lara.” Clark lets out a long sigh, as if he doesn't want to say it. “And I'm suppose to...... save the world.”
“The world?” asked Martha.
“How are you suppose to save the entire world?” asked Jonathan.
“I don't know. He told me I have these powers for a reason. That I have a mission. To save the people of Earth.”
“Well, your father doesn't know what he's talking about,” said Jonathan. “He may be your birth father, but I'm your real father.”
“He also gave me this.” Clark showed his parents the costume that Jor-El gave him. Martha took a good look at it and her fashion instincts kicked in.
“It needs color,” said Martha. “First thing in the morning, we're going to the clothing store to get the cloth to color it, got it?”
“Okay, Mom.”
Morning rolls around and Martha is ready to leave. “Clark!” she yells. “Are you ready?” Clark speeds down the stairs in a plaid shirt, jeans and his glasses.
“Yeah, ready.”
Martha and Clark go and get in the truck. They drive down their road for about ten minutes when Martha looks over at Clark and sees how pale he is.
“Clark, are you okay?”
“Yeah, Ma. I'm fine.”
“Are you sure? You don't look so good.”
“I said, I'm fine.”
Martha has no choice but to take his word for it. As they are driving down the road, Martha accidentally hits a green rock on the road. The tire pops and the truck spins out of control. The truck starts to flip over and (in super-speed mode) Clark gets out of the truck while it was in mid-air and Clark flies up to the driver's seat and pulls Martha out. He then runs back to where the tire was popped and the truck crashed.
Clark lies there on the ground weakened. Martha sees that something is wrong with him and she gets out her cell phone.
“Jonathan, come quick. Clark and I are on Route 16. We crashed and there's something wrong with Clark. Come quick, Jonathan.”
Martha saw Clark fading. Clark passed out and Martha didn't know what was wrong. About two minutes of trying to wake up Clark, she saw Jonathan come down the road. Jonathan was riding in their neighbors blue truck.
Jonathan finally came to Martha and Clark. Jonathan gets out of the truck and throws Clark onto his shoulders. Struggling, Jonathan puts Clark in the back of the truck. “What happened, Martha,” he asked.
“I don't know. All I know is that this rock made the tire pop.” Martha picked up the mysterious green rock to examine it. “I have no clue what it is. Lets go home.”
Martha gets in the truck with the green rock and her hand and they drive home. When they get there, Jonathan got Clark out of the truck. Jonathan struggled to get Clark up the stairs. He sat Clark down on the porch to take a breather. “I need to sit,” Jonathan said. Martha took the green rock inside and put it in a lead box she had handy. She walked back outside to see Clark and he started coming to.
“What happened?” asked Clark.
“Son,” Jonathan said, weakly.
“Dad, are you okay.”
“I'm fine, Son.” Jonathan gets up and falls back down. Clark quickly catches him.
“Dad! What's wrong?!”
“It hurts.”
“Lets get you to a hospital.”
“No, Son. I can feel it.”
Clark's eyes started filling with tears. “Dad. No.”
Martha is behind Clark, crying. “No, Jonathan.”
“Clark,” Jonathan said weakly. “I'm so proud of you, Son. And I want you to know, you are the savior of this Earth. I love you guys.”
“No! Dad!” Jonathan passes away. Right in Clark's arms.
A week later is Jonathan's funeral. Clark is thinking so many things. Why did he leave us. There were so many things he could have taught me. I loved my father. But he left us. Ma, me, the guys at the Bait and Tackle, all of us. About ten people showed up to Jonathan's funeral. Clark's tears couldn't stop rolling off of his cheeks. After everyone left and the man was rolling Jonathan's casket down into the ground, Clark took a little bit of dirt and sprinkled it over Jonathan's casket.
Clark and Martha go home after the funeral. Clark sits down on his living room couch. Martha goes upstairs then comes back down with that lead box she put the green rock in.
“I was talking to Farmer Baker next door and he said that he knows what this green rock is.”
“What is it?”
“It's meteor rock.”
“Meteor rock?”
“The meteor rock that came in the meteor shower you came in.”
“What should we do with it?”
“Didn't you say your birth father, Jor-El, can answer questions you have?”
“Yeah. Let me see it.”
Martha hands Clark the lead box. Clark opens it and feels weak. He quickly closes it.
“It hurts,” Clark said. “I'll go to the Fortress and ask Jor-El what this is.” Clark speeds to the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic.
Clark did what he did last time and take out the middle crystal to make Jor-El's face show.
“My son, you have returned.”
“Father, I found this.... rock. Whenever I'm around it, it... it hurts.”
“The rock that you are referring to is called 'kryptonite.' It is like a rock for Krypton.”
“So, how does it hurt me?”
“Like you, the yellow sun makes the kryptonite stronger. When you are around it, it radiates and kills you. Your home is your poison.”
“Thanks, Father. That's all I needed to know.” Clark puts the crystal back to turn off Jor-El. Clark flies out, and never looks back.
Part 3: Rescues
10 years later
Clark, ever since high school, has wanted nothing more than to be a reporter. For most people, that is not the kind of person you would peg Clark as, but it's his lifelong dream. Clark traveled all the way to Metropolis for an interview at the Daily Planet. The Daily Planet is the biggest newspaper company in Kansas.
The taxi that Clark took dropped him off across the street from the Daily Planet. Before Clark was about to cross the street, he saw that there was an out-of-control bus coming toward an older woman. Clark started to quickly cross the street and kept his head down. When Clark reached the old woman, so did the bus. Clark put his hand out and stopped the bus. When his hand hit it, the back of the bus went up in the air. Clark kept walking as if he didn't do anything.
Clark goes into the Daily Planet with his briefcase, confidence, and a smile. As he's walking through, he sees that the place is very crowded. Clark wonders through looking for a door that says “Perry White, Editor-in-Chief.” No luck. Clark keeps looking, not paying any attention to anything else. Which makes him bump into someone.
“Watch where you're going!” said the woman.
“Uh... Sorry, Ms...?” says Clark as he helps her pick up her stuff.
“Lane. Not that it's any of your business.”
“Well, if I'm going to be working here, it is.”
“You work here? I've never seen you before.”
“I was, uh, actually going to talk to Mr. White about a job here. Do you know where his office is?”
“Yeah, its right over there. But a piece of advice, Perry is very critical.”
“Thanks for the advice, Ms. Lane.”
“Call me 'Lois.'”
Clark smiles and goes to Perry White's office. He is very nervous, especially because of what Lois told him. Clark knocks on the door.
“Mr. White?”
“C'mon in.”
Clark walks in with a smile on his face. “Hi. I'm Clark Kent.”
“Kent. C'mon in. Take a seat.”
Clark sits down in the chair in front of Perry's desk.
“So, Kent. You want a job here at the Daily Planet?”
“Yeah. It's been a lifelong dream of mine. I read your paper everyday back in Smallville.”
“You're from Smallville?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have anything that I can see that will make me wanna hire you?”
“Well, back in Smallville High, I used to write for our school paper, The Torch.” Clark pulls out of his briefcase some papers and hands them to Perry.
“The Torch? Let me see these. 'What's in the Mystery Meat?', 'Jason Mays, Next Micheal Phelps,' 'Principal Kwan's Last Day.' Kent, what is the junk?”
“It's what I used to write for The Torch.”
“No, it's junk. Stuff irrelevant to anything. Listen, kid, I don't mean to hurt your feelings or anything, but this is not Daily Planet material. We need news, big news! We don't care what's in the mystery meat, I don't wanna know about Jason Mays, and I sure as hell don't care whether it's Principal Kwan's last day or not. I'm sorry, son. You don't have what it takes.”
“I understand, sir.”
Clark gets up and leaves with disappointment. When he walks out the door, he is greeted by Lois.
“So, how did it go?”
“I didn't get it.”
“Sorry 'bout your luck. I told you, he's critical.”
“Yeah. He is.”
Lois turns around and sees a kid running through the office. Not paying attention to where he's going, he bumps into Lois to make her drop all her stuff, again. Clark kindly helps her pick it up. As he is doing so, he comes across an article about superheroes. With his super-speed, he reads it. Lois quickly snatched out of his hands.
“So,” says Clark. “you like superheroes?”
“I like mystery. And that's what that guy is.”
“What guy?”
“The guy that makes all those mysterious saves in Smallville.”
“Oh! That guy. You know, I'm from Smallville, so I actually see him on a daily basis.”
“Really? That's cool.”
“Hey, what would you do to get an interview with him?”
“I would do anything.”
“Even, get me a job here.”
“What are you saying, that you know him?”
“More or less. If you get me a job here, I can guarantee you an interview.”
“You're bluffing.”
“If only I was.”
“Okay. Fine. I get you a job here, and you promise me an interview?”
“Promise.”
“Okay.”
Lois goes into Perry's office to talk to him.
“Are you out of your mind, Perry?!”
“What in the Sam hell are you talking about, Lois?”
“You're not going to hire that guy out there?”
“I don't see any reason why. He's not Daily Planet material.”
As Perry and Lois argue over whether Clark should be hired or not, across the street was a building with a loose sign. Clark looks out the window of the Daily Planet to see that it was about to fall. Clark quickly goes outside to save the day. Perry and Lois continue to argue, but as soon as they hear the sound of something falling, they stop to see. Across the street was LexCorp. And the sign for it started falling from the top, about 50 stories up, down to the ground. Everyone in the Daily Planet watched it fall. But as soon as it was about to hit the ground, they all saw a blur come down the street, catch it and fly back up to the roof all in a few second time period. The first thought in Lois's mind was, He's here! The man that makes all the mysterious saves in Smallville is here in Metropolis.
“Fine, Lois. I'll hire him.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He can be your new partner.”
“My new what?!”
“Partner. You want him here so bad, you can have him, Lois. He starts first thing in the morning.”
“But, Perry-”
“No 'buts.' First thing in the morning.”
Lois leaves Perry's office in shock. She wanted him to work for the Daily Planet, but being her partner was just too much. Clark comes up to her, “Well?”
“Well, you got the job.”
“Really? When do I start?”
“Tomorrow morning.... partner.”
“Partner?”
Lois walks away. Clark was thinking the same thing she was, I wanna work for the Daily Planet, but being her partner is just too much.
Back in Smallville, Clark and Martha are having dinner.
“So,” says Martha. “how did your interview go?”
“Not how I had hoped.”
“What happened?”
“Well, there was this girl,”
“A girl?”
“Yeah, her name was Lois.”
“You gotta crush?”
“No,” Clark chuckles. “Anyway, I showed Perry the things I did at The Torch. He didn't like it. And Lois loves heroes. So I told her that I could get her an interview with the mysterious hero of Smallville if she got me a job there.”
“You bribed her?”
“Well, since I'm sure I can get her an interview with the mysterious hero of Smallville, so, why not?'
“I guess, but something's telling me that you shouldn't have done that.”
“But something's gotta give.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, that I'm going to need to get a costume.”
“Why?”
“Because, if she's going to be getting an interview with the mysterious hero of Smallville, she can't know that the mysterious hero is Clark Kent.”
“I know just the thing. Come with me.”
Martha takes Clark into her bedroom. She pulls out from under her bed a box. She handed the box to Clark.
“What's in here?”
“Your costume.”
Clark opens it to find a blue, red, and yellow costume inside. On the torso, the “S”.
“Jor-El's costume.”
“Your costume.”
“Thanks, Mom. When did you get this done.”
“Remember the day your father died and we were going to get the cloth for the costume?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, a few days after the funeral, I started on that. I just got finished with it a month ago.”
“You've been working on this for the last ten years?”
“Yeah, just for you. Try it on.”
Clark speeds over to the other side of the room. Martha turns around to see him in the costume.
“Little snug. But I like it.”
“You look wonderful.”
Clark turned on his super-hearing and listened around the city. He heard a baby crying, then rocked to sleep, a man asking his girlfriend to marry him, a girl breaking up with her boyfriend, then a man saying, “Get all the money. By the time the cops know that it's us, we'll be in Mexico.” Clark had to respond. He saw the open window and looked over at his mom.
“Go,” said Martha. “The world needs you.”
Clark sped out the open window to fly to the scene of the crime. When Clark got there, he saw the men taking big bags of money out of a bank.
Clark slowly flies down to them. He startled them when he said, “That money doesn't belong to you.”
One of the men finished doing what he was doing then looked over at Clark. “Leave,” he said. “if you know what's good for you.”
“I'll leave, as soon as I know that the money that you guys are stealing is back with its rightful owner.”
“Look, I know you want to earn your Good Samaritan badge or something but you're playing with something very dangerous here, kid. So run along. Turn around and never look back.”
“Wish I could, but it ain't happening.” Clark slowly starts to walk toward them. The man looks at his friend and nods. The other guy grabs hold of the gun he has in his back pocket. Clark continued to walk toward them. The first man said, “Stay back. I'm warning you.”
Clark didn't acknowledge his warning. He kept walking toward them. The guy pulled out his gun. “Don't move,” he said. Clark acted like he didn't see anything and kept moving. “Shoot him,” said the first man. “Shoot him. Now!” Out of fear, the man shot at Clark. The three bullets that he shot bounced off of Clark. Clark was not at all affected by it and kept moving. He walked up to the guy with the gun. The man was scared. Clark touched his forehead and knocked him out. Clark turned toward the first guy and, to his surprise, had an Uzi. The man started spraying bullets at Clark. The bullets kept bouncing off. Clark caught one of the bullets and squished it before the man ran out of ammunition. “Dammit!” The man took out the clip and got another one out of his pocket. He was struggling trying to put it in. Clark kept walking over to him. The man finally got it in but Clark was right there. The man turned around and was about to run when he ran into Clark. Clark grabbed the man by the shirt. He looked down at the car. Clark was wondering what he could do. Then Clark heard sirens heading his direction. The cops came from around the corner and stopped at the bank. They go around to the back of the getaway car and see an open truck full of money and the two men on the wrapped up in the rear bumper. And next to them was a flame. The cops put the flame out and saw the “S” burnt into the sidewalk.
Then next morning, Clark is ready for his first day at work. He walks into the Daily Planet and it was way more chaotic than yesterday. People all around the Daily Planet are all talking about the new superhero in Metropolis. Then Clark sees Lois.
“Lois!” exclaims Clark.
“Clark!” Lois gets through the big crowd and reaches Clark. “Did you hear about the superhero?”
“I heard about him. Don't know the whole story.”
“Well, there's not much to tell. The video barely got any of his face. And when the cops found the criminals, they found a huge 'S' carved into the ground.”
“Does anyone know what it means.”
“Well, I was thinking it goes with his superhero name. Something like, 'Superguy,' or 'Superdude,' or 'Super-'”
“Man.”
“Superman. I like it.”
“Übermensch.”
Clark thought back to the day he saw the mysterious man in the cave and told him about the story of Übermensch.
“'So, what are these drawings.'
'They tell a story of a man who came down in a rain of fire, has the strength of ten men, and can shoot fire from his eyes.'
Clark thought for a second, then knew who he was talking about. Me.
'What was his name?'
'Übermensch.'
'What's that? German?'
'Yeah.'
'What's it mean?'
'Superman.'”
“What?” asked Lois.
“Nothing. Superman. I like it. You should print that.”
“Cool. I will.”
Clark and Lois get on the elevator and go to the 23rd floor. When they get there, Lois quickly goes to her computer and types in Superman where she put the “The Mysterious Man” in. Then they hear Perry's voice.
“Lane! Kent! Get in here!”
Lois and Clark go into Perry's office. “Yeah, Perry,” responds Lois.
“I got your first story, Kent. There is a plane that is being tested for comfortably. I want you and Lane on this story. Go.”
“You got it, Mr. White.”
Lois and Clark left Perry's office. They get on the elevator and stand there in awkward silence.
“So,” says Clark trying to start conversation. “what do you think of the new superhero.”
“I think that you already know the answer to that question.”
“Yeah, I just wanna hear from you out loud.”
“I think that Superman is exactly what this city needs to get out of the hold the Luthors have on us.”
“Superman may be amazing, but that is all about power. Who has more of it.”
“Superman has way more powers. Flying, speeding, strength, he's bulletproof, and make fire with his....”
“Eyes.”
“He can shoot fire from his eyes? How do you know?”
“I told you, I'm from Smallville. I see him on a daily basis.”
The elevator doors open and Lois and Clark get in Lois' car and leave. They get to the airstrip and aboard the plane. They both take their seats and Clark hangs on for dear life.
“What's wrong Clark?”
“Nothing. It's just, me and flying never really got along.”
“Well, you're going to have to get over that fear, Clark. At the Daily Planet, we do a lot of flying.”
The flight attendant came by with a cart and asked them for a drink.
“Anything with alcohol in it,” said Lois.
“Lois.”
“What?”
“It's 10:30 in the morning. Are you sure you should be drinking alcohol?”
“Something you should know about the Lanes, Clark. We know how to hold our liquor.”
The plane started going and not long after was in the air. The plane shook a few times. Each time the attendants apologize and say that they hit an air pocket. Then, they must have hit a huge air pocket because the plane shook horribly. Then, Clark looked out the window to see that one of the engines failed. Clark at first thought they were going to land. Then he realized they were still thousands of feet up in the air. He saw the other one fail. Clark didn't know what was going on, so he listened into the cockpit. The captain was saying, “Mayday! Mayday! We've lost both of our engines! We are going down! I repeat, we are going down!” Clark told Lois he had to use the bathroom and he got up. When he did, the entire plane started taking a nosedive. Clark fell to the ground and started going toward the back. He passed up the bathroom and fell through a curtain. He found a door. He opened the door and walked in. When he was in, he walked like he normally does, as if the plane falling didn't affect his balance. He saw a door that said, “Emergency Exit.” Clark sped into his Superman costume and flew out the door.
He flew around the plane and up next to Lois' window. Lois looks out once, then does a double take. Superman gave her a polite yet assuring wave. Superman flies away before Lois is able to wave back. He flies to the front of the plane and looks at the pilot. The pilot looks shocked as he sees Superman grab the nose of the plane and push it upward. Once Superman gets it straight, he goes to the bottom of it and glides it down. He sees the airstrip and quickly goes there.
When Superman gets the plane landed safely back in Metropolis, the doors open up and the first person to come out is Lois. She sees Superman start to fly away when she stops him.
“Superman!” she exclaims. “Think I can get an exclusive with you?”
“Maybe one day, Ms. Lane.” Superman starts to fly away when Lois stops him, again.
“Wait! How do you know my name?”
“Name tag.”
Lois looks down at her left shoulder to see her name tag that said “Daily Planet Lois Lane Press Pass”. Lois had a dumbfounded look on her face. Superman flies off into the sky. Lois' first encounter with Superman was the best encounter she's ever had with anyone.
Lois stands there on the steps and thinks about the man in blue. Then she hears Clark's voice.
“Lois?”
“Clark! You missed him!”
“Who?”
“Superman! He was here!”
“Like I said, Lois. I grew up in Smallville. I see him on a daily basis.”
“This is amazing.” Lois and Clark start walking down the steps.
“He's not that great, Lois.”
“How are you able to say that and make it look true?”
“I don't think-”
“At all?”
“I was going to say, I don't think Superman should be given so much credit, he's just helping people.”
“Then riddle me this. How many people are supernatural freaks and actually try to help people?”
“Well-”
“It was rhetorical. I mean, so many people are in distress and now we have this hero figure to step up and take action. No one else would have the guts to stop an armed robbery. Let's take you for example, Clark. If you would have done what Superman did with the armed robbery, you would have gotten yourself killed. But Superman is invincible, which is perfect. And he's strong. He landed a plane with his bare hands. I mean, how much more amazing can you get?”
“Well-”
“Again, rhetorical.”
“Lois, it's not like I'm saying we shouldn't have Superman, I'm saying you're giving him too much credit.”
“How do you know that Superman doesn't want so much credit?”
“Well-”
“Rhetorical!”
Lois and Clark get into their car and go back to the Daily Planet. They walk into the newsroom and the first thing Lois always does when she walks into the newsroom is turn on TV.
“In other news,” started the woman on TV. “in the north pole, there was an enormous ice castle found and it has scientists baffled. The structure of it seems to be unknown to the planet Earth.”
Clark looked at the TV and thought, Oh, no. They found the Fortress of Solitude. “Lois,” started Clark. “I have to go. I'll see you later.”
“Go? It's your first day. Don't you wanna make a good impression?”
“Maybe later. But I have to go now.”
Clark leaves and goes to his fortress where he saw scientists looking around for some answers.
“Excuse me?” said Superman. “but I'm pretty sure going into someone's home without their permission is considered trespassing. Which I'm sure could land you some jail time.”
“Whoa!” said one of the Russian scientists. “You, uh, Superman, right?”
“Correct.”
“And this your home?”
“Correct.”
“Let Russian ask superhero question. Why do you live in Arctic yet save America?”
“I save the people who need saving. Most saves are in America. Now, if you will please...” Superman pointed to the door, showing them the way out. The three scientists left with disappointment. Superman left as well. But what Superman didn't see is the two scientists that hid behind some of his crystals.
In Russian, the one said, “You were right. They didn't notice us.” The two scientists continued to explore the wonders of the Fortress of Solitude. As they were wondering, they saw one of the crystals float up into the air. It floated around for a few seconds before it started glowing and a figure was there. It was General Zod. The two scientists walked up to him wondering it's strange science behind it.
“Where is Kal-El?” said Zod.
“Who?” said one of the scientists.
“You are useless to me.”
Zod used his heat vision to burn Zod's family crest into their chests, and it killed them.
Part 4: Zod's War
One week later
Clark is at his apartment in Metropolis surfing through the channels.
“The mysteriously strong man is out there and killing people. Some are saying that it's Superman.”
Clark changes the channel.
“The question on everyone's mind: Is our savior turning against us?”
Clark changes the channel.
“Someone captured a picture of our hero, Superman and this is what they found.”
The television screen showed Zod throwing a car and Clark paused it. He used his Micro-vision to see the logo that was on Zod's costume. It was the “Z”. Clark drew it on a piece of paper. He thought, That's probably Kryptonian. If it is, Jor-El will know who this mysterious villain is and Superman will be in the clear.
Clark flies to the Fortress of Solitude and pulls out the crystal.
“Hello, my son.”
“I've been called a villain because some maniac with my abilities is harming innocent people. He was wearing this symbol. It looks Kryptonian. Do you know what it is?”
The computer scans the image and Jor-El knew exactly who's it was. “That is the mark of General Zod.”
“General Zod? I thought he was destroyed with the rest of Krypton?”
“Before Krypton was completely destroyed, Zod took a crystal I had made. We called it “The Uncloseable Portal”. It was like an emergency exit, in case someone had to go from one planet to the other quickly. But Zod used it to go to Earth. I tried to warn him that the time-space continuum would blast him to the future, but he wouldn't listen.”
“And because of it, he's killing innocent people.”
“Zod has no idea that he is in the future. He thinks Krypton was just destroyed, because to him, he went straight from Krypton to Earth.”
“I need to stop him.”
“There is only one way to stop a monster like Zod.”
“How?”
“Years ago, I created a prison for people like Zod. It was named The Phantom Zone. It's a place where the criminals of our galaxy can live in without disturbing others. If you can get Zod in the Phantom Zone, he can't have powers to get out.”
“How do I get him in it?”
A crystal came floating out. Clark grabbed it and crushed it. Inside was a tiny crystal that had the Superman symbol.
“Hold that up to him, and he will immediately go to the Zone.”
“Thanks, Father. You just saved everyone.”
Superman puts the crystal back and flies back to Metropolis. He goes onto the roof of the Daily Planet. Behind him, he heard a door open. He turned around to see Lois.
“Superman? What are you doing here?”
“I'm patrolling Metropolis.”
“Right. Super-hearing and everything.”
Lois stayed where she was and they stood there in awkward silence. “You're no afraid of me, are you?” asked Superman.
“No, it's just- I don't know what to do, Superman. You're the only one that can throw a car across a city. And the “Z” everywhere. You're the only one that can do that.”
“Lois, as you know I'm from another planet.”
“Yeah, uh, Krypton, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What about it?”
“Well, all Kryptonians have the same powers on Earth.”
“Wait. Are you saying that there is another Kryptonian on Earth?”
“Yes.”
“But you said Krypton was destroyed. And everyone in it.”
“Well, apparently, one got out. And now I have to stop him.”
Right then, both Lois and Superman saw a car fly up in the air. Superman flew down to the ground and caught it. When he did, he saw Jimmy Olsen was the driver. Superman put the car down and opened the door. He got Jimmy out and asked the person by the car to call 911. Superman started walking toward the direction the car came. Then there was a sonic boom. And then something came crashing down in front of Superman. It was General Zod.
“You are a Kryptonian,” said Zod. “What is your name?”
“You must be General Zod. The person responsible for the destruction of Krypton.”
“Yes, I am.”
“You've already killed millions of innocent people on Krypton. Why come here just to do the same?”
“I am a highly misunderstood person.”
“You are not misunderstood, you are an evil person.”
“What did I do that was so evil?”
“You destroyed an entire race!”
“I saved Krypton!”
“You killed millions!”
“But more will come! That's why I came to Earth. To start over, start fresh.”
“You're not taking my planet for your own personal gain.”
“Your planet? How long have you been here?”
“My whole life.”
“What is your name?” Zod looked down at Superman’s chest and saw the symbol. “Kal-El. You have your father's eyes. Your.... older than I imagined. How did you become so....” Zod thought for a minute. “I jumped into the future. That's what Jor-El was warning me about.”
“Should have listened.”
“Yes. But that makes it even more fun. Now, your death will be a challenge.
Zod punches Superman in the jaw to send him flying down the street. Superman hit the ground with a huge thud. At the corner of his eye, he saw Lois. Zod flew to Superman and picked him up. The blood that was on Superman’s jaw slowly started to go away as he basked in the sun. Superman looked over at Lois in fear of her. Zod followed his eyes.
“You have feelings for that human.”
“No.”
“Yes, you do. You're scared for her. Well let me strike even more fear into you.”
Zod speeds over to Lois and runs away with her. Superman follows closely behind. Zod took Lois into an abandoned factory in Metropolis. Lois got out of the grip of Zod and turned around to kick him. She got her foot up to his chest and he caught it and spun her around. She landed on her face and was knocked unconscious. Zod turned around and waited for Superman to come. As he waited, he slipped on a blue ring.
Superman barged through the door.
“Where's Lois?”
“You want Lois? She's right here.”
“What did you do to her?”
“She did it to herself. She shouldn't have tried to hurt me.” Zod walked over to a big wall lined with lead. “Get ready, Kal-El. You're about to meet your match.” Zod opened up the doors on the wall and there was kryptonite right behind it. Superman fell to the ground in pain. There was so much kryptonite. “How does it feel?”
“How come you're not affected by it?”
“See this little blue ring? It's called blue kryptonite. It gets rid of Kryptonian powers if you're on Earth. Which is funny. Because it does the exact opposite on Krypton. And now, Kal-El, I shall do what I wanted to do 20 years ago. Kill you.” Zod picked up a sword that was on the ground, walked over to Superman and stabbed him in his chest. The pain Superman was feeling was excruciating. Superman was in serious pain. Zod left the sword in Superman and left. Lois started coming to. She got up and saw Superman was stabbed. She looked over at the giant wall and thought, That's meteor rock. He said that the green meteor rock hurts him. Lois closed the lead-lined doors and looked over at Superman. Nothing. She decides to go for help. She opens the door to walk outside and the sun beamed down on Superman. Lois ran out and went up to one of the pedestrians.
“Help!” she yelled. “It's Superman. He's seriously injured.”
“Where?” asked the pedestrian.
“In here.” Lois led him into the factory. They walk in and see a little puddle of blood. But no Superman.
In the Fortress, Zod is there. He takes out one of the crystals in front of the pillar that shows Jor-El. He throws the crystal and it stops, lights up, then a portal is opened. Zod stood back as he saw a figure come through and the portal close behind him.
“General Zod,” said the man.
“Jax-Van. Old friend.” Zod and Jax-Van do a Kryptonian handshake; grabbing the forearm and turning it to the left.
“Where are we, Zod?”
“Earth.”
“Earth? You mean-?”
“Yes, we have powers.”
“The yellow sun feels a lot better than our red. Wait. Didn't Jor-El send his child here?”
“Yes.”
“I was in the Phantom Zone for about 10 Earth years. That's 20 Earth years here.”
“Correct.”
“That means that he has been here for years.”
“Don't worry. I took care of him.”
“Good. Now. Would you like to go fourth with your plan?”
Then a voice came out of nowhere. “Not as long as I'm still breathing.”
Zod realized it was Superman. “Kal-El,” said Zod. “we can arrange that.”
Zod flew over to Superman as fast as he could, but he wasn't fast enough. Superman punched Zod in his jaw sending him flying upward toward the sky. Jax-Van looked at Superman and thought that it was the perfect time to try out his new powers. Jax-Van started floating up, very slowly, then clapped his hands together to make the energy hit Superman and make him fly out of the Fortress. Zod flew back in and stood next to Jax-Van.
“I forgot to tell you, Kal-El is relentless.”
“Good.”
Jax-Van and Zod sped out of the Fortress and looked down on Superman, lying there, hurt. Jax-Van picked up Superman and looked at him. “He looks so much like his father,” said Jax-Van.
Then, by surprise, Superman took out the tiny crystal Jor-El gave him and held it up to Jax-Van's chest. The energy from it pushed Jax-Van back and put him in a square-shaped, flat glass containment and sent him shooting into the sky. Jax-Van was sent back to the Phantom Zone.
“Clever man, Kal-El. Did your father give you that? Didn't he tell you not to mess with stuff that you don't know how to use?”
Zod tried to get the crystal from him but Superman didn't let him. Then the crystal fell. Zod picked it up and crushed it.
“I'm not going to the Phantom Zone. Never!”
“Not if I have something to say about it.”
Superman went to punch Zod in the face but Zod ducked. Zod tackled Superman down to the ground. Zod punched his face into the snow. The punches kept coming and coming. Then Superman threw Zod and flew away. Zod chased Superman all the way back to Metropolis. Zod pushed Superman into the Daily Planet globe on top of the building. The globe started falling but Superman went down to the bottom and caught it. He shot back up and put the globe back. He used his heat vision to keep it there. He turned around to get a fistful of Zod. It sent Superman flying across Metropolis. Zod looked down at the ground and saw tanks. All of them pointing at Zod. The tanks opened fire on Zod. Zod thought nothing of it and continued doing what he was doing.
The war between Superman and Zod continued for a while. There was no winner or loser. But Zod tried hard to be the winner. Zod got Superman distracted by breaking the dam. Then Zod went to the abandoned factory where he first killed Superman. He grabbed a blue kryptonite blade. Superman found Zod and saw the blade.
“This is going to end, Kal-El. Once and for all.”
“Zod, no.”
“You don't see it, do you?”
“See what?”
“How good you have it. You grew up on Earth. You've had your powers for as long as you can remember. I just got these powers. I don't want to ever leave. You have it better than you think. I grew up on Krypton where everyone wanted to destroy one another. Nothing was peaceful. We never had a hero to save the day. I wanted so bad to be that hero. The one to get us out of our wars, our famine, our hate. But no one appreciates the work it took to do this.”
“I see you wanna be like me. But killing people is not my philosophy. But if you wanna change, you still can.”
“No, its too late. My plan has already been set in motion. I just wanted you to know how much I admire you before I kill you and burn the remains.”
Zod charges at Superman with the blue kryptonite and Superman dodges it. Zod turns around and Superman punches him in the face. Zod gets knocked out by that one punch. Superman had an idea on how to get rid of Zod forever. Superman puts on the blue kryptonite ring then opens the door of green kryptonite. He walks out, closes the door, and drops the ring on the ground. Right before he was about to fly off, he stepped on the ring to destroy it.
In the factory, Zod lies there, hurt. A man that was working there heard the commotion and decided to stay back. When he saw Superman leave, he stepped out of the shadows. He saw Zod was knocked out and tried to wake him up.
“Hey, buddy? Hey, man. Are you okay?” After doing this for a good minute, he noticed that Zod wasn't waking up. Then he looked over at the kryptonite wall, wondering why the hell is that door open. The man closes the door and looks back over at Zod. He starts to come to.
“Hey, buddy? You okay?”
Zod looks at the blue kryptonite blade and pushes it away. He gets up real slowly and his wound on his face starts to heal. Zod looks at the man and his eyes start to fire.
“Hey, man! I didn't see anything!”
“Yep. You sure didn't.” Zod used his heat vision to carve Zod's “Z” into the man's chest.
Zod looks all over Metropolis for Superman. When he realized that Superman wasn't there, he decided to look in the Fortress of Solitude. His hunch was correct.
“Kal-El. What are you doing here? Did you really think you could get rid of me?”
“Hoping, really.”
“You can't get rid of me that easily.”
“I realize that now. So, I have a plan to get rid of you. For good.”
“You not only look like your father, you have his same sense of humor.”
“You think I'm kidding.”
“Your time on Earth has weakened you. And now, it shall kill you.”
“Now!”
When Superman yelled “Now!”, the entire Fortress started lighting up. And the next thing they knew, they were somewhere else. They both started out in the sky and fell, far. Superman lands in snow and Zod lands in a puddle of blood. Zod was confused.
“Where are we, Kal-El?”
“Zod, welcome to the Phantom Zone.”
Zod had never been in the Phantom Zone. He looked around the huge, damp place. It was bright from the two big blue suns. The rivers were of blood. There was snow but it was warm.
“You're an idiot. Now were both trapped here. And now, you're on my level!” Zod swings at Superman and misses. Superman grabs Zod by the back of his costume and wraps his arm around his chest.
“Stay here!” demanded Superman.
“Never.” Zod got out of Superman's grip. He turned around and kicked Superman in his gut. “Kal-El, you will kneel down before me.”
“I will die before I kneel before a barbaric monstrosity like you.”
Zod kicks Superman in the face. “What's your plan. Jor-El is dead. He's the only one that can get you out. You're all mine.”
“You must not have heard. I'm the only one that can get out.”
Zod kicks him again. “You know how to get out of here?”
“Yeah.”
“I'll make a deal with you. You get me out, I'll let you live, as my prisoner.”
“Not much of a deal.”
“Not much to it. Get us out. Now!”
“Follow me.”
Superman and Zod wonder through the Phantom Zone. Superman was looking for something specific. But Zod thought he was leading him down the wrong path.
“Where are we going?” asked Zod.
“I'm looking for something.”
“What are you looking for?”
Before Superman was able to reply, someone came at Superman with a knife. Superman fought the person and was able to elbow the person in the face. The person screamed, and they knew it was a woman. Zod pushed Superman over to see who it was.
“Faora?”
The woman took off her mask. “Zod?”
Faora got up and gave Zod a huge hug and a kiss.
“You two know each other?” asked Superman.
“Jor-El?” asked Faora.
“No, Faora,” said Zod. “That's Kal-El.”
“Kal-El? You look so much like your father.” Faora walks over to Superman and swings a knife at him. Superman blocks it.
“No, Faora!” yelled Zod. “He's our only way out of here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jor-El told him how to get out. We have to follow him if we want out.”
“How do we know we can trust him?”
“He's our only hope.”
“Faora?” said Superman. “Do you know where the gate is?”
“Yes. Follow me.”
“What gate?” asked Zod.
Faora led Superman and Zod to a huge Kryptonian castle-like place. It was surrounded by skulls. In the center of the place was Superman's symbol.
“How do you open it?” asked Zod.
Superman picked up a knife he found on the ground and cut his hand.
“What are you doing?”
“This is my way out.”
“Your way?”
“Yeah. You're not coming with.”
Superman starts to walk toward the “S”, but Zod grabs him by his cape and wipes some of the blood from Superman's hand onto his. Then Zod punched him to make him fall to the ground. Superman saw a sword not far from him and picked it up. He saw another one right next to it and picked that up too.
“Hey, Zod!”
Superman stopped Zod right before he was about to touch the “S”. Superman throws him one of the swords.
“Last man standing, wins.”
Zod charged at Superman with his sword. Zod's sword hit Superman's. They battled. For about 3 or 4 minutes of battling, no one was winning. Then, as Superman and Zod battled, Superman knocked Zod's sword into the air. The sword went up high, and came back down and stabbed Faora in the chest.
“Faora!” yelled Zod. Zod ran over to her and caught her before she fell.
“Kill Kal-El,” she said weakly.
Zod sat Faora down gently and picked up his sword. He looked over at Superman and saw he was about to touch the “S”.
“No!” Zod ran over to Superman and swung his sword. Superman blocked it. Superman pushed Zod down, grabbed his sword, wiped off the blood, turned around and touched the “S” to open a portal. Superman looked back at Zod and gave a friendly wave. Zod got up and started running toward the portal when Superman pulled out the sword in front of Zod.
“Stay there,” said Superman.
“I guess, uh, this is our last encounter, huh?”
“It's been fun.”
Superman punches Zod and Zod fell. Superman walked through the portal, and never looked back.
Superman fell out of the sky and landed in a field. The place was unfamiliar to Superman. He flew up into outer space to see where he was. South Africa. Superman flew back to Metropolis.
Superman walked through the streets of Metropolis and it was bare. No one was around, there were no cars, nothing. As he walked down the street, he saw a couple of guys with a baseball bat looking at a convenience store. They hit the window of the convenience store with the bat. The glass shattered everywhere. Superman walks up to them.
“What are you guys doing?”
“Superman?! You're suppose to be dead!”
“Dead?”
“Yeah. Haven't you read the paper?”
Superman looks over at the stand in front of the convenience store. It read, “Superman Pronounced Dead”. Superman couldn't believe his eyes. He was only in the Phantom Zone for a few hours. But then he realized that the Phantom Zone is in a different galaxy. Different galaxy, different time.
“When's the funeral?”
“Right now. It's at Superman Park.”
“Superman Park?”
“Yeah. Was called Garvin, but they changed it yesterday.”
“Thanks.” Superman starts to walk away but then remembers....
“Oh, almost forgot.” Superman turns around, walks up to the two guys and knocks them both out, and flies away.
At the funeral, everyone is gathered around a picture of Superman. Lois sits right next to the picture. The mayor is saying a few words on Superman's behalf.
“Superman brought us out of the darkness that surrounded our once horrible city. He was our symbol for truth, justice, and the American way. And so now, I proudly proclaim Garvin Park shall now be named Superman Park.”
“Daddy!” yelled a kid in the crowd. “Look, up in the sky.”
“It's a bird,” said the kids dad.
“No, it's a plane,” said a guy a few chairs down from the kid.
“No, look,” said the kid. “It's Superman!”
Lois immediately gets up to look. Superman swoops with a whoosh.
“Hope I'm not late for my own funeral,” said Superman.
The crowd goes wild. They throw their hats in the air, and go crazy for Superman. “Superman! Superman! Superman!” chants Metropolis.
Out of nowhere, Lois jumps into Superman's arms and hangs on as if she never wanted to let go. Superman starts flying away with Lois, but then stopped. He turned around, hovered above the crowd with Lois in his arms, and used his heat vision to carve an “S” into the grass of the Superman park. As he was flying away, Lois said, “Has anyone told you, you look a lot like Clark Kent?”
The End
Superman created by: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
By: Duvonya Milan
DISCLAIMER
I, Duvonya Elijah Marquis Milan, make no claims to any and all characters, names, logos, story lines, and any other trademarked, copyrighted or otherwise protected by any federal, state, international, or intellectual property of law in this story. It is for entertainment use only, and not intended for any sales or commercial use of any sorts. "Superman Movie" is not in any way, shape, or form affiliated with or sponsored by Warner Bros., DC Comics, the heirs and estates of Jerry Siegal, Joe Shuster, Richard Donner, Zach Snider, Bryan Singer, Christopher Nolan, the Salkind estate, or any other affiliates or licensees. This story is solely for the entertainment of the author of "Superman Movie" and other Superman fans.
Part 1: The Beginning
Jor-El is standing inside of the rings in front of the Science Council on Krypton. As Jor-El stood before them, he said, “General Zod cannot be trusted. I have reason to believe that the man is trying to destroy Krypton.” One of them, the only woman, said, “ And what evidence supports this, Jor-El?” Jor-El bowed his head. “I have no evidence, your Greatness.”
“Then you shall not have access to the Phantom Zone.”
“But I created it! Shouldn't I have access and power to who must enter and who must not?”
“Yes, Jor-El,” said one of the men. “you created the Phantom Zone. But what you created was so dangerous, it mustn't be taken lightly. You created a world in which the horrible criminals of Krypton can go and have a different life. But the life in the Phantom Zone is so horrible, sending people who have not committed crimes there would be...”
“Preposterous?” said a mysterious man.
“Zod,” said Jor-El. “What are you doing here?”
“Your Greatness', may I talk to Jor-El, alone?”
“As you wish, General Zod,” said one of the men.
The rings went away. The top one went up and the bottom one down. The faces on the screen turn off. Zod grabs Jor-El by the shirt.
“Now, you listen to me, Jor-El. I have worked too hard to let you send me to a place as horrible as the Phantom Zone. You should spend less time trying to bring me to justice and more time trying to save your new-born son. What's his name? Kal-El?”
“You are not worthy enough to say my son's name aloud.”
“Jor-El, I promise you. One day, you will kneel before me.”
“I will die before I kneel before a barbaric monstrosity like you.”
“Your tragic death will be sooner than you expect, Jor-El. You might wanna go ahead and say goodbye to your loves ones.”
Right when Zod said that, Krypton had an earthquake. (or Kryptonquake?! :))
Jor-El runs back to the House of El. “Lara!” yelled Jor-El. Krypton shook again.
“Jor-El!,” said Lara, holding little Kal-El. “What is going on? What's happening?”
“It's Zod.”
“Zod?! How? What? What is he doing?”
“He's going to destroy Krypton. We have to get Kal-El out of here.”
“What!? How? Where would he go?”
Jor-El walks over to these crystals that are in the House. “A few month ago, I met with Zod. He told he what he was doing. I was going to stop him, but his plan was foolproof. So I created a ship for Kal-El.”
“A ship? Where will he go?”
“Years ago, my father told me to go to a planet. He said I could wander around it. I met a great couple. Kal-El will be safe with their spouse. The Kents.”
“The Kents? You told me that they were great people. You talk about them like gods.”
“And if Kal-El lives upon them, he will be safe.”
Jor-El took out a crystal and slid it into a slot on a different set of crystals. It lit up bright, then a ship appeared. “Kal-El will have a safe journey in this, to Earth.” The ship hovered over in front of Jor-El. The ship was small enough to only fit Kal-El. The ship opened up. Inside, it had Kryptonian writing on it. Jor-El looked over at Lara and then pointed to the ship. Lara walked over to the ship and held little Kal-El in her arms, as if she never wanted to let go. She kissed little Kal-El on the forehead and slowly put him in the ship. “Lara,” says Jor-El as he puts his hand on her shoulder. “Kal-El must know about his origins. I put a piece of Krypton in his ship and he'll be able to talk to me. So I can guide him. He can be the savior of the Earth. The planet will tear itself apart without little Kal-El.” Jor-El takes out a crystal and puts it back in the other way. The ship then starting whirring. It lifted up and took off.
“Jor-El!” yelled Zod.
“Zod,” said Jor-El. “What are you doing here? You are not welcome here.”
“Was that little Kal-El? Where did you send him?”
“A place where you and anyone else on Krypton can't hurt him.”
“Where? Is it where your little Martian lives, Mars? Or is it that one planet, what was it called? Oh, I remember. Earth.
Jor-El stood there in silence.
“Oh, so it is Earth. Well, You have to technology for that. You can go to Earth, whenever you want.”
“I closed all the portals to any world.”
“What about this portal. The only one that can't be closed.” Zod picked up a crystal and started squeezing it.
“No! Zod! Earth is too far! The time-space continuum will blast you into the-”
Before Jor-El could finish, Zod was gone in a flash of light.
Kal-El flies through space as Krypton is destroyed.
3 years later, in a little town in Kansas called Smallville.
Jonathan and Martha Kent are the one of the most known couple in all of Smallville. They live on one of the most wealthiest of farms. They were happy and content. But they did carry around a burden. Martha Kent's genetic makeup is different then most women. It allows to not be able to have children. The only thing she wants most is children.
Jonathan and Martha come out of a little flower shop owned by one of their neighbors. “Thanks, Nell,” says Martha. “You're welcome,” replies Nell. Jonathan and Martha get into their truck. Martha bows her head in sadness.
“What's wrong, Martha?”
Martha sighs. “I want one so bad.”
“I know, Martha. But you know what the doctor said. It's impossible.”
“Well, what about adoption?”
Jonathan sighs. “You know what? First thing in the morning. 'Kay?”
“Okay.”
Jonathan starts the truck and starts driving home. As they are driving down the road, Jonathan turns up the radio. The radio man said, “Meteorologist say that meteors are heading for Smallville. Everyone is advised to take evasive action immediately.
“You hear that, Martha? We need to get home, quick.” Jonathan starts breaking the speed limit. As they are driving at top speed to their home, they see the first meteor come down. It hits Baker's Field about ½ a mile away. The second one hit about 200 yards behind them. Martha screams, “Jonathan!” The third one hit about 10 feet away from them and the impact made their truck flip over and land in Baker's Field.
As Jonathan and Martha are in their truck, upside down, it was like their entire life flashed before their eyes. Martha was thinking about when she was a child. Martha loved baking. She had told her father that she was going to open a bakery. “Martha Clark's Big Bakery,” she called it. Jonathan thought about how he was going to take care of the farm when his father, Hiram, died. His father said that that will never be necessary because he'll never die.
“Martha!” yelled Jonathan. “Martha? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I'm fine,” replied Martha.
Jonathan looked out his window and saw a small boy approaching the truck. “Martha, look.” Martha looked over and saw the small boy, naked, with shaggy black hair and a big smile. Jonathan chuckles. “I don't suppose you can get us out of here, huh?”
The little boy looked at the truck. He took the upside down truck by the driver's seat door and started lifting. The little boy barely got it over his head. Then pushed to make the truck sit on its side. Jonathan and Martha looked at each other in astonishment. The boy pushed on the roof of the truck to make a dent. Then the truck tilted over and stood up straight. Jonathan and Martha get out of the truck. Jonathan stumbles over to the little boy. He looks at him for a second. The little naked boy. Martha gets out a blanket and covers the little boy with it. She picks him up and holds him in her arms. “Where did you come from,” asked Martha to the little boy. The little boy points toward a small hill where they saw one of the meteors land. They walk over there. When they get to the top of the small hill, they look down to see the ship. The little boy was little Kal-El. Jonathan goes down and examines the ship. He touches it then rubs his fingers together.
“Feels like... water.”
“Water?”
“Martha, whatever the hell this is, it's not from this Earth. And if that little boy is right, neither is he.”
“Well, can we keep him?”
“Martha, he isn't a stray dog. We can't just take him. We need to get him the proper care.”
“Yeah. 'Proper care.' Translation: Lab experiment.”
“What do you mean, Martha?”
“He has abilities. He lifted our truck with his bare hands. Once they see his powers, we don't know what they will do with him.”
“Well, if we do keep him, what are we going to tell people? That we found him out in a field?”
“We didn't find him. He found us.”
Part 2: Discoveries
12 years later
It was like everything was standing still but him. Everything. The little butterfly that was going as fast as its little wings could was standing perfectly still in mid-air. Every time he would touch something, it would move for a split second, then come to a halt. It was like stopping time itself, which was supposedly impossible. But to Clark Kent, everything is possible.
To Jonathan and Martha, it was like he was moving too fast for the eye to see. It was just a blur. It was like Clark Kent was the fastest man alive. Jonathan and Martha named Clark after Martha's maiden name. It was a “spur-of-the-moment” kind of thing. Martha thought back to that day as Clark ran through the garden as fast as he could.
It was the night of the meteor shower. Martha is letting little Kal-El play with some toys they had.
“Good thing you kept those toys,” says Jonathan.
“What are we going to do with him?” asked Martha.
“I don't know, Martha. If he really is an alien, then we're going to have to call in that favor.”
“Jonathan, you said so yourself, the Luthors are bad news.”
“Martha. Do we really have any other option?”
“No, I guess not.”
Right then, Jonathan and Martha hear a knock on the door.
“Martha, take the kid upstairs and don't let him come down here.”
“Okay.”
Jonathan answered the door and, to his surprise, it was the sheriff.
“Hey, Ed. What going on?”
“Just checking up on everyone on this side of Smallville. Just making sure everything's okay.”
“Yeah. Everything's fine.”
“Good. No meteors hit any of your crops or livestock?”
“No. Everything's fine.”
Sheriff Ed took a peak into the house and saw little Kal-El run through.
“Who is this?” asked Ed as he lets himself in.
“Sorry,” said Martha. “He's a strong little boy.”
Little Kal-El started playing with the little toy plane that he was playing with before Martha took him upstairs.
“This is.... uh....” Jonathan didn't know what to say.
“This is Clark!” exclaimed Martha.
“Clark?” said Jonathan and Ed simultaneously.
“Yeah. I thought maybe I should give him my maiden name. Its nice.”
“And you guys are adopting him?” asked Ed.
“Yeah. All the paperwork will be filled out tomorrow.”
“Good. Good. I know how much you guys wanted kids. He looks like such a sweet little boy.”
Little Clark looked at everyone and the only thing going through his little mind was, What in the world are they talking about. Out of fear, and thankfulness, little Clark gave Martha a big hug. Martha's heart filled with love and kindness after that.
Clark walks into the house, takes off his glasses, rubs his eyes, then puts them back on. Even though he was running as fast as he could, he wasn't panting or even breaking a sweat. “Hey, Dad,” Clark said. “Can I go on the roof?”
“Why do you need to go on the roof?” said Jonathan
“Because, I can do it this time.”
“Son, you said that last time, then you put a huge hole in our roof.”
“Yeah, but then I fixed it,” Clark snaps his fingers. “Just like that.”
“I need you to promise me you won't break our roof. Promise?”
“Promise.”
Clark runs out the house. He walks down the steps, turns around, and looks up. Clark crouches down real slow-like. He can feel the air beneath him. He can feel the power he's creating. He can feel the greatness running through him. In a flash, he jumps, high. He lands on the roof of his house. He looks out over his huge farm and sees a mile of meadow in every direction. It's beautiful. As Clark looks around, he can see everything. He can see every little bug on every little plant. Every little detail on every bit of grass. He can hear everything in Smallville, and a little bit of Metropolis, which borders Smallville. He looks into the direction of his barn. He turns the other way, where there is nothing but grass. Clark is feeling very nervous. He walks over to the edge of the house and looks down. Clark has always been afraid of heights, which makes what he's about to do so much more difficult. Clark takes a couple steps back, starts running toward the edge and jumps as high as he could. At first, he was just gliding through the air. It was an amazing feeling. He had no thoughts. Just relaxation. When he reached the peak of his jump, in the clouds, he felt himself coming down. He thought, Here we go. This is it. You can do it, Clark. Clark started coming down fast. He saw the green grass and focused on it. He was trying. Trying hard. He thought he wouldn't be able to do it. Then he closed his eyes and imagined a blissful place. Right before his face hits the ground, Clark shoots back up. There was a sign of relief on his face. Now he was thinking, I did it. I actually did it. I'm flying. I'm flying! Clark turned around and started flying back to his home.
“I did it!” Clark exclaims as he barges in to his home.
“Did it? You mean, 'it?'” said Jonathan.
“Yeah. I flew.”
“Clark, you have many abilities. Strength, speed, heat vision, x-ray vision, super-hearing...”
“Don't forget super-breath.”
“Yeah, super-breath too. But with all of these abilities comes a great deal of responsibility. Don't forget that, Son.”
“Dad, you won't let me forget it.” Clark walks over to the kitchen table and sits down. “Dad. I think it's time we had 'the talk.'”
Jonathan sits next to Clark. “'The talk.' Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I wanna know everything.”
“Well, Son. Sex is--”
“Whoa! Dad!”
“What?”
“Not that talk. The talk about, you know, where I came from.”
Jonathan looks over at Martha and sighs. They sat there in silence.
“Fine, Dad. Don't tell me.” Clark speeds off into his barn. Jonathan looks at Martha.
“You know, you should tell him,” suggests Martha.
“Yeah, but this is what we've been protecting him from. He can't know.”
“It's unfair for him not to know.”
Jonathan lets out a long sigh. He decides to go into the barn to talk to him.
“Clark?” Jonathan sees Clark sitting on his couch in his loft.
“It is unfair, Dad.”
“I know. It is.”
“So, do you guys even know where I'm from?”
“Not exactly. But we have a general area.”
“Where.”
Jonathan looks up into the sky. Clark follows his eyes.
“What are you saying, Dad? That I'm from outer space?” Clark smiles. Jonathan looked at Clark seriously. “Oh, come on, Dad. Are you serious?”
“Clark, I want to show you something.”
Jonathan took Clark to their shed.
“Dad. Why are we going to the one place that you tell me never to go?”
“Because, Son, this is the reason why I didn't want you to come down here.”
The shed was small and in it were shelves of food and spices. In the very back was something big covered up with a thick sheet.
“What's that?” asked Clark.
“This is the reason why I didn't want you down here.” Jonathan pulls the sheet off to reveal Clark's spaceship.
“Whoa. What's that?”
“It's how you came here, Son. You came in this ship.”
“Wow.” Clark felt the ship. There was a spot on it where it had a piece missing. It was octagonal. “There's a piece missing.” Jonathan looked. “Yeah, there sure is,” said Jonathan. “Wonder what goes there.”
“What would happen if I punch it?” asked Clark.
“I don't know. Try.”
Clark looked at the ship and made a fist. He lifted his fist and punched it as hard as he could. The metal on the ship bounced back and the energy pushed Jonathan to the ground. Clark looked at his fist and he was bleeding.
“Dad, I'm bleeding.”
“What? How? I thought your skin was impenetrable.”
“So did I.” Clark's blood dropped onto the octagonal missing piece. The piece started glowing and the ship opened up. Clark and Jonathan saw the Kryptonian writing in it. Then Clark and Jonathan saw Jor-El in a holographic projection.
“My son,” Jor-El's voice said. “My name is Jor-El. I am your father. And you are from the planet Krypton. I have sent you to the planet Earth for the well-being of you and Earth. If I'm correct, you should have powers beyond any mortal man. You should use these powers not for your gain, but to save the people of the lower-class planet I have sent you to. If my coordinates were correct, you should have been founded by the Kents. I had you to be founded by them because you will be safe with them. My son, inside of your ship is a crystal and the crystal will give you knowledge of your home planet.”
A diamond-type shaped crystal came out of the bottom of the ship. Clark picked it up to examine it. “What is it, Son?” asked Jonathan.
“I don't know,” replied Clark. Clark looked at it for a second then heard a high-pitched noise. But Clark was the only one that heard it. Clark covered his ears. “Do you hear that, Dad?”
“No, Son. What is it?”
“Its like a......” Clark yells in pain. “Its like a high-pitched noise.” Clark yells again. “I gotta go.” Clark speeds off trying to follow where the noise is coming from. No matter how hard Clark tried to ears, the sound couldn't be blocked out. Clark kept looking and the sound kept getting louder. Clark hesitated to go further in fear that his eardrums will burst. But he kept going. When he was in the middle of nowhere in Smallville, the sound suddenly stopped. Clark looked around to see if there was anything around. Once he was sure that there was nothing around, he start walking back toward his house. As soon as he started walking, the noise started again. Clark took a few steps back to make the noise stop again. He knew that there was something about this spot that had something to do with the mysterious man that he saw on his ship. Clark looked down to examine the ground. He noticed that where he was standing was a weaker part of the ground. He x-rayed it to find a cave underneath. Clark stood up and spun around in super-speed. The ground weakened and Clark fell through. Before Clark hit the ground, he made himself float. Clark gently came down and stood there in amazement. The caves had writing on it. They looked like hieroglyphics. Then Clark heard a mysterious voice.
“Who the hell is down here. No one is allowed here.” The man came from around a corner in the cave. The man looked at Clark as if he looked familiar. “Um... Who are you?”
“I'm sorry if I startled you, sir. I, uh, fell through the ground there.”
“Do you weight 600 pounds, 'cause that's the only way to just 'fall through the ground.' Seriously, who are you?"
“I'm, uh, Clark.”
“Kent?”
“Yeah.”
“I know your parents. Nice people.”
“So, what are these drawings.”
“They tell a story of a man who came down in a rain of fire, has the strength of ten men, and can shoot fire from his eyes.”
Clark thought for a second, then knew who he was talking about. Me.
“What was his name?”
“Übermensch.”
“What's that? German?”
“Yeah.”
“What's it mean?”
“Superman.”
The mysterious man noticed the crystal in Clark's hand. “What do you have there, kid?”
“Nothing, just some toy my dad gave me.” Clark tried to hid the crystal.
“You look a little old for toys. Let me see.”
“It's, uh, really valuable. I would rather not.”
“It's the shape, isn't it?”
“The shape?”
“You're Übermensch.”
“That's crazy. I didn't come down in a rain of fire. I don't have the strength of ten men and I definitely can't shoot fire from my eyes.”
“But he also has the skin of steel.” The man pulls out a gun and shoots Clark. The bullet bounces right off of him. “You really are Übermensch.”
Clark didn't know what to say. The man recognized Clark because the man had met Clark's father. “You have your father's eyes.”
“You know my father?”
“Yes. I do. Come with me.”
The man takes Clark into a part of the cave that has a big round stone table. In the middle is the same diamond-type shape as the crystal given to Clark. Clark sets the crystal in the middle and the room lights up.
The next thing Clark knew, he was in the middle of the Arctic. Clark was furious. “He tricked me. He tricked me!” Clark, out of anger, threw the crystal into an empty spot in the Arctic. Clark turned around, looking for any sign of civilization. No luck. Then, the ground beneath him started shaking. He turned around to see enormous pillars of ice coming out of the ground. Clark was amazed. He started walking toward the giant pillars. He entered. To him, they were big pillars of ice. But it was the House of El. Clark walked in and saw ice crystals everywhere. He saw a big pillar and in front of it had crystals coming out. The crystals started glowing. Clark, out of intuition, pulled out the middle one. Jor-El's face came on the screen.
“My son,” said Jor-El. “If you are watching this, you have already discovered that you are from another planet. My name is Jor-El, your father. And your mother is Lara. Your birth name is Kal-El. The planet that you are from is named Krypton. Not long after you were born, an evil man named General Zod destroyed our planet. I was fortunate enough to be able to launch you to Earth. If I was correct, you should have arrived there around the age of three. I'm sure you have many questions about your origins. I want you to know, Son, that we did not abandon you, we saved you. And now it is your turn. Where you are now is an exact replica of the House of El, your Fortress of Solitude. You can come here when you need guidance.”
“So, I can talk to you?”
“Yes.”
“You said Krypton was destroyed. You were destroyed with it. How am I talking to you?”
“What you are talking to is a computer. The technology on Krypton is much more advanced than the technology on Earth. I downloaded all of my knowledge and memories into this computer.”
“So, you really are.... dead?”
“The physical version of me is, yes.”
“If you sent me to Earth with a mission, what is it?”
“To save the people of Earth. You are a symbol of hope. You are the light, the protector the people of Earth long for.”
“How do you expect me to save an entire planet single handed?”
“With the powers that the yellow sun gives you, you can do anything. If I was correct, you should have the strength of ten men, the speed of sound, shoot fire from your eyes, hear a pen drop from ten miles away, freeze anything with a whistle, see through just about anything, and to defy gravity itself.”
“Are there any other..... what would you call them, Kryptonians?”
“No, you are the last son of Krypton.”
“How do I become the hero you want me to be?”
“You shall bear the symbol of hope.”
Behind the screen that shows Jor-El, a pillar of ice came out of the ground. It was a white costume with a white cape and a black “S” on it. Clark walks over to examine it.
“What am I suppose to do with this?”
“This is your costume. In order to protect your identity on Earth, you need to have a costume. The 'S' on the chest of the costume is our family crest. It means 'hope.'”
Clark broke the ice and took out the suit. Clark was thinking of a lot of things. So many thoughts were going through his mind. Like, How was Krypton destroyed? and What was Krypton like? All of these questions were ones that he knew would never be answered. Clark put the suit on and walked back over to the screen.
“Thanks...... Father.” Clark shut off the screen by inserting the crystal back into its original spot. Clark then flew home.
Flying home took a lot longer than he thought. At top speed, it took Clark about 10 minutes (In super-speed mode, that's a long time). Clark walks into his home, with the costume Jor-El gave him in one hand. As soon as Clark walks in, he gets a huge hug from his mother.
“Thank God, your okay,” said Martha with a little bit of worry in her voice.
“I'm fine, Ma.”
“What happened, Son?” asked Jonathan. “Where did you go.”
“The Arctic.”
“The Arctic? Why?”
“The man that was on the projection screen. He told me about my origins.”
“Well,” said Martha. “we wanna now everything you know.”
“Well, that's not much. I'm from the planet Krypton, my real name is... uh.... Kal-El. Krypton was destroyed by some evil man named Zod. My father's name is Jor-El. My mother's name is Lara.” Clark lets out a long sigh, as if he doesn't want to say it. “And I'm suppose to...... save the world.”
“The world?” asked Martha.
“How are you suppose to save the entire world?” asked Jonathan.
“I don't know. He told me I have these powers for a reason. That I have a mission. To save the people of Earth.”
“Well, your father doesn't know what he's talking about,” said Jonathan. “He may be your birth father, but I'm your real father.”
“He also gave me this.” Clark showed his parents the costume that Jor-El gave him. Martha took a good look at it and her fashion instincts kicked in.
“It needs color,” said Martha. “First thing in the morning, we're going to the clothing store to get the cloth to color it, got it?”
“Okay, Mom.”
Morning rolls around and Martha is ready to leave. “Clark!” she yells. “Are you ready?” Clark speeds down the stairs in a plaid shirt, jeans and his glasses.
“Yeah, ready.”
Martha and Clark go and get in the truck. They drive down their road for about ten minutes when Martha looks over at Clark and sees how pale he is.
“Clark, are you okay?”
“Yeah, Ma. I'm fine.”
“Are you sure? You don't look so good.”
“I said, I'm fine.”
Martha has no choice but to take his word for it. As they are driving down the road, Martha accidentally hits a green rock on the road. The tire pops and the truck spins out of control. The truck starts to flip over and (in super-speed mode) Clark gets out of the truck while it was in mid-air and Clark flies up to the driver's seat and pulls Martha out. He then runs back to where the tire was popped and the truck crashed.
Clark lies there on the ground weakened. Martha sees that something is wrong with him and she gets out her cell phone.
“Jonathan, come quick. Clark and I are on Route 16. We crashed and there's something wrong with Clark. Come quick, Jonathan.”
Martha saw Clark fading. Clark passed out and Martha didn't know what was wrong. About two minutes of trying to wake up Clark, she saw Jonathan come down the road. Jonathan was riding in their neighbors blue truck.
Jonathan finally came to Martha and Clark. Jonathan gets out of the truck and throws Clark onto his shoulders. Struggling, Jonathan puts Clark in the back of the truck. “What happened, Martha,” he asked.
“I don't know. All I know is that this rock made the tire pop.” Martha picked up the mysterious green rock to examine it. “I have no clue what it is. Lets go home.”
Martha gets in the truck with the green rock and her hand and they drive home. When they get there, Jonathan got Clark out of the truck. Jonathan struggled to get Clark up the stairs. He sat Clark down on the porch to take a breather. “I need to sit,” Jonathan said. Martha took the green rock inside and put it in a lead box she had handy. She walked back outside to see Clark and he started coming to.
“What happened?” asked Clark.
“Son,” Jonathan said, weakly.
“Dad, are you okay.”
“I'm fine, Son.” Jonathan gets up and falls back down. Clark quickly catches him.
“Dad! What's wrong?!”
“It hurts.”
“Lets get you to a hospital.”
“No, Son. I can feel it.”
Clark's eyes started filling with tears. “Dad. No.”
Martha is behind Clark, crying. “No, Jonathan.”
“Clark,” Jonathan said weakly. “I'm so proud of you, Son. And I want you to know, you are the savior of this Earth. I love you guys.”
“No! Dad!” Jonathan passes away. Right in Clark's arms.
A week later is Jonathan's funeral. Clark is thinking so many things. Why did he leave us. There were so many things he could have taught me. I loved my father. But he left us. Ma, me, the guys at the Bait and Tackle, all of us. About ten people showed up to Jonathan's funeral. Clark's tears couldn't stop rolling off of his cheeks. After everyone left and the man was rolling Jonathan's casket down into the ground, Clark took a little bit of dirt and sprinkled it over Jonathan's casket.
Clark and Martha go home after the funeral. Clark sits down on his living room couch. Martha goes upstairs then comes back down with that lead box she put the green rock in.
“I was talking to Farmer Baker next door and he said that he knows what this green rock is.”
“What is it?”
“It's meteor rock.”
“Meteor rock?”
“The meteor rock that came in the meteor shower you came in.”
“What should we do with it?”
“Didn't you say your birth father, Jor-El, can answer questions you have?”
“Yeah. Let me see it.”
Martha hands Clark the lead box. Clark opens it and feels weak. He quickly closes it.
“It hurts,” Clark said. “I'll go to the Fortress and ask Jor-El what this is.” Clark speeds to the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic.
Clark did what he did last time and take out the middle crystal to make Jor-El's face show.
“My son, you have returned.”
“Father, I found this.... rock. Whenever I'm around it, it... it hurts.”
“The rock that you are referring to is called 'kryptonite.' It is like a rock for Krypton.”
“So, how does it hurt me?”
“Like you, the yellow sun makes the kryptonite stronger. When you are around it, it radiates and kills you. Your home is your poison.”
“Thanks, Father. That's all I needed to know.” Clark puts the crystal back to turn off Jor-El. Clark flies out, and never looks back.
Part 3: Rescues
10 years later
Clark, ever since high school, has wanted nothing more than to be a reporter. For most people, that is not the kind of person you would peg Clark as, but it's his lifelong dream. Clark traveled all the way to Metropolis for an interview at the Daily Planet. The Daily Planet is the biggest newspaper company in Kansas.
The taxi that Clark took dropped him off across the street from the Daily Planet. Before Clark was about to cross the street, he saw that there was an out-of-control bus coming toward an older woman. Clark started to quickly cross the street and kept his head down. When Clark reached the old woman, so did the bus. Clark put his hand out and stopped the bus. When his hand hit it, the back of the bus went up in the air. Clark kept walking as if he didn't do anything.
Clark goes into the Daily Planet with his briefcase, confidence, and a smile. As he's walking through, he sees that the place is very crowded. Clark wonders through looking for a door that says “Perry White, Editor-in-Chief.” No luck. Clark keeps looking, not paying any attention to anything else. Which makes him bump into someone.
“Watch where you're going!” said the woman.
“Uh... Sorry, Ms...?” says Clark as he helps her pick up her stuff.
“Lane. Not that it's any of your business.”
“Well, if I'm going to be working here, it is.”
“You work here? I've never seen you before.”
“I was, uh, actually going to talk to Mr. White about a job here. Do you know where his office is?”
“Yeah, its right over there. But a piece of advice, Perry is very critical.”
“Thanks for the advice, Ms. Lane.”
“Call me 'Lois.'”
Clark smiles and goes to Perry White's office. He is very nervous, especially because of what Lois told him. Clark knocks on the door.
“Mr. White?”
“C'mon in.”
Clark walks in with a smile on his face. “Hi. I'm Clark Kent.”
“Kent. C'mon in. Take a seat.”
Clark sits down in the chair in front of Perry's desk.
“So, Kent. You want a job here at the Daily Planet?”
“Yeah. It's been a lifelong dream of mine. I read your paper everyday back in Smallville.”
“You're from Smallville?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have anything that I can see that will make me wanna hire you?”
“Well, back in Smallville High, I used to write for our school paper, The Torch.” Clark pulls out of his briefcase some papers and hands them to Perry.
“The Torch? Let me see these. 'What's in the Mystery Meat?', 'Jason Mays, Next Micheal Phelps,' 'Principal Kwan's Last Day.' Kent, what is the junk?”
“It's what I used to write for The Torch.”
“No, it's junk. Stuff irrelevant to anything. Listen, kid, I don't mean to hurt your feelings or anything, but this is not Daily Planet material. We need news, big news! We don't care what's in the mystery meat, I don't wanna know about Jason Mays, and I sure as hell don't care whether it's Principal Kwan's last day or not. I'm sorry, son. You don't have what it takes.”
“I understand, sir.”
Clark gets up and leaves with disappointment. When he walks out the door, he is greeted by Lois.
“So, how did it go?”
“I didn't get it.”
“Sorry 'bout your luck. I told you, he's critical.”
“Yeah. He is.”
Lois turns around and sees a kid running through the office. Not paying attention to where he's going, he bumps into Lois to make her drop all her stuff, again. Clark kindly helps her pick it up. As he is doing so, he comes across an article about superheroes. With his super-speed, he reads it. Lois quickly snatched out of his hands.
“So,” says Clark. “you like superheroes?”
“I like mystery. And that's what that guy is.”
“What guy?”
“The guy that makes all those mysterious saves in Smallville.”
“Oh! That guy. You know, I'm from Smallville, so I actually see him on a daily basis.”
“Really? That's cool.”
“Hey, what would you do to get an interview with him?”
“I would do anything.”
“Even, get me a job here.”
“What are you saying, that you know him?”
“More or less. If you get me a job here, I can guarantee you an interview.”
“You're bluffing.”
“If only I was.”
“Okay. Fine. I get you a job here, and you promise me an interview?”
“Promise.”
“Okay.”
Lois goes into Perry's office to talk to him.
“Are you out of your mind, Perry?!”
“What in the Sam hell are you talking about, Lois?”
“You're not going to hire that guy out there?”
“I don't see any reason why. He's not Daily Planet material.”
As Perry and Lois argue over whether Clark should be hired or not, across the street was a building with a loose sign. Clark looks out the window of the Daily Planet to see that it was about to fall. Clark quickly goes outside to save the day. Perry and Lois continue to argue, but as soon as they hear the sound of something falling, they stop to see. Across the street was LexCorp. And the sign for it started falling from the top, about 50 stories up, down to the ground. Everyone in the Daily Planet watched it fall. But as soon as it was about to hit the ground, they all saw a blur come down the street, catch it and fly back up to the roof all in a few second time period. The first thought in Lois's mind was, He's here! The man that makes all the mysterious saves in Smallville is here in Metropolis.
“Fine, Lois. I'll hire him.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He can be your new partner.”
“My new what?!”
“Partner. You want him here so bad, you can have him, Lois. He starts first thing in the morning.”
“But, Perry-”
“No 'buts.' First thing in the morning.”
Lois leaves Perry's office in shock. She wanted him to work for the Daily Planet, but being her partner was just too much. Clark comes up to her, “Well?”
“Well, you got the job.”
“Really? When do I start?”
“Tomorrow morning.... partner.”
“Partner?”
Lois walks away. Clark was thinking the same thing she was, I wanna work for the Daily Planet, but being her partner is just too much.
Back in Smallville, Clark and Martha are having dinner.
“So,” says Martha. “how did your interview go?”
“Not how I had hoped.”
“What happened?”
“Well, there was this girl,”
“A girl?”
“Yeah, her name was Lois.”
“You gotta crush?”
“No,” Clark chuckles. “Anyway, I showed Perry the things I did at The Torch. He didn't like it. And Lois loves heroes. So I told her that I could get her an interview with the mysterious hero of Smallville if she got me a job there.”
“You bribed her?”
“Well, since I'm sure I can get her an interview with the mysterious hero of Smallville, so, why not?'
“I guess, but something's telling me that you shouldn't have done that.”
“But something's gotta give.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, that I'm going to need to get a costume.”
“Why?”
“Because, if she's going to be getting an interview with the mysterious hero of Smallville, she can't know that the mysterious hero is Clark Kent.”
“I know just the thing. Come with me.”
Martha takes Clark into her bedroom. She pulls out from under her bed a box. She handed the box to Clark.
“What's in here?”
“Your costume.”
Clark opens it to find a blue, red, and yellow costume inside. On the torso, the “S”.
“Jor-El's costume.”
“Your costume.”
“Thanks, Mom. When did you get this done.”
“Remember the day your father died and we were going to get the cloth for the costume?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, a few days after the funeral, I started on that. I just got finished with it a month ago.”
“You've been working on this for the last ten years?”
“Yeah, just for you. Try it on.”
Clark speeds over to the other side of the room. Martha turns around to see him in the costume.
“Little snug. But I like it.”
“You look wonderful.”
Clark turned on his super-hearing and listened around the city. He heard a baby crying, then rocked to sleep, a man asking his girlfriend to marry him, a girl breaking up with her boyfriend, then a man saying, “Get all the money. By the time the cops know that it's us, we'll be in Mexico.” Clark had to respond. He saw the open window and looked over at his mom.
“Go,” said Martha. “The world needs you.”
Clark sped out the open window to fly to the scene of the crime. When Clark got there, he saw the men taking big bags of money out of a bank.
Clark slowly flies down to them. He startled them when he said, “That money doesn't belong to you.”
One of the men finished doing what he was doing then looked over at Clark. “Leave,” he said. “if you know what's good for you.”
“I'll leave, as soon as I know that the money that you guys are stealing is back with its rightful owner.”
“Look, I know you want to earn your Good Samaritan badge or something but you're playing with something very dangerous here, kid. So run along. Turn around and never look back.”
“Wish I could, but it ain't happening.” Clark slowly starts to walk toward them. The man looks at his friend and nods. The other guy grabs hold of the gun he has in his back pocket. Clark continued to walk toward them. The first man said, “Stay back. I'm warning you.”
Clark didn't acknowledge his warning. He kept walking toward them. The guy pulled out his gun. “Don't move,” he said. Clark acted like he didn't see anything and kept moving. “Shoot him,” said the first man. “Shoot him. Now!” Out of fear, the man shot at Clark. The three bullets that he shot bounced off of Clark. Clark was not at all affected by it and kept moving. He walked up to the guy with the gun. The man was scared. Clark touched his forehead and knocked him out. Clark turned toward the first guy and, to his surprise, had an Uzi. The man started spraying bullets at Clark. The bullets kept bouncing off. Clark caught one of the bullets and squished it before the man ran out of ammunition. “Dammit!” The man took out the clip and got another one out of his pocket. He was struggling trying to put it in. Clark kept walking over to him. The man finally got it in but Clark was right there. The man turned around and was about to run when he ran into Clark. Clark grabbed the man by the shirt. He looked down at the car. Clark was wondering what he could do. Then Clark heard sirens heading his direction. The cops came from around the corner and stopped at the bank. They go around to the back of the getaway car and see an open truck full of money and the two men on the wrapped up in the rear bumper. And next to them was a flame. The cops put the flame out and saw the “S” burnt into the sidewalk.
Then next morning, Clark is ready for his first day at work. He walks into the Daily Planet and it was way more chaotic than yesterday. People all around the Daily Planet are all talking about the new superhero in Metropolis. Then Clark sees Lois.
“Lois!” exclaims Clark.
“Clark!” Lois gets through the big crowd and reaches Clark. “Did you hear about the superhero?”
“I heard about him. Don't know the whole story.”
“Well, there's not much to tell. The video barely got any of his face. And when the cops found the criminals, they found a huge 'S' carved into the ground.”
“Does anyone know what it means.”
“Well, I was thinking it goes with his superhero name. Something like, 'Superguy,' or 'Superdude,' or 'Super-'”
“Man.”
“Superman. I like it.”
“Übermensch.”
Clark thought back to the day he saw the mysterious man in the cave and told him about the story of Übermensch.
“'So, what are these drawings.'
'They tell a story of a man who came down in a rain of fire, has the strength of ten men, and can shoot fire from his eyes.'
Clark thought for a second, then knew who he was talking about. Me.
'What was his name?'
'Übermensch.'
'What's that? German?'
'Yeah.'
'What's it mean?'
'Superman.'”
“What?” asked Lois.
“Nothing. Superman. I like it. You should print that.”
“Cool. I will.”
Clark and Lois get on the elevator and go to the 23rd floor. When they get there, Lois quickly goes to her computer and types in Superman where she put the “The Mysterious Man” in. Then they hear Perry's voice.
“Lane! Kent! Get in here!”
Lois and Clark go into Perry's office. “Yeah, Perry,” responds Lois.
“I got your first story, Kent. There is a plane that is being tested for comfortably. I want you and Lane on this story. Go.”
“You got it, Mr. White.”
Lois and Clark left Perry's office. They get on the elevator and stand there in awkward silence.
“So,” says Clark trying to start conversation. “what do you think of the new superhero.”
“I think that you already know the answer to that question.”
“Yeah, I just wanna hear from you out loud.”
“I think that Superman is exactly what this city needs to get out of the hold the Luthors have on us.”
“Superman may be amazing, but that is all about power. Who has more of it.”
“Superman has way more powers. Flying, speeding, strength, he's bulletproof, and make fire with his....”
“Eyes.”
“He can shoot fire from his eyes? How do you know?”
“I told you, I'm from Smallville. I see him on a daily basis.”
The elevator doors open and Lois and Clark get in Lois' car and leave. They get to the airstrip and aboard the plane. They both take their seats and Clark hangs on for dear life.
“What's wrong Clark?”
“Nothing. It's just, me and flying never really got along.”
“Well, you're going to have to get over that fear, Clark. At the Daily Planet, we do a lot of flying.”
The flight attendant came by with a cart and asked them for a drink.
“Anything with alcohol in it,” said Lois.
“Lois.”
“What?”
“It's 10:30 in the morning. Are you sure you should be drinking alcohol?”
“Something you should know about the Lanes, Clark. We know how to hold our liquor.”
The plane started going and not long after was in the air. The plane shook a few times. Each time the attendants apologize and say that they hit an air pocket. Then, they must have hit a huge air pocket because the plane shook horribly. Then, Clark looked out the window to see that one of the engines failed. Clark at first thought they were going to land. Then he realized they were still thousands of feet up in the air. He saw the other one fail. Clark didn't know what was going on, so he listened into the cockpit. The captain was saying, “Mayday! Mayday! We've lost both of our engines! We are going down! I repeat, we are going down!” Clark told Lois he had to use the bathroom and he got up. When he did, the entire plane started taking a nosedive. Clark fell to the ground and started going toward the back. He passed up the bathroom and fell through a curtain. He found a door. He opened the door and walked in. When he was in, he walked like he normally does, as if the plane falling didn't affect his balance. He saw a door that said, “Emergency Exit.” Clark sped into his Superman costume and flew out the door.
He flew around the plane and up next to Lois' window. Lois looks out once, then does a double take. Superman gave her a polite yet assuring wave. Superman flies away before Lois is able to wave back. He flies to the front of the plane and looks at the pilot. The pilot looks shocked as he sees Superman grab the nose of the plane and push it upward. Once Superman gets it straight, he goes to the bottom of it and glides it down. He sees the airstrip and quickly goes there.
When Superman gets the plane landed safely back in Metropolis, the doors open up and the first person to come out is Lois. She sees Superman start to fly away when she stops him.
“Superman!” she exclaims. “Think I can get an exclusive with you?”
“Maybe one day, Ms. Lane.” Superman starts to fly away when Lois stops him, again.
“Wait! How do you know my name?”
“Name tag.”
Lois looks down at her left shoulder to see her name tag that said “Daily Planet Lois Lane Press Pass”. Lois had a dumbfounded look on her face. Superman flies off into the sky. Lois' first encounter with Superman was the best encounter she's ever had with anyone.
Lois stands there on the steps and thinks about the man in blue. Then she hears Clark's voice.
“Lois?”
“Clark! You missed him!”
“Who?”
“Superman! He was here!”
“Like I said, Lois. I grew up in Smallville. I see him on a daily basis.”
“This is amazing.” Lois and Clark start walking down the steps.
“He's not that great, Lois.”
“How are you able to say that and make it look true?”
“I don't think-”
“At all?”
“I was going to say, I don't think Superman should be given so much credit, he's just helping people.”
“Then riddle me this. How many people are supernatural freaks and actually try to help people?”
“Well-”
“It was rhetorical. I mean, so many people are in distress and now we have this hero figure to step up and take action. No one else would have the guts to stop an armed robbery. Let's take you for example, Clark. If you would have done what Superman did with the armed robbery, you would have gotten yourself killed. But Superman is invincible, which is perfect. And he's strong. He landed a plane with his bare hands. I mean, how much more amazing can you get?”
“Well-”
“Again, rhetorical.”
“Lois, it's not like I'm saying we shouldn't have Superman, I'm saying you're giving him too much credit.”
“How do you know that Superman doesn't want so much credit?”
“Well-”
“Rhetorical!”
Lois and Clark get into their car and go back to the Daily Planet. They walk into the newsroom and the first thing Lois always does when she walks into the newsroom is turn on TV.
“In other news,” started the woman on TV. “in the north pole, there was an enormous ice castle found and it has scientists baffled. The structure of it seems to be unknown to the planet Earth.”
Clark looked at the TV and thought, Oh, no. They found the Fortress of Solitude. “Lois,” started Clark. “I have to go. I'll see you later.”
“Go? It's your first day. Don't you wanna make a good impression?”
“Maybe later. But I have to go now.”
Clark leaves and goes to his fortress where he saw scientists looking around for some answers.
“Excuse me?” said Superman. “but I'm pretty sure going into someone's home without their permission is considered trespassing. Which I'm sure could land you some jail time.”
“Whoa!” said one of the Russian scientists. “You, uh, Superman, right?”
“Correct.”
“And this your home?”
“Correct.”
“Let Russian ask superhero question. Why do you live in Arctic yet save America?”
“I save the people who need saving. Most saves are in America. Now, if you will please...” Superman pointed to the door, showing them the way out. The three scientists left with disappointment. Superman left as well. But what Superman didn't see is the two scientists that hid behind some of his crystals.
In Russian, the one said, “You were right. They didn't notice us.” The two scientists continued to explore the wonders of the Fortress of Solitude. As they were wondering, they saw one of the crystals float up into the air. It floated around for a few seconds before it started glowing and a figure was there. It was General Zod. The two scientists walked up to him wondering it's strange science behind it.
“Where is Kal-El?” said Zod.
“Who?” said one of the scientists.
“You are useless to me.”
Zod used his heat vision to burn Zod's family crest into their chests, and it killed them.
Part 4: Zod's War
One week later
Clark is at his apartment in Metropolis surfing through the channels.
“The mysteriously strong man is out there and killing people. Some are saying that it's Superman.”
Clark changes the channel.
“The question on everyone's mind: Is our savior turning against us?”
Clark changes the channel.
“Someone captured a picture of our hero, Superman and this is what they found.”
The television screen showed Zod throwing a car and Clark paused it. He used his Micro-vision to see the logo that was on Zod's costume. It was the “Z”. Clark drew it on a piece of paper. He thought, That's probably Kryptonian. If it is, Jor-El will know who this mysterious villain is and Superman will be in the clear.
Clark flies to the Fortress of Solitude and pulls out the crystal.
“Hello, my son.”
“I've been called a villain because some maniac with my abilities is harming innocent people. He was wearing this symbol. It looks Kryptonian. Do you know what it is?”
The computer scans the image and Jor-El knew exactly who's it was. “That is the mark of General Zod.”
“General Zod? I thought he was destroyed with the rest of Krypton?”
“Before Krypton was completely destroyed, Zod took a crystal I had made. We called it “The Uncloseable Portal”. It was like an emergency exit, in case someone had to go from one planet to the other quickly. But Zod used it to go to Earth. I tried to warn him that the time-space continuum would blast him to the future, but he wouldn't listen.”
“And because of it, he's killing innocent people.”
“Zod has no idea that he is in the future. He thinks Krypton was just destroyed, because to him, he went straight from Krypton to Earth.”
“I need to stop him.”
“There is only one way to stop a monster like Zod.”
“How?”
“Years ago, I created a prison for people like Zod. It was named The Phantom Zone. It's a place where the criminals of our galaxy can live in without disturbing others. If you can get Zod in the Phantom Zone, he can't have powers to get out.”
“How do I get him in it?”
A crystal came floating out. Clark grabbed it and crushed it. Inside was a tiny crystal that had the Superman symbol.
“Hold that up to him, and he will immediately go to the Zone.”
“Thanks, Father. You just saved everyone.”
Superman puts the crystal back and flies back to Metropolis. He goes onto the roof of the Daily Planet. Behind him, he heard a door open. He turned around to see Lois.
“Superman? What are you doing here?”
“I'm patrolling Metropolis.”
“Right. Super-hearing and everything.”
Lois stayed where she was and they stood there in awkward silence. “You're no afraid of me, are you?” asked Superman.
“No, it's just- I don't know what to do, Superman. You're the only one that can throw a car across a city. And the “Z” everywhere. You're the only one that can do that.”
“Lois, as you know I'm from another planet.”
“Yeah, uh, Krypton, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What about it?”
“Well, all Kryptonians have the same powers on Earth.”
“Wait. Are you saying that there is another Kryptonian on Earth?”
“Yes.”
“But you said Krypton was destroyed. And everyone in it.”
“Well, apparently, one got out. And now I have to stop him.”
Right then, both Lois and Superman saw a car fly up in the air. Superman flew down to the ground and caught it. When he did, he saw Jimmy Olsen was the driver. Superman put the car down and opened the door. He got Jimmy out and asked the person by the car to call 911. Superman started walking toward the direction the car came. Then there was a sonic boom. And then something came crashing down in front of Superman. It was General Zod.
“You are a Kryptonian,” said Zod. “What is your name?”
“You must be General Zod. The person responsible for the destruction of Krypton.”
“Yes, I am.”
“You've already killed millions of innocent people on Krypton. Why come here just to do the same?”
“I am a highly misunderstood person.”
“You are not misunderstood, you are an evil person.”
“What did I do that was so evil?”
“You destroyed an entire race!”
“I saved Krypton!”
“You killed millions!”
“But more will come! That's why I came to Earth. To start over, start fresh.”
“You're not taking my planet for your own personal gain.”
“Your planet? How long have you been here?”
“My whole life.”
“What is your name?” Zod looked down at Superman’s chest and saw the symbol. “Kal-El. You have your father's eyes. Your.... older than I imagined. How did you become so....” Zod thought for a minute. “I jumped into the future. That's what Jor-El was warning me about.”
“Should have listened.”
“Yes. But that makes it even more fun. Now, your death will be a challenge.
Zod punches Superman in the jaw to send him flying down the street. Superman hit the ground with a huge thud. At the corner of his eye, he saw Lois. Zod flew to Superman and picked him up. The blood that was on Superman’s jaw slowly started to go away as he basked in the sun. Superman looked over at Lois in fear of her. Zod followed his eyes.
“You have feelings for that human.”
“No.”
“Yes, you do. You're scared for her. Well let me strike even more fear into you.”
Zod speeds over to Lois and runs away with her. Superman follows closely behind. Zod took Lois into an abandoned factory in Metropolis. Lois got out of the grip of Zod and turned around to kick him. She got her foot up to his chest and he caught it and spun her around. She landed on her face and was knocked unconscious. Zod turned around and waited for Superman to come. As he waited, he slipped on a blue ring.
Superman barged through the door.
“Where's Lois?”
“You want Lois? She's right here.”
“What did you do to her?”
“She did it to herself. She shouldn't have tried to hurt me.” Zod walked over to a big wall lined with lead. “Get ready, Kal-El. You're about to meet your match.” Zod opened up the doors on the wall and there was kryptonite right behind it. Superman fell to the ground in pain. There was so much kryptonite. “How does it feel?”
“How come you're not affected by it?”
“See this little blue ring? It's called blue kryptonite. It gets rid of Kryptonian powers if you're on Earth. Which is funny. Because it does the exact opposite on Krypton. And now, Kal-El, I shall do what I wanted to do 20 years ago. Kill you.” Zod picked up a sword that was on the ground, walked over to Superman and stabbed him in his chest. The pain Superman was feeling was excruciating. Superman was in serious pain. Zod left the sword in Superman and left. Lois started coming to. She got up and saw Superman was stabbed. She looked over at the giant wall and thought, That's meteor rock. He said that the green meteor rock hurts him. Lois closed the lead-lined doors and looked over at Superman. Nothing. She decides to go for help. She opens the door to walk outside and the sun beamed down on Superman. Lois ran out and went up to one of the pedestrians.
“Help!” she yelled. “It's Superman. He's seriously injured.”
“Where?” asked the pedestrian.
“In here.” Lois led him into the factory. They walk in and see a little puddle of blood. But no Superman.
In the Fortress, Zod is there. He takes out one of the crystals in front of the pillar that shows Jor-El. He throws the crystal and it stops, lights up, then a portal is opened. Zod stood back as he saw a figure come through and the portal close behind him.
“General Zod,” said the man.
“Jax-Van. Old friend.” Zod and Jax-Van do a Kryptonian handshake; grabbing the forearm and turning it to the left.
“Where are we, Zod?”
“Earth.”
“Earth? You mean-?”
“Yes, we have powers.”
“The yellow sun feels a lot better than our red. Wait. Didn't Jor-El send his child here?”
“Yes.”
“I was in the Phantom Zone for about 10 Earth years. That's 20 Earth years here.”
“Correct.”
“That means that he has been here for years.”
“Don't worry. I took care of him.”
“Good. Now. Would you like to go fourth with your plan?”
Then a voice came out of nowhere. “Not as long as I'm still breathing.”
Zod realized it was Superman. “Kal-El,” said Zod. “we can arrange that.”
Zod flew over to Superman as fast as he could, but he wasn't fast enough. Superman punched Zod in his jaw sending him flying upward toward the sky. Jax-Van looked at Superman and thought that it was the perfect time to try out his new powers. Jax-Van started floating up, very slowly, then clapped his hands together to make the energy hit Superman and make him fly out of the Fortress. Zod flew back in and stood next to Jax-Van.
“I forgot to tell you, Kal-El is relentless.”
“Good.”
Jax-Van and Zod sped out of the Fortress and looked down on Superman, lying there, hurt. Jax-Van picked up Superman and looked at him. “He looks so much like his father,” said Jax-Van.
Then, by surprise, Superman took out the tiny crystal Jor-El gave him and held it up to Jax-Van's chest. The energy from it pushed Jax-Van back and put him in a square-shaped, flat glass containment and sent him shooting into the sky. Jax-Van was sent back to the Phantom Zone.
“Clever man, Kal-El. Did your father give you that? Didn't he tell you not to mess with stuff that you don't know how to use?”
Zod tried to get the crystal from him but Superman didn't let him. Then the crystal fell. Zod picked it up and crushed it.
“I'm not going to the Phantom Zone. Never!”
“Not if I have something to say about it.”
Superman went to punch Zod in the face but Zod ducked. Zod tackled Superman down to the ground. Zod punched his face into the snow. The punches kept coming and coming. Then Superman threw Zod and flew away. Zod chased Superman all the way back to Metropolis. Zod pushed Superman into the Daily Planet globe on top of the building. The globe started falling but Superman went down to the bottom and caught it. He shot back up and put the globe back. He used his heat vision to keep it there. He turned around to get a fistful of Zod. It sent Superman flying across Metropolis. Zod looked down at the ground and saw tanks. All of them pointing at Zod. The tanks opened fire on Zod. Zod thought nothing of it and continued doing what he was doing.
The war between Superman and Zod continued for a while. There was no winner or loser. But Zod tried hard to be the winner. Zod got Superman distracted by breaking the dam. Then Zod went to the abandoned factory where he first killed Superman. He grabbed a blue kryptonite blade. Superman found Zod and saw the blade.
“This is going to end, Kal-El. Once and for all.”
“Zod, no.”
“You don't see it, do you?”
“See what?”
“How good you have it. You grew up on Earth. You've had your powers for as long as you can remember. I just got these powers. I don't want to ever leave. You have it better than you think. I grew up on Krypton where everyone wanted to destroy one another. Nothing was peaceful. We never had a hero to save the day. I wanted so bad to be that hero. The one to get us out of our wars, our famine, our hate. But no one appreciates the work it took to do this.”
“I see you wanna be like me. But killing people is not my philosophy. But if you wanna change, you still can.”
“No, its too late. My plan has already been set in motion. I just wanted you to know how much I admire you before I kill you and burn the remains.”
Zod charges at Superman with the blue kryptonite and Superman dodges it. Zod turns around and Superman punches him in the face. Zod gets knocked out by that one punch. Superman had an idea on how to get rid of Zod forever. Superman puts on the blue kryptonite ring then opens the door of green kryptonite. He walks out, closes the door, and drops the ring on the ground. Right before he was about to fly off, he stepped on the ring to destroy it.
In the factory, Zod lies there, hurt. A man that was working there heard the commotion and decided to stay back. When he saw Superman leave, he stepped out of the shadows. He saw Zod was knocked out and tried to wake him up.
“Hey, buddy? Hey, man. Are you okay?” After doing this for a good minute, he noticed that Zod wasn't waking up. Then he looked over at the kryptonite wall, wondering why the hell is that door open. The man closes the door and looks back over at Zod. He starts to come to.
“Hey, buddy? You okay?”
Zod looks at the blue kryptonite blade and pushes it away. He gets up real slowly and his wound on his face starts to heal. Zod looks at the man and his eyes start to fire.
“Hey, man! I didn't see anything!”
“Yep. You sure didn't.” Zod used his heat vision to carve Zod's “Z” into the man's chest.
Zod looks all over Metropolis for Superman. When he realized that Superman wasn't there, he decided to look in the Fortress of Solitude. His hunch was correct.
“Kal-El. What are you doing here? Did you really think you could get rid of me?”
“Hoping, really.”
“You can't get rid of me that easily.”
“I realize that now. So, I have a plan to get rid of you. For good.”
“You not only look like your father, you have his same sense of humor.”
“You think I'm kidding.”
“Your time on Earth has weakened you. And now, it shall kill you.”
“Now!”
When Superman yelled “Now!”, the entire Fortress started lighting up. And the next thing they knew, they were somewhere else. They both started out in the sky and fell, far. Superman lands in snow and Zod lands in a puddle of blood. Zod was confused.
“Where are we, Kal-El?”
“Zod, welcome to the Phantom Zone.”
Zod had never been in the Phantom Zone. He looked around the huge, damp place. It was bright from the two big blue suns. The rivers were of blood. There was snow but it was warm.
“You're an idiot. Now were both trapped here. And now, you're on my level!” Zod swings at Superman and misses. Superman grabs Zod by the back of his costume and wraps his arm around his chest.
“Stay here!” demanded Superman.
“Never.” Zod got out of Superman's grip. He turned around and kicked Superman in his gut. “Kal-El, you will kneel down before me.”
“I will die before I kneel before a barbaric monstrosity like you.”
Zod kicks Superman in the face. “What's your plan. Jor-El is dead. He's the only one that can get you out. You're all mine.”
“You must not have heard. I'm the only one that can get out.”
Zod kicks him again. “You know how to get out of here?”
“Yeah.”
“I'll make a deal with you. You get me out, I'll let you live, as my prisoner.”
“Not much of a deal.”
“Not much to it. Get us out. Now!”
“Follow me.”
Superman and Zod wonder through the Phantom Zone. Superman was looking for something specific. But Zod thought he was leading him down the wrong path.
“Where are we going?” asked Zod.
“I'm looking for something.”
“What are you looking for?”
Before Superman was able to reply, someone came at Superman with a knife. Superman fought the person and was able to elbow the person in the face. The person screamed, and they knew it was a woman. Zod pushed Superman over to see who it was.
“Faora?”
The woman took off her mask. “Zod?”
Faora got up and gave Zod a huge hug and a kiss.
“You two know each other?” asked Superman.
“Jor-El?” asked Faora.
“No, Faora,” said Zod. “That's Kal-El.”
“Kal-El? You look so much like your father.” Faora walks over to Superman and swings a knife at him. Superman blocks it.
“No, Faora!” yelled Zod. “He's our only way out of here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jor-El told him how to get out. We have to follow him if we want out.”
“How do we know we can trust him?”
“He's our only hope.”
“Faora?” said Superman. “Do you know where the gate is?”
“Yes. Follow me.”
“What gate?” asked Zod.
Faora led Superman and Zod to a huge Kryptonian castle-like place. It was surrounded by skulls. In the center of the place was Superman's symbol.
“How do you open it?” asked Zod.
Superman picked up a knife he found on the ground and cut his hand.
“What are you doing?”
“This is my way out.”
“Your way?”
“Yeah. You're not coming with.”
Superman starts to walk toward the “S”, but Zod grabs him by his cape and wipes some of the blood from Superman's hand onto his. Then Zod punched him to make him fall to the ground. Superman saw a sword not far from him and picked it up. He saw another one right next to it and picked that up too.
“Hey, Zod!”
Superman stopped Zod right before he was about to touch the “S”. Superman throws him one of the swords.
“Last man standing, wins.”
Zod charged at Superman with his sword. Zod's sword hit Superman's. They battled. For about 3 or 4 minutes of battling, no one was winning. Then, as Superman and Zod battled, Superman knocked Zod's sword into the air. The sword went up high, and came back down and stabbed Faora in the chest.
“Faora!” yelled Zod. Zod ran over to her and caught her before she fell.
“Kill Kal-El,” she said weakly.
Zod sat Faora down gently and picked up his sword. He looked over at Superman and saw he was about to touch the “S”.
“No!” Zod ran over to Superman and swung his sword. Superman blocked it. Superman pushed Zod down, grabbed his sword, wiped off the blood, turned around and touched the “S” to open a portal. Superman looked back at Zod and gave a friendly wave. Zod got up and started running toward the portal when Superman pulled out the sword in front of Zod.
“Stay there,” said Superman.
“I guess, uh, this is our last encounter, huh?”
“It's been fun.”
Superman punches Zod and Zod fell. Superman walked through the portal, and never looked back.
Superman fell out of the sky and landed in a field. The place was unfamiliar to Superman. He flew up into outer space to see where he was. South Africa. Superman flew back to Metropolis.
Superman walked through the streets of Metropolis and it was bare. No one was around, there were no cars, nothing. As he walked down the street, he saw a couple of guys with a baseball bat looking at a convenience store. They hit the window of the convenience store with the bat. The glass shattered everywhere. Superman walks up to them.
“What are you guys doing?”
“Superman?! You're suppose to be dead!”
“Dead?”
“Yeah. Haven't you read the paper?”
Superman looks over at the stand in front of the convenience store. It read, “Superman Pronounced Dead”. Superman couldn't believe his eyes. He was only in the Phantom Zone for a few hours. But then he realized that the Phantom Zone is in a different galaxy. Different galaxy, different time.
“When's the funeral?”
“Right now. It's at Superman Park.”
“Superman Park?”
“Yeah. Was called Garvin, but they changed it yesterday.”
“Thanks.” Superman starts to walk away but then remembers....
“Oh, almost forgot.” Superman turns around, walks up to the two guys and knocks them both out, and flies away.
At the funeral, everyone is gathered around a picture of Superman. Lois sits right next to the picture. The mayor is saying a few words on Superman's behalf.
“Superman brought us out of the darkness that surrounded our once horrible city. He was our symbol for truth, justice, and the American way. And so now, I proudly proclaim Garvin Park shall now be named Superman Park.”
“Daddy!” yelled a kid in the crowd. “Look, up in the sky.”
“It's a bird,” said the kids dad.
“No, it's a plane,” said a guy a few chairs down from the kid.
“No, look,” said the kid. “It's Superman!”
Lois immediately gets up to look. Superman swoops with a whoosh.
“Hope I'm not late for my own funeral,” said Superman.
The crowd goes wild. They throw their hats in the air, and go crazy for Superman. “Superman! Superman! Superman!” chants Metropolis.
Out of nowhere, Lois jumps into Superman's arms and hangs on as if she never wanted to let go. Superman starts flying away with Lois, but then stopped. He turned around, hovered above the crowd with Lois in his arms, and used his heat vision to carve an “S” into the grass of the Superman park. As he was flying away, Lois said, “Has anyone told you, you look a lot like Clark Kent?”
The End