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Superboy-Prime is a fictional superhero turned supervillain in the DC Universe. He is one of several characters to be called Superboy. He came from the parallel Earth known as Earth-Prime, in which Superman and the other DC superheroes only exist as fictional characters. Unable to let go of his former life and his lost "destiny" as Earth's greatest hero, his convictions and morals are warped by years of solitude in a "paradise" dimension. Crisis on Infinite Earths Superboy-Prime's story starts in a parallel world called Earth Prime, a near-copy of the real world in which the DC heroes are simply fictional characters. In this world, he is the adopted son of Jerry and Naomi Kent, who found it amusing to name their new infant son "Clark," after Superman, a fictional comic book character on Earth-Prime. What the Kents do not know is that the baby, found abandoned in a forest, is actually a young Kal-El, who was teleported to Earth moments before the planet Krypton was destroyed when its sun went super nova. Young Clark lives most of his life as a normal boy. One night in his mid-teens, as he attends a costume party dressed as Superboy, his Kryptonian powers suddenly began to manifest (with the passing of Halley's Comet and the beginning effects of the Crisis on Infinite Earths). At approximately the same time, the Earth-One Superman finds his way into Earth-Prime's reality, and the two versions of Kal-El meet. Superboy-Prime is thrust into the Anti-Monitor's Crisis on Infinite Earths after his universe has been destroyed. Although anguishing over the loss of everything he knew, he finds peace knowing that he fights the good fight alongside other heroes. During the final battle against the Anti-Monitor, Kal-L orders him to escape with Alexander Luthor, Jr. and the other heroes. Fearing that Kal-L would die in battle and knowing the new Earth is not his true home, Superboy-Prime joins Superman in the fight against the Anti-Monitor. After destroying the Anti-Monitor, Superboy-Prime decides to join Alexander Luthor, Jr. of Earth-Three, the Earth-Two Superman, and his wife Lois Lane in a "paradise dimension". Life in "Heaven" Infinite Crisis: Secret Files & Origins 2006 revealed how the quartet spent life in the paradise dimension. Superboy-Prime secludes himself from the others, using crystals to watch events from his life on Earth-Prime. His favorite memory is one of his birthday party, which he watches repeatedly. Superboy-Prime becomes frustrated and angry, and he tries to reach out to Superman, whose attention is more focused on Lois' failing health. Alexander comes to believe that the reasons behind Lois' failing health is the paradise dimension itself, and eventually he persuades Superboy-Prime to help him return to reality. Alexander also makes a point to show Superboy-Prime the negative aspects of the Post-Crisis Earth, and none of the positive. Superboy-Prime hesitates until he overhears Superman say, "I wish this world would let him grow up. He'll never be Superman here". Finally, Alexander shows him his parents and girlfriend dying in an accident on the post-Crisis Earth. Altering reality Furious, Superboy-Prime pounds on the barrier wall of his reality, but is unsuccessful. This assault on the universe causes ripples that alter reality, explaining some of the character changes and retcons in DC continuity for the past 20 years. These changes include: Countdown to Infinite Crisis Superboy-Prime's efforts frustrate him because he is not as powerful in this dimension because it has no yellow sun. Eventually, Alexander reveals that his own powers are returning, and the two combine forces to break through the barrier wall. Together, they set into motion the events that would culminate into Infinite Crisis: Descent: Infinite Crisis The Superman of Earth-Two breaks open a portal to the main DC Universe, and the four residents of the paradise dimension return, making themselves known to some characters, particularly Power Girl and Batman. Earth-Two Superman says to Power Girl, "When the universe was reborn, Earth-One became the primary world. The scraps of the remaining worlds were folded into it. But I finally realized— we saved the wrong Earth". Superboy-Prime is harboring jealousy for Conner Kent, the modern Superboy, because he's living the life he never had. He also believes the heroes of this Earth act more like villains. As part of Luthor's plan, Superboy-Prime starts abducting characters from the Earths that had combined to form the post-Crisis Earth, including Martian Manhunter, Power Girl, and Breach to power the vibrational tuning Alexander builds. Superboy vs. Superboy Superboy-Prime confronts Superboy, and he tells him that he is the Superboy the Earth needs. After Superboy-Prime argues with Conner, he brutally attacks him, but not before he activates his Titans homing signal. Members of the Teen Titans, the Doom Patrol, and the Justice Society of America answer the call to help a hopelessly outmatched Conner. After accidentally killing Pantha, Superboy-Prime kills and wounds several of them while fighting them, severely traumatizing him. While he tries to defuse the situation, he is panicked and continues to fight, as the heroes continue their assault. Speedy traps Superboy-Prime in the Phantom Zone, using an "emergency Phantom Zone arrow". Superboy-Prime is able to break free and is enraged, saying the Phantom Zone is for "bad guys". Left with no other option, speedsters Jay Garrick, Wally West, and Bart Allen shove Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force and banish him to a world bathed in red sunlight, where he stays for several years. Hours later, an older Bart Allen returns from the Speed Force and tells the heroine Doctor Light to warn the other heroes that Superboy-Prime has escaped. Superboy vs. Superboy: Round Two Superboy-Prime would reappear during a battle between Alexander Luthor and the heroes freed from his tower. Upon his return, he is wearing a power suit modeled after the Anti-Monitor's armor, which constantly feeds him yellow solar energy and boosts his power levels. During the battle, Black Adam discovers that, currently, magic cannot be used against Superboy. In the fight, Superboy-Prime knocks him away from the tower and he is transported to Earth-S. Having lost all compassion during his exile, Superboy-Prime insists that Luthor reinstate Earth-Prime as the only existing Earth. Superboy-Prime's intention is that with Earth-Prime restored, no one on his home world will know what he had to do to make it possible. After Superboy-Prime threatens to kill Wonder Girl, an enraged Conner Kent attacks him. Conner and Superboy-Prime battle intensely until Conner realizes that he can't match Superboy-Prime's power. He charges Superboy-Prime, sending both of them headlong into Alexander Luthor's apparatus. The machine explodes, and the Earths remerge. While Conner dies soon after from injuries he received from the crash and the explosion, the more powerful Superboy-Prime survives. Conclusion
One Year Later In the "Face the Face" storyline running in Batman and Detective Comics, Superboy-Prime appears to Robin in a nightmare induced by the Scarecrow. In the "Revenge of the Green Lanterns" storyline running in Green Lantern, Guy Gardner is punished and placed on guard duty monitoring Superboy-Prime. Superboy-Prime sits naked, imprisoned, while the Guardians of the Universe discuss whether they should start questioning him. Kryptonian powers Superboy-Prime has all the basic Kryptonian powers, including super-strength, the power of flight, super-speed, super-breath, arctic breath, super-hearing, super-vision (including X-ray, heat, microscopic and telescopic visions), and invulnerability to any force other than psionics and non-yellow suns, except his power-levels are at the godlike stature of the Silver Age Superman of Earth-One before he was depowered in John Byrne's reboot. As such, he can travel at speeds faster than light, move entire planets vast distances, and survive in space for long periods of time. Power suit Despite his growing insanity, Superboy-Prime exhibits the same Kryptonian super-intelligence shared by the pre-Crisis Earth-One and Earth-Two Supermen by designing his power suit. Patterned after the Anti-Monitor's armor, it collects and feeds him yellow solar energy. It is destroyed when the two Supermen fly Superboy-Prime through Krypton's red sun. Weaknesses Whereas most versions of Superman have a weakness to magic, Superboy-Prime claims he does not. Additionally, most versions are affected by Kryptonite; however, Kryptonite does not affect Kryptonians from other universes, and the Krypton of Earth-Prime's universe — unlike other versions of the planet — was destroyed when its sun Rao went nova (rather than in an explosion that might create kryptonite), so there is no known kryptonite that can affect Superboy-Prime. His reaction to psionics has not been fully explored, although Martian Manhunter is shown to be able to read his mind in Infinite Crisis His only known weakness in this universe is his reliance on yellow sun radiation as the source of his superpowers, and it is this weakness that the heroes exploited to finally neutralize him. After the speedsters push Superboy-Prime into the Speed Force, they imprison him under red sunlight for several years. Kal-El and Kal-L defeat Superboy-Prime by flying him directly through Krypton's red sun Rao, forcing him to burn up his solar energy stored in his body to protect himself from the intense heat of a star, destroying his armor and sacrificing their powers to even the odds. Geoff Johns and Dan Didio on Superboy-Prime According to Infinite Crisis writer Geoff Johns ,"Superboy-Prime's really frustrated with what his life has turned into and, unfortunately, that frustration is going to be taken out on the world." He also said earlier in Wizard When asked how Superboy-Prime's battle with the Teen Titans got out of control so quickly, editor Dan Didio said, "Superboy is a teenager raised in isolation, with raging hormones, a huge chip on his shoulder and the powers of a god. He never learned how to keep his powers or emotions in check, so when confronted, the situation escalated and he had no idea on how to defuse it. Think of a situation where you, as a teenager, lost your temper. Now imagine you have the power to crush a planet. Do you think that situation would have ended differently? This is the moment where Superboy-Prime crosses the point of no return and becomes the greatest threat the universe will ever know." After the fifth issue was released, Johns said at the "Wizard World LA" con, "That took me a long time to break, because I thought Superboy Prime needed to view the world so narrow. You can see how his world view is so narrow and so black and white and realistically that is not going to work anymore." Originally, Superboy Prime started out coming into crisis as corrupted and evil, but the take on the character didn’t work for Johns. "I said to Dan I think Prime does it by accident and is horrified. That panel where’s he’s looking at his hands and goes 'I didn’t mean to do it,' that for me is the entire story for Superboy Prime. He didn’t mean to do this stuff. What’s worse making a mistake and fessing up to it or doing something bad and saying ‘You made me do it?’ Superboy Prime is a very simplistic character who has become very complex."* When asked if Superboy-Prime was irredeemable or not, Johns replied "I think it’s a split. You saw his reaction when he did what he did in Infinite Crisis, but at that same time, he’s walked over that line. Does he think he can walk back? Should he? Does this universe even matter to him anymore? Is it the fact that, now that he’s got a big dent on his car, another one won’t matter? If he’s already on that path, is he going to continue on it, or is he going to really try and work and go back?" * Superman: Secret Identity The protagonist in the four-issue prestige format limited series is similar to Superboy-Prime as he originally appeared in DC Comics Presents. Clark Kent is a teenager who lives on an Earth like ours, where superheroes only exist in comic books, and he develops superpowers. In his introduction to the collected edition of the series, writer Kurt Busiek writes that Superboy-Prime's appearances in DC Comics Presents and during the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths were the story's inspiration, and his earlier plans were for it to be a series about Superboy-Prime himself. See also | |||||||||
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