Thus made invisible, he appears to have entered the building as Clark Kent and exited seconds later as Superman.

He is also considered to be the real person, with Superman the " alter ego ", though Kent often appears less in most episodes.

In both " JLA " and " 52 ," Grant Morrison states that Luthor's ego leads him to believe that the only reason Superman commits good deeds is to somehow strike at Luthor and prove who is better, arguing that it is impossible for Superman to be as good as he appears to be.

He eventually marries a local woman named Ardora, with whom he fathers a son, Lex Luthor, Jr. After its debut, Lexor appears sporadically in various Superman comics as Luthor's base of operations, where he wages assaults on Superman.

In the Post-Flashpoint DC Universe, Luthor appears as a representative the government has recruited to investigate and bring down Superman.

This version of Luthor appears to have little personal dislike for Superman, other than the fact the hero interferes with his criminal schemes.

Unlike in most other portrayals, Hackman's Luthor appears to view Superman as a respectable and challenging foe rather than a subject of intense hatred and is portrayed as somewhat light and comical, resembling a fast talking con artist more than a criminal mastermind ; often attempting to talk his way out of trouble.

Spacey's Luthor continues the real-estate fixation of the Hackman version, but also appears to have a real personal animus toward Superman.

NOTE: The Silver Age Phantom Zone appears to be prefigured in the 1950 Superman serial Atom Man vs. Superman, in which Lex Luthor uses a kind of matter-transmitter device to trap Superman in a limbo called the " Empty Doom " from which he can see and hear events in the " real " world but cannot touch anything or be seen or heard.

In the post-Crisis DC Universe, the Phantom Zone first appears after Superman returns from space with a Kryptonian artifact called the Eradicator.

* The Phantom Zone appears in Richard Donner's cut of Superman II, released in November 2006.

Several alternate universe versions of the character exist: the Silver Age Bizarro appears in Justice as a member of the Legion of Doom ; one-shot The Superman Monster ( 1999 ), essentially a Frankenstein pastiche features a monstrous copy of Bizarro created by a Viktor Luthor ; one-shot Superman: Red Son ( 2004 ) features a " Superman 2 " created by genius Lex Luthor for the United States to stop the Soviet-based Superman ; and Lex Luthor creates Bizarro-like duplicates called " Liberators " in the limited series JLA: The Nail ( 1998 ).

* A clone of Superman analogous to Bizarro appears in Lois & Clark played by Dean Cain.

* Bizarro later appears in Superman: The Animated Series, voiced by Tim Daly ( who also voiced the title character ).

* In the direct-to-video animated film All-Star Superman, a statue of Bizarro appears in Superman's Fortress of Solitude, among statues of various enemies and friends of Superman.

* Bizarro appears in Superman.

* Bizarro appears in Superman: The Man of Steel.

Rabbi Simcha Weinstein's book Up, Up and Oy Vey: How Jewish History, Culture and Values Shaped the Comic Book Superhero says that Superman is both a pillar of society and one whose cape conceals a " nebbish ," saying, " He's a bumbling, nebbish Jewish stereotype.

Juan A. Prieto-Pablos says Herbert achieves a new typology with Paul's superpowers, differentiating the heroes of Dune from earlier heroes such as Superman, van Vogt's Gilbert Gosseyn and Henry Kuttner's telepaths.

As Superman brings Lucy back to the window of her apartment, Ricky is furious, and at one point yells, "... In all of the fifteen years we've been married ..." Then Superman says, " You mean to tell me that you've been married to her for fifteen years?

In the original script Jim says, " Sure, I'm Superman.

He first gets fooled, when Superman asks what the word is, and he says Superman would have thought him stupid enough to say ' Klptzyxm ,' before realising what has happened and being transported home.

To further complicate matters, Mxyzptlk says himself in the 1990s animated series of Superman, that his name is pronounced the same as saying the words " mix, yes, spit, lick ," even transforming himself into the appropriate illustrations for the words.

The narrator over the ending credits says " George Reeves in the part of Superman ", and in the episode, his character is only ever called " Superman ".

She tells him that Superman had come in and put the fire out, and he says that she was lucky Superman was there ( but never reveals his secret identity ).

* While not present directly in The DTV film Superman / Batman: Public Enemies, it is alluded to at one point, where Batman tells Superman " It's your funeral ", and Superman says he already had one.

Remembering that Superman is vulnerable to magic, Captain Marvel flies directly at Superman and says his magic word “ Shazam ” as he approaches.

In 2009, however, Routh's contract to play Superman in another film expired, but he says he would like to return if given the chance.

Bugs turns to the camera and says " This looks like a job for a REAL Superman!

When asked by Jimmy why he would help Livewire, Superman says that, in America, everyone deserves a second chance.

* Superman: Lindsey says that Spike hasn't " sewn a big red S on his chest, but he's getting there.

He remembers idolizing Superman when he was growing up, and says that he was inspired by him to become a superhero.

Not to be confused with Superman supervillain Cyborg Superman, a technopathic entity who prefers cybernetic forms, who is occasionally referred to as merely " The Cyborg.

From his first introduction in 1938 to the mid-1980s, " Clark Kent " was seen mostly as a disguise for Superman, enabling him to mix with ordinary people.

In 1986, during John Byrne's revamping of the character, the emphasis was on Superman being the manufactured persona of Clark Kent, the side of the character he most identifies with.

Through the popularity of his Superman alter ego, the personality, concept, and name of Clark Kent have become ingrained in popular culture as well, becoming synonymous with secret identities and innocuous fronts for ulterior motives and activities.

To deflect suspicion that he is Superman, Clark Kent adopted a largely passive and introverted personality with conservative mannerisms, a higher-pitched voice, and a slight slouch.

Adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent from the Kansas town of Smallville, Clark ( and thus Superman ) was raised with the values of a typical rural American town, including attending the local Methodist Church ( though it is debated by comic fans if Superman is a Methodist ).

In the wake of John Byrne's reboot of Superman continuity in The Man of Steel, many traditional aspects of Clark Kent were dropped in favor of giving him a more aggressive and extroverted personality ( although not as strong as Lois ), including such aspects as making Clark a top football player in high school, along with being a successful author and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer.

In " Visitor ," Lois finds Superman at the Kent farm with Lana Lang and asks him point-blank if he is Clark Kent.

In the 2009 retcon of the mythos, Lois Lane is fully aware from the beginning, along with Perry White, that the meek, pudgy and bumbling Clark Kent deliberately holds himself back: however, still far from associating him to Superman, they simply believe he's hiding his qualities as a good reporter.

In the future of the Legion of Super-Heroes, his secret identity is historical fact, with exhibits at a Superman Museum depicting the hero and his friends and family's adventures.

As most people don't spend a lot of time with both Clark Kent and Superman the similar appearance doesn't come up.

Originally during his appearances in Action Comics and later in his own magazine, the Man of Steel would strip to his costume and stand revealed as Superman, often with the transformation having already been completed.

Further films in the series continued this tradition, with Clark blurring into Superman, changing at super-speed while he runs.

2, with the character of Bill noting that Superman was not born into his alter ego ( Spider-Man was " Peter Parker " first, Batman was born " Bruce Wayne "), using the blanket he was wrapped in as his costume, and Clark Kent is a collage of mankind's less impressive traits meant to blend in with other humans ( as well as a device to pursue Lois Lane's affections ).

In the Elseworlds stories starting with Superman: Last Son of Earth, he is the son of Jonathan Kent, who saves his son from the destruction of the Earth.

In 1978, the first of four Superman films was made in which Clark Kent and Superman were portrayed by Christopher Reeve ( with teenage Kent played by Jeff East in the first film ).

This was followed nearly two decades later by a fifth film called Superman Returns with Brandon Routh giving a performance very similar to Reeve's.

A great deal of emphasis is placed on his origins on the planet Krypton with exotic crystalline sets designed by John Barry, effectively giving Superman a third persona as Kal-El.

In Superman II Reeve's Superman has to sacrifice his powers ( effectively becoming just Clark Kent ) in order to have a love relationship with Lois Lane, a choice he eventually abrogates to protect the world.

Superman is given a piece of manufactured Kryptonite, but instead of weakening or killing him it drives him crazy, depressed, angry, and casually destructive, committing crimes which range from petty acts of vandalism to environmental disasters, like causing an oil spillage in order to bed a lusty woman by the name of Loreli in league with the villains.