THE SUPERWOMAN FROM KRYPTON: CHARACTERS AND INTRODUCTIO

 What would you think about an alternate universe with a female-Clark as Superwoman in the Golden Age?

Is the only main change in the classic canon together with her love interest…It's not Earth-11, let's say is Eart-19...meet Clara Kent/Superwoman!

It's 1948, in Metropolis!

Up in the sky! Look! It's a bird? It's a plane? No! It's Superwoman!

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, this amazing stranger from the planet Krypton, The Woman of Steel: Superwoman!

Empowered with X-ray vision, possessing remarkable physical strength, Superwoman fights a never-ending battle for love, truth, and justice, disguised as a mild-mannered newspaper reporter, Clara Kent!

In a world plagued by the Cold War and mistrust, can Superwoman bring peace to the world while fighting for love, truth, justice, and the American way? Can she finally find a happy life with Louis Lane, the love of her life? Can she defeat Lex Luthor and the terrible ancient evil he is about to awaken?

KALA-EL/CLARA JOSEPHINE KENT/SUPERWOMAN

BORN: Krypton, a moon in a distant galaxy. Formally 28/02/1918, SMALLVILLE, KANSAS

PROFESSION: ASSISTANT REPORTER

YEAR: 1948

PLACE: METROPOLIS (METROPOLIS COUNTY, NEW YORK)

-Farmgirl, born Kansas 1918. No sisters nor brothers.

-Nicest girl in the office but very unfunny.

-Disappears without reason very often.

-Lives alone in a little flat and has a golden retriever dog called Krypto.

-Daddy issues. Her father didn't let her pursue a career as ballet dancer or swimmer (he didn't want her to take advantage of her powers) and died when she was 18.

-Former nurse during the war in the Pacific Ocean and in the Philippines.

-Loves children and dogs

-Tomboyish trails. Not quite elegant.

-Music-Hall fan, Katherine Hepburn and James Stewart fan

-Favorite books: Scarlet Pimpernel adventures, Jane Austen, Upton Sinclair and Virginia Wolf, somewhat eclectic.

-Amateur writer of children's stories, with characters such as DeeDog and the Komfy Dragon.

-She greatly admires her boss, Perry Weiss. A 1940s style very liberal Republican journalist, chief editor of the Daily Planet. She despises her deputy boss Cat Grant.

-Ambiguous relationship with her other boss, senior reporter Louis Lane. Clara has a good friendship with Louis and hides that she is very much in love with him. At the same time, she competes a lot with Mr. Lane and is annoyed by his political ideas and his paternalism.

- Strange friendship with the young millionaire Bruce Wayne, something that is very surprising for the people in the newsroom of the Daily Planet.

-Always good scoops but never appears in the front line and too stubborn and independent to grow fast in the newspaper.

-Progressive quaker like her parents.

-Civil rights supporter.

-Dislikes General McArthur, dislikes even more Lex Luthor

-Loves Eleanor Roosevelt but also Governor Dewey.

-Hates guns

-Supports unions, splits ticket between Metropolis Liberal Party and the two main parties. Politicians must be kind.

SUPERHEROINE LIFE

-Superpowers: Flight, Super-Strength, Super-Speed, X-Ray Vision, Heat Vision, Enhanced Vision, Super-Hearing, Super-Breath, Cooling-Breath, High Invulnerability, Super-Stamina…

-Superwoman can fly to a Mach 100 speed.

-Acts as Superwoman since October 1945.

-Defeated General Zod's invasion in July 1946.

-Initial bad relationship with Batman but now close friends and allies. Together with the Flash, they make up the Justice League.

-Didn't act as Superwoman during the World War II because she was afraid of her powers. After the discovery of the Holocaust and the atomic bombs she decided to step in and showed herself to the world on autumn 1945.

-Worst enemy: Lex Luthor, heir of Nikola Tesla, rocket engineer & CEO of TELCORP (Tesla-Luthor Corporation)

-Deeply in love with Louis Lane, who strongly rejects the superheroine.

-She hides her supersuit and cape under her normal clothes. The material is extraordinarily thin, flexible, and resistant, and very easy to wear under normal clothing. Whenever someone needs Superwoman, she just needs to find an inconspicuous place, rip her shirt, unfold her cape, and fly away at full speed.

-Widely admired.

FAMILY & ORIGINS

The El family & Krypton

Krypton was a decadent civilization located on a moon near a large gaseous planet in the Orion belt, next to a green sun. In the past they had visited Earth and other planets expanding civilization, but their penchant for slavery, war, resource extraction and violence caused many of these projects to fail. Even in 10,500 BC the Kryptonians almost caused the terraforming of the Earth, melting the poles and destroying Atlantis and other civilizations, causing among other things the end of the Ice Age. Nearly 99% of humanity perished during that Kryptonian attack.

Over the centuries the Kryptonians lost the fuel necessary to travel across space and ended up confined to their planet, dedicated to warfare, genetic engineering, creating clones whose organs they needed to extend their lives, to pleasure and to exploiting the subsoil of their planet. The Kryptonians also established a dictatorship with a caste system based on genetic engineering and prohibited natural reproduction.

Jor-El and Lara were a couple of scientists critical of the system and supporters of the abolition of the caste system. They also fought against genetic engineering, violent repression, and the permanent destruction of the ecosystem. After a series of terrible earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and gas outbursts, it became clear that Krypton's core was collapsing, due to the energetic drilling and magnetic energy used in Krypton's industry. The Planet was doomed but the ruling caste ignored it. Jor-El and Lara had a daughter, Kala-El in a natural way against all the rules of Krypton. Determined to save her daughter's life, Lara managed to manufacture a small ship capable of making a space jump to other regions of the Universe, willing to spare her daughter from the horrible demise of Krypton. General Zod stole her design and built a larger fleet of ships but Jor-El managed to sabotage the departure and sent the fleet to the Phantom Zone, a black hole near Krypton. 

Lara made the decision to send Kala to Earth, believing its culture to be more optimistic and compassionate, and less susceptible to the errors that plagued Krypton, compared to other inhabited planets nearer to them. Jor-El, on the other hand, favored sending her to New Genesis, a distant planet where Kala would be exposed to less radiation and thus gain fewer extraordinary powers, enabling her to lead a more ordinary life. However, Lara managed to persuade him. As Kala traveled to Earth and matured under the influence of a yellow sun, she would develop incredible abilities and could have the opportunity to live a fulfilling life dedicated to helping humanity, thereby restoring the honor of Krypton's name.

Within hours of Kala's birth, she was placed in the small ship, accompanied by the robot guide Kelex, whose memory was imprinted with the consciousness of Jor-El and Lara, as well as nearly all of Krypton's cultural heritage. They included several Kryptonian artifacts inside, such as a nearly indestructible ceremonial female ancestral caped suit with the crest of the House of El on its chest. The ship was launched just hours before Krypton's demise and travelled through space for thirty years…

Joe&Martha Kent, Kansas life

Joe and Martha Kent were a Quaker farming couple whose farm was struck by the pod carrying Kala-El the 28th of February of 1918. Although owners of substantial property they were a very humble, cooperative, austere, devout, and civil rights-minded people. Martha Kent was a descendant of Kansas abolitionist guerrilla fighter John Brown. They both raised Clara very lovingly and unwilling to ask too many questions about the baby's origin. Clara was a very sickly child as her body did not adapt to the Earth. She was an affectionate and obedient young girl and devoured books. The Kent family were avowed supporters of the New Deal and Joe Kent was a member of the local farmers union.

As Clara entered puberty, her development accelerated rapidly, and her superpowers started to manifest. She quickly showed remarkable talent in swimming and ballet. Despite her curiosity about her origins, Joe imposed strict restrictions, including prohibiting her from pursuing a professional career in these fields to avoid exploiting her supernatural abilities. Additionally, he strictly forbade Clara from using her superpowers to help others, fearful of humanity's reaction and wary of savior messiahs in the era of interwar dictators.

Clara initially rebelled against her father, but ultimately acquiesced, intimidated by her own powers and empathetic to her parents' concerns. During this period, Clara struggled to blend in but found solace in her two closest friends, Pete Ross, whom she harbored secret feelings for, and Lana Lang. Unlike Pete, Lana was privy to Clara's superpowers from their early childhood together. In 1936, the passing of Joe Kent from a heart attack deeply affected Clara, leaving her to forego college and take up work as a teacher and nurse's aide in Smallville. Her engagement to her childhood love, Pete Ross, ended abruptly in 1939 after she disclosed her powers to him, causing Pete to react with fear, though he eventually vowed to keep her secret. Amidst these challenging times, Kelex, the Kryptonian robot, was activated and unveiled Clara's true heritage, casting her into a state of turmoil.

From 1939 to 1941, Clara spent her time in Canada and Alaska on a quest to locate the Fortress of Solitude, a mysterious destination indicated by Kelex. However, with the onset of World War II, she chose to serve as a nurse in the Pacific theater, committing to use her superpowers solely for the aid of injured soldiers, worried that any further use might bring more pain and destruction. In the waning months of 1944, the hospital ship USS Shuster, carrying Clara, was struck by a Japanese torpedo. Clara dove into the ocean, using her superhuman strength to keep the vessel afloat long enough to run it aground. The ship's unexpected buoyancy and seeming levitation baffled everyone, and the event was shrouded in secrecy. Granted leave to return home, Clara made her way back to Alaska where, with Kelex's guidance, she finally discovered the Fortress of Solitude. It was there that she gained a deeper understanding of her heritage and began to train her superpowers.

Learning about the atrocities of the Holocaust and the devastation caused by atomic bombs, Clara was moved to adopt the mantle of Superwoman, using her powers to aid humanity while donning the traditional Kryptonian costume of her ancestors. Her mother, Martha, stood by her choice. She moved to Metropolis and, in September 1945, started working as an assistant reporter hired by Major Louis Lane, freshly back from Europe. On October 1, 1945, Superwoman made her debut, stunning the world and marking a pivotal change in History. She presented herself at the newly established United Nations, sharing her backstory and her commitment to humanitarian aid while steering clear of political disputes, save for safeguarding civilians.

Thus began Clara Kent's dual existence as a journalist; and, whenever needed, as Superwoman. By July 1946, she had thwarted an invasion led by General Zod and other Kryptonian survivors. However, her challenges were far from over, facing foes such as the Intergang—a conglomerate of Metropolis and Gotham's organized crime—Atomic Skull, a former Nazi operative wielding fearsome technology, and Lex Luthor, who was nurturing a growing animosity and suspicion towards the superheroine, along with his creation, Metallo.

DAILY PLANET CHARACTERS

Perry Weiss, a major shareholder and editor in chief of the Daily Planet. Born in Odessa in 1886. Jewish immigrant from humble origins who became a skilled journalist and founded the Daily Planet as a tool of the liberal wing of the Metropolis Republican Party to unseat the city bosses of the time. Still a staunch liberal, he supported Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936, and was an ally of Mayor LaGuardia. He won the Pulitzer Prize in the 1920s for defending a due process for Sacco and Vanzetti. Friend and ally of Louis Lane's father. He is very demanding with his employees but is very fond of Clara. He admires and defends Superwoman despite Louis Lane's distrust. Best friend of Cat Grant.

Cat Grant, Co-chair of Perry Weiss, Pulitzer winner, closeted lesbian, and Ayn Rand Fan. Born 1901, she comes from a fine family of Metropolis Knickerbockers. She is like Louis the least liberal element of the newspaper. To protect herself she married a very old friend of her father who helped her lead a double life. For twenty years she lived with a painter named Margaret Ivy. Considered the best writer of the Daily Planet, in addition to being a journalist she has published four novels. Very elegant and popular in intellectual circles. She is tremendously authoritarian. Cat often treats Clara harshly, mainly because Clara challenges her authority, and they hold opposing political beliefs. Yet, as Clara matures in her role as a journalist and Cat Grant starts to believe she might be Superwoman, Cat secretly becomes her protector and advocate, propelling her career forward without Clara's awareness. Cat is also the best friend of Perry Weiss.

Jimmy Olsen and Lucy Weiss, Clara's best friends Jimmy is a junior urban photographer. He comes from a town in Massachusetts. He is 7 years younger than Clara. He is a party animal, friendly, generous, and somewhat naive. Yet he is a skilled photographer who has been able to capture the worst of the night and day of Metropolis. Miraculously he always gets the best pictures of Superwoman (Clara helps him a little). Very democratic and complains about working for a newspaper that is too conservative for his taste. Adores Clara whom he treats as his big sister. It doesn't even cross his mind that she is Superwoman. Jimmy thinks that Louis is a snob and a bigot.

Lucy is a senior political photographer and the only woman on photo reporting on the Daily Planet who works outside the fashion department. She is the eldest daughter of Perry Weiss. She is an intrepid photojournalist who gets overseas passes and has been to several military conflicts. A loyal friend of Clara, and a very serious and professional woman. She is suspicious of Clara's double identity but would never say anything. She is the same age as Clara and a lover of jazz and the more alternative circuits of Metropolis.

NAME: LOUIS LANE

BORN: 08/02/1912, METROPOLIS (NEW YORK)

PROFESSION: SENIOR REPORTER

YEAR: 1948

PLACE: METROPOLIS (NYC)

-Rich family, born in 1912, first of 6 brothers.

-Caustic, cynical, ironic but somewhat kind.

-Commanding.

-Lives in Park Avenue with his 6-year-old daughter and his rich unfaithful wife, fashion reporter Pat Lane (neé Kelly). Very unhappy marriage.

-Major rank during the war in the US army. He also worked with the OSS.

-Elegant, sportsman, plays violin.

-Teaches music lessons in an orphan house in secret.

-Not that snobbish nor WASP, new rich family traits.

-Arkham University alumni.

-Classic music and literature lover.

-Heavy drinker.

-Does not enjoy journalism, thinking of quitting to politics or teaching literature.

-Jewish father (Lane surname is a change from Lantzman), Irish catholic mother. Raised catholic and religious, but not extremely orthodox.

-His father is a self-made tycoon who started as Democrat in the Tammany Hall and then switched to Republican. Close ally of Mayor LaGuardia.

-Fought in the European theater during World War II.

-Conservative Republican opposed to his father's Liberal Republican views. Louis staunchly supports General McArthur, who he believes should be the next President.

-In the past he had a good opinion of Lex Luthor. He saw him as an innovator and freedom fighter, but his opinion changed when Luthor kidnapped him to set a trap for Superwoman.

-Perry Weiss favorite reporter.

-Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1941, for his articles about the first defeat of the Intergang.

-First person to interview Superwoman.

-Very nice and paternalistic to Clara He pushes Clara's career forward despite Cat Grant's apparent opposition. He is secretly in love with Clara. Although he rejects Superwoman and suspects she is the same person as Clara, he deludes himself and rejects these suspicions.

-Tired of New Deal Politics, anticommunist.

-"a brilliant and kind man" for most of the Daily Planet staff, a "terrible asshole" for many others like Jimmy Olsen.

-Strongly rejects Superwoman and other heroes.

-Sometimes Clara really hates him.

-Famous line "Neither reds nor capes".

-He lives a bizarre love triangle with Clara Kent and Superwoman. Although he publicly rejects the superheroine, he also desires her and he and Superwoman have had moments of passion, which Louis feels guilty about because he is married and because of his religion. On the other hand, he is in love with Clara Kent as much as he rejects the figure of Superwoman. He deludes himself about the identity of both. A bit James Stewart in Vertigo, something that destabilizes and infuriates Clara.

The Fortress of Solitude and Kelex

Jor-El and Lara could not send their daughter Kala to Earth alone and without any information about her origin or how to live with the marvelous abilities she would develop as she grew up. That's why they not only sent with her a ceremonial female costume as a reminder of her lineage, but also sent Kelex, the El Family's domestic robot. Kelex is a robot assistant with a great memory capable of performing all kinds of explanatory and analytical tasks, as well as treasuring, developing and producing information. It is also a tool for interstellar communication, albeit limited. Jor-El and Lara imprinted their consciousness in Kelex, as well as all the information about the history and culture of Krypton, including scientific explanations about the adaptation of Kala's body to Earth. Kelex has the ability to compress himself into a metallic ball, and so he was from the impact on Smallville in 1918 until 1939 when he unfolded and revealed to Kala as her assistant and guide. Kelex has the ability to listen to all types of sound transmissions, including radio, and an advanced language program that allowed him to quickly learn English and other human languages, enabling him to communicate easily with Kala, now Clara Kent.

However, Kelex was activated too late. By then, Clara was already a grown woman with most of her powers fully manifested but not yet controlled. To assist her properly, train her in using her superpowers, and fully manifest her parents' consciousness, Kelex needed additional technology. The robot detected signals from several Kryptonian ships abandoned on Earth for thousands of years, remnants of a failed invasion in 10,500 B.C. The most accessible was located in a glacier in northern Alaska. Despite Clara's initial mistrust, Kelex convinced her to search for the ship. They abandoned the quest in 1941 but resumed it in 1944. After months of effort, they finally discovered the ship. Clara used it extensively to learn about her origins and train her superpowers. Since then, Kelex has resided in this ship, now known as the Fortress of Solitude, which Clara uses as her base and refuge. There, Clara studies Krypton's past and technology with Kelex, listens to holograms of her parents, stores special mementos she can't keep in Smallville or Metropolis, repairs her super suit when damaged, and hides the people she cares about during threats, like she did with her mother during the attack by Zod and Faora in 1946.

CURRENT AND PAST ENEMIES

Lex Luthor: Rocket engineer, CEO of TELCORP and Heir of Nikola Tesla. A Brilliant scientist who defines himself as a "radical humanist"…but in the early 30s supported closely fascism to stop "imperialism" and "usury" and later changed his mind and move closer to the USSR to fight "predatory western capitalism". Publicly, he is a tycoon and scientist loyal to the United States and works closely with the government. The world's greatest philanthropist. Loving father and husband. Hates Superwoman to death and believes she spells the end of humanity. Paranoid and ruthless but convinced that he does everything for the greater good.

General Zod & Faora: Political dissidents like the El on Krypton, on the other hand they believed that Krypton's only salvation lay in emigrating and invading, terraforming, and exterminating other planets. They almost succeeded in a coup d'état but after their failure; Zod and his henchmen tried to flee by space jumping their ships, Jor-El managed to sabotage the launch and send them to the Phantom Zone. Over the years they managed to escape and arrived on Earth in 1946, shortly after Clara showed herself to the world as Superwoman. They tried to exterminate all humanity, but Superwoman and the armies of Earth managed to defeat them. Their invasion caused 5,000 human casualties but could have caused complete extermination. The experience was traumatic for Clara because she had to send Zod and Faora back to the Phantom Zone where they would surely die. Zod, Faora and their henchmen had not yet developed the full powers granted by a yellow sun like Earth's and so several of them were killed by human bombs and missiles. The remains of some Kryptonians were stored by Russians and Americans. Superwoman managed to expel all Kryptonian technology and weaponry into space so that humans would not use it for warfare.

Doomsday: A truly near-indestructible abomination.. Perhaps from Krypton's past? Perhaps created by mistake by human scientists?

ENEMIES TO COME IN FUTURE INSTALLMENTS

The Toyman: Winslow Schott, once a thriving entrepreneur and toy inventor of the 1920s, saw his empire crumble during the Great Depression due to bank actions and multiple betrayals. Following a series of horrendous criminal acts, he was incarcerated in 1933. However, he has recently broken out of prison, now utterly deranged and intent on using his inventive genius to exact revenge on the entire city…

Brainiac "The Eternal Traveller": An android resulting from the abhorrent merger of a famous astronaut and an artificial intelligence, which was used by the first civilization of Krypton to collect information from other worlds. It is more than 100,000 years old. With the passage of time, he saw himself as a perfect creature, became evil and phobic to any form of life that he considered imperfect or inferior. He caused the destruction of many cultures. He wanders through space visiting planets and analyzing life forms. He probably has no enthusiasm for humans, much less for a descendant of the House of El.