Kal-El (Earth One)

Superman
Cover of Action Comics #242, July 1958. Art by Curt Swan.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Superman vol.1 #46 (May 1947)
Created by	Jerry Siegel Joe Shuster
In-story information
Alter ego	Kal-El/Clark Kent
Place of origin	Krypton
Team affiliations	The Daily Planet WGBS-TV Justice League Legion of Super-Heroes Team Superman
Notable aliases	Nightwing, Superboy
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, senses, intelligence, regeneration, and longevity; super breath, heat vision, x-ray vision, invulnerability and flight

The Superman of Earth-One is the incarnation of Superman that existed during the Silver Age and Bronze Age publications of DC Comics. He is also known by the following names: Silver Age Superman and Pre-Crisis Superman.

See also History of Superman, Silver Age and Bronze Age

In the mid-1950s, following the decline of superhero comics after World War II and the end of the Golden Age of comics, the editors at DC decided to revive some of their Golden Age superheroes with completely new origins and backstories. Starting with the Flash in Showcase #4 in 1956, new versions of DC's former heroes were gradually introduced as completely separate characters with no connection to previous incarnations. This concept eventually became canonized with the introduction of DC's multiverse in 1960s DC Comics.

With the introduction of DC's multiverse, it was retroactively declared that the version of Superman published between 1938 and the early 1950s lived on Earth-Two, while comics featuring Superman published since approximately the mid-1950s took place on Earth-One. This was confirmed by the introduction of the Earth-Two Superman as a distinct character in Justice League of America (volume 1) #73 (August 1969). However, since Superman was one of several DC characters continuously published throughout the 1950s, there isn't a clear dividing line between the Earth-One and Earth-Two versions of Superman. Several stories published before the mid-1950s took place on Earth-One, such as Superman (volume 1) #78 from September–October 1952, the first appearance of the adult Lana Lang in Superman comics. Also, any Superman stories published before the mid-1950s that featured or mentioned Superboy also took place exclusively on Earth-One, as the Earth-Two Superman, per the earliest Superman comics, never had a Superboy career. The Earth-One Superman's first appearance in comics was in Superman (volume 1) #46 (May 1947), the first time Superboy was referenced in a Superman story. The Earth-One Superman's first appearance (in a flash-forward) in a Superboy story was in Superboy (volume 1) #1 (March–April 1949).