Superman, 1982

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Faraway from earth, on the other side of the universe, the planet Krypton was about to explode. Jor-El could not allow his only son, still an infant shrouded in innocence, to perish along with the rest of their people. Superman’s father decided to send his newborn son to earth in a small spacecraft. It was the only way to save the life of the last remaining Kryptonian. It would take almost four years for the vessel to make it to earth, but Cal-El would survive the journey unharmed.

On Earth, the boy was found by a farming couple, Johnathan and Martha Kent. They took the child in, and named him Clark. His adoptive father soon learned of his superpowers, and realised that Clark had come from another world, somewhere among the stars. However, before sending him away, Jor-El had told his son: “You must never use your powers on Earth, unless in direst need.” But how could it be explained that the boy was able to lift Jonathan’s truck with one arm? There could be no doubt: Superman came from Krypton, and his adoptive father taught him that he had been sent to earth for a reason. Still, it was important that he keep his identity a secret, lest his enemies learn too much about him.

Today, the people of California would be left in no doubt as to Superman’s otherworldly capabilities. The hero’s arch enemy, Lex Luthor, had diverted two of the US military’s test missiles to the San Andreas Fault – the “crime of the century,” as he put it, and one that would make him unimaginably wealthy. The geological fallout was not long coming, and an earthquake shook California. Superman flew from one town to the next; he had superpowers, but he could not be everywhere at once. He used quick thinking to save the California’s civilians, pushing rocks from the mountaintops to block floodwaters from the hydraulic dam that had collapsed during the earthquake. The people cheered his name. One of his colleagues from The Daily Planet had been photographing the dam, but fortunately Clark Kent’s alter ego had been on hand to save him. Then, Superman caught a school bus from falling off the Golden Gate Bridge. Superman was no fool, but Lex Luthor believed himself to be the greatest criminal genius of his time. He set traps for Superman, exposing him to kryptonite – the hero’s Achilles heel. A train headed for Southern California was about to be derailed, until superman used his body to bridge the gap in the tracks. The conductor breathed a sigh of relief; his passengers were saved. Superman had come to the rescue again. But where was Clark Kent? Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane was driving down a deserted road, wondering where Kent had disappeared to. Suddenly she realized her car was out of gas, and it slowed to a halt. The aftershock of the earthquake swallowed up her vehicle, and Lois Lane was crushed by the dirt. Superman had grown very fond of the people of Earth. For Lois Lane, he would move the entire planet to undo what had happened. Yet Jor-El had told him never to meddle in human history; it was forbidden. But Superman was human, too, and he had grown attached to the Daily Planet reporter.

When Superman came to rescue Lois it was too late. She was no longer breathing when he pulled her from the rubble. Superhuman, the uber-man – would he allow himself to kiss her? Or to change human history?

Alan Alfredo Geday