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Connor Kent, the Superboy of Young Justice, died in DC’s Infinite Crisis, but his rebirth had a major link to the Death and Return of Superman.
Conner Kent, aka Superboy, may have been molded in Superman’s image, but the young man has never let that fact define him as a person. While Conner does rightfully consider himself a proud member of the Houses of El and Kent, he’s built a life for himself that doesn’t revolve around his relationship with the Man of Steel and has become an exceptional hero in his own right.
And yet despite all of his efforts, Conner wasn’t able to avoid emulating one of the iconic, and gruesome, moments of Superman’s career. Conner sacrifices himself to save the world in Geoff Johns, Phil Jimenez, Jerry Ordway and Ivan Reis’ Infinite Crisis #5, just like Superman did in 1992’s iconic “Death of Superman” storyline. Conner’s death and eventual resurrection through the use of advanced technology, bear some uncanny similarities to Superman’s own demise and return, the former of which was ironically the catalyst for Conner’s creation.
The boy who would one day be named Conner Kent was created by Project Cadmus to be a potential perfect replacement to the recently-deceased Superman, one that would be unquestioningly loyal to the organization’s board of directors. Instead, Conner was accidentally released from his test tube before he was fully mature and escaped to Metropolis where he would career as a superhero would begin. At first, Conner was more concerned with the fame and attention that came with being a superhero than he was with living up to his predecessor’s legacy. All of this changed once Superman took Conner under his wing after the Man of Steel was resurrected through the use of Kryptonian healing technology.
Under Superman’s tutelage, Conner fully embraced his destiny as a hero and accepted the title of Superboy. From there, Conner went on to become a founding member of the teenage superhero team Young Justice and staying with them as they evolved into the Teen Titans of the early ’00s. During this time, Conner formed a close friendship with Tim Drake and had a relationship with Cassie Sandsmark, Wonder Girl.
Unfortunately, it’s not long after this that Conner lost his life. During the events of “Infinite Crisis”, Conner was confronted by Superboy-Prime, a Crisis on Infinite Earths survivor who had been warped into a powerful, twisted reflection of himself. Along with a few others, he watched the events of the new, increasingly dark and complex DC Universe unfold from the safety of a pocket dimension. Superboy-Prime was dissatisfied with heroes’ repeated failures and moral compromises, ultimately coming to the conclusion that this new universe was inherently corrupt and must be destroyed.
Superboy-Prime brutalized Conner physically and psychologically, decrying him as a failure who can’t live up to the mantle of Superman and “reassuring” Conner that he would be a more worthy Superboy in the new world that he and his allies will create. After Impulse broke up this fight, the Superboys fought again when Superboy-Prime tried to stop Conner from destroying the machine that Prime and his allies wanted to create the Multiverse with. Conner successfully destroys the machine by throwing himself and Superboy-Prime through it, only to his wounds moments later.
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Thankfully, Conner’s death was eventually undone thanks to the efforts of Starman, a member of the Legion of Superheroes. In order to defeat Superboy-Prime in the 31st Century, Starman goes back in time and places Conner into the same Kryptonian healing device that saved Superman after his fight with Doomsday. Due to the severity of Conner’s injuries, it took a thousand years to restore him to life, but he eventually reawakened in Johns and George Perez’s Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #4 in 2009. Connor helps defeat Superboy-Prime once again before he is returned to his proper era and reunites with his family and friends.
The parallels between Conner’s death and Superman’s are extremely hard to ignore. Both give up their lives to save the world before being brought back by Kryptonian science. While the details of Conner’s death are different than those of his mentor’s, Conner’s sacrifice proves that the heroic spirit of Superman lives on in him.
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