10 Awful DC Superheroes Who Were Successfully Reinvented

7. Superboy

Why He Was Awful

The initial incarnation of the character was as you would expect from the name -€“ namely, a teenaged Superman, fighting crime and writing wrongs while still living in Smallville, with Ma and Pa Kent.

It's difficult to say why I immediately, instinctively, shudder at the thought of Superboy. Is it the fact that it implies he assigned the clearly derivative name to himself as a tween, pending his rebranding as Superman? Perhaps it is the continuity errors it creates by Kal-El having a career as a public superhero before arriving in Metropolis, including having had an early acquaintance with Lex Luthor? Or perhaps it is simply the fact that he is, entirely unironically, referred to as the "Teen of Steel" in a comic?

Most likely, however, it's down to the simple fact that he is a clearly derivative, junior version of a popular character, and therefore completely and utterly unnecessary. Unless you're a television producer, that is €“- Superboy did have four seasons of a tv show (retitled The Adventures of Superboy for the second half of the show), played by two different actors €“ John Haymes Newton, and Gerard Christopher.

How He Was Fixed

DC must have realized the continuity issues highlighted above, because during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Clark Kent was confirmed to have not become Superman until adulthood, erasing Superboy from existence. Some of the elements of the story, such as his relationship with Lana Lang, still informed his early history, but the rest was erased.

During the Death of Superman and Reign of Supermen storylines, however, a new Superboy was introduced, created by Karl Kesel. Initially referred to as The Kid, he soon took on the mantle of Superboy after successfully helping the real Kal-El foil a plot to destroy Metropolis. He made no secret of being a clone of Superman right away, but his personality did not match Clark Kent's, as he tended to be more brash.

It was eventually confirmed that Experiment 13, as he was initially known, was indeed a clone, but not of Superman, but instead of Paul Westfield, director of Project Cadmus, which wanted to posses its own Man of Steel. On top of the human DNA, the scientists did their best to approximate Kryptonian traits. They successfully gave Superboy the power of Tactile Telekinesis, allowing him to mimic most of Superman's powers, though they were more limited.

The clone was released too early, however, explaining his emergence as a teen. He was granted the honorary name Kon-El by Kal-El subsequently, making him a Kryptonian at least in title, despite still being technically human. Superboy subsequently helped form the Young Justice team in 1998, which was later portrayed on the successful animated series of the same name.

His back story was given an additional twist after a reinvention in the New 52 in 2011, in that the human part of his DNA was now provided by Lex Luthor. This obviously added conflict to the character, going even further to delete the milk toast nature of his previous incarnation, which was entirely without conflict. Yes, the original had challenges to face, to be sure, but ultimately faces the same problem any prequel does €“ we know how it will end; he will eventually become Superman and move to Metropolis where he will face much more dangerous menaces.