The legend began in the last years of the second millennium
anno Domini with a birth not of this Earth. That child was Kal-El of
Krypton, the sole survivor of a cataclysm that destroyed one of the most
advanced and ancient civilizations in the galaxy. Kal-El was raised as a
normal human child by the Kansas farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent. It was
their love and care that would transform one of the world's most powerful
individuals from the product of a cold alien civilization into one of the
most noble and charismatic men alive. Under the Earth-name of Clark Kent he
was a reporter for the Metropolis Daily Planet where he worked with his
future wife Lois Lane. Kal-El is however more widely known by the name,
Superman.
It was as the costumed "super-hero" Superman (an identity
designed to preserve his privacy as Clark Kent and to protect his adopted
family) that Kal-El had his biggest impact. He was the leader of Earth's
superhuman (and often much of the human) community and served as the role
model that all subsequent heroes were measured by. In his career he saved
the world from the threats of interstellar invasion, natural disaster and
the continued activities of a cadre of "super-villains" (including the
original , the early Bizarros and the sentient anti-sun Solaris). During
this time Superman rose to the height of his activities, married his beloved
Lois, served as leader to the Justice League and acted as mentor to a new
generation of heroes.
The vast Kryptonian powers that served to make him Superman
also made Kal-El essentially immortal. He would watch as he out lived him
parents, then his friends and then even his wife Lois. Still serving as the
world's foremost champion he began to slow as the sadness of the losses
began to mount. Legend then tells how close to the end of the twenty first
century Superman Prime (as history will remember Kal-El) passed the
responsibilities of being Superman to his heir, Superman Secundus, and
created the Superman Dynasty. Then one day he left Earth for the vast
reaches of time and space was not to be seen for another sixty seven
millennia. In his absence Superman Secundus proved to be more that ready for
the challenge and his descendants carried on the crusade long after he died.
As the centuries turned into millennia the Supermen and
Superwomen of the House of El went with humanity into the stars. That is not
to say that their initial presence was constant, notable times when
Supermen/women were not in evidence include the period after the second
Khund invasion (twenty fifth century) and the late 30th century era of the
Legion of Superheroes. Old hatreds were placed aside with the alliance of
the descendants of Lex Luthor and the Superman Dynasty in the 322nd century.
New powers were added to the Dynasty with the marriage of the 67th century
Superman to Queen Gzntplzk of the Fifth Dimension, their descendants would
be the heroes of two different dimensions with one line of the family
becoming the Supermen and Superwomen of the Fifth Dimension.
Through all the evolution and growth of the Superman Dynasty
only one foe remained implacable to the bitter end. Solaris, the sentient
sun, had been created as part of temporal paradox in the late twentieth
century by that era's Justice League and a time traveling Justice Legion A
as the last resort to stop the Hourman Virus. Starman M* had then given his
life to banish Solaris before its genesis destroyed the System. Since that
time Solaris had two goal: to replace the Earth's sun with himself and the
destruction of the Superman Dynasty. He had fought Superman Prime with vast
trans-temporal schemes, Superman Secundus with a plan to shift the planet
out of their orbits and various other Supermen with plots that ranged from
sentient comets to scorched Earth rampages.
One of greatest battles between Solaris and the Superman
Dynasty would come in the 505th century when Solaris bombarded the System
with wave after wave of deadly radiation. He watched from a distance as this
cancer causing radiation condemned hoards to a horrible death. When no other
plan or scheme was left that era's Superman together with the Gravity Witch
and Singularity IV carried the battle to the distant Solaris. In a maneuver
that stands out even in the history of the House of El those heroes
collapsed entire spatial dimensions to create legions to duplicate Supermen
that threw themselves as Solaris. Their sacrifice allowed the true Superman
to make his own sacrifice to reprogram Solaris at the cost of his life. From
that day onwards Solaris was changed and became a benefit to mankind as a
servant rather than a tyrant or killer.
Initially Solaris was incapable of independent thought, but
slowly his intelligence began to reassert itself within his new programming
and the tyrant that had once been the bane of the Superman Dynasty actually
served along side them in the Justice League of the Atom. However it was
always Superman who shone the brightest with courage and valor compared to
the flawed Solaris. Cycles change and over time Solaris became very
influential due to his shear age. When the human civilization moved towards
universal paranoia Solaris was at his height of influence as he founded the
imperialist Pancosmic Justice Jihad. It gripped the System in a choke hold
of fear and lies, even pushing aside the Superman Dynasty for a time.
The fear lasted until one day at the turn of the 700th
century AD when a haggard and haunted figure descended out of the skies
above the planet Earth. Superman Prime, Kal-El of Krypton, the original
Superman had returned to his adopted home. He had been places and dimensions
that few had even knew of and even fewer understood. He had wrestled with
gods and demons. He had overturned hell and fought his way past the gates of
Heaven looking for the soul of beloved Lois who due to his immortality he
could never join in the afterlife. A haunted figure as removed from humanity
as he had ever been his presence still caused a revolution in human society.
To many it was the second coming of a legend from the past creating a
spiritual revival and even worship of him from some, but he was beyond such
social convention at that time.
Emotionally drained and exhausted Superman Prime sought out the current
generation of the Superman Dynasty. Protect the Earth and her people and he
would grant them powers beyond even those of a Kryptonian. With the covenant
forged the Prime Superman retreated into the System's Sun there he became a
living catalyst that redirected pure solar energy to his descendants
radically increasing their abilities. His new Fortress of Solitude became a
chrysalis for Superman Prime, renewing and healing him as he slept through
the centuries.
In the years following Superman Prime's return the Superman
Dynasty and the System under went a rebirth, the PPJ and Solaris' influence
gave way to the formation of the Justice Legions with a Superman as their
leader. Humans continued to evolve and many legends were reborn, the Amazons
of myth returned to the System, the Starman Dynasty restarted and the
ability of human achievement once again meant something. The increasing
openness of human society also meant greater ties across the cosmos with the
foundation of the United Galaxies and the Galactic Macronet of
interconnected solar-computers. Amid this Solaris was once again relegated
to the System's second power source under the care of the Starman Dynasty.
The Superman Dynasty as Earth's defenders found themselves
acting on bigger and bigger scales, over seeing treaty negotiations in the
Fifth Dimension, Justice Legion teams across the Galaxy and even the
Superman Squad (a group of Supermen from many eras who band together to
defend the timestream). Through all this there was the knowledge that
Superman Prime's hibernation within the Super-Sun was of finite length and
the eventual day of his return was known. Plans were laid for a celebration
to commemorate the event and a series of Challenges were planned where the
Justice Legion A would swap places with the Justice League of America from
the twentieth century and allow its members to attend the celebrations.
Every last detail of the deep time travel and Challenges had
been planned by Hourman yet he could not foresee developments with Solaris.
Starman M* had accidentally reactivated Solaris' original evil programming.
Solaris had then formed an alliance with Starman M* and Vandal Savage. The
plan was both complex and simple, Savage would search Mars for the Knight
Fragment, legendary the last known piece of Kryptonite, while Starman M*
would go with the Justice Legion A into the past and make sure that the
Knight Fragment was actually buried on Mars. When Savage had unearthed the
Fragment it would then be used to assassinate Superman Prime as he emerged
from the Sun. The plan relied on keeping the Justice Legion and the Justice
League occupied and dead if possible.
When the Justice Legion swapped places with the League they
discovered that Solaris had booby trapped Hourman III with the so called
Hourman Virus. The Virus was a nanite-virus that attacked computer and
humans alike. It took the combined reasoning abilities of Superman M* and
Batman M* to deduce that the only thing that could find a cure for the Virus
was a sentient sun. They would have to build Solaris in the twentieth
century. After completion it was revealed that the Hourman Virus was
actually Solaris' core programming sent into the past to make sure of his
own creation. In the last moment Starman M* gave his life to give Solaris
his first defeat. That is why centuries later Solaris would use Starman to
get his revenge.
Meanwhile in the 853rd century the JLA were holding their
own against Solaris until the tyrant sun decided to launch his final assault
on Earth. Using the Justice Legion's tactical computer the League discovered
that Solaris had never encountered a Green Lantern Power Ring before. This
was to be his greatest weakness. Where as Solaris and Vandal Savage had
schemed for years in this plan to defeat the Superman Dynasty, J'onn J'onzz
the Martian Manhunter and Mitch Shelly the Resurrection Man on the
suggestion of the Huntress II had been planning longer. In the twentieth
century Starman M* had a change of heart and destroyed the Knight Fragment,
later the Martian Manhunter buried the long lost power ring of the Green
Lantern on Mars where it was found by Savage who thought that it was the
Knight Fragment.
Solaris fired what he thought was the Knight Fragment at the
Sun in order to kill Superman Prime just as Green Lantern retrieved a DNA
sample from Solaris' core placed their when he was constructed by Superman
M*. With the way clear Kyle then started a supernova reaction in Solaris'
core and attempted to contain the explosion with his power ring. He was
joined by Superman M* who used his force vision to help Kyle contain the
explosion. Solaris was still surviving until Superman Prime suddenly
reappeared from the Sun after fifteen thousand years of absorbing Solar
energy and crushed the tyrant sun once and for all with the Green Lantern
Ring that Solaris had inadvertently given him.
In the aftermath of Solaris' destruction a lot was revealed
about Superman Prime's hibernation in the Sun. He had been waiting for
Solaris' attempt because he obviously remembered the events as his time
traveling younger self had been there. He knew about the DNA sample in
Solaris' core and together with Lzyxm Ltpkz (the Superman of the Fifth
Dimension) they turned it inside out resurrecting his beloved, who he had
searched Heaven and Hell for. After searching for her across space and time,
he had retreated into the sun to await her return and now a silver Lois Lane
and a golden Superman Prime were reunited. In all the time since her death
life had held no meaning or warmth for him, but now he was complete once
more.
As part of the celebrations of the reunion of Lois and
Superman Hourman III used the Worlogog to reach back into the last seconds
of Krypton, take a moment transport that to the future and recreate the
planet and its people including Jor-El and Lara. This world of New Krypton
orbiting the yellow sun Solaris II would become the Homeworld of the
Superman Dynasty. In the end Superman Prime had endured the torture and
passage of the lonely years safe in the knowledge that somewhere in the
future everything would be made right.
