| Synopsis
| - 2.840184E9
- On Krypton, with their world coming down around them, Jor-El bemoans the fact that the council wouldn't even hear out his plan for evacuating the planet before it meets its destruction. Carefully wrapping their baby in Jor-El's father's cloak, he and Lara decide to attempt to escape through the Phantom Zone.
However, as they open the portal, it becomes clear that the super-criminals imprisoned there are waiting with anticipation for the opportunity to torture their captor and his family as soon as they cross into the Zone. Xa-Du poses a particular threat, reaching through the portal to grasp at the young Kal-El. Fortunately, Krypto, the family dog, leaps forward and bites at Du's hand, allowing the family to escape. Unfortunately, the dog is lost in the Zone. Unseen by Jor-El and Lara, a red streak shoots out of the Zone as they escape.
Lara suggests that they can save Kal-El at least, by placing him in the prototype rocket meant to demonstrate Jor-El's plans for evacuation. The prototype is large enough for only one passenger, and as such, only Kal-El can be saved. Jor-El activates the Brainiac intelligence inside it, and asks it to seek out a planet with a younger sun and weaker gravity in order to make his son seem much stronger. The pair send off their son moments before their lives are lost in the ultimate destruction of Krypton.
Eventually, the rocket finds Earth, but upon entering its atmosphere its systems fail, and it comes crashing down in a field in Smallville, Kansas. Nearby, Jonathan and Martha Kent, having just been to see the adoption agency, have got their truck stuck in the snow, and Martha begins to despair that this is one more slight against them after she had recently miscarried.
Drawn by the light of the rocket's crash, Jonathan and Martha find their way to the wreckage, and are surprised to find an infant inside. Impulsively, they take the child as their own, thinking it a sign from God. Though they worry that the military personnel converging on the crash site as they drive away may trace the missing child back to them, Jonathan comes up with a plan to throw them off the scent. After dropping Martha and the baby off, he drives back through the cordon, offering to show the soldiers the alien creature he has found. His 'alien' is actually a miscarried calf, but at least the child is safe with Martha.
The military collects the rocket, and conducts numerous tests on it. Years later, Kal-El rediscovers the rocket in a military facility, and instructs the intelligence inside it to protect itself, promising to return for it. Then, with the coming of the collector of worlds, came the age of super-heroes.
Later, in the Fortress of Solitude, the rocket is found by Xa-Du and the Anti-Superman Army, and the vengeful Kryptonian has one of his companions steal the Kryptonite Engine hidden within it. Just as the villains disappear, Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes return to find that the engine has been stolen despite their attempts to use time-travel to prevent it.
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