03 September 2024

Friday the 13th Reimagined Addendum

Over the course of writing and revising the tetralogy, I came up with background details to better flesh out the universe of Friday the 13th Reimagined. Some of these details were implied in the final scripts, while the rest are being revealed for the first time.

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How the Lenape dagger came into the possession of the Crystal Lake Lenape's been lost to history. Metallurgy was unknown to the Lenape, so they weren't the original fabricators. The Lenape claimed it was gifted to them by the manitowak, the life-spirits of their mythology. Skeptics scoff at this, positing instead that the dagger was of Mesoamerican or possibly even Andean origin and had gradually made its way north to be acquired by the Lenape through trade, though the dagger doesn't closely resemble anything made by the cultures of those regions. The shamans of the tribe used the dagger in their magic ceremonies, both to facilitate good fortune and ward off evil, though its power wasn't absolute, as it failed to protect them from the emissaries of the Dutch West India Company who exterminated them.

After displacing the Lenape, Sjaak van Voorhees made his fortune and became patriarch of one of the first prominent families in the region, possibly using the magic of the stolen dagger to influence his luck. In spite of this material boon, the van Voorhees family would come to be cursed with personal misfortune, with infidelity, illness, violent/premature death, etc. afflicting each of Sjaak's descendants up to the 20th century. In the 18th century, the Voorhees family lost its fortune. By the time of Elias Voorhees' birth, the Voorhees' were just another working class family, their wealth an old memory. The Lenape dagger remained in the family's possession, an heirloom, along with Sjaak's journals, which told of his sins and the dagger's power.

Elias Voorhees, born 1922, and Pamela Voorhees, born 1930, were third cousins. She may not even have yet turned sixteen when he got her pregnant out of wedlock. After finding out, Pamela's parents disowned her and kicked her out of their home. Elias was initially intent on marrying her. However, Pamela gave birth to Jason after only six months pregnant. Although a normal-looking and healthy baby, it became apparent Jason was autistic. Not wanting to be saddled with an intellectually disabled child, Elias left his fiancée and infant son, relocating to a neighbouring county where he took a job as a forest ranger, eventually marrying another woman and fathering a daughter. Following Elias' abandonment, the Christys, a devout Christian family in the ways that matter, took Pamela into their home, helping her raise her disabled son, even giving her a job as camp cook during the summer months. Their son, Steve, was provided as a playmate for Jason. Jason loved Steve dearly, though it's debatable how much Steve reciprocated.

Crystal Lake once had an operating zinc mine. One of the miners was Joshua Sundin, who'd lost his right eye in an accident some years back and taken to wearing an eyepatch. In February 1946, after the zinc deposits were exhausted, the mine was closed and Josh laid off. Seven months passed with Josh failing to find new employment. Having never shied away from domestic abuse, his treatment of wife and child absolutely deteriorated as their savings dwindled, his violent outbursts coming in mounting frequency and ferocity. Finally, in September 13 of that year, he murdered his family in a fit of rage. Immediately remorseful, he chose to commit suicide. Rowing out to the middle of Crystal Lake, he put a chain fastened to a heavy rock about his neck and tossed himself overboard. He successfully drowned, but in his violence and grief, Josh was found to be a perfect vessel for the wrath of the Crystal Lake spirits and they returned him to life. He'd lost his eyepatch in the lake, so coming ashore, he acquired an empty burlap sack, made an eyehole, and put it over his head to conceal his shame. He then snuck away to the abandoned zinc mine, languishing there for two months. Once he reemerged, he attempted to exhume the bodies of his wife and child from their paupers' grave, but was caught in the act and chased off. Incensed, he embarked on a six-day killing spree across town, committing necrophilic acts upon many of his female victims. His rampage came to a close when the police chased him down to an abandoned shack in the woods, where he was gunned down.

Elias eventually learned of Jason's death some months after the drowning. Having harboured guilt for abandoning Pamela and their son, Elias felt time was overdue to make right by her. He told his wife of the family he'd abandoned; she promptly left him, taking their daughter with her. Returning to Crystal Lake, he met with Pamela. Having acquired a small fortune in the intervening years, he offered to give her child support back payments; she rebuffed him, wanting nothing from him and nothing to do with him. Elias was determined to redeem himself. Using the Lenape dagger in tandem with a spirit board, Elias began trying to channel his late son. He was successful in making contact with the collective consciousness of the Crystal Lake spirits. Jason was with them, soul and body. They were willing to return him in exchange for two others; Elias agreed. A year to the day of Jason's drowning, Elias performed the resurrection ritual according to the spirits' instructions. He murdered Barry and Claudette, beheaded them, and tossed the heads into Crystal Lake. Jason's body, which'd spent the past year putrefying at the bottom of Crystal Lake, was reconstituted and sent up to the surface.

Upon being greeted by Jason the night of his resurrection, Pamela saw only a malformed subhuman creature at her doorstep and reacted accordingly. Startled by her screams, Jason fled into the woods. Shortly thereafter, he saw his own reflection and realized why his mother had reacted the way she had. The spirits had taken no care restoring his face, tongue, or vocal cords when they reanimated him. Unable to return home, he spent the next several months living in the woods alone. He never got hungry or thirsty, was unbothered by temperature extremes, and whatever injuries he acquired healed quickly. Though angered by his plight, with the voices of the lake goading him to take his frustrations out on his mother and the locals, both his love for her and the social anxiety from his disfigurement kept him from lashing out. He kept close to home, so he could continue to see Pamela from afar. He was spotted often enough by the townsfolk to become a topic of speculation and gossip, even earning articles in the newspaper. Pamela eventually put two-and-two together and realized this boy-beast was her son. Coaxing him out into the open, she took him back into her home.

Pamela kept Jason homebound to protect him. But Jason began sneaking out, and when he returned, Pamela would sometimes find him stained with blood. Reports of young children going missing and the occasional mangled corpse found in the woods appeared in the paper, and Pamela realized what Jason was getting up to. She began locking Jason in his room for everyone's protection. As Jason grew older, he grew stronger. When he broke his bedroom door down to get out, Pamela began locking him in the basement. Then after Jason broke the solid oak door down, she had a steel door installed. For a time that seemed to do the trick. Then Jason found another means of getting out of the house. Pamela was perplexed, as there was no other door to the basement. Examining the basement, she realized Jason was using the old well as an escape route, worming his way through the dried-up water channel to freedom. Finally she had Jason chained to the floor, and that stopped the breakouts for good. Though afraid of Jason, Pamela continued to love him, and she spent as much time down in the basement with him as she could. Jason could've killed her at any point, but his love for her was so great, even the voices of Crystal Lake, shouting in his head, couldn't coerce him into harming her.

In the years after the 1984 Crystal Lake massacre and Tommy's institutionalization, Trish turned to hard drugs to cope with her trauma, especially heroin. Trish then met Dory, a lesbian who volunteered at a local woman's shelter. After becoming friends, Dory helped Trish get clean. During this process, Trish realized she was bisexual and fell in love with Dory. Trish took to bodybuilding and martial arts as alternate coping mechanisms. She became a bounty hunter out of a drive to pit herself against dangerous men and prove her mettle in combat. Though moments of great stress would cause her to briefly relapse, she managed to quit heroin for good after the events of 1990. She eventually quit bounty hunting, choosing a career as a personal trainer and occasional model. Trish and Dory continued their relationship, eventually becoming a throuple when Dory consented to Trish having a boyfriend.

Sheriff Garris survived. He falsified evidence that Elias had kidnapped Tommy from the hospital and committed Tommy's murders, exonerating Tommy.

Tommy continued to suffer PTSD and depression after being freed of the Crystal Lake death curse. He remembered everything he experienced while under the influence of the spirits, the face of each person he'd killed. He made a number of suicide attempts, but with his family's support, he managed to persevere. He relocated to Springwood, California, where he took a job as a paramedic before eventually becoming a physical therapist.

04 August 2024

13 June 2024

The Superman Trilogy: Part I – The Last Son of Krypton (Fragment + Treatment)

A decade ago, I began working on a script for The Last Son of Krypton, the first part of a trilogy focusing on Clark Kent's upbringing in Smallville, his activities during the Great Depression, and his first year as Superman in the early-to-mid 20th century.


It's been almost three years since I last updated this script. When my previous laptop died in November 2022, I lost a chunk of the screenplay I was still working on, throwing me into a tizzy. And ADHD and depression have long been demotivators in my life, with the latter getting worse since my mother died. I fully intended to get back to work on it, but life's been hurtling barrage after barrage of hardships on me ever since and I've never been able to get back into a constructive headspace. So I've decided to make it official: progress on this screenplay's on indefinite hiatus.

For my long-suffering readers who've had to bear with constant revisions and a dearth of updates, it's not fair that they don't get to know where I intended to go with this and the rest of my Superman trilogy. Below's an outline covering where I intended to go with this screenplay. I'll do my best to summarize my ideas for the rest of the trilogy in a follow-up post.

* * *

Luthor makes the trip to the fertilizer plant. As he touches base with Vale then visits Subject One in her cell, we learn more about Subject One. The same time Clark's stasis matrix arrived in Smallville, hers touched down in the East Coast, crashing and causing a devastating fire in a munitions factory owned by Luthor Incorporated. The matrix was found undamaged and Subject One retrieved soon after, whereupon she was taken into captivity and subjected to scientific observation/experimentation. While not a constant presence in her life, Luthor's the only person she knows who's shown her any affection, having given her gifts on the occasions he's visited her in the past. It's obvious,  however, that Luthor's tenderness is purely performative, the ruse of a charismatic manipulator, that the gifts he's given her — mostly in the form of books authored by figures such as Hobbes and Poe — were curated to make her subservient to him and fearful of the outside world.

Through guilt-tripping and bribery, Luthor wheedles out of Subject One knowledge of her super-hearing. He then tells her of the stasis matrix, the disc found within it, and his desire to learn their secrets, persuading her to interact with them and pass on anything they reveal to him. Under controlled conditions, Subject One's taken to the laboratory housing her matrix and given the disc. Upon finding a niche the exact shape/size of the disc in the matrix's side, she inserts it. Upon doing so, she's thrown back, suffering a violent seizure which leaves her catatonic. Vale performs a cerebral angiography on Subject One, but the underlying cause of her condition eludes them. Luthor orders Subject One fitted with a feeding tube and placed under observation until further tests can be arranged. Unbeknownst to her keepers, Subject One's feigning her affliction. No longer periodically exposed to red kryptonite, her powers gradually return in 72 hours. Then using her x-ray vision to map the layout of the plant, she speedily neutralizes her guards, retrieves the disc, and escapes.

Using her disc as a homing device, Subject One makes the trek from Metropolis to Smallville. Along the way, she crosses paths with a gas trucker who attempts to sexually assault her. Brutally disabling him, she tears his truck apart in a fit of rage, causing a tremendous explosion. The conflagration incinerates her clothing but leaves her unscathed.

Clark pursues his relationship with Helen in secret. Though neither his schoolwork nor chores suffer, he neglects his friendship with Lana and Pete, who've started dating. The amount of time he spends with Helen also draws Jonathan's ire, who's suspicious of Helen's intentions.

Subject One arrives in Smallville. She follows the disc to the Kent farm and begins discretely spying on the Kents. It isn't long before she learns Clark's the one she's looking for.

Early one morning, just before sunrise, Kenny pays Clark a visit. Frantic, he tells Clark that he shot and killed his father and needs Clark's help disposing of the body and gun. Clark reluctantly accompanies Kenny into the woods with the corpse. As Kenny begins digging the grave, Clark changes his mind about helping him, urging Kenny to turn himself in to the police. As the two boys argue, Subject One, who's been tailing them, reveals herself. Taken by surprise, Kenny reflexively fires at the naked girl. Uninjured but angered, she grabs Kenny's gun hand, crushing both, but Clark's able to talk her down before she can do him any worse harm. Clark takes Subject One back to the farm, leaving her in the care of his parents while he goes back for Kenny. He finds Kenny back at his home where he prevents him from committing suicide, revealing his powers in the process. The sheriff arrives and takes a bewildered Kenny into custody.

With the Kents, Subject One's clothed and fed. Though claiming to have amnesia, she recalls that her name's Mala. Initially reserved around Martha and Jonathan, Mala warms up to them the more time she spends with them — helping Jonathan with firewood, receiving a haircut from Martha, etc. — though only truly relaxes when alone with Clark.

After Lana catches Helen and Clark in bed together, Clark confides in her that his relationship with her aunt's purely physical and emotionally unfulfilling. He stops seeing Helen shortly thereafter.

As Thanksgiving approaches, Helen invites the Kents to join her and her sister's family at her house for Thanksgiving dinner. Mala, passed off as a distant relative, accompanies them. Upon meeting Helen, Mala takes an immediate disliking to her. After Helen pressures Clark to assist her in the kitchen, the dinner commences. Helen immediately acts passive-aggressively toward her guests, with especial attention given to Clark and Jonathan, the gibes and innuendoes growing less passive and more aggressive as time presses on. Tensions mount until finally Helen shoves a pecan pie — which Martha's allergic to — in Martha's face. Pandemonium ensues. Screaming at Clark that he's just like his father, Helen slaps him across the face, breaking her hand in the process. Mala grabs Helen by the throat, holding her aloft, choking her until the others persuade her to drop her. Falling to her knees, Helen breaks down crying.

Later that night, back at the farm, Clark and Jonathan have a private conversation in the barn. Jonathan reveals to Clark that he had an affair with Helen years ago. Sad and angry at Martha's inability to have children, he went to bed with Helen out of spite. But when Clark entered their lives, Jonathan and Martha were able to reconnect and his love for her was restored. He immediately ended things with Helen, but never told Martha of his infidelity. Clark advises his father that the time's come to tell her. Jonathan agrees and goes inside. From the barn, Clark spies Jonathan telling Martha everything. She's heartbroken.

Mala joins Clark in the barn and they have a brief conversation on human nature; her appraisal's decidedly cynical while his is cautiously optimistic. She then confides in him, revealing that she was never amnesiac. She tells him of her life imprisoned, of the years subjected to cold, clinical experiments devised by amoral scientists, that the little love she received was false, that she was never given a name, only a number. Then she tells him she does have a name: Mala-Sonn, genetic offspring of Sela-Sonn and Dax-Ur. She tells him of Krypton, doomed to explode, and the Kryptonians, genetically bound to their planet, doomed to perish with it. She tells him that she and he were of 144,000 Kryptonian supermen genetically engineered to live free of Krypton and thrive as gods on Earth. Taking Clark's hands in hers, she levitates them off the ground, revealing that she's capable of flight. She tells Clark it's time he learned who he is and accept his destiny.

Clark and Mala visit his stasis matrix, disc in hand. He asks Mala what the "S" stands for. She tells him it's had many meanings across the millennia — it's been a Raoist religious icon, a family crest for the great houses, a symbol for hope. Over and above all, it represents Krypton itself. Inserting the disc into its niche, Clark's greeted by an AI gatekeeper, the Voice of Rao. The Voice touches Clark's brow, and in an instant Clark's bequeathed with understanding of Kryptonian languages, technology, history, and his own identity; he's Kal-El, genetic offspring of Jor-El and Lara-Van. The stasis matrix then transmogrifies into a pedestal which transport Clark and Mala across the world to the Fortress of Solitude in Antarctica. Accessing the Fortress' computer, Mala brings up a display of Earth marking the whereabouts of all the stasis matrices across the globe. Mala tells Clark that they must seek out their brethren, then together reshape humanity according to proper Kryptonian ways. Clark tells her that for all he's discovered of his heritage, none of it defines him. Krypton may've bred and bore him, but Earth made him who he is. He'll always cherish the memories of Krypton given to him, but he won't be party to colonialism. He urges Mala to come back with him to Smallville to think things through. Mala hesitantly agrees.

Spring 1935. A drought's come to Smallville and the Kent farm's not fairing well. During a conversation with Clark, Mala remarks that with the Fortress' resources, they could put this drought to an end.

One weekend, Clark goes into town to hang out with Lana and Pete at the general store. It's a blustery day, but it gets worse as a twister forms. Tearing through the Kent farm, it doesn't hit the house, though it obliterates the crops and sweeps Mala up into it. The twister then moves toward town. Clark wants to stay and help, but Lana and Pete pull him with them for cover. Meanwhile, Mala emerges unscathed from the whirlwind and gets to work swooping folks out of danger. In the aftermath, Clark laments on how he could've done more if only he had her power of flight. Mala responds by saying he possesses all the same powers she has; its only his insecurities holding him back.

The story of the "guardian angel" who saved people from the twister appears in the Smallville town newspaper, accompanied by an unclear photo of Mala in flight. Luthor catches wind of the story and comes to the conclusion that Mala's hiding somewhere in Smallville. Luthor then gets the idea to reach out to all the linguists he consulted eighteen years ago to decipher the Kryptonian script on Mala's key to learn if any of them have connections to Smallville. His search leads him to Frederick Walden, a grammatologist who refused to work with Luthor. Walden passed away years ago, but his landlady held onto all his correspondence, which she allows Luthor to keep. Reading through the letters, Luthor learns Walden briefly corresponded with Jonathan in regards to the same Kryptonian script.

Luthor sends his men to the Kent farm. Equipped with red kryptonite, they nullify Clark and Mala's powers and take them and Jonathan and Martha into custody. Back at the fertilizer plant, the prisoners are brought before Luthor. Luthor gives Mala an ultimatum: she'll give up all her secrets or he'll have the Kents shot and Clark dissected. Reunited with her stasis matrix, Mala inserts her key, transporting her, Vale, and several technicians and armed guards to the Fortress of Solitude. At gunpoint, Mala leads her captors to the nucleus of the Fortress. Activating the computer, she neutralizes the red kryptonite radiation in her system. Her abilities restored, she massacres Vale and the others. Outfitting herself in a suit of body armour, Mala transports back to the fertilizer plant. Shielded from the red kryptonite of Luthor's guards' weapons, she tears through them, rescuing the Kents. She then corners Luthor, taunting him as she powers up her suit's wrist-mounted blaster. Telling Luthor to burn, she fires a particle beam into him, right through his spine, setting him ablaze.

Mala and the Kents return to Smallville. Having ditched the body armour, Mala talks with Clark in the barn. She informs him matter-of-factly that she has every intention of using the Fortress' resources to track down the other Kryptonians and subjugate humanity, that he'd better help her or stay out of her way. They get into a brutal fight. Bringing the barn down on top of them, their battle takes them clear across the ravaged Kent property, all the way outside town limits. There, Clark barely manages to defeat Mala, punching her unconscious.

When Mala regains consciousness, she finds herself back in the Fortress, contained within a force field. Clark's there to tell her that he's used the time to familiarize himself with the Fortress computer; he's created a computer virus which'll shut the Fortress down for good. Mala pleads for him not to do this, but despite her cries and his own reluctance, Clark follows through. As the systems running the Fortress crash, the force field imprisoning Mala winks out. Clark's resigned to resume their fight if that's what Mala wants. Though fuming, she remarks there's no point to that now. Using the last of the Fortress' power, Clark and Mala transport back to Smallville. She informs him that the time's come for them to go their separate ways. She has the general locations of the other stasis matrices memorized, and she'll seek out the other Kryptonians in due time. She'll convince as many as she can to join her, and even without the Fortress to aid them they'll conquer Earth; in that time to come, Clark'll be made to pay in full for what he's done.

Weeks pass. Their farm heading toward failure, Jonathan and Martha consider their options: taking out a loan they're uncertain they'll be able to pay back or cutting their losses and selling their property. Clark and his schoolmates graduate. Clark writes to Kenny, who's in prison. Back in Metropolis, Luthor's revealed to still be alive but in a coma, kept breathing in an iron lung.

This chapter draws to a close with Clark and Lana walking together through the countryside on a moonlit summer night. Clark finally opens up to Lana, confessing his love for her and his desire to begin a romantic relationship. Lana reveals her own feelings for him and her desire to reciprocate. Clark then admits that he's been keeping secrets from her, that they can't be together until he's told her everything. Scooping Lana up in his arms, Clark leaps into the sky, taking them one-eighth of a mile across the countryside. Lana's flabbergasted.

18 December 2023

Kaiburr Crystal


Kaiburr crystals are Force-attuned crystals that grow rarely but throughout the Galaxy, with some areas having a greater abundance than others. The crystals concentrate energy in a unique manner through the Force, resonating with it.

Internally, kaiburr crystals are composed of both organic and inorganic matter. They are stable at temperatures and pressures found in the cores of stars and gas giants, and are thus resistant to heat and physical stresses. The crystals grow in an organized way, adding to their prismatic structure one piece at a time, and thus can be found from sizes as small as a fingernail to gigantic proportions. All kaiburr crystals are attuned to the Force regardless of their size.

Kaiburr crystals are most notably found in the Adega system, though a fair amount of these crystals can also be found on the planets Ilum, Dantooine, Halm, and Mygeeto. They are a critical component in the construction of most lightsabers, generating the energy which forms the weapon's distinct laser blade. Force adepts travel to crystal deposits to harvest their own crystals, which they then use to build their lightsabers. Crystals lack colour before they are chosen by Force adepts. Once chosen, the crystals are meditated upon with the Force, upon which they attain hues influenced by the adepts' psyches or preferences.

The crystals are noted for their unmatched ability to channel energy and generate enormous returns. If a crystal's subjected to forceful attempts to harness its innate power, it will "flee" such attempts, hindering those that seek to use it against its will. Only Force adepts can easily harness the power of the kaiburr crystal. This is done either by the adept forming a rapport with the crystal or by using the Force to dominate the crystal, bending it to their will.

The ancient Sith made prodigious use of kaiburr crystals in the construction of their warblades, amulets, holocrons, and most other technology. During the Great Hyperspace War, superweapons were developed by the Dark Lord Naga Sadow that were powered by giant kaiburr crystals. These superweapons were capable of destroying whole stars by reaching into their depths and wrenching out their cores, destabilizing them, causing them to go supernova. The modern lightsaber was also an innovation of the Sith. While the lightsaber was invented by the Jedi after the Great Schism, leaving the Exiles who became the Sith ignorant of the technology, a number of laser swords came into the Sith's possession during the Great Hyperspace War. They were quick to modify the weapons to replace the cumbersome external power packs and restrictive power cords with internally set kaiburr crystals, considerably improving lightsaber ergonomics. The Jedi adapted the use of kaiburr crystals in the creation of their own lightsabers and holocrons following the war.

After the Proclamation of the New Order and the Great Jedi Purge, Emperor Palpatine and his Empire began construction of the Death Stars, twin battle stations capable of destroying entire planets. Kaiburr crystals were used as part of the Death Stars' superlasers, looted from lightsabers, holy sites, and worlds where they could be found.

12 May 2022

Universe 1 Timeline

c. 2,000,000 BCE

  • By this point in time, the people of Krypton have conquered disease and perfected cloning, making them effectively immortal.

98,000-97.000 BCE

  • The Kryptonian Clone Wars occur.

1881

  • Jonathan Kent is born to Hiram and Edith Kent.

1883

  • Kal-El is born on Krypton.
  • As Krypton enters the final phase of its destruction, the Kryptonian colonization fleet is launched. Only twelve of the 144,000 stasis matrices escape the cataclysm, whereupon they begin their voyage to Earth.
1884
  • Kara-Re is born to Kala-Re and In-Ze on Wegthor.

1884

  • The Daily Planet is founded in Metropolis.

1888

  • Martha Clark is born to Henry and Willa Clark.

1889

  • Perry White is born.
  • Alexei "Lex" Luthor is born to Leon & Liliya Luthor.

1899

  • As the last of Wegthor's resources run out, Kara-Re and the other surviving Kryptonians/Wegthorians go into suspended animation.

1902

  • Lex Luthor takes a large insurance policy out on his parents without their knowledge. Shortly thereafter, he causes a fire in their apartment which claims their lives. He uses the insurance payouts to kickstart his future.

1916

  • Pete Ross is born.
  • Nine Kryptonian stasis matrices arrive on Earth.
  • Kal-El's matrix lands in Smallville, Kansas, USA, where it is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent. Retrieving the infant from his pod, the Kents decide to pass him off as their own son, naming him Clark Joseph Kent.
  • Mala-Sonn's matrix crashes into a Luthor Incorporated munitions factory, where it is found by Luthor's people. Retrieving the infant from her pod, they take her into captivity for further study, codenaming her "Subject One".
  • Dru-Zod's matrix lands in rural Pokolistan. It evades discovery, the infant remaining in hibernation.
  • Lana Lang is born to Lewis and Sarah Lang.
  • Lois Lane is born to Sam and Etta Lane.

1921

  • Enrolled in Smallville School, Kal-El befriends classmates Lana Lang, Pete Ross, and Kenny Braverman.

1924

  • Kal-El develops invulnerability.

1925

  • Kal-El develops super strength.

1927

  • Kal-El develops super speed.

1930

  • Kal-El develops x-ray vision.

1932

  • Kal-El develops super leaping.

1934-1935

  • Kal-El first encounters Mala-Sonn and Lex Luthor.

1933-1937

  • Forced to leave Kansas to find work as the Great Depression worsens, Kal-El travels west towards California. Bearing witness to the gross social injustice besieging the nation, exposed to anarchist and Marxist writings, he ultimately embraces the anarcho-pacifism of Leo Tolstoy.

1937-1938

  • Kal-El serves as an ambulance driver with the Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War.

1938

  • Jonathan Kent dies.
  • Kal-El is seriously wounded when a shell hits the ambulance he is driving. He survives, but with impaired vision and partial paralysis, ending his time in the Spanish Civil War.
  • Kal returns to Smallville. After he recovers from his injuries, he decides to move east, settling in Metropolis, Delaware.
  • Kal becomes Superman.
  • Dru-Zod's stasis matrix is finally discovered by farmers. Retrieving the infant from his pod, they hand him over to Soviet authorities, who name him Avruskin.
1939

  • Kal-El encounters Lex Luthor for the first time in his Superman identity.

1941

  • Following America's entry into World War II, Kal-El is assigned as war correspondant for the Daily Planet. In the week before he's shipped out, he reveals his double identity to his girlfriend, Lois Lane, and proposes marriage. She accepts, and they are wed the night before his departure.

1941-1945

  • Kal-El aids the Allies in Europe and the Pacific.

1942

  • Lex Luthor's correspondence with Nazi and Soviet scientists is disclosed to the US government. Disgraced, facing charges of treason, Luthor is forced into hiding.
  • Luthor constructs a mechanical warsuit. Powered by green kryptonite, the warsuit enables him to walk and engage Superman in physical combat.

1947

  • Due to improper shielding, Lex Luthor has contracted radiation poisoning from the green kryptonite which powers his warsuit. His cancer malignant and untreatable, Luthor fully commits himself to defeating his hated enemy, the Man of Steel. Constructing an android simulacrum powered by black kryptonite, Luthor sets it against Kal-El. During the course of the battle, the Lexdroid self-destructs, bathing Kal in black K radiation, permanently splitting him into two separate individuals: an amoral Superman and a spineless Clark Kent.

1947-1961

  • Formally renouncing anarchism, Superman ingratiates himself to the US government. He eventually becomes their pawn, participating in the Korean & Vietnam Wars on their behalf.

1948

  • Martha Kent dies.

1950

  • Clark Kent and Lois Lane divorce.

1953

  • Clark Kent and Lana Lang are married.
  • Dru-Zod becomes the Red Son.

1954

  • Karen Kent is born to Clark and Lana Kent.

1955

  • Dru-Zod learns of his Kryptonian heritage. Discarding his Terran name, he vows to seize control of the Soviet Union and transform Earth into a new Krypton.

1958

  • Superman first encounters BrainIAC.
  • Superman is transported to Universe 29, an inverted analogue of Universe 1 inhabited by silicon-based humanoids. There he encounters his "bizarre" counterpart and blue kryptonite, which has the effect of augmenting his powers.
  • Returning from Universe 29, Superman synthesizes blue kryptonite in the Fortress of Solitude and begins habitually bathing in its radiations. The blue K has a cumulative effect, enhancing his existing abilities and granting him additional ones with each exposure.

1959

  • Having had his brain transferred to an android body powered by green kryptonite, Lex Luthor re-emerges as "John Corben", director of the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO).
  • Superman visits the Rao system. On Wegthor, in the city of Argo, he finds Kara-Re, the planet's last survivor. Releasing her from stasis, he brings her back with him to Earth.

1961

  • After three years of constant exposure to blue kryptonite radiation, Superman's cells are dangerously close to degenerating. The blue K having bestowed him a vast repertoire of godlike abilities, he decides he needs no more power and removes the crystal from the Fortress of Solitude, tossing it into the sun.
  • After a brief, bloodless war with the world's military might, Superman seizes command of the world's governments. Declaring himself High Councilor of Earth, he centralizes control under the authoritarian socialist One Regime enforced by his Superman robots and deputized superheroes.

1962

  • Kara-Re becomes Supergirl.
  • The Insurgency, led by Lex Luthor and Oliver Queen, orchestrate a plan to assassinate Superman. The plan fails spectacularly. Queen and most of the co-conspirators die in the scuffle, leaving only Luthor against the Man of Steel. He opens his chest plate, exposing Superman to his kryptonite heart. Superman plucks the kryptonite out and eats it, demonstrating his immunity to green K. Before Luthor can perish, Superman teleports him to STAR Labs, where he is equipped with a new power source before being taken into police custody.

1971

  • Having grown bored and listless in his role as High Councilor, Superman decides to leave Earth, seeking to find new and greater challenges amongst the stars. After transferring all power to Kara-Re, he departs.

1971-1985

  • Kara-Re dissolves the Regime, granting the municipalities of Earth their autonomy. Some embrace libertarian socialism, others revert to capitalism or decay into neo-feudalism.

1976

  • Karen Kent becomes Power Girl.

1979

  • Kara-Re frees the Kandorians from their pocket universe, resettling them on an uninhabited terrestrial planet orbiting a red giant. They name their new home "Rokyn".

1983

  • Kara-Re becomes Superwoman.

1985

  • Clark Kent and Superman are merged back together. The reconstituted Kal-El is significantly depowered, though not to his pre-blue K levels.
  • Kara-Re dies in the Crisis.

1986

  • Lex Luthor founds LexCoop, an aerospace engineering worker cooperative.
  • Lana Kent dies.

1993

  • Lois Lane dies.
  • John Henry Irons becomes Steel.
  • Kon-El is born, becomes Superboy.
  • Karen Kent becomes Superwoman.
  • Lex Luthor becomes Superman.

04 May 2022

Forms of Kryptonite

Kryptonite is a crystalline compound formed from the radioactive elements which constituted the core of Kal-El's native planet, Krypton. Existing in many forms with many colours, kryptonite has varied effects on Kryptonian and Terran lifeforms alike.

GREEN KRYPTONITE


EFFECTS ON KRYPTONIANS

Causes debilitating pain, weakness, reduction of powers, and eventually death.

EFFECTS ON HUMANS

Prolonged exposure causes cellular damage.

EFFECTS ON BIZARRO-KRYPTONIANS

Permanently amplifies/augments powers and temporarily immunizes them to most other forms of kryptonite.

ABUNDANCE

The only known form of naturally occurring kryptonite, the molten remains of Krypton and the debris field surrounding it are believed to be wholly composed of green K. Only one (formerly three) fragments of appreciable size are present on Earth — formerly in the possession of Luthor Incorporated, now in the hands of parties unknown.

RED KRYPTONITE


EFFECTS ON KRYPTONIANS

Suppresses powers for 48-72 hours.

EFFECTS ON HUMANS

Prolonged/intense exposure in combination with various external catalysts causes mutations resulting in superhuman abilities.

EFFECTS ON BIZARRO-KRYPTONIANS

Fatally overloads them with power.

ABUNDANCE

The end product of Lex Luthor's failed attempt at synthesizing green K, almost a hundred bricks of red K were produced during the 1930s & '40s, making it the most common form of the compound on Earth.

BLUE KRYPTONITE


EFFECTS ON BIZARRO-KRYPTONIANS

Causes debilitating pain, weakness, reduction of powers, and eventually death.

EFFECTS ON KRYPTONIANS

Permanently amplifies/augments powers and temporarily immunizes them to most other forms of kryptonite.

EFFECTS ON HUMANS

Prolonged exposure heals cellular damage.

ABUNDANCE

Naturally occurring in Universe 29, the only example of blue K found in Universe 1 was a large synthetic crystal Superman had kept in his Fortress of Solitude before having it destroyed.

BLACK KRYPTONITE


EFFECTS ON KRYPTONIANS

Splits them into two separate beings, one "good" and one "evil".

EFFECTS ON HUMANS

None known.

EFFECTS ON BIZARRO-KRYPTONIANS

None known.

ABUNDANCE

The only fragment of black K was created by Lex Luthor and used to fuel the Lexdroid, an android simulacrum Luthor built to physically combat Superman. The chunk was destroyed after Luthor remotely triggered the Lexdroid's self-destruct, bathing the Man of Tomorrow in concentrated black K radiation.

03 May 2022

Kryptonians


Due to convergent evolution, Kryptonians were near-exact genetic duplicates of Terran humans. Owing to the greater age of their race, Kryptonians were further along the evolutionary path; they lacked the body hair and toenails of their Terran cousins, and their physiques were more robust, with a powerful immune system and healing factor enabling an average lifespan exceeding 200 years. They also possessed charcoal skin tones, an adaptation enabling them to withstand the ultraviolet radiation of their red dwarf sun.

Kryptonian society was completely egalitarian. With rare exception, sons were born into the houses of their fathers, daughters into the houses of their mothers. Though a sexual race, Kryptonians relied on artificial "birthing matrices" to reproduce; natural gestation/birth was considered an inefficient primitive practice and was almost unheard of by the time of their demise.

Genetically bound to their planet, the population of Krypton could not relocate en masse to Earth in the face of their world's destruction. Instead, they created 144,000 genetically modified embryoes, tailored to enhance their resemblance to Terrans and grant them abilities which would make them living gods on Earth. Of these 144,000 "new" Kryptonians, only a handful survived to make it to their new colony and grow to maturity. Among them was Kal-El, biological son of Jor-El, scientist, and Lara-Van, librarian.