Clark Kent's Biography

Clark Kent first appears in the pilot episode of Smallville, as a teen with superhuman abilities, which he uses to help others in danger. Clark is adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent (John Schneider and Annette O'Toole) as an infant when he crash lands on Earth on the day of the Smallville meteor shower in 1989. Twelve years later, trying to find his place in life after being told he is an alien by his adoptive father, Clark saves the life of billionaire Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum), and the pair become quick friends.[3] During season one, Clark struggles with the burden of keeping his powers a secret from those close to him; he is afraid to open up to Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) for fear that she will not accept him if she were to learn the truth about him.[1] In the season two episode "Rosetta", Clark learns of his Kryptonian heritage, including his native language, his birth name "Kal-El" and that his birth father Jor-El (Terrence Stamp) intends for him to rule the world.[10] The fear that he will not be able to control his own destiny forces Clark to run away to Metropolis in the season two finale, leaving Lana, whom he had just started to develop a romantic relationship with, alone.[11] In the season three premiere, three months later, Clark is brought home by his father,[12] who makes a deal to let Jor-El take Clark when the time arrives. That time arrives in the season three finale, when a girl, referring to herself as "Kara", arrives at the Kent farm and claims to be from Krypton. After Kara predicts that Clark's friends will all either leave or betray him, Clark decides that it will be best for everyone if he just left Smallville. When Jonathan attempts to intervene, Jor-El threatens to kill Jonathan if Clark does not leave; to save Jonathan's life Clark agrees.[13]
Clark returns to Smallville, in the season four premiere, "reprogrammed" by Jor-El to seek out the three stones of knowledge so he may fulfill his destiny; in the process, the reprogrammed Clark meets Lois Lane (Erica Durance), who is investigating the supposed death of her cousin, and Clark's best friend, Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack). Clark, with Martha’s help, regains control over his body and refuses to look for the stones.[14] In the season four finale, a "great evil" is awakened in space after Clark defies Jor-El’s instructions to obtain the three stones of knowledge. With a new meteor shower hitting Smallville, Clark finds the remaining stones and is transported to the Arctic,[15] where the three stones create the Fortress of Solitude.[16] In the season five premiere, Clark interrupts his training to return to Smallville, but when he fails to return to the Fortress before the Sun sets he is stripped of his powers. In season five's "Hidden", Clark begins an honest relationship with Lana, but is killed trying to save the town from a resident who hopes to kill all of the "meteor freaks". Jor-El resurrects his son, but warns him that someone he loves will eventually have to take his place.[17] Clark worries about who will be sacrificed, and in the episode "Reckoning" Lana is killed, so Clark turns back time to save her. This results in Jonathan becoming the sacrifice, when he suffers a fatal heart attack.[18]
In the season five finale, Clark battles Brainiac (James Marsters), a Kryptonian artificial intelligence in the form of a man, in his attempts to release the Kryptonian criminal Zod from the Phantom Zone. Clark fails, and Zod imprisons Clark in the Phantom Zone, while he sets out to conquer the Earth.[19] In the season six premiere, Clark is able to escape the Phantom Zone—inadvertently releasing several of the prisoners in the process—and returns to Smallville to defeat Zod.[20] The Phantom Zone escapees become Clark's primary focus in season six,[21] as well as Lana's relationship with Lex, which eventually turns into marriage by the season six episode "Promise".[22] The season six finale reveals that the last of the Phantom Zone criminals is really a genetic experiment created by Kryptonian scientists. The escapee attacks Clark, cloning his DNA, and becomes Clark's doppelgänger.[23] Clark, with assistance from John Jones (Phil Morris), defeats his duplicate in the season seven premiere.[24] In season seven, Clark discovers that a secret society known as Veritas was aware of his landing in Smallville during the first meteor shower and that they knew of a means to control him.[25] In the season seven finale, Clark is confronted by Lex, who has the device and has discovered his secret, at the Fortress of Solitude. Lex uses the device, which brings the Fortress down around him and Clark.[26]
In the season eight premiere, it is revealed that the orb does not allow anyone to control Clark, but merely strips Clark of his powers. Wandering the globe with Russian gangsters, Clark is eventually found and rescured by Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley) and John Jones, the latter of who flies Clark to the yellow Sun and restores Clark's powers. At the end of the episode Clark takes a job as the Daily Planet, sitting across from Lois.[27] During season eight, Clark uses his new job at the Daily Planet to gain access to information and stop crime around the city.[28] Lana returns to Smallville in the episode "Bride",[29] and Clark attempts to begin a new relationship with her after she steals a nano-enhanced bio-suit from Lex that gives her super-human powers in the episode "Power".[30] By the episode "Requiem", Clark and Lana are forced to spend the rest of their lives far apart, as Lana's suit also absorbs and emits kryptonite radiation, making her presence deadly to Clark when she absorbs the radiation from a kryptonite bomb that could have blown up half of Metropolis.[31]
"With 'Red Clark' he's completely aware of the consequences of his actions at the time, but he doesn't care! He doesn't care what happens to you, and he certainly doesn't care what happens to himself, because he probably realizes that nothing can happen to him. It's always fun to be that way, even in real life, because we're not allowed to be that way all too often."
— Tom Welling on the effect of red kryptonite on Clark.[32]
Throughout the series, Clark gains and adjusts to new abilities. In season one it was X-ray vision,[33] heat vision in season two,[4] and super hearing in season three.[34] Clark unofficially flew in the season four premiere, when he was reprogrammed as "Kal-El" by his biological father; upon regaining his memory he forgot how to use the ability.[14] It would be season six before Clark would gain a new ability, this time it was his super breath.[5] Clark also learns of new vulnerabilities as the series progresses. In the first season it was the "green meteor rocks" (kryptonite) that would weaken and potentially kill him.[3] Various other forms of kryptonite appeared as the show continued, each with a different effect. Red kryptonite removed Clark's inhibitions.[35] It allows Clark the chance to get things off his chest, without worrying about whether he should bring them up to people.[32] Black kryptonite separated his Kryptonian personality from his humanity into two distinct physical forms,[14] silver kryptonite made him paranoid to the point that he believed everyone was out to reveal his secret to the world,[36] and blue kryptonite completely stripped him of all his abilities for as long as he stayed in contact with it.[37] Subsequent seasons also revealed that Clark is vulnerable to alien weapons and magic.[38][39]