Who's Who in the Superman Comics
The Kryptonite Man
Over Superman's storied career, there have been several incarnations of the Kryptonite Man - often a villain who harnesses Kryptonite as a form of energy in order to battle The Man of Steel. Even Lex Luthor assumed the "Kryptonite Man" alias while wearing a suit composed of Kryptonite.
The latest Kryptonite Man is rogue scientific researcher Dr. K. Russell Abernathy. Attempting to extract energy from a chunk of Kryptonite, Abernathy's lab exploded... killing two of his employees and fellow researchers. However, because Abernathy was wearing a techno-suit, he absorbed the Kryptonite's energy, and became a living vessel of K-Energy.
Complete with green skin, the new Kryptonite Man immediately caused havoc throughout The Avenue of Tomorrow district in Metropolis. His body burning from the massive absorption of Kryptonite, the newest Kryptonite Man drew the attention of Supergirl and promptly battled her through the streets of The Big Apricot. The Kryptonite Man ultimately acted as a prelude to a massive invasion of super-villains. Spearheaded by both Lex Luthor and Intergang, the villains amassed to engage Superman in combat, drawing him out of a 1 year absence from action.
The Kryptonite Man served as a true pawn. Abducted by Luthor and Toyman, he was used as a vehicle for Luthor to fire away at Superman with a concentrated beam of Kryptonite. As usual, the villains failed to defeat Superman. But now, The Man of Tomorrow has a new, deadly addition to his expanding rogues gallery.
Later, Abernathy petitioned the courts to allow him to continue his scientific works, even though he was incarcerated at Stryker's. Many members of the scientific community thought it might be a good idea to allow his work to continue, but that it would be necessary to be very careful with security and with keeping Abernathy subdued. By the end of the proceedings though, it was decided that the danger from Abernathy would be too great and so the petition was denied. Abernathy went crazy again, melted his restraints and went on the attack and a gloved Superman who was able to punch him unconscious subdued him. Since Abernathy is only able to radiate when conscious, he could be locked away again.
During this same time period, Jimmy Olsen was experiencing changes of his own (see Countdown) and through those changes he was able to manifest powers, with which he used to help Superman stop Abernathy when he escaped again. Abernathy, somehow communicating with the monkey he'd originally tested in his lab, lured him to Stryker's. Once there, he drained some of the monkey's K energy, added it to his own and destroyed the damping device that was keeping him in prison. Once free, Abernathy went to the Avenue of Tomorrow, broke into the Rydertech labs, subdued the scientists there and used the equipment to contact criminals using the Uthernet, which was created by Dr. Sivana. Through them, Abernathy hoped to fund his research and claimed he would share his creations with whoever sponsored him.
Jimmy Olsen, in his new guise as Mr. Action, entered the lab and tried to stop Abernathy, but The Kryptonite Man proved too powerful and tied Olsen up in an electrical components closet. Superman arrived, having followed a trail of radiation injuries, and fought Abernathy. Superman was able to survive the K radiation onslaught because he wore a special polymer that protected him. However, the K-Man melted it and then began killing Superman. Meanwhile, Jimmy used the equipment in the closet to repair his broken signal watch thinking he'd call Superman but when Krypto arrived, he and Jimmy rescued Superman from Abernathy. Superman then used glass to reflect Abernathy's radiation back on himself and the scientist overloaded and was taken back to prison. (ACT #854)
First Appearance: Superman #650 (May 2006)
Who's Who in the Superman Comics
Introduction
This is a listing of many of the notable characters and a few places that have appeared in the
Superman comics from the 1986 revamp up until around 2008.
NOTE: A new, and more current version of the Who's Who is currently being worked on and can be accessed by clicking here.
Although Superman often appears in other DC Comics, this text's information is limited mainly to what has occurred in the regular Superman comics.
Many thanks to Scotty V, Derrick Lyle Coleman, Dean Vanek, Genevieve Clemens and Benjamin Grose who all helped out at one time or another with writing and updating these Who's Who descriptions.
The listings are displayed as follows:
- Surname, Firstname - Text describing the character, place, object, etc...
Relevant issues of the Superman comics are listed as such:
- SUP = Superman
- MOS = Man of Steel
- AOS = Adventures of Superman
- ACT = Action Comics
- MOT = Man of Tomorrow
The Issue Number for each of these titles is written in this manner: “#000”. (e.g.
SUP #123)
“First Appearance” refers to the issue since 1986 unless otherwise noted.
