The first thing Jonathan and Martha Kent did when they got baby Kal-El was change his name, not out of disrespect for Kryptonian culture, but because the name Kal-El wasn't a normal name for people on Earth.
This took countless hours scouring name after name, before they eventually settled on the name of the actor, Clark Gable, who played Rhett Butler in the movie "Gone with the Wind." Thus, from that day on, Kal-El was named Clark Kent.
Clark had a relatively normal upbringing for the first three years of his life, much like any other child his age. Jonathan and Martha took the same approach as the Justice Society.
They raised him as they would any other kid, preparing for the possibility that he might one day develop powers. After all, he was the cousin of Power Girl, so they expected something to happen eventually. However, for quite a while, nothing did—at least until one day.
Jonathan was working in the barn of the Kent family farm while Clark played nearby with his toys. Jonathan was specifically fixing the family tractor, which was being supported by a rope attached to one of the barn's support beams.
This practice would not be considered safe by today's standards, which was precisely the thought of Martha, who stormed in through the barn's entrance, angry,
"Jonathan Kent! What do you think you are doing!?"
"Working an honest to god living, how about you?" Jonathan casually joked without a care in the world as he kept working.
This made Martha even angrier as she looked up and examined the rope supporting the tractor, then looked back down at Jonathan.
"That's not safe! You're going to get yourself killed!" Martha shouted.
"Martha, I've been doing this before I knew you even existed. I think I know a thing or two about what's safe and what-"
Suddenly, before he could finish his sentence, the rope holding up the tractor snapped. Poetic irony struck as the tractor fell straight toward Jonathan, who would have been hopelessly crushed if young Clark hadn't been propping it up with both arms.
Quickly, Jonathan seized the opportunity to crawl out from underneath Clark and the car. At the same time, he stared in shock alongside Martha.
Although this should have been expected, it still felt unnatural to see a seemingly ordinary toddler smiling and giggling while effortlessly lifting up a heavy vehicle off the ground.
Much like parenting in real life, however, the Kents acknowledged the surprise and moved forward.
There were obviously more developments throughout the years, such as Clark gaining the ability to see through walls with X-ray vision, shoot lasers from his eyes, and possess physical strength that nobody on Earth could match. However, the Kents were able to overcome these challenges in their own special ways.
During Christmas time, when they would buy presents for young Clark, just like any other child, to keep him from spoiling the surprise with his X-ray vision, they wrapped the gifts in lead foil before putting them in wrapping paper.
Clark would ask, "Santa knows that I can't see through lead? How?" As he would examine his presents under the tree, "Because we told him ourselves." Jonathan answered, which, as you would imagine, disappointed Clark.
The Kents were also able to help Clark control his strength output through baseball.
The goal was simple. Clark had to throw a baseball into Jonathan's mitt without hurting him, forcing Clark to practice holding back his strength so he wouldn't accidentally hurt somebody one day.
This obviously took multiple attempts and immensely injured Jonathan, with him even having to go to the hospital one time.
Luckily, Clark eventually got the hang of it and was able to control his strength, as well as his other powers.
When he attended school, Clark was always on top thanks to his ability to fly. He also progressed academically quickly, thanks to his ability to comprehend information at a much faster rate.
However, his powers didn't help with everything in school.
For instance, due to growing up somewhat sheltered and not making any friends at the farmhouse, Clark never really developed social skills and was therefore treated like an outcast.
While he made some friends at school, it wasn't many.
Clark also faced bullying due to his social status, but surprisingly, Jonathan and Martha noticed that he didn't react much to it.
Sure, Clark didn't like it when the other kids called him a loser and a freak, just like any person would, but he didn't make those feelings visible to anybody else.
He never used his powers to retaliate, and he never let them interfere with his life. It eventually just stopped on its own.
The reason Clark never did anything about the bullying was because of the morals instilled by Jonathan and Martha.
He didn't particularly enjoy violence. Even then, he didn't want to hurt the bullies who hurt him, because he knew he could break them really badly if he did. Those thoughts made him uncomfortable because he didn't want to cause anyone harm. It was just what Jonathan and Martha had hoped would happen.
Many would see that as a point of satisfaction, but for Clark, it only made him start asking questions, such as Where did he get these powers? Is he human? And if not, where did he come from? And why is he here?
Clark frequently asked his parents these questions. However, since they didn't know much themselves, none of their answers satisfied him.
One day, this eventually led to a fight about the topic on April 23, 1996, when Clark was 18 years old.
"How could you not know anything?! I'm your son!" Clark demanded, sounding frustrated, all while Jonathan and Martha looked nervous as if they were withholding information, which Clark could see, and that frustrated him even more.
"I know you know you know something!" Clark argued.
"Even if we did, does it matter?" Martha asked, which frustrated Clark. "It matters to me! I want to know my purpose! Why do I have these powers when nobody else does!? What am I supposed to do with them?!"
When Clark asked that question, for the first time, he noticed both Jonathan and Martha looked confused. Before, it looked as if they were withholding information, but now they looked puzzled. A very genuine puzzle.
"I-I don't know, Clark, I don't know," Jonathan answered, sounding genuinely confused to the surprise of Clark. "All I know is that we're your parents, we're not here to tell you where to go, we're just there to show you what we know so that you can figure that out yourself."
Clark was left unsatisfied by this answer. It wasn't what he wanted to hear, and like many kids his age, it left him in a state of confusion.
"But I don't know how to figure that out myself," Clark said, creating a six-second silence.
"I can help with that," a familiar voice quickly responded, breaking the silence and capturing everyone's attention in the farmhouse.
It was Clark's cousin, Kara, dressed in her Power Girl suit, standing in the doorway with a smile on her face. This shocked Clark, along with the Kents, who had not heard her come in or expected to see her.
"W-Who are you? And what are you talking about?" Clark asked, uncertainty evident in his voice.
Kara felt a surge of emotion at finally being able to talk to Clark after years of watching him from afar. She was about to answer his questions and introduce herself when suddenly, Martha Kent interjected, shouting, "Clark Kent! That is no way to speak to a guest you've never met before!" This surprised Kara.
"Sorry, sorry," Clark said, apologizing as he stepped closer to Kara. He surprised her by extending his hand for a handshake. "Hello, I'm Clark Joseph Kent," he introduced himself. His polite demeanor warmed Kara's heart as she took his hand and replied, "I'm Power Girl, but you can call me Kara, Kara Zor-El."
"Kara Zor-El? That's a strange name I've never heard before," Clark said, which angered Martha Kent. "Clark! Be nice!" she shouted, while Kara giggled in amusement.
"I wasn't being disrespectful, Ma! It's an honest fact!"
"That's true, it is an honest fact, because it's not a name from this planet," Kara answered, surprising and confusing Clark. "What do you mean by that? And what did you mean at the door?" He asked.
Kara was about to answer Clark's question when Martha interjected, "Are you sure it's a good time to tell him all of that stuff?" She was clearly worried that Clark wasn't ready for life-changing information at this point.
"Martha, I think we should be honest. Clark's 18 now, he's a man, and he's gotta know at some point." Jonathan said, to the surprise of Martha.
"Know what?" Clark asked, "That you're not from this planet." Kara answered, blowing Clark's mind.
"Not from this planet!? You mean I'm an alien!?" Clark demanded, and Kara nodded in confirmation.
Clark then turned his attention to the Kents, as if to ask if they were aware of this information. They didn't say anything; instead, they just looked ashamed, which said everything to Clark.
"H-How is that possible!? I'm a human! Sure, I have these powers, but I look like a human, and I grew up here and don't remember growing up anywhere else."
"That's cause you had just been born two days before you were sent away to earth by your father in a rocket."
This information surprised and slightly enraged Clark, "Sent me away? So like he didn't want me!?" Clark demanded, making Kara realize she had messed up her explanation. "No! Of course, he wanted you!" Kara clarified, "Then why did he send me away!?" Clark demanded, which was a heavy-hitting question for Kara, causing her to hesitate enough for Clark to misunderstand the situation and start tearing up.
Clark then charged out the door past Kara as he continued to cry, before eventually reaching outside and flying away.
"Clark!" Jonathan and Martha shouted, desperately trying to stop him as they watched him fly away from the farmhouse. At the same time, Kara stood there, disappointed with how she'd explained things.
The Kents and Kara quickly decided Clark needed space, so they gave it to him, leaving him alone for the rest of the day.
That night, Clark sat atop the farm's silo, alone all while trying to process the information he'd heard, that he was an alien. This opened the floodgates for more thoughts, such as the possibility that his parents weren't actually his biological parents, that he might've been sent to Earth for some nefarious reasons, and that he was always meant to hurt people even though he didn't want to.
Suddenly, Clark was distracted by a woosh sound behind him. It was Kara who had been flying right beside him.
"You wanna talk?" She asked, wondering if she'd given him the right amount of space.
"About what? How everything is a lie now? That my real parents didn't want me? And the parents who do aren't even my real parents?"
"They did care about you," Kara answered, surprising Clark.
"Then why did they send me away?" There was a sudden pause after that question, as if Clark had hit a nerve, which he assumed was because Kara didn't have the strength to tell him that his father didn't love him. However, Kara eventually spoke, surprising Clark, "Because the planet was exploding."
This information shocked Clark and began to make more sense.
Kara stopped flying and sat down next to Clark on top of the tower, which told him that she'd been sitting down to tell him a story.
"Your father was a scientist from the planet Krypton, named Jor-El, both he and my father."
This revelation also shocked Clark, "So you're my cousin!?"
Kara nodded and explained everything to Clark. She told him how Jor-El and her father, Zor-El, were scientists who worked for the government. They predicted that Krypton would explode and tried to warn the government to save the planet's people. Unfortunately, they didn't listen and failed in this effort. As a result, the two scientists used the time they had left to build rocket ships for their children, allowing them to escape the planet before the explosion.
Kara also explained how she landed on Earth alone, thinking Clark had died when his ship went off course, but then he suddenly appeared one day out of nowhere in the cornfield of the Kents.
"Why did you leave me with Ma and Pa?" Clark asked.
"Because I couldn't care for you at that time," Kara said. She then explained that, with the help of the Justice Society, she would use her powers to become one of Earth's protectors.
Now, thanks to the Kents being somewhat sheltered from Clark, he'd never actually heard of superheroes before, and the idea of being a superhero suddenly began to blow Clark's mind.
Additionally, it provided Clark with a deeper understanding of the situation.
"Huh, I guess I understand it all now and why it was kept from me. I'd probably be even more mindblown than I am now." Clark acknowledged, feeling somewhat better, even if still a bit shaken.
"I bet, Kal," Kara answered, surprising Clark with the name she said at the end.
"Kal? Is that my name?" Clark asked, and Kara nodded in confirmation.
"Kal-El, son of Jor-El." This information intrigued Clark, along with the other brief points mentioned.
Clark started asking Kara more questions about Krypton, which she could answer very little about due to her young age.
"If you want, Kal, I could take you to a place that could give you more answers than I have."
This confused Clark, "You mean Krypton is still alive somehow?"
"No, I mean that some of the information was left behind, specifically for you by your father, and I have access to it." This both intrigued and excited Clark, who had quickly agreed, but not before deciding to do the right thing and speak to his Ma and Pa.
When Clark got back to the house, he quickly apologized to his parents for his outburst, which they assured him was alright because they understood what he was going through and apologized for not being honest with him.
Clark then explained that he had to leave to accompany Kara, to do what they'd discussed before and find out who he was, which the Kents understood and supported.
Their only condition was that Clark would not forget about them and to come visit, which he agreed to before saying, "Even if I wasn't born by you guys, you're still my parents no matter what, and I love you." Which made the Kents tear up as they all hugged.
Clark then flew away with Kara into the night, waving goodbye to the Kents and to Smallville.
As the two flew in the sky, Kara decided now was the time to get something off her chest, "Kal?" She asked, getting Clark's attention.
"I'm sorry about how I didn't tell you the truth right away and made you upset. I shouldn't have also been so blunt like that when I should've known it would be hard for you to wrap your head around."
To Kara's confusion, Clark looked more confused than forgiving.
"Why are you apologizing?" He then asked, leaving her surprised.
"For making you upset."
"You didn't make me upset, I made myself upset by jumping to conclusions and not hearing you out when I should've."
This shocked Kara, as it was not what she had expected Clark to say.
"Even then, family fights, and that's normal since you're part of my family now and you shouldn't dwell too much on that stuff," Clark said, now warming Kara's heart by this way of acceptance.
"I guess you're right," She said, "Family does fight."