Although Superman's origin has been retold many times, the story has remained somewhat consistent throughout. Superman's story tells of his birth as Kal-El to renowned scientist Jor-El and his wife Lara on the alien planet Krypton. When Jor-El discovers that the planet is going to explode, he puts Kal-El in a spaceship heading to the planet Earth, which crashes in a field in the state of Kansas.
The ship and its occupant are found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, a farming family, who take him in as their own. As he grows, so do his strength and his strange and awesome abilities, fueled by Earth's yellow sun. As an adult, he moves to the bustling City of Tomorrow, Metropolis, becoming a field reporter for the Daily Planet newspaper, and donning the identity of Superman.
Creation
Superman was created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1933. Contrary to his current incarnation, he first appeared as a bald, telepathic villain bent on dominating the world. He was called "Super-Man" in the short science fiction fanzine "The Reign of the Super-Man" which was published by the duo in 1933. Siegel and Shuster decided to re-write the character as a hero and took out the hyphen, renaming him Superman and re-imagining him with no resemblance to his earlier incarnation.
Their early attempts to sell the concept of the character were notably unsuccessful. For instance, Siegel attempted to sell the story to Tip Top Comics but it was rejected as too fanciful and not what comic book readers would be interested in. They drew inspiration from heroes across myth and history such as Samson, Hercules, Moses and other, at that time, modern heroic figures including Doc Savage and Buck Rogers. They also changed his motivations from trying to conquer the world to trying to make it a better place, fighting against the injustices like Hitler and Stalin in addition to everyday crime. Shuster and Siegel intended to make the character as colorful and distinctive as they could, drawing inspiration from the outfits worn by space characters in pulp magazines as well as the traditional outfit worn by circus strong-men, which informed the look of almost every superhero thereafter. Being avid movie fans, Siegel and Shuster gave the character the civilian name of Clark Kent, combining the names of actors Clark Gable and Kent Taylor and partly basing the character on Harold Lloyd.
It has also been stated that Shuster based Superman's looks upon actor Douglass Fairbanks. The pair decided to feature Superman in the then dominant comic-strip format and were finally able sell their creation to Detective Comics, later known as DC Comics where they would produce comic books featuring him for several years. In June of 1938, Superman made his debut in Action Comics #1 and since then he has become not only one of the most famous and iconic super-heroes of all time but also one of the most popular fictional characters ever.
Many comics historians and various scholars have also noted various influences on the Superman character from religion and mythology. Siegel and Shuster were avid fans of science fiction and work such as the John Carter series bare a resemblance to early Superman, as do elements from Jewish religion and mythology (Siegel and Shuster being the sons of Jewish immigrants) such as Moses, and the guardian creature of Jewish folklore, the Golem. Superman was based on 3 people, either mythological or fiction, Buck Rogers, Moses and Hercules. Early in his publication history, Superman, like many heroic characters of the time, was used by the United States government as a tool of propaganda during World War II. It was then that he was first presented as a being who embodied the American ideals of Truth, Justice and Liberty.
Character Evolution
Golden Age
In the Golden Age of Superman, Jor-L, a scientist of the planet Krypton, discovers that his planet is about to explode. He attempts to warn his fellow scientists of this impending catastrophe, but is dismissed as a crack-pot and laughed out of the scientific community. As a last-resort, he and his wife Lara place their infant son Kal-L, in a ship and rocket him into space where he drifts for an unknown amount of time before crash-landing to Earth and is discovered by Jonathan and Mary Kent.
At first they intend to place to him in an orphanage, but relent at the last moment and decide to raise him as their own, naming him “Clark” and treating him as their son. As he matures, great powers began to manifest and before his parents’ deaths, they dub him Superman and urge him to use his powers for the forces of justice. His parents pass on and he moves to Metropolis to begin his career at the Daily Star (later known as the Daily Planet) so that he could hear about trouble as it’s happening. Superman’s time as a hero had him getting directly involved in World War II, carrying Stalin and Hitler to the League of Nations in Geneva to face a trial for their human rights violations.
He also becomes the protector of Metropolis, but, unlike his later incarnations, he’s extremely aggressive and vicious, often murdering his powerless foes, and having little regard for the collateral damage he inflicts. This attitude lasted until the end of the 1940's when new editor Whitney Ellsworth banned the character from killing, even having Superman vowing to never kill anyone ever again and if he did he would retire. Several of the series' supporting characters were introduced in this age, most notably Lois Lane, a fellow reporter who would be Superman's love interest and eventually his wife, and Lex Luthor, the archenemy of Superman. This early version would be retconned into the Superman of Earth-2.
Silver Age
During the Silver Age, DC Comics decided to create two Supermen instead of just updating the Golden Age Superman. To that end, they introduced Superboy, who was a younger version of Kal-El and travels to the future to help the Legion of Superheroes fight evil across the year 3000. Additionally: Supergirl is first introduced as Superman’s cousin during the late 1950s and serves the role of kid sidekick along with the menagerie of super-animals (including Krypto, Beppo, Streaky and Comet).
Many of Superman’s most iconic villains are introduced in this era, and most of them take on a science fiction theme, including Brainiac and Bizarro. Superman also helps find the Justice League of America, marking one of the first pan-label crossover teams in comic book history. During the 1960s, his origin is revealed: Superman was born on Krypton, to Jor-El (a slight change from the Golden Age Jor-L) by Lara Lor-Van. Rejected by the Science Council, Jor-El labors to build a vessel that can transport his family away from the impending catastrophe. The planet’s destruction begins before Jor-El predicted, however, and he can only send his son.
Kal-El’s ship lands in Smallville and is discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent (an earlier version identified them as Ethan and Sara Kent), who adopt the boy and raise him as their own, naming him Clark (which was Martha's maiden name). Clark discovers his powers while still a baby (See Superbaby) and learns to control them as he matures. Clark convinces his mother to sew him a costume and fights evil as Superboy in Smallville while also becoming a member of the Legion Of Super-Heroes in the year 3000. He is assisted by his pet, Krypto the Superdog, who also escaped Krypton in a prototype rocket launched by Jor-El, and thus had similar powers to the Boy of Steel.
Childhood friends, Lana Lang and Pete Ross, round out his supporting cast and give him a connection to Earth beyond his parents. When Jonathan and Martha Kent both die of a disease for which even Superboy cannot cure, Clark moves to Metropolis and attends Metropolis University, continuing his adventuring throughout his college career. He eventually changes his name to Superman upon graduating with a degree in journalism and gets a job at the Daily Planet soon after ward. Silver Age Superman is famous for being incredibly powerful and for his ability to gain new powers that Superman had never had before.