Superman X

Superman X
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Legion of Super-Heroes episode 2.01 "The Man from the Edge of Tomorrow (Part I)"
Created by	Brandon Vietti Michael Jelenic
In-story information
Alter ego	Kell-El
Species	Kryptonian Clone
Team affiliations	Legion of Super-Heroes
Abilities	Conventional Kryptonian powers Production of green crystalline structures Energy-charged hand guards and shields Immunity to Kryptonite

Superman X (Kell-El) is a fictional character in the television series Legion of Super Heroes. The character was based on DC Comics's Superman, who is also a major character in the series. Like Superman, he is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal. Kell-El was designed after Mon-El, an already established Legion character. The explanation for creating Kell-El over Mon-El was that Mon-El was far too unknown to the audience. Kell-El's origin appears to be similar to that of the Kon-El incarnation of Superboy. Kell-El is a clone of Superman, Kell-El's hair & costume is similar to the second costume Kon-El wore when he was in Young Justice (as well as to the costume worn by the Eradicator immediately following The Death of Superman), and Superman chose Kell-El's name as he did for Kon-El.

Fictional character biography

Superman X is a clone originally hailing from the 41st century. He was created by the dual-minded cybernetic entity K3NT — a play on the name Kent, the family name of the original Superman's foster parents — using DNA from the original Superman, and Kryptonite. K3NT's hope was that a being made in memory of past superheroes would be able to defeat the menace of Imperiex.

Before his first appearance, he obtained an artifact of long-forgotten technology—similar in appearance to the Boom Tube technology of the New Gods—that allowed him to travel through time. He used this to journey one thousand years into the past to the time of the Legion of Super Heroes, to recruit them in his fight against Imperiex. It was the Legion's eradication of evil in their time (their near-future, Kell-El's past) which led to an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity. At some point after this, Imperiex appeared and nearly destroyed Earth. With the help of the Legion, Superman X was nearly successful at stopping Imperiex. However, when he was believed defeated, Imperiex stole the time-travel device and went to the 31st century. Imperiex's actions in the past changed the future, forcing Superman X and the Legion abruptly escape back to the 31st century before Superman X's timeline was completely consumed by a sudden proliferation of "antimatter" bubbles (a result of Imperiex's influence upon the past).

It appears that he will remain in the 31st century with the Legion, fighting Imperiex and learning to be a hero.

After Imperiex was destroyed by a Brainiac-corrupted Brainiac 5, Superman X and Superman join forces in a mental attack and free Brainiac 5 from his ancestor's influence. With Imperiex destroyed, Superman X's timeline is restored, and the clone returns there, but not before reciting the Legion oath, and thus becoming a full member of the team.

Personality

He apparently considers himself to be a living weapon and behaves in a taciturn, aggressive manner, unlike that of the original Superman, similar to the Eradicator in his "Last Son of Krypton" phase. He is also far more cold blooded, and at the start of the series was willing to let members of the Legion of Super Heroes be killed if it meant he could go after Imperiex, and only helped them because they could help against Imperiex. However, he gets less cold as the season goes on. In "Unnatural Alliances", when Imperiex offered him a chance to kill a boy named Abel (who would play a key role in Imperiex coming into existence, and whose destruction in the past would erase Imperiex), Superman X couldn't do it, and Imperiex comments that before meeting the Legion, he would not have hesitated to kill the boy. Also in the same episode, he said he didn't get along well with children and even "stepped on one once".

After Brainiac 5 killed Imperiex, Superman X felt useless because destroying Imperiex was his duty.

Like his namesake and ancestor, Superman X is the last survivor of his homeworld. Although he seldom admits it, this fact makes him feel alone in his present situation. In his first appearance, he expressed a distrust of Brainiac 5, making oblique references to the potential dangers Brainiac poses to others. However, he has not elaborated on this.

Powers and abilities

The Kryptonian DNA gives him the traditional powers of super-strength, speed, stamina, durability, endurance, agility, reflexes, flight, heat vision (which sometimes appears green as opposed to red), super hearing and invulnerability. However he never displayed any of the other Kryptonian abilities such as freeze breath, X-ray vision, telescopic vision and microscopic vision. In addition, due to the Kryptonite in his DNA, he is immune to its effects on normal Kryptonians, removing one of Superman's few weaknesses.

He also has powers beyond those seen in Kryptonians on Earth; he can project a beam from his hand that causes a green crystalline substance to materialize on or around an object or person. He can create an energy-based shield from the S-shield on his uniform and blade-like weapons from patches on the backs of his gloves. However, this may be all or partly technological in nature because Timber Wolf once broke through the shield while fighting him, resulting in a shower of sparks.

He also has been shown to use magic in the episode "Trials".