50 Greatest Super Heroes In Comic Book History

30. Superboy

(Write-up by Nick Tylwalk, Bam Smack Pow Editor)

Did Superman have costumed adventures as a youngster, or did he only don the famous ‘S’ symbol for the first time once he left Smallville? DC has gone back and forth on that point over the years, but there’s no denying that the idea of a Superboy is popular enough that fans react warmly to it whenever it pops back up.

The original Boy of Steel inspired the creation of the Legion of Super-Heroes, which was a noteworthy bit of comic book history in and of itself. Later versions of Superboy turned out to be clones, either of Superman himself or, in the case of Conner Kent, created by mixing some DNA from Superman with some from Lex Luthor.

There was even an evil Superboy, as the crazed Superboy-Prime turned into a villain the likes of which the DC Universe had rarely seen during Infinite Crisis. Fittingly, it took a heroic sacrifice by one Superboy to stop the one gone awry.

But let’s not focus on the bad, as memorable as it might be. If every journey to adult heroism had to begin somewhere, it’s only right to assume that in some versions of the Superman story, Clark Kent would want to put his powers to use for the greater good as soon as he discovered them. That’s why Superboy has made it to TV multiple times, and as a concept, he’s one that’s going to keep returning to the forefront at some point as long as there’s a Man of Steel in print.

Next: No. 29: King of his own country