I'll always treasure my return to Krypton, seeing my parents again, and meeting... and loving... Lyla! Beautifully radiant, courageous Lyla! But already it all seems like a strange, incredible dream! Soon, I'll see Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and my other friends, again! It's good to have... a second home...
— Superman
Superman's Return to Krypton is a 1960 Superman story arc written and illustrated by Jerry Siegel and Wayne Boring, and published in Superman (1939) #141. One of the best remembered stories of Siegel's second Superman run, it has been referenced by many later stories like For the Man Who Has Everything.
As chasing a space monster, Superman accidentally slips into the time-stream. When he manages to get out, he discovers he has arrived in Krypton, several years before its destruction. And since his powers are blocked by red sunlight, and Krypton's space program is still in its infancy, he cannot escape.
As trying to fit in among Kryptonians, Superman meets his newly married birth parents and is introduced to beautiful actress Lyla Lerrol, who he falls for. Initially, Superman tries to fight fate by helping Jor-El design and carry forward an evacuation plan; but when their project falls through, Superman begins to wonder whether he should not focus on leading a happy life before the end of Krypton.
2001 multi-part storyline "Return to Krypton" is named after this story.
Tropes:
- Accidental Astronaut: Kal-El is filming a scene involving a borrowed real rocketship and a flaming-breathing beast, when the animal gets away, charges into the ship like mad, bursts into the rocket chamber, and pours tongues of flames into the tubes. Having its engines fueled, the rocket blasts off into space automatically, geting Kal far away from Krypton.
- Aliens Speaking English: The present storyline is set almost entirely in Krypton, but everyone speaks English. It is assumed they are speaking Kryptonian, and their speeches have been translated for the readers' sake.
- Alliterative Name: Lampshaded when Kal meets Lyla, and before being properly introduced he just knows what her initials are on account of her being a beautiful woman who is drawing his attention.Jor-El: Kal-El, I want you to meet...
Kal-El: Don't tell me her name...yet! I'll bet her initials are "L.L."! (thinking) Astonishingly, every girl who ever meant anything to me has always had those initials![...]
Jor-El: Of course you know her initials! Who doesn't? Lyla Lerrol is Krypton's most famous emotion-movie actress! - Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The plot kicks off when Superman finds a planet-sized, webbed-footed, long-necked monster drifting around the edges of the solar system.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Jonathan Kent, who is usually a calm and nice lad, angrily decks a crook who has attempted to make off with stolen money and kidnap Martha. Even Martha is shocked.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Kal and Lyla kiss each other while sightseeing the Rainbow Canyon. It is said Krypton's inner fires were cold compared with their kiss.Two pairs of lips meet, and two hearts thrill as one... As deep within the heart of Krypton, fiery forces clash and twist and churn, foreshadowing dreaded things to come... But the flames within the planet are like cold glaciers, compared to the mighty love blazing between Superman of Earth and Lyla Lerrol of Krypton...
- Chekhov's Gunman: In the story's First Act, Superman gets involved in the shooting of a film, and the director casually mentions they will need a fire-breathing monster to film another scene. In the Second Act, Kal visits a zoo, passes by the cage of a fire-breathing beast, and correctly guesses the producers of "The Space Explorers" film will be borrowing it. In the Third Act, Kal meets the beast again while shooting "The Space Explorers" final scene, and its antics are accidentally but directly responsible for Superman escaping from Krypton.
- Coincidental Broadcast: As soon as he arrives in Kryptonopolis, Superman passes by a street screen broadcasting the wedding between renowned scientist Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van, thus informing Superman of his time of arrival and his biological parents' location.
- Continuity Nod: Brainiac steals Kandor before Krypton's destruction, as seen in 1958 story The Super-Duel in Space.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Superman learns a Smallville banker, who attempted to woo Martha Hudson away from Jonathan Kent, hid stolen bonds inside a statue, hoping to make off with the money at the first available opportunity.
- Crystal Spires and Togas: As wandering around a Kryptonian city, Superman bumps into men and women wearing colorful skintight jumpsuits and fluffy flounced dresses, respectively. He also observes buildings are tall, polished and strangely shaped.
- Escaped Animal Rampage: Kal-El, Lyla, Jor-El and Lara are visiting a Kryptonian zoo when a two-headed beast escapes from its cage, and Superman must recapture it to stop its destructive rampage.
- Fleeting Demographic Rule: Superman writers have recycled the "Superman goes back to Krypton" plot from time to time. "Return to Krypton" (2000) and "Krypton Returns" (2013) are only some examples.
- Flying Car: Practically every vehicle is a flying car. At one point, Superman even rides a jet-taxi.
- Food Pills: During a party, concentrated food-pills are served.
- Fungus Humongous: When Superman arrives in Krypton, he makes landfall in a meadow full of purple-capped mushrooms, big enough for being used as chairs.
- Giant Flyer: In the beginning, Superman chases a planet-sized, balloon-shaped flying monster.
- Identical Grandson: When Superman attends his biological parents' wedding, one guest remarks on his resemblance to Jor-El's father (ergo, Superman's grandfather).
- Just Before the End: Superman cannot go back to his time because he is literally powerless, and he knows he will be unable to convince people that Jor-El is right, so he tries to lead a happy life, without the pressures and stresses of being a super-hero before the end.
- Kryptonite Is Everywhere: When Superman goes back to the present day and emerges out of the time-stream and into deep space, and he narrowly dodges an asteroid field composed of huge green Kryptonite rocks.
- Last Kiss: Kal and Lyla are kissing each other before shooting the final scene from "The Space Explorers"; suddenly, Lyla feels she is about to lose Kal-El forever and starts kissing him more passionately. Indeed, she will never see him again, because right afterwards Kal-El will get blasted into space, where he will get his powers back and realize his duty compels him to go back to present day Earth.
- Love at First Sight: Lyla Lerrol falls for Kal-El hard as soon as she sees him.
- The Matchmaker: Lara thinks Kal and Lyla are a good match, so she invites Lyla to spend the day together.Lyra Lerrol: Lara, when you invited me to drop in, you said nothing about another guest!
Lara Lor-Van: I forgot mention it!
Kal-El: (thinking) Mother must be trying to play cupid! Apparently, she's determined to bring Lyla and me together! - Multiple Head Case: One Kryptonian beast looks like a horse with two lion heads.
- No Antagonist: There's no real big bad in this story. Even Brainiac's appearance is brief and not directly related to the main plot.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: When Jor-El confides his fears to Kal-El, both men put together an evacuation plan: first of all, Kal creates a robot capable of building a big spaceship quickly, and then they contact Ken-Dal, a scientist who has designed a rare but extremely powerful fuel. Sadly, the rocket must be built in Kandor, so Ken-Dal, the ark-ship and the builder robot vanish together with the city when Brainiac drops by. And since Ken-Dal never revealed the secret of his fuel to anyone else, Superman and Jor-El's plan falls apart.
- Official Kiss: Kal, Lyla, Jor and Lara are visiting a zoo when a beast escapes and causes a riot. Lyla falls against a wall and knocks herself unconscious. Kal is leaning over her when she comes to, so Lyla takes the opportunity to kiss him. From that point on, they begin dating.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Martha is shocked when nice, quiet Jonathan decks a crook who intends to kidnap her and hold her hostage.
- Operation: Jealousy: The only reason Martha Hudson even talked to a banker who was wooing her was so that Jonathan Kent got jealous and proposed.
- Possessive Wrist Grab: When a crook tries to kidnap Martha Kent, he grabs her wrists with the intent of dragging her around.
- Rule of Three: The story is divided into three acts: "Part I: Superman Meets Jor-El And Lara Again!", where Superman goes back into time and meets his birth parents; "Part II: Superman's Kryptonian Romance!", where Superman starts a relationship with actress Lyla Lerrol and fails to put together a planet-wide evacuation plan; and "Part III: The Surprise Of Fate!", where Superman resigns himself to dying when Krypton blows up, but then he ironically gets blasted into space.
- Stable Time Loop:
- Subverted. While in the past, Superman finds out a crook is trying to steal Martha away from Jonathan Kent. Superman ruins the crook's plans by exposing him, which would kick off the loop (Superman ensures his adoptive parents get together -> he is raised by Jonathan and Martha and becomes Superman -> Superman time-travels and ensures his adoptive parents get together), but then he realizes that the crook was going to be exposed anyway whether he acted or not.
- Lara decides she will name her and Jor-El's son Kal-El after their wonderful friend.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Kal gets stranded in past Krypton, falls in love with Lyla, and since he cannot go back to present day Earth, he decides to get married to her. Nonetheless, he gets blasted into space, gets his powers back, and realizes he cannot return to Lyla again because he needs to go back to his own time, and Earth needs him.
- Strong Family Resemblance: As Superman attends his parents' wedding, another guest comments he looks right like Jor-El's father.Wedding Guest: Amazing, how strongly you resemble that statue! Coincidence, eh?
Superman: (thinking) Coincidence, nothing! He's... my grandfather! Obviously, it's an old Kryptonian custom for statues of the parents of both the bride and groom to adorn weddings! - Supernaturally Young Parent: Superman meets his parents when they are a bit younger than him.Superman: "It's weird having a father who is practically your own age!"
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Jor-El's telescopic viewer, equipped with a language translator device, allows him to watch people on distant planets. As looking for a place where Kryptonians can settle on, he finds Earth and starts observing a certain couple from a little USA town called Smallville who have caught his attention.
- Time-Travel Tense Trouble: Even Superman has trouble deciding what verbal tense to use when he reminisces about how he will be sent to Earth thirty years ago.Superman: My father is observing Jonathan and Martha who will become my foster parents when I... er... am flown to Earth as a baby!
- Trapped in the Past: Superman accidentally goes back to pre-destruction Krypton, and since his powers do not work in the vicinity of a red sun, he gets stuck there. Since he cannot leave the planet, Superman tries to adapt to his new life until the planet explodes.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After the planet-sized, super-fast monster accidentally causes Superman to time-travel, thus kicking off the real plot, it is never seen or mentioned again.
- Worthless Yellow Rocks: Thanks to the Gold Volcano constantly spewing rocks of the eponymous metal, gold is plentiful on Krypton, and worth about as much as any other fairly common industrial metal.Kal-El: Great Scott! It's erupting... Gold!
Jor-El: Unfortunate, isn't it, that gold is so common on Krypton! It's worthless! - You Can't Fight Fate: Superman sets out to prevent future tragedies, but he is unable to get the Science Council listen to his father, he cannot build an evacuation fleet, he can't stop Brainiac from stealing Kandor, and he can't save his family. Then Superman's launched into space due to a weird accident, and instead of flying back to Krypton he reluctantly accepts he cannot change the past and travels back to his own time.Superman: If I return to Krypton, I will lose my super-powers again! Fate can't be changed! It's impossible for me to save Lyla or my parents! Earth needs me!
