[1] From the character's debut in 1993 to 2003, Superboy was depicted as a genetically-engineered metahuman clone of human origin designed by Paul Westfield of Project Cadmus as a duplicate and equivalent of Superman, though released before he had fully matured.

Writer Karl Kesel and artist Tom Grummett envisioned a contemporary take on Superboy that would appeal to Generation X/Millennial readers as well as a character both creators would have fun working on, which they did.

The aura was translated into a telekinetic field for a human that would give the clone the ability to simulate Superman's powers such as flight, invulnerability, and strength.

Superboy decided to stay on the islands, stylizing himself as the "Hero of Hawaii.” He rejoined Cadmus and began working as a field agent with Dubbilex and Guardian.

Superboy was unaffected by the post-Zero Hour retcons that took place in the larger DC Universe, and instead his issue #0 featured an expanded look at his origin story, following his escape from Cadmus Labs.

[12] Although Young Justice's first mission was the rescuing of Secret, the group did not officially form until an incident in which the world's adult population was kidnapped and transfers them to a copy Earth, by a pre-teen with godlike powers.

Although Superboy and Robin begin with an argumentative relationship similar to the one shared by Superman & Batman as well as leadership struggles, they became allies and best friends.

After the new team gathers at Titans Tower in San Francisco Bay, it is revealed via an email sent to Robin that Superboy's human DNA is not from Paul Westfield but from Superman's archenemy Lex Luthor.

It's revealed that he was mistaken for Clark Kent and taken to the 31st century, where he was dumped once his true identity was realized, he then fought alongside the Legion of Super-Heroes for the remainder of his time there.

In this alternate future, Conner has greater control of his powers, Cassie chooses him over Captain Marvel Jr., Lex Luthor is his mentor/father figure, and the Titans are "freakin' bad guys".

Not long afterward, Lex Luthor is able to co-opt Conner to reach his "full potential", which results in a brutal, mind-controlled attack by Superboy that levels the Titans.

[17][18][19] Along with Alexander Luthor Jr., another survivor of the previous Crisis, they wish to reconstruct the DC Universe in their image after determining that the heroes they have been observing did not meet their standards of heroism.

[20][21] In Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds (2008), Starman recovers Conner's corpse and places him in a Kryptonian healing chrysalis, enabling him to be resurrected in the 31st century.

As clones were generally hated by Kryptonians, H'El believes this act will prove his loyalty to Krypton, but it instead triggers conflict between him and Superman, who does not want to kill Kon-El.

During their battle, Jon Lane Kent is seriously injured, but then Kon-El falls through a portal and is transported to Krypton's Argo City in the past, days before the planet's destruction.

During the story, Kon-El uses the last of his powers to lift Argo City off of the dying Krypton, saving it so that a young Supergirl can arrive on Earth just as history records.

Meanwhile, in Teen Titans, the unconscious and injured Jon Lane Kent is recovered by the Beast Boy and Rose Wilson of the future timeline.

Despite being Jon Lane Kent, the future Beast Boy and Rose Wilson hide this and dress him in Kon-El's costume for their own purposes.

[22] Following the Convergence event which restored the original pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths (1984) multiverse, and brought back Superman and Lois from before the Flashpoint, the New 52 Conner version of Superboy is not seen or heard from again.

In the DC Rebirth era, the mantle of Superboy is held by Jonathan Samuel "Jon" Kent, the son of Kal-El and Lois Lane.

During his time on Gemworld, he befriended a young widower and pretended to be her farmer husband to protect her family from soldiers, and awaited help from his dimension.

[29] Now living in a universe that doesn't remember him, the fully restored Superboy sees no place for himself on Earth and heads into outer space, following a galactic distress call.

[30] Originally, Superboy's only superpower is "tactile telekinesis", a force field that surrounds his body and enables him to telekinetically manipulate objects via touch.

Under Knockout's training, Superboy learned new ways to use his tactile telekinesis such as projecting telekinetic force waves to blast pieces of ground and extending his field to another person.

He also learned a trick from his older and more experienced alternate self, Black Zero, that allowed him to freeze people where they stood if he was touching the same surface that they were standing on.

He also has developed Kryptonian level super strength, as shown when he battled the hugely powerful Superboy-Prime and even managed to damage him with some of his blows, when some characters such as Black Adam could not.

[41] Superboy, like Superman, derives his Kryptonian powers from the absorption of solar energy from the Earth's yellow sun, and he is as vulnerable to Kryptonite and magic as is the Man of Steel.

[15] A recent issue of Adventure Comics explained that since his return to life, he had been trained in the use of heightened mental blocks to defend against mind control and influences, such as the brainwashing Luthor used on him.

It was with this training that he was able to briefly pierce the control of the Black Lantern ring, using his heat vision to give Wonder Girl the clue needed to free him from it.

[62] IGN also ranked Superboy as the 83rd greatest comic book hero of all time, stating, "This genetic clone of Superman and Lex Luthor often bears the weight of the world on his burly shoulders.