Lar Gand (New Earth)
From DC Database
For a thousand years, I might as well have already been dead. I... couldn't speak, I couldn't hear... ...and I was so... alone. To have been with you the last few days... to once more be a part of something... thank you all for letting me live again... ...if only for a little while. 
- -- Mon-El
Contents |
History
Origin
Lar Gand was born on Daxam in the 20th century. He was a seeker who studied forbidden lore. Lar discovered the fate of Krypton and tracked down the rocket sent right before the planet exploded. He ended up in Smallville (without memories) and met Clark Kent who thought that they may be brothers (since Lar had spoken something about Krypton and Jor-El, and has displayed powers similar to Clark). Thinking him kin, Clark offered Lar to fashion a temporary name for himself, Mon-El ("Mon" for Monday, the day he came to Earth, "El" for Clark's real name, Kal-El).
After Mon-El and Clark met, Mon-El had dreams featuring glimpses from his forgotten past. He suggests that they may use Kryptonite to confirm if he really is a Kryptonian, and the result was negative. Mon-El instead became affected by the lead box that contained the kryptonite. He was fatally poisoned, but could now remember his past. He recalled that while he tracked down the path of the rocket, a sunspot storm ruptured his fuel cells, causing him to crash and lose his memory. At his request, Clark put Mon-El in stasis in the Phantom Zone, where he can't be hurt. Clark promised he will find a way to cure him, even if it takes a thousand years.
New Krypton and the World Without Superman
When the Kandorians were released on Earth, they trapped most of the villains from Stryker's Island prison in the Phantom Zone. In the process of recovering them, the prison authorities accidentallly exposed Mon-El to an attack by the Parasite. Seeking medical attention, he was given a temporary fix for his lead poisoning. When Superman left Earth to watch over New Krypton, he left Mon-El in the role of Metropolis' protector. At the suggestion of Martha Kent, Mon-El is using "Jonathan Kent" as a human alias, passing himself off as Clark Kent's couin from London.
Legion of Super-Heroes and the Dominator War
In the 31st century, Saturn Girl sensed a telepathic call for help from the Phantom Zone. When she tracked the calls to their source, she sees a ghostly form resembling Lar Gand, haunting a Phantom Zone projector and begging to be released. While this is going on, the Wanderers are placing force fields around the Legion headquarters, jamming flight ring transmissions and keeping the Legionaires contained, which gives the Wanderers the opportunity to teleport Karate Kid, Light Lass, Ultra Boy and Star Boy away. Mon-El is later released from the Phantom Zone. He had suffered from 1,000 years of sensory deprivation and dying from lead poisoning which is fatal to all Daxamites. He is confused as to who put him in the Phantom Zone but recalls the "S" symbol. When he sees Supergirl, he attacks her. The two are so powerful, that their fight shatters the fore fields and frees the Legion.
When Mon-El and Supergirl fight each other, Brainiac 5 formulates an antitoxin for lead poisoning. Through the combined efforts of the Legion, and a sneak attack by Invisible Kid, Mon-El swallows the antitoxin and his rage subsides. He is then teleported away by the Wanderers. It turned out that the Wanderers manipulated the Legion into freeing Mon-El all along.
With the battle between Dominator supersoldiers and the Legionnaires on Dominion, ambient lead levels were weakening him as Brainiac 5's antitoxin were fading. Later, when the Legionnaires and the Wanderers discussed who was going to deliver a bomb to the core of Dominion's star, Mon-El was suggested as a candidate, because he wouldn't survive anyway (due to the lead poisoning and Brainiac 5's inability to create more antitoxin). It was later shown that it wasn't a bomb, but a Phantom Zone projector able to transfer entire planets to the Zone (but only few people knew that, to prevent Mekt Ranzz from trying to release Mon-El). Mon-El is currently imprisoned in the Phantom Zone, waiting for Brainiac 5 to create a permanent cure for lead poisoning.
Post-Infinite Crisis
In February 2007's Action Comics Annual #10, another (presumably post-Infinite Crisis) origin of Mon-El was told in a tale called "Who is Clark Kent's Big Brother?", featuring the official story of how Clark met Mon-El. Sticking close to the earliest Mon-El origin, the story features young Clark—Smallville's secret "flying boy"— encountering an amnesic, English and Kryptonese-speaking alien being. Along with similar powers to Clark, the alien possesses cryptic bits of knowledge about Krypton and Jor-El, which leads to Clark thinking they might be brothers. Thinking him kin, Clark offers to allow the amnesiac to fashion a temporary name for himself using the surname "El", to which the alien adds "Mon" for Monday, the day of the week that he came to Earth. They share a few adventures saving a riverboat, stopping a wreck on the freeway, and taking apart an out-of-control amusement park ride. All the while, Mon-El continues having troubled dreams featuring glimpses of his still-forgotten past. Mon-El suggests to Clark that they use a piece of Kryptonite to test if he is indeed Kryptonian. The lead casing of the Kryptonite causes Mon-El to be fatally poisoned, but lifts the fog over his memories. He remembers that his real name is Lar Gand, born on Daxam, second world orbiting the star named "Valor". Lar Gand's people, the Daxamites, have a toxic allergic reaction to lead, much in the same way Kryptonite is fatal to Kryptonians. He was a scientist who discovered Krypton's fate and tracked down the path of the rocket sent right after the world exploded. A sunspot storm ruptured his fuel cells, causing him to crash and lose his memory. At his request, Clark uses a portal to the Phantom Zone to put Mon-El in stasis. Clark promises he will find a way to cure him, even if it takes a thousand years; it's a goal whose failure weighs heavily on Clark into his adult life although Mon-El does not hold it against him.
In Superman: Last Son, Clark, now as Superman, later encounters Mon-El when he is trapped in the Phantom Zone by General Zod. Mon-El has been observing the actions of Zod and his allies in the Zone, including their base of operations, a prison immune to the timeless phantom effect. He aids Superman in defeating one of Zod's followers within the prison (at the cost of advancing his lead poisoning) before returning to his phantom state and sending Superman back to Earth.
How this newly re-revised origin interacts with Lar Gand's previous adventures in the 20th century has yet to be seen. However, in LegionTemplate:Clarify, Mon-El refers to having been in the Zone "pretty much" ever since Clark put him there, and also to meeting Supergirl in her future, suggesting he has had 20th/21st century adventures since.
In the Action Comics storyline "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes", Mon-El is mentioned to be have been banished to the Phantom Zone by the Justice League of Earth. He is recovered by his teammates in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds. However, his physiology had been reset during his time in the Zone, meaning that Brainiac 5 had to re-administer the anti-lead serum to Mon-El.
In Superman #685, Mon-El is freed from the Phantom Zone in the 21st Century by Superman after requesting to escape the Phantom Zone while it was in the process of self destructing. Mon-El is then cured of his lead poisoning thanks to a cure left by the Legion for him. Superman asks for Mon-El to stay and protect Metropolis temporarily while he goes to New Krypton. Martha Kent gives Mon-El a human alias, Jonathan Kent while he is staying in Metropolis, saying that he is "Clark's cousin from London", due to his strange accent.
It has been announced that Mon-El will soon join the Justice League, wearing a modified Superman S-Shield.[1]Powers and Abilities
Powers
Daxamite Physiology: Lar has got powers that are native to all Daxamites if they where in a solar system with a yellow sun, similar to Kryptonians.
- Longevity
- Light Gravity Augmentation: Like Superboy, born on a giant world with a heavy gravity, Mon-El's muscles automatically become super-strong in Earth's light gravity. From this source, Mon-El also acquires his super-strength, super-breath, super-speed and flying.
- Superhuman Strength
- Superhuman Speed
- Superhuman Breath
- Superhuman Stamina
- Flight: While in atmoshpere Mon-El flies at typically supersonic speeds but can at least fly at speeds near that of light while in space.
- Soler Radiation Absorption: Born under the influence of Daxam's red sun, the ultra solar rays of Earth's yellow sun can super-energize his brain and five senses to give him other, non-muscular, super-powers, such as super-senses and mental powers, x-ray vision, telescopic vision, microscopic vision, super-hearing, super-memory and super-calculations.
- Invulnerability: Also, yellow-sun rays, which only tan Earth people's skin, harden Mon-El's skin like steel. Neither radium rays, nor lightning, nor fire can harm him, making him virtually invulnerable.
- Superhuman Senses
Weaknesses
Vision Limitation: Mon-El's x-ray vision cannot penetrate lead or lead-lined walls. It also cannot penetrate inertron, the most indestructible substance in the 31st century universe. The heat of his x-ray vision cannot melt lead, unless it is a very thin lining.
Magic: Mon-El is also vulnerable to magic.
Lead: Unlike Kryptonians, whose super-powers are driven from them by the radioactive remnants of their home world, a Daxamite's major weakness is his vulnerability to lead, which does not exist on their planet. Another difference is that, while Green Kryptonite can eventually kill Kryptonians after prolonged exposure, once it is removed the pain eases and the Kryptonian's strength and powers eventually return to him/her. For Mon-El, any exposure to lead causes pain and weakness permanently, even after he is taken to safety. Before a cure was found, Mon-El had to stay in the Phantom Zone, without a corporal body, in order to stay alive. He was only ever able to exit the Zone permanently after Brainiac 5 invented an "anti-lead serum".
See Also
- Discuss Lar Gand (New Earth) on the forums
- Appearances of Lar Gand (New Earth)
- Character Gallery: Lar Gand (New Earth)
- Fan-Art Gallery: Lar Gand (New Earth)
- Quotations by Lar Gand (New Earth)
- Images featuring Lar Gand (New Earth)
Links and References
Footnotes
- ↑ Ching, Albert (25 July 2009). SDCC 09: DCU LIVE! Robinson's JLA Line-up Named. Retrieved on 28 July 2009.
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