Source: Superman: Last Son of Earth #1-2 (2000)
Type: Elseworlds
So imagine a world where the baby destined to be Superman was born on Earth from astrophysicist Jonathan Kent and his wife Martha in 1968. Further imagine a giant meteor flying towards Earth and though Jonathan has told the authorities, no one can do a damn thing about it. Might that young scientist not build a spacecraft to send his newborn son to another planet? He might indeed.
In the version of the story that puts a wormhole between Earth and Krypton (what we'll call the "let's justify everything" version), we must believe that wormhole is two-way. Indeed, baby Clark Kent does crash on Krypton, a planet where people believe it is necessary to live isolated lives to avoid war and hedonism, where their sterile existences are prolonged almost indefinitely by bio-suits, and where, unbeknownst to them, a doomsday device used long ago is starting to cascade into a radiation nightmare. One very special man, Jor-El, accompanied by Lara, the woman destined to be his recalcitrant wife, finds the child out in the wastes and brings it home. He raises the starchild as his own, naming him Kal-El, and uses technology to acclimate him to Krypton's environment. By his teens, Kal-El is gallivanting in the back yard with his pet robot Krypto, using an exoskeleton that allows him free movement in Krypton's heavy gravity.
The boy finds a crashed silicon-based Green Lantern whose been there for thousands of years. The ring chooses him and he becomes the Green Lantern of Sector 1003. His first act is to save Krypton from its own poisonous core, by building and inserting giant control rods into the planet. Doing so, he unwittingly exposes part of Krypton's lost ancient history, from before the Clone Wars, when the planet was a utopia in which people could actually touch. More on that later. For now, let's fly to Oa with this new GL, where the Guardians help him find his birth place: Earth. The meteor hit Asia and most of the Earth's population perished, but some enclaves did survive on the other side of the world, say, in Metropolis. There, Lex Luthor has become the leader of a bunch of zealots controlling the city.
These guys are at war with refugees still holding the Daily Planet, including hippie Perry White, young Jimmy Olsen, widowed Martha Kent, and kickass rebel Lois Lane:
Kal-El and the rebels fight Luthor's forces, and when the ring runs out of power, the Not-So-Last Son of Earth discovers his acclimation to Krypton has given him super-powers in Earth's environment! He defeats Luthor, drops him on a desert island, and recalled to Sector 1003, gives up the ring to help rebuild the Earth with the help of Kryptonian technology (they owe him the necessary resources at least). Abin Sur takes away his ring, but still leaves him a Super-Man. And Krypton? Its unkryptoned history has given Jor-El and Lara - now finally in love - a new lifestyle and groovy retro threads.
They'll preach the Good Word to anyone who'll listen and maybe make Krypton a less boring place, their adopted son's legacy.
Writer Steve Gerber would return to his Elseworld 3 years later, but that's a story for tomorrow...
Type: Elseworlds
So imagine a world where the baby destined to be Superman was born on Earth from astrophysicist Jonathan Kent and his wife Martha in 1968. Further imagine a giant meteor flying towards Earth and though Jonathan has told the authorities, no one can do a damn thing about it. Might that young scientist not build a spacecraft to send his newborn son to another planet? He might indeed.
In the version of the story that puts a wormhole between Earth and Krypton (what we'll call the "let's justify everything" version), we must believe that wormhole is two-way. Indeed, baby Clark Kent does crash on Krypton, a planet where people believe it is necessary to live isolated lives to avoid war and hedonism, where their sterile existences are prolonged almost indefinitely by bio-suits, and where, unbeknownst to them, a doomsday device used long ago is starting to cascade into a radiation nightmare. One very special man, Jor-El, accompanied by Lara, the woman destined to be his recalcitrant wife, finds the child out in the wastes and brings it home. He raises the starchild as his own, naming him Kal-El, and uses technology to acclimate him to Krypton's environment. By his teens, Kal-El is gallivanting in the back yard with his pet robot Krypto, using an exoskeleton that allows him free movement in Krypton's heavy gravity.
The boy finds a crashed silicon-based Green Lantern whose been there for thousands of years. The ring chooses him and he becomes the Green Lantern of Sector 1003. His first act is to save Krypton from its own poisonous core, by building and inserting giant control rods into the planet. Doing so, he unwittingly exposes part of Krypton's lost ancient history, from before the Clone Wars, when the planet was a utopia in which people could actually touch. More on that later. For now, let's fly to Oa with this new GL, where the Guardians help him find his birth place: Earth. The meteor hit Asia and most of the Earth's population perished, but some enclaves did survive on the other side of the world, say, in Metropolis. There, Lex Luthor has become the leader of a bunch of zealots controlling the city.
These guys are at war with refugees still holding the Daily Planet, including hippie Perry White, young Jimmy Olsen, widowed Martha Kent, and kickass rebel Lois Lane:
Kal-El and the rebels fight Luthor's forces, and when the ring runs out of power, the Not-So-Last Son of Earth discovers his acclimation to Krypton has given him super-powers in Earth's environment! He defeats Luthor, drops him on a desert island, and recalled to Sector 1003, gives up the ring to help rebuild the Earth with the help of Kryptonian technology (they owe him the necessary resources at least). Abin Sur takes away his ring, but still leaves him a Super-Man. And Krypton? Its unkryptoned history has given Jor-El and Lara - now finally in love - a new lifestyle and groovy retro threads.
They'll preach the Good Word to anyone who'll listen and maybe make Krypton a less boring place, their adopted son's legacy.Writer Steve Gerber would return to his Elseworld 3 years later, but that's a story for tomorrow...
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