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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/superboy_vol_4_8.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:Don't worry, the two [[LetsYouAndHimFight become friends later]].[[note]]Left: Kon-El/Conner Kent. Right: Kal-El/Clark Kent]][[/note]]
3
4->''"The adventures of Superman when he was a boy!"''
5-->-- The original ''Superboy'' comic series' {{tagline}}
6
7Originally, when ComicBook/{{Superman}} was created in 1938 by Creator/JerrySiegelAndJoeShuster, he was shown as having made his superhero debut as a full-grown adult. Eventually, after rejecting a few proposals for such from Siegel and Shuster, someone at DC decided to create the character of Superboy, [[RetCon Superman's adventures as a youth before becoming Superman]]. This came without input or approval from Siegel (which helped strain the relations between DC and Siegel and Shuster even further). Superboy's first appearance was in ''More Fun Comics'' #101 (January-February, 1945).
8
9As shown, Superboy fought crime in and around his small home town of Smallville, and was raised by his foster parents, Ma and Pa Kent. Like his adult self, he also had a secret identity as Clark Kent. Other supporting characters included his best friend, Pete Ross, who had accidentally found Clark's secret and [[SecretKeeper aided him without his knowledge]]; his female friend next door, ComicBook/LanaLang, who, like ComicBook/LoisLane years later, tried to become Superboy's girlfriend and/or find out his secret identity; Smallville's chief of police, Chief Parker; and [[ComicBook/KryptoTheSuperdog Krypto]], Superboy's pet dog from Krypton.
10
11While some of Smallville's threats came from a rather high number of gangsters and bank robbers, some actual supervillains would also show up, including the Kryptonite Kid and most famously, young ComicBook/LexLuthor (who was initially friends with Superboy; however, a laboratory accident (one that rendered him bald) and a series of disastrous, humiliating attempts to improve Smallville's life with his inventions--requiring Superboy to intervene each time--made him vow that the only way he'd be able to prove his intellectual prowess to the world would be to destroy Superboy... and later, Superman).
12
13In 1958, Superboy was invited by three youths from the 30th century to join their superhero group, the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, whose stories became a recurring feature (before graduating to their own comic) in Superboy and Superman comics.
14
15Various stories would show how Ma and Pa Kent eventually died shortly after Clark's graduation from high school, an event that affected him greatly, along with Superboy attending college and how he changed his name to Superman.
16
17Then came ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' and the subsequent ComicBook/PostCrisis Byrne revamp in 1986, which after 40+ years of existence [[RetGone retconned Superboy out of existence]]. Under Byrne's origin, ''ComicBook/TheManOfSteel'', Superman was once again shown as having started his career as an adult. This caused a ContinuitySnarl with the ''Legion'' comics, which was fixed by stating that a separate Superboy character was created in a "[[AlternateUniverse pocket universe]]" by the Legion villain known as the Time Trapper [[CosmicRetcon just to preserve the Legion's history]]; the Legion was redirected there everytime they traveled to what they thought was Superboy's time. The Pocket Universe became a major recurring storyline for both the Legion and for the Post-Crisis Superman. Pocket Superboy sacrificed himself to save both his universe and the Legion from the Time Trapper. Superman eventually violated ThouShaltNotKill to execute the Pocket Universe equivalents of General Zod [[TerribleTrio and his henchmen]] for killing ''[[ApocalypseHow everyone]]'' on their Earth except for the "Matrix" ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}. Eventually, the editors decreed that the Pocket Universe and its Superboy be written out of continuity altogether (in yet another CosmicRetcon).
18
19After ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', Clark's career as Superboy was brought back in ''ComicBook/SupermanSecretOrigin'', though only his adventures with the Legion. Then the ''ComicBook/New52'' ContinuityReboot happened and it was gone again, until it was implied to have been restored in ''ComicBook/DCRebirth''. ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' restored the classic Superboy, bringing the DeconReconSwitch full circle.
20
21'''Conner Kent/Kon-El'''
22
23Clark's Clone. See the [[Characters/SupermanConnerKent Conner Kent page]] for more details.
24
25'''New 52 Superboy'''
26
27Clark's Clone. See the [[Characters/SupermanConnerKent Conner Kent page]] for more details.
28
29'''Jonathan Samuel Kent'''
30
31Clark and Lois's biological son. See the [[Characters/SupermanJonathanSamuelKent Jonathan Samuel Kent page]] for more details.
32----
33[[foldercontrol]]
34[[folder:Superboy comic series]]
35!!Kal-El version:
36** ''More Fun Comics'' (1945-1946)
37** ''ComicBook/AdventureComics'' (1946-1962) as the lead feature, (1962-1969) as part of the Legion of Super-Heroes feature
38** ''Superboy'' (1949-1973), becomes ''Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes'' (1973-1979)
39** ''ComicBook/AdventureComics'' (1977-1978)
40** ''ComicBook/SupermanFamily'' (1978-1979)
41** ''The New Adventures of Superboy'' (1980-1984)
42** ''Superboy: The Comic Book'' (1990-1992), tie-in to the live-action series ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperboy''
43!! Kon-El/Conner Kent version:
44** ''The Adventures of Superman'' (1993-1994), during ''Reign of the Supermen''
45** ''[[ComicBook/Superboy1994 Superboy (vol. 4)]]'' (1994-2002)
46** ''ComicBook/SuperboyAndTheRavers'' (1996-1998), as team leader
47** ''[=WF3=]: World's Finest Three'' (1996), miniseries, co-lead with Robin
48** ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'' (1998-2003), as team member
49** ''Teen Titans (vol. 3)'' (2003-2006, 2010-2011), as team member
50** ''The Legion'' (2003-2004), as team member
51** ''ComicBook/AdventureComics'' (vol. 2)'' (2009-2010)
52** ''[[ComicBook/Superboy2011 Superboy (vol. 5)]]'': (2010-2011)
53** ''ComicBook/YoungJustice2019'' (2019-2020), as team member
54** ''Action Comics'' (2020), supporting character
55** ''ComicBook/SuperboyTheManOfTomorrow'' (2023)
56!! Kon-El (New 52) version:
57** ''[[ComicBook/SuperboyNew52 Superboy (vol. 6)]]'' (2011-2014)
58** ''Teen Titans (vol. 4)'' (2011-2014), as antagonist turned team member
59** ''Ravagers'' (2012-2013), as team member for one story arc
60** ''Teen Titans (vol. 5)'' (2015), guest reappearance for one story arc
61!! Jon Kent version:
62** ''Superman: Lois and Clark'' (2015-2016), supporting character
63** ''Action Comics'' (2016-present), supporting character
64** ''[[ComicBook/SupermanRebirth Superman (vol. 4)]]'' (2016-2018), co-lead with Superman
65** ''ComicBook/SuperSons'' (2017-2018), co-lead with Robin
66** ''Superman (vol. 5)'' (2018-present), supporting character
67** ''[[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes2020 Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 8)]]'' (2019-present), as team member
68[[/folder]]
69[[folder:Media spinoffs featuring Superboy]]
70!!Kal-El:
71** The 1960s {{Creator/Filmation}} animated ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'' series featured Superboy cartoon segments.
72** ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperboy'' (1988-1992 live-action series)
73** ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' (though this centers around a costumeless teenage Clark Kent)
74** ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' features a teenage Clark wearing the Super-costume, but because of the legal issues mentioned above he was called Superman instead of Superboy, as was originally intended.
75!!Kon-El:
76** ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'' (2011 animated series)
77** [[spoiler:Season 10 of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'']]
78** While not a direct adaptation, ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' has a similar teenage Superman clone called Superman X/Kell-El, who wears a costume similar to Kon-El's.
79** ''Series/Titans2018'' (2018-present) portrayed by Joshua Orpin
80** ''WesternAnimation/ReignOfTheSupermen'' (2019)
81!! Jonathan Samuel Kent:
82** ''[[spoiler:WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}: Outsiders]]'' (2019)
83** ''Series/SupermanAndLois'' (2021-present) portrayed by Jordan Elsass
84[[/folder]]
85----
86!!Tropes associated with Superboy
87[[folder:In General]]
88* AlreadyMetEveryone: Superboy met the teenaged versions of [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]], [[ComicBook/GreenArrow Oliver Queen]], [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]], ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, and ComicBook/LoisLane. Thanks to time travel, he also met [[ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} the first Robin]] and ComicBook/JimmyOlsen.
89* AlternateSelf: The post-Crisis Pocket Universe and pre-Crisis Earth-Prime versions of Superboy (both young Clark Kents from {{Alternate Universe}}s).
90* ComicBookTime: The pre-Crisis Superboy's time-era varied over the decades as taking place in the relative past of Superman, and thus the Boy of Steel was shown as operating in TheThirties, TheFifties (largely skipping TheForties), TheSixties, and even TheSeventies (by the end of Superboy's pre-Crisis run/the 1985 "Superman: The Secret Years" miniseries), until being retconned out of existence in the Byrne Superman revamp.
91** Following several 2000s storylines that saw his restoration to ComicBook/PostCrisis continuity (though with Superboy now operating mainly in the Legion's era), Superboy/teenage Clark Kent's time-era became TheNineties (skipping TheEighties).
92** Superboy's mentioned in the 2017 WesternAnimation/BugsBunny / ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes crossover as living in the 21st century, which would put the Boy of Steel's time-era in [[TurnOfTheMillennium the 2000s]].
93* CanonDiscontinuity: After hemming and hawing for a while about whether there was a Superman on Earth-2, DC finally introduced him in a Justice League and Justice Society crossover story. This Superman was a Composite Character of several EarlyInstallmentWeirdness bits of Superman's history, such as working for the Daily Star, Mr. Mxyzptlk's name being spelled differently, and starting his career as an adult. This meant that the Golden Age stories with Superboy had either happened to the Earth-1 Superboy instead, or hadn't happened at all, including two encounters with an adult Luthor who was evil before Superboy met him.
94* ContinuitySnarl: Inverted; while removing Superboy from canon after Crisis didn't affect Superman, it did affect the Legion of the Super-Heroes big time. ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' restored the classic Superboy, which in effect brought back the classic Legion.
95* KidAppealCharacter: The reason for his creation.
96* KidHero: Of course.
97* MeaningfulRename: Superboy changed his name to Superman at some point during his college years, with several different stories published explaining how this happened. However, all the versions agree that Clark realized he's not a kid anymore, and felt it was time he had a more adult name.
98* MysteriousProtector: In 1981's ''Superman'' #362 and #365-366, a flashback to Clark's early days at Metropolis University show he operated in secret as Superboy, to avoid anyone noticing Clark and Superboy both moving from Smallville to Metropolis. During this time, the whole country's abuzz and wondering what city Superboy had moved to. One scene even shows gamblers in UsefulNotes/LasVegas making bets on which city the Boy of Steel had picked. The cities guessed at included Metropolis, [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Gotham City]], [[BigApplesauce New York]] (future home of the ComicBook/TeenTitans), UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC (future pre-Crisis home of ComicBook/WonderWoman), UsefulNotes/{{Boston}}, UsefulNotes/{{Miami}}, UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}} (future home of a short-lived version of the ComicBook/JusticeLeague), UsefulNotes/NewOrleans, and UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} (a future pre-Crisis home of Supergirl). Oddly, other than Metropolis and Gotham, none of the other fictional DCU cities were guessed at by anyone. Adding to the hype, each city claimed they'd found (false) "proof" of Superboy secretly doing super-feats there. The ex-Smallville Sensation finally comes out in the open, thanks in part to then-reporter Perry White deducing the Boy of Steel was in Metropolis.
99* PutOnABus[=/=]RetGone: He was written out of Superman's backstory as of ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''.
100** TheBusCameBack: And brought back following ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''. In the mini-series ''ComicBook/SupermanSecretOrigin'' Clark is depicted as donning his costume for the first time, working in secret (and in costume) as a superhero in and around Smallville, joining the Legion of Super-Heroes as Superboy, and finding Krypto when the super dog lands on Earth.
101* SpinoffBabies: Probably the ''first'' example of this, with Superboy first appearing in 1945's ''More Fun Comics'' #101.
102* SuperDickery: A staple. Adventures ranged from Lana Lang constantly getting powers, trying to find out Superboy's identity, or something along the lines of Smallville going through an obesity epidemic due to radioactive milk.
103* SuperheroSobriquets: The Boy of Steel, the Boy of Tomorrow (more often in Golden Age stories), and the Smallville Sensation.
104* TheOnlyOne: Superboy was not only Earth-1's first prominent superhero, but also largely its only one during his day, with other superheroes not appearing until (at earliest) sometime during his college years, when he became Superman. The only other major hero operating during Superboy's time-era was the teenaged {{ComicBook/Aquaman}} (or "Aquaboy").
105** While that's largely true (most of DC's Golden Age heroes officially lived on [[TheMultiverse Earth-2,]] and it was frequently lampshaded that Superboy inaugurated Earth-1's superheroic age), there were a few other early heroes, mostly ones who had to have existed on Earth-1 for their [[LegacyCharacter legacy carriers]] to make sense. An encounter with ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}'s father Zatara the Magician taught Clark that he had no special defense against magic. The original Guardian and the Newsboy Legion defended Metropolis's Suicide Slum back in the Forties, decades before the Guardian's clone and the Newsboys' sons would team with Jimmy Olsen. And the Bronze Age Airwave was the son of the Golden Age Airwave.
106* TimeTravel:
107** A constant for all Superboys, since the character is closely connected to the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes.
108** In a story (based on a script from the ''Superboy'' live action TV series that wasn't, [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/12/23/comic-book-legends-revealed-346/ apparently]]) Superboy flies out into space in order to make a home movie type film to show his friend that the friend's father was a hero during the war. Superboy goes faster than light so he can film the light coming from earth which shows what happened in the past.
109[[/folder]]
110
111[[folder:Vol. 1]]
112[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/superboy_vol_1_1.jpg]]
113* DemotedToExtra: The ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes was the ''cause'' of this for him. They originally appeared as supporting characters in ''Adventure Comics #247: ComicBook/TheLegionOfSuperHeroes'', where Superboy had been the star since 1946, and afterward became recurring characters. From issue #300, the Legion began starring in their own backup feature. In issue #309 they took over the lead feature of the comic while Superboy was demoted to the backup feature, displacing him from what had been ''his'' title for the past ''27 years''. By issue #316, new solo Superboy stories stopped appearing in ''Adventure Comics'' altogether, only occasionally being included as reprints (although he continued to appear as a member of the Legion). A decade later the Legion repeated the feat when they started appearing in ''Superboy'' as a backup feature from issue #172; as they gradually took over the comic again, its cover title was changed to ''Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes'' with issue #197, it was officially renamed ''Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes'' from #231, and eventually it was renamed again to just ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' with issue #259 as Superboy left the series altogether. Fortunately, this time, Superboy also gained a new solo series, though the Legion made a guest appearance late in its run.
114* EscapedAnimalRampage: This happened once due to Superbaby's desire for a pet, as shown on the cover of ''Superboy'' #130.
115* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Clark Kent, Lana Lang, Pete Ross, and (until his turn to villainy) Lex Luthor all attended Smallville High.
116* {{Expy}}:
117** ComicBook/LanaLang essentially served as a teenaged Expy of ComicBook/LoisLane.
118** Bash Bashford was an expy of ComicBook/SpiderMan character Flash Thompson.
119* IncestSubtext: In ''Superboy'' #80, Kara travels to the past to meet Superboy, and Clark looks a tad smitten of his cousin. And then you have [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pScx8BN4h3s/SsNtkLIiqkI/AAAAAAAAFeM/T5WENser1mc/s1600-h/sb+80-07.jpg this scene]]. In the words of a reviewer "The rather phallic look of the alien ships added a little bit to my 'Clark hopes they could be kissing cousins' theory. I mean ... those ships could have been drawn any shape in the world."
120* JerkJock: Bradley "Bash" Bashford.
121* Letters2Numbers: Superboy does this in order to remove Luthor's fifth dimensional powers (siphoned off of Mr. Mxyzptlk) in ''Superboy'' #131.
122* ManInTheIronMask: In issue #5, treacherous minister Norvello gets an iron mask locked over Queen Lucy's head and melts the key. His plan was to keep Lucy masked and locked up while he carried out a smear campaign against her, but Superboy exposes his plan and then releases and unmasks Lucy.
123* MultilayerFacade: In #107, Red Kryptonite makes Clark jealous of himself as Superboy. He proceeds to reveal his superpowers and starts doing his fantastic feats openly. Some out-of-town criminals who arrived in Smallville to kill Superboy with Green Kryptonite learn of this and make plans to strike Clark at his home. Eventually the Red K's effect wears off and Clark proceeds to extricate himself from the crisis [[http://www.supermanfan.net/main/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/showoff-6.jpg via the trope]]. He makes up a story explaining that he knew that the criminals wanted to kill Superboy but didn't know when they'd strike, so he posed as Clark in cooperation with the Kents to force their hand.
124* SternTeacher: The [[http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/309/ "Super-Teacher from Krypton"]], a robot designed by Jor-El to teach Superboy how to use his powers responsibly.
125* VerySpecialEpisode: ''Superboy'' #171 features a team-up with him and the future ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} in an issue about the dangers oil and other pollutants can cause to sea life. Aquaboy's life is endangered when the oil companies are too concerned with profit to change their ways, and while he and Superboy manage to stop one company from poisoning any further, sea creatures died and they still have a long way to go before the oceans are safe.
126[[/folder]]
127
128[[folder:Vol. 2]]
129[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/new_adventures_superboy_1_cover.png]]
130* TheMultiverse: An early '80s story (1981's ''New Adventures of Superboy'' #15-16) saw Superboy accidentally end up on Earth-2 in its early 1930s, where he met the teenaged Clark Kent of Earth-2. Since the Golden Age/Earth-2 Superman didn't have a Superboy career, Clark was merely a youth living on his adoptive parents' farm outside Smallville, though he was still learning about his developing powers.
131* SiliconBasedLife: Superboy had to save a race of silicon-based aliens called the Vulxans in ''The New Adventures of Superboy #7'' (1980).
132[[/folder]]
133%%[[folder:Vol. 3]]
134
135%%[[/folder]]
136[[folder:Vol. 4]]
137See ComicBook/Superboy1994
138[[/folder]]
139[[folder:Vol. 5]]
140See ComicBook/Superboy2011
141[[/folder]]
142[[folder:Vol. 6]]
143See ComicBook/SuperboyNew52
144[[/folder]]

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