Kal-L and Kal-El(s)

[Buried Alien]

Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-Two, had some history with Kal-El, his counterpart from Earth-One. During the Silver/Bronze Age, they met and fought side by side on several occassions, the last and most notable being the Crisis On Infinite Earths. After the Crisis, Kal-L went to the paradise dimension with his Lois Lane, Alexander Luthor, and Superboy Prime. Kal-El, in the meantime, survived in the new DCU and eventually saw his entire history rewritten into that of the Post-COIE Superman first depicted by John Byrne.

During INFINITE CRISIS, Kal-L met Kal-El again. Neither Superman said or did anything that indicated that they had once known each other. Except for a brief glimpse through a Hypertime window during THE KINGDOM, Kal-El had never seen Kal-L before. Kal-L had been watching Kal-El through the "crystal" time windows since the time of the Crisis. He too seemed to treat this Kal-El as a different entity from the Kal-El he had known before and during the Crisis.

So the bottom line is, from Kal-L's point of view, did he consider the two Kal-Els as the same entity, or different entities?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Jack Zodiac]

I think that, after the events of the first Crisis and watching the universe that lived after so many died grow darker and darker, he thought that the Kal-El of that universe wasn't up to snuff compared to him or the Kal-El he knew and fought alongside during the Crisis. So, I think he knew that they were the same, but treated him like a different entity, because after the Crisis, that's what he became.

[phantom1592]

Well I think he considered him a different person. This Kal-el had no Superboy history, had a completely different history and memory in general. He was no more the Earth-1 Superman than Captain Marvel was ;)

In these worlds of parallel universes and alternate timelines and clones, it's really the memories and experiances that make a person unique, and this Kal-el was completly different than his old friend.

[Buried Alien]

Complicating matters too is the older Superman who appeared in SUPERMAN/BATMAN. That Superman appeared to be the KINGDOM COME Superman, but his final fate also matched that of the Superman from Alan Moore's WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE MAN OF TOMORROW, who was similar to, but not quite identical to the Earth-One Superman. Where does he fit in?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Ian Boothby]

What happened to the body of Kal-L? Is there an invulnerable corpse buried somewhere?

[Buried Alien]

What happened to the body of Kal-L? Is there an invulnerable corpse buried somewhere?

Yes. Kal-L, Lois, and Conner Kent are all buried at the same cemetery in Metropolis.


Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Rik Levins]

Yes. Kal-L, Lois, and Conner Kent are all buried at the same cemetery in Metropolis.



...which means that somebody inevitably will be digging up the corpse to clone him at some point...

As for the question, I think whether Kal-El is the same guy as the Earth-One Superman that Kal-L knew before the Crisis, that is pretty much a "Grandfather's Axe" philosophical question. However, the bottom line is that THIS Kal-El is not only physically different from his previous self, but has a completely different set of memories. So, yes, Kal-L would consider him to be a different person than his old friend; whether he's actually someone else or not, the end result is the same.

[Captain Smith]

Bet he comes back to life in a few years! In the Crisis of Many, Many Kal-LLLs.

So down for the count is Superman of Earth 1 with his pre-crisis powers and we got this wussy, whiney boy. OH, LOIS, Lois, lois - wahh! Even got himself fired when he had to work without powers.

[phantom1592]

...which means that somebody inevitably will be digging up the corpse to clone him at some point...



ohhh yeah. Cadmus has already raided that coffin!