| Jor-El | |
|---|---|
.png) Jor-El as depicted inThe Adventures of Superman #589 (February 2001). Art by Paul Rivoche. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Superman comic strip (January 16, 1939) |
| Created by | Jerry Siegel (writer) Joe Shuster (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Jor-El |
| Species | Kryptonian |
| Place of origin | Krypton |
| Team affiliations | Science Council |
| Notable aliases | Jor-L (in theGolden Age) Mister Oz (in "DC Rebirth") |
| Abilities |
|
Jor-El is a character appearing inAmerican comic books published byDC Comics. Created by writerJerry Siegel and artistJoe Shuster, Jor-El first appeared in theSuperman newspaper comic strip in 1939.
Jor-El isSuperman's biological father, the husband ofLara, and a leading scientist on the planetKrypton before its destruction. He foresees his planet's fate but is unable to convince his colleagues in time to rescue most of Krypton's inhabitants. Jor-El is able to save his infant son Kal-El (Superman) by launching him towards Earth in a homemade spaceship just moments before Krypton explodes. When Superman later constructs his headquarters, theFortress of Solitude, he honors his biological parents with the inclusion of a statue of Jor-El and Lara holding up a globe of Krypton. The fortress also holds aholographic copy of Jor-El's consciousnesses, letting Superman interact with his father for advice and knowledge.
Jor-El was portrayed byMarlon Brando in the filmsSuperman andSuperman II. Archival footage cut from the prior films was used with the permission of Brando's estate to insert the deceased Brando into 2006'sSuperman Returns in a reprise of the role.Terence Stamp played the voice of Jor-El in the television seriesSmallville and was portrayed byJulian Sands. The character was then portrayed byRussell Crowe in theDC Extended Universe filmMan of Steel (2013) and byBradley Cooper in theDC Universe filmSuperman (2025).Angus Macfadyen portrayed the character in the first season of the television seriesSuperman & Lois.
Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, the creators of both Superman and Jor-L, first introduced a character named Jor-L in 1936, more than a year before the first Superman story was published.[1][2] The original Jor-L appeared inNew Adventure Comics (released in 1936,cover-dated January 1937), a re-titled issue #12 of the previousNew Comics, which would be re-titled again, starting with issue #32, as the 45-year-longAdventure Comics series.[3]
Featured in the four-page Shuster and Siegel stripFederal Men, this Jor-L is not anextraterrestrial but, instead, a far-future "acesleuth" in the service of "Interplanetary Federation Headquarters". The character battles "Nira-Q", the outer-space-faring "bandit queen", in the year3000 A.D. The 1936 Jor-L exists as part of astory within a story, as Shuster and Siegel's strip presents the tale as a scientist's forecast of future crime-fighting told to the contemporary 1930s-eraG-man heroes ofFederal Men.[1][2]
Jor-El was first referred to indirectly inAction Comics #1 in 1938, which only mentioned a scientist who sends his son to Earth. He made his first full-fledged appearance in theSuperman newspaper comic strip on January 16, 1939, where his name was spelled as Jor-L. His name first appeared as being spelled Jor-el in theSuperman novelThe Adventures of Superman (1942), written byGeorge Lowther. Later comic books capitalized the "E" in "El." Jor-El's first appearance in a comic book was inMore Fun Comics #101.
In the 1960s, now known as part of theSilver Age of Comic Books,DC Comics introduced to its superhero stories the fictional concept of different versions of characters from real-world publication history existingin separate "universes" that could communicate with each other.[4][5] As DC developed this concept through further stories, the version of Superman's father during the previousGolden Age of Comic Books was identified as Jor-L, matching the original spelling of the character's name, who lived on the Krypton of theEarth-Two "universe" (derived from the versions of characters and stories that appeared during the earlier Golden Age period of publication history). In contrast, the concept presented Jor-El as no longer another spelling of the same name but a different character entirely: the father of the then-contemporary Silver Age version of Superman, who lived on the Krypton ofEarth-One (used to describe the setting for then-current Silver Age stories and characters, some of which had been substantially changed from their Golden Age versions).[6]
A retelling of Superman'sorigin story in 1948 first delved into detail about Jor-El. However, his formal and more familiar Silver Age aspects were firmly established starting in the late 1950s. Over the course of the next several decades, there was a definitive summarization in the miniseriesWorld of Krypton in 1979 (not to be confused with the similarly-named post-Crisis on Infinite Earths late-1980s comic miniseries).
As presented in theWorld of Krypton miniseries and other stories from theSilver Age of Comic Books, Jor-El is Krypton's leading scientist, inventing, among other devices, a self-titledhovercar. He also discovers a parallel plane of existence which he calls thePhantom Zone and invents a device that can open portals to it. This device gets him a seat on the Science Council, Krypton's ruling body. He lives in Krypton's major city ofKryptonopolis.
Even before Jor-El's birth, the El family is renowned for its contributions to Kryptonian society. Ancestors of Jor-El include Val-El, anexplorer; Sul-El, the inventor of Krypton's firsttelescope; Tala-El, the author of Krypton's first planetaryconstitution; Hatu-El, the inventor of Krypton's firstelectromagnet and electric motor; and Gam-El, the father of modern Kryptonianarchitecture.
Jor-El has two brothers:Zor-El, who lives in Argo City and eventually becomes the father of Kara, aliasSupergirl, and an identical twin brother named Nim-El, who lives inKandor. In several stories, Jor-El's father is established as Jor-El I, and his mother as Nimda (née An-Dor).[citation needed] Jor-El eventually meets and marries Lara, the daughter of Lor-Van and a young astronaut in Krypton's fledgling space program, which is shut down afterJax-Ur destroys Krypton's moon Wegthor.[7]
When Krypton begins experiencing a series ofearthquakes, Jor-El investigates. He soon discovers, to his horror, that Krypton's core is extremely unstable and radioactive, and will eventually reachcritical mass and explode, taking the entire planet and its populace with it.[8] Jor-El tries to convince the members of the Science Council of this impending disaster and urges re-establishing Krypton's space program so giant spacecraft can be built to carry the populace to another habitable world. However, the Council is dismissive of Jor-El's findings and refuses to comply with his plan. Some even accuse him of treachery, trying to cause chaos so he can take over. This had beenGeneral Zod's failed plot, causing his banishment to the Phantom Zone. Thus, the Council is wary of Jor-El's motives.
Around the time he discovers Krypton's impending doom, Jor-El meets his own son Kal-El without realizing it, after Kal-El accidentally travels back in time. There are supporters of Jor-El's theory, but when a ship is constructed to evacuate them, the city of Kandor is shrunken and stolen byBrainiac, removing the people who believe in Jor-El's work.[9]
Frustrated, Jor-El continues his work on space travel on his own, hoping to build a spacecraft to save his family. This work includes launching several smaller test rockets; one of these rockets includes the family dogKrypto.[10] However, as time runs short, Jor-El only has enough time to build a spacecraft to save his son Kal-El. He decides to send Kal-El to Earth, realizing he will gain superhuman powers under Earth's yellow sun and lower gravity. As Krypton goes through its final destructive stages, Jor-El and Lara place their son in the rocket and launch him toward Earth, before they are killed along with almost all the rest of the planet's population. Lara could have fit inside the rocket as well, but chose to stay behind to improve Kal-El's chances of reaching Earth.
After the 1985–1986miniseriesCrisis on Infinite Earths andJohn Byrne's 1986 miniseriesThe Man of Steel rewroteSuperman's origins, details about Jor-El's background and character were changed. In Byrne's version, Jor-El inhabits a cold and emotionally sterile Krypton where even bodily contact is forbidden. Indeed, Jor-El himself is considered a "throwback" for expressing emotions towardLara and favoring the less sterilized days of past Kryptonian eras. Another change in this version is Jor-El genetically altering his son'sfetus (gestating in a "birthing matrix") to allow him to leave Krypton (in this version of the mythos, Kryptonians are genetically "bonded" to the planet itself, not allowing them to leave) and attaching awarp engine to the matrix instead of constructing a ship wholesale. The result is that Kal-El is "born" when the birthing matrix opens on Earth.
In the 1990s seriesStarman Jor-El meets a time-travelingJack Knight andMikaal Tomas, two individuals who both bear at various points the name "Starman", and are accidentally sent 70 years back in time and hurled across space. Jor-El thereby first learns of Earth's existence; in return, Jor-El helps Knight and Tomas escape from his overbearing father Seyg-El.
In the 2004 miniseriesSuperman: Birthright, Jor-El, along with Krypton and Lara, was, more or less, reinstated to his Silver Age versions, though with such updated touches as Lara contributing equally to the effort of sending Kal-El, once again an infant while on Krypton, to Earth. In this version, Jor-El discovers Earth moments before launching his son's spacecraft. Also, the conclusion of the miniseries has the adult Superman, on Earth, seeing his parents throughLex Luthor's time-space communicator, and on Krypton, seconds before its destruction, Jor-El and Lara see their son alive and well on Earth and know that their efforts are successful. As with Byrne's conflicting view of Krypton, theBirthright origins of Jor-El, Krypton, and Luthor have beenretconned, and, followingInfinite Crisis, they are no longer valid in comicscanon.
However, a more recent storyline co-written byGeoff Johns andSuperman directorRichard Donner presented yet another version of Jor-El and Krypton which reintroducedGeneral Zod and the Phantom Zone criminals. With art byAdam Kubert, Jor-El is depicted for the first time with a beard and the design of Kryptonian society is distinct yet again fromBirthright andMan of Steel, incorporating elements of Donner's work on the first twoChristopher Reeve films, in particular the notion of Krypton's Council threatening Jor-El with harsh penalty of exile to the Phantom Zone if he is to make public his predictions of their planet's imminent doom or otherwise attempt to "create a climate of panic."
Jor-El is shown here to have been mentored by friend and noted scientistNon, who corroborates Jor-El's findings regarding Krypton's impending destruction, when the two are arrested and brought to trial before the Council by Zod andUrsa. When Non defies the Council's dire prohibitions and elects to spread the word of the coming apocalypse, he is abducted by Council agents and apparentlylobotomized, thus explaining the character's mute simple-mindedness, brutality and destructiveness in line withJack O'Halloran's performance as Non in the first two Reeve films. Appalled, Zod and Ursa propose to Jor-El that they band together and overthrow the Council, but Jor-El will have none of it. When their murderous insurrection fails, the Council forces Jor-El to exile them to the Phantom Zone and never speak of his findings again, lest he face the same fate. For this perceived betrayal, Zod declares that he will escape and conquer Krypton (confident that Jor-El will discover some way to save the planet) and force the scientist and his son to kneel before him one day.
Having been re-built via a Kryptonian crystal during theOne Year Later story arc, the current version of the Fortress of Solitude, which is also designed to essentially be visually identical to the Donner andBryan Singer films, now contains an advanced interactive "recording" of Jor-El which, although visually dissimilar toMarlon Brando, is otherwise identical in function to that featured inSuperman Returns.
Superman/Batman #50 presents Jor-El sending a probe to Earth that makes contact withThomas Wayne while he is on a drive with a pregnantMartha, the probe holographically transmitting Thomas' consciousness to Krypton so that Jor-El can better learn what kind of world Earth is to help him decide which of many possible candidates he should send his son to. Thomas tells Jor-El that the people of Earth are not perfect, but are essentially a good and kind race who will raise the child right, convincing Jor-El to send Kal-El there. Thomas records his encounter in a diary, which is discovered by his sonBruce Wayne in the present day.
Following two line-wide revisions of DC superhero comic books, branded by DC Comics as "The New 52" and "DC Rebirth", Jor-El was revised to be still alive due to being rescued byDoctor Manhattan. After being nursed back to health by locals, Jor-El sees firsthand the atrocities of man and becomesMister Oz.[11] Jor-El becomes dissatisfied with humanity and attempts to force his son and his family to leave in the belief that Earth cannot be saved, but when Superman forces him to acknowledge that he is attacking his own son, he withdraws. It is later established that Jor-El is a member of the Circle, a clandestine organization composed of powerful cosmic beings and intergalactic rulers includingAppa Ali Apsa,Sardath, and Rogol Zaar, the being who destroyed Krypton.[12] Jor-El is later discovered to have created Rogol Zaar and is transported back in time to die.[13]
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This classic Silver Age story [Flash of Two Worlds] resurrected the Golden Age Flash and provided a foundation for the Multiverse from which he and the Silver Age Flash would hail.
