History Main / SuperBoy

* KidANova: Girls whom he's dated or have been attracted to him include: Tana Moon, Roxy Leech, Knockout, Sparxx, all ''three'' of Triad/Triplicate Girl's selves, [[{{Batgirl}} Cassandra Cain]], Dr. Sterling Roquette, Wonder Girl, [[{{Supergirl}} Kara-Zor-El]] (Pre-Crisis), and Lori Luthor.

* ComicBookTime: In the time since he was created, babies born at the same time have grown up and become ''[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean legal]]''.

* CloningBlues: The Kon-El Superboy falls into this occasionally, after several years of being TotallyRadical.

* [=~I Know You're In There Somewhere Fight~=]: Bart to Conner, just before ''InfiniteCrisis'', and then Cassie to Conner, during ''BlackestNight.''

* KidANova: Girls whom he's dated or have been attracted to him include: Tana Moon, Roxy Leech, Knockout, Sparxx, all ''three'' of Triad/Triplicate Girl's selves, BatGirl, Wonder Girl, and Lori Luthor.
* KissingCousins: This one is complicated. Back when they first met, the post-Crisis Superboy (Kon-El) and {{Supergirl}}(Matrix) were not related in any real sense of the word, and Superboy used to hit on Matrix with impunity. Then, before Superboy was {{Retcon}}ned into being half-Kryptonian, he later flirted with the ''Pre-Crisis'' Kara Zor-El when she was torn from time and space (and the feeling was quite mutual). Most subtext between the two was dropped when it was realized that Superboy is Superman's "offspring", but in the recent BlackestNight crossover, a Black-Lantern-ring-possessed Superboy taunts [[WonderWoman Wonder Girl]] (his current girlfriend) by saying that [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean when he's alone]], it's his ''"cousin"'' [[ADateWithRosiePalms he fantasizes about]].
** And now, we have Lori Luthor.

* TotallyRadical: Kon-El Superboy started out like this, before he was retooled to becoming Mr. CloningBlues

* YouAreNumberSix: Conner Kent was designated "S-13" at Cadmus, in relation to being the thirteenth (and only successful) clone of Superman.

* Kon-El:

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Tana Moon, before it was revealed that she's native Hawaiian.
* AppropriatedAppellation: Kon-El Superboy.
** Specifically, in his early appearances, he insisted on being called Super''man''. It wasn't until Superman returned from the dead and told Kon that he'd be honored to let Kon use the name "Superboy" that he started to take to it. And even then, the new Superboy told Big Blue, "When I turn 21... watch out."
* BlondBrunetteRedhead: For Clark, Lois and Lana Lang are 2/3rds of this. For Conner, we once had a love polygon between Tana Moon (brunette), Roxy Leech (blond) and Knockout (redhead).
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: As with his [[{{Superman}} "dad"]], Kon-El Superboy is a prime target for this trope. Happened to him when he was with the Young Justice as well as another time when Poison Ivy used him for this purpose. His entire purpose for being created by Lex Luthor was to [[spoiler:act as a [[ManchurianAgent sleeper agent]] in the superhero community]], and the Black Lanterns recently attempted to take control of him again. Fortunately, by this time, Superboy had become GenreSavvy, and trained himself to retain ''some'' measure of control even while brainwashed.
* CivvieSpandex: Currently the trope poster boy.
* CloningBlues: The Kon-El Superboy falls into this occasionally, after several years of being TotallyRadical.

** This is catching up to Kon-El, too. In the time since he was created, babies born at the same time have grown up and become ''[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean legal]]''.

* EvilKnockoff: Match
* FranklinDelanoRoosevelt: Thanks to the [[ComicBookTime sliding timeline]] of Earth-One, Superboy was shown in one flashback story as having met FDR at the start of his career.
* [[HasTwoMommies Has Two Daddies]]: The comics version is the biological mix of [[FoeYay Superman and Lex Luthor]]. Yeah.
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Cassie to Conner, during ''BlackestNight.''
* IntercontinuityCrossover: At the peak of his popularity, Conner was one of the Main Events of ''Marvel Vs DC''. He lost to Spider-man (Ben Reilly).

* KidANova: Girls whom he's dated or have been attracted to him include: Tana Moon, Roxy Leech, Knockout, Sparxx, all ''three'' of Triad/Triplicate Girl's selves, BatGirl, Wonder Girl, and Lori Luthor.
* KissingCousins: This one is complicated. Back when they first met, the post-Crisis Superboy (Kon-El) and {{Supergirl}}(Matrix) were not related in any real sense of the word, and Superboy used to hit on Matrix with impunity. Then, before Superboy was {{Retcon}}ned into being half-Kryptonian, he later flirted with the ''Pre-Crisis'' Kara Zor-El when she was torn from time and space (and the feeling was quite mutual). Most subtext between the two was dropped when it was realized that Superboy is Superman's "offspring", but in the recent BlackestNight crossover, a Black-Lantern-ring-possessed Superboy taunts [[WonderWoman Wonder Girl]] (his current girlfriend) by saying that [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean when he's alone]], it's his ''"cousin"'' [[ADateWithRosiePalms he fantasizes about]].
** And now, we have Lori Luthor.

* LuckilyMyPowersWillProtectMe: Hey, has Kon-El mentioned that he has tactile telekinesis? Because he does.
* ManchurianAgent: Part of the arc where he [[spoiler:discovers Lex Luthor shares half of his DNA which enabled Lex to use him via this trope as well as the BrainwashedAndCrazy trope]].

* [[{{Mix-And-Match Man}} Mix-And-Match Man]]: Conner Kent (Lionel Luthor)

* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: Superboy-Prime, when he gets back to his home dimension.

* TimeTravel: A constant for all Superboys, since the character is closely connected to the {{Legion Of Super-Heroes}}.

'''Tropes associated with Superboy:'''

* The 1960s {{Filmation}} animated Superman series featured Superboy cartoon segments.
* ''Superboy''/''The Adventures of Superboy'' (1988-1992 live-action series)
* ''{{Smallville}}'' (though this centers around a costumeless "young Clark Kent")
* ''YoungJustice'' (2011 animated series)

* JerkassWoobie: Superboy Prime

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Originally, the Clone Superboy was sorta irritating, and was only lukewarmly recieved by fans (as opposed to the much more well-received Steel and The Cyborg/Hank Henshaw). However, as time went on, and he stopped acting like a wannabe white WillSmith, he became more widely accepted. By the time he became known as Conner Kent, he was a pretty well liked character. Finally, somewhat to the surprise of ThePowersThatBe, after his HeroicSacrifice, there was a pretty huge fan outcry that he had to come back. In short, started off annoying, now as beloved as Dick Grayson or Tim Drake and is generally considered a worthy successor-in-training to Superman.
** [[YourMileageMayVary YMMV]]. Kon-El has been a fan-favorite character since his first appearance, since TheNineties was the perfect era for that type of character. Kon-El was immensely popular during the middle of the decade, as one can tell by the number of one-shots, crossovers (He was one of the '''main events''' of Marvel vs DC!), and spin-off monthlies he was featured in at the time. Superboy's revamp was done in large part to upgrade him for a more modern audience. So yes, he was Rescued from the Heap, but he only got there when [[ValuesDissonance time marched on without him]].

* CompleteMonster: Superboy Prime
** Then again, he has a VERY good FreudianExcuse: trapped inside ''something'' multiple times, his world destroyed by Anti-Monitor, and being forced to see the world was not as glimmery and nice as the silver age idea of superheroes...yeah, Prime was evil, but he was, at heart, a kid with some severe issues brought on by multiple life changing catastrophes.

* {{Discontinuity}}: Conner gets a lot of it from ''YoungJustice'' fans, who still insist on calling him Kon.

* [[{{Mix-And-Match Man}} Mix-And-Match Man]]: Conner Kent (Lionel Luthor)
* MoralEventHorizon: Superboy Prime, who in every one of his appearances, ends up finding new and horrific ways to become more and more of a CompleteMonster.
** Until his BlackestNight tie-in.

* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: He once tussled with Spider-man (Ben Reilly) during the ''Marvel Vs DC'' event.
<<|ComicBooks|>>

* KidANova: Girls whom he's dated or have been attracted to him include: Tana Moon, Roxy Leech, Knockout, Sparxx, BatGirl, Wonder Girl, and Lori Luthor.

** ''Adventure Comics'' (2009 - ongoing)
** ''Superboy (vol. 4)'': (Upcoming 2010)

Several alternate versions of Superboy were also seen over the years (including the aforementioned "Pocket Universe" version). The most prominent one is Superboy-Prime, a formerly heroic alternate-Earth Superboy seen in ''Crisis On Infinite Earths'' who reappeared in modern continuity as an EvilTwin of Superman/Superboy. The original Superman-as-a-boy has also been restored to continuity recently, but only in the Legion of Super-Heroes, so he was Superboy when he travelled to the future but didn't wear a costume or act as a superhero in Smallville.

** Specifically, in his early appearances, he insisted on being called Super''man''. It wasn't until Superman returned from the dead and told Kon that he'd be honored to let Kon use the name "Superboy" that he started to take to it.

In 1958, Superboy was invited by three youths from the 30th century to join their superhero group, TheLegionOfSuperHeroes, whose stories became a recurring feature (before graduating to their own comic) in Superboy and Superman comics.

* TimeTravel: A constant for all Superboys, since the character is closely connected to the LegionOfSuperheroes.

* KissingCousins: This one is complicated. Back when they first met, the post-Crisis Superboy (Kon-El) and {{Supergirl}}(Matrix) were not related in any real sense of the word, and Superboy used to hit on Matrix with impunity. Then, before Superboy was {{Retcon}}ned into being half-Kryptonian, he later flirted with the ''Pre-Crisis'' Kara Zor-El when she was torn from time and space (and the feeling was quite mutual). Most subtext between the two was dropped when it was realized that Superboy is Superman's "offspring", but in the recent BlackestNight crossover, a Black-Lantern-ring-possessed Superboy taunts [[WonderWoman Wonder Girl]] (his current girlfriend) by saying that [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean when he's alone]], it's his ''"cousin"'' he fantasizes about.

Recently DC Comics fought a legal battle with the surviving family of Superman's creators over the rights to Superboy, which due to a quirk of copyright law can be reclaimed by them. The effect of this lawsuit has been that DC refused to use the name "Superboy", so Kon-El died, Superboy-Prime was called "Superman-Prime", and the Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon stars a "young Superman" rather than Superboy. The lawsuit is not yet over, but currently DC feels it can use the name again, so Kal-El has a Superboy childhood again (albiet operating secretly until the press caught him after he joined the Daily Planet, and thus mainly portrayed in Legion stories), Kon-El is back, and Superboy-Prime gets to be called that again.

* [[spoiler:ManchurianAgent: Part of the arc where he discovers Lex Luthor shares half of his DNA which enabled Lex to use him via this trope as well as the BrainwashedAndCrazy trope]].

** [[YourMileageMayVary YMMV]]. Kon-El has been This Troper's favorite character since his first appearance, since TheNineties was the perfect time for that type of character. Also, Kon-El was immensely popular during the middle of the decade, as one can tell by the number of one-shots, crossovers (He was one of the '''main events''' of Marvel vs DC!), and spin-off monthlies he was featured in at the time. Superboy's revamp was done in large part to upgrade him for a more modern audience. So yes, he was Rescued from the Heap, but he only got there when [[ValuesDissonance time marched on without him]].

Recently DC Comics fought a legal battle with the surviving family of Superman's creators over the rights to Superboy, which due to a quirk of copyright law can be reclaimed by them. The effect of this lawsuit has been that DC refused to use the name "Superboy", so Kon-El died, Superboy-Prime was called "Superman-Prime", and the Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon stars a "young Superman" rather than Superboy. The lawsuit is not yet over, but currently DC feels it can use the name again, so Kal-El has a Superboy childhood again (albiet operating secretly until the press caught him after he joined the Daily Planet), Kon-El is back, and Superboy-Prime gets to be called that again.