Disclaimer: I don't own Superman or any related DC comics or Marvel properties, all rights belong to their respective owners. I'm just a big fan. Also this is NOT my story as this story belongs "choejhulkp9" on Fanfiction.net and Deviantart. So the whole credit goes to him. Please give him your support.
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The vast emptiness of space seemed to go on for infinity. It wonders both amaze and strike trepidation in those lucky to see it with a vast number of worlds and stars to call it home. No one knows all its wonders but one being does.
A strange being with glowing white eyes, a large cranium, and flowing blue cape could be seen as existence itself was born.
"Time…"
The shimmering image of a man in a black metal suit with a distinct cat-inspired helmet appeared through beams of light. It was the Black Panther of Wakanda.
"Space…"
A blonde woman in red and blue armor with a star emblem on her chest appeared. She stood proud with her hands on her waist. Carol Danvers otherwise known as Captain Marvel.
"Reality…"
The red and gold clad Armored Avenger. Tony Stark AKA Iron Man in the Iron Man Armor mark 85.
"It's more than a linear path."
Thor Odinson of Asgard and Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow appeared followed by Steve Rogers AKA Captain America before a crack in the shimmer of light split into various points of view of different people.
"It's a prism of…endless possibilities."
Said crack began to multiply into more cracks as other people began to appear.
"Where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities."
The cracks then broke apart like pieces of a puzzle with each piece no matter how big or small showing a unique moment of time for various people. One showed Peggy Carter going about her business as usual at the SSR during World War 2 while another showed the Hulk fighting off against the Abomination when two new viewpoints crossed paths with them. They showed Peggy Carter garbed in combat gear and wielding a shield while the other showed the Hulk fighting off against an army of Zombies. There were millions if not billions of other worlds in a literal endless void of possibility.
"Creating alternate worlds from the ones you know."
The mystery figure appeared with a bright star over his right eye.
"I am the Watcher. I am your guide through these vast new realities. Follow me and ponder the question…What If…?"
What If…Superman arrived in the MCU?
Origins
The shards of light that showed various worlds began to disappear until one remained. It showed events playing out on earth with various individuals who came together to form Earth's Mightiest heroes.
"What makes someone a hero?"
The Watcher asked as the events of this earth played out. They showed the once uncaring Billionaire playboy Tony Stark change after a moment of clarity in an Afghan cave and become Iron Man.
"Is it what they do?"
Another image showed Steve Rogers as Captain America fighting against Hydra and the German Army in World War 2.
"Is it what they stand for?"
New images showed Thor reclaim his right to Mjolnir after experiencing true humanity and humble himself, culminating in his final selfless act to sacrifice himself for others. Dr. Bruce Banner coming to terms with the beast within after years on the run to use the Hulk for good. Clint Barton willing to fight alongside the Avengers and to give up his life for the Soul Stone to help bring back people after Thanos snapped them out of existence. Natasha Romanoff trying to become more than just the assassin the Red Room trained her to be and be something better with SHIELD and then the Avengers.
"Is it the challenges, pain, and loss they overcome that allows them to walk through darkness and still have light in their heart? Is it something you learn to be?"
New images showed Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier committing assassinations under his mind control before it fast forwarded to his future and showed him fighting alongside Sam Wilson, the new Captain America and making amends for all the death he caused. Matt Murdock learning to use his blindness as a power and protect the people of Hell's Kitchen. Despite the inner darkness he had to face and trials of what he did, he rose to assume his mantle of Daredevil. Peter Parker, a young high school student learned that his powers came with responsibility.
"Or is it something you are born to be?"
All those images vanished before a new one appeared on a distant planet millions of lightyears from Earth that orbited a red sun.
"One seemingly inconsequential decision…one act changed the fate of an entire species to extinction. It's last surviving son would be humanity's greatest protector. He would stumble…he would fall…but in time…he would lead everyone into the light."
Planet Krypton, Andromeda Galaxy 0BC Earth Time
The harsh conditions of the Planet Krypton along with its red sun had an effect on its inhabitants, both the animals and the Kryptonians who called it home. It was once a world of colonists and explorers who ventured out into the cosmos and colonized other worlds. They were times of peace and plenty but like all good things they must come to an end. Krypton's ruling council implemented artificial population control and their outposts on other worlds were abandoned with the planet's natural resources exhausted to the point of danger. Not only that but the Kryptonians learned a dark secret. Their planet's core held a burgeoning Celestial embryo that was nearing its birth and if that happened then Krypton would be no more.
The Kryptonians have been around for millenniums and in their time they had advanced beyond other species to learn science and secrets that others never even dream of. One such secret was the existence of a group of beings known as Celestials. Many would call them gods and that claim was often not challenged. The Celestials were the oldest race in the universe. Entities with vast matter and energy who were present before the dawn of creation and brought life into existence throughout the cosmos. During the early primitive years of Krypton, the people revered one Celestial as their god and called him Rao. But as time went on and the Kryptonians became more intelligent and scientifically capable, they understood the truth of their god as a Celestial.
To bring new life into the universe, planets are seeded with nascent Celestials which can be born onto planets with intelligent life. Krypton was such a planet and that discovery was the work of Krypton's greatest scientist. Thanks to his efforts, they stopped the Celestial emergence to give their planet time before its end but it was not a joyous occasion. Despite the intervention, Krypton was near its end and its instability would marked the end for its people. What came next would be fear, anger, and the last minute desperation of a man to hold on to what could be saved. But not all was lost as the distinct cries of hope could be heard at the home of Krypton's greatest scientist, Jor-El.
The pained screams of a woman could be heard at the El household as Jor-El's wife struggled with the natural birth of their son. Due to the artificial population control the birthing process was done in Genesis chambers but Jor-El and Lara wanted their son to be Krypton's first natural birth in centuries. Someone unhampered by the birthing pods and incubation chambers who could forge his own destiny and not a path predetermined by the council. Jor-El held Lara's hand as he monitored the baby's progress via his service robots. Despite the tremendous pain, Lara persisted through the birth and soon enough her screams of pain were replaced with the cries of a healthy baby boy.
Jor-El held his son in his arms with pride that only a father could feel. "My son…many years from now when they tell the story of your life. All of your accomplishments and achievements…they'll be telling the story of Kal-El." Jor-El kissed his son on the head before walking over so he and Lara could share this moment. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be a moment to last.
Several days later…
Jor-El called for an immediate emergency session with the ruling council of Krypton to go over his findings and the drastic circumstances they were now under. "Do you not understand what you've done? Halting the emergence buried deep in Krypton's core stopped the celestial birthing process but you were not to harvest its energy! Krypton's core is now collapsing! Why didn't you heed my warning!" Jor-El shouted.
"We needed energy. You, yourself postulated that the energy found in the Celestial gestation could be used for power." A councilmember reminded him.
"Yes but I told you to take no action in trying to extract the cosmic energy until I could do more research. We have no idea what would happen if we stopped the emergence of the Celestial embryo deep in the planet. The Celestial Rao may have blessed Krypton and our space sector with life but we still do not know what dangers we may have brought onto ourselves." Jor-El told them. "We are dealing with forces beyond our control and we may now only have a matter of weeks. I warned you. Halting the Celestials emergence was dangerous and draining the being of its energy has sealed our fates."
"Our energy reserves were exhausted. What would you have us do, Jor-El?" A councilman asked him.
"Look to the stars, like our ancestors did! There are habitable worlds within reach. We can begin by using the old outposts." Jor-El told them.
"As you seriously suggesting that we evacuate the entire planet?" The head councilwoman asked him.
"No. Everyone here is already dead." Jor-El stated. "Give me control of the Codex. I will ensure the survival of our race. There is still hope. I have held that hope in my hands."
[Explosion]
Jor-El and the others were surprised by a sudden explosion that destroyed the council chamber door and produced a thick cloud of smoke. The three guards by the door were quickly gun downed by energy blasters. Through the smoke Jor-El could make out the silhouettes of people before he saw General Zod walk through flanked by members of his own personal regiment. All of them were wearing their armor and carrying weapons. "This council has been disbanded!" Zod announced.
"On whose authority?" The councilwoman was insulted at his presence and interruption.
"Mine." Zod raised his blaster and fired a blast dead center at the councilwoman, killing her. "The rest of you will be tried and punished accordingly!"
Zod nodded to his second, Faora-Ul and she ordered her men to seize the rest of the Council. "What are you doing, Zod? This is madness!" Jor-El told him.
"What I should have done years ago. These lawmakers, with their endless debates, have led Krypton to ruin!" Zod shouted.
"How is this their fault, Zod. We both were part of the decision to halt the Celestial's birth. This is as much on our hands as it is there." Jor-El reminded him.
"Only it wasn't my men who foolishly extracted cosmic energy from the Celestial for fuel. You warned them and I warned them and now our planet is doomed. I've held my tongue and did my duty but no more!" Zod blasted another councilor in anger. "No more will we let this idiotic bureaucrats lead our people to extinction!"
"And if your forces prevail…you'll be the leader of nothing." Jor-El informed him.
"Then join me. Help me save our race my friend." Zod pleaded with Jor-El. "You are Krypton's greatest scientist and the most brilliant man in this entire galaxy of the universe. You alone discovered the truth hidden in our planet's core and you alone devised the process to halt the Celestial emergence and if it weren't for the council then we would have more time. So, join me and use that intellect of yours towards our salvation. We'll start anew. We'll sever the degenerative bloodlines that led us to this state."
Jor-El could see through Zod's words of honey to find the poison underneath. "And who will decide which bloodlines survive, Zod? You?"
"Don't do this, Jor-El. The last thing I want is for us to be enemies." Zod told him.
"You have abandoned the principles that held us together. You've taken up the sword against your own people! I will honor the man you once were, Zod…not this monster you've become." Jor-El answered and Zod was disappointed in his friend.
"Take him away." Zod ordered so three men took him away for detainment. As they walked down the hallway, Jor-El's service robot arrived.
"Sir, is everything all right?"
"Out of the way!" The soldier ordered only for Jor-El to give the drone a subtle nod before closing his eyes. The drone released a bright flash of light that blinded the three soldiers and gave Jor-El his moment to act. Jor-El knocked a gun away and headbutted the soldier on his left before punching the soldier on his right in the side. He grappled with him and knocked him into the third guard before blasting one of the men with an energy blast. He was hit in the face but quickly recovered, kicking out the soldiers leg and then elbowed the soldier behind him before blasting the two of them dead.
"Get me Lara." Jor-El ordered and the drone connected him to his wife.
"Jor. Behind you!"
Jor-El quickly turned and blasted two more of Zod's men. "Lara, you have to ready the launch. I'll be with you as soon as I can."
Jor-El walked out of the Council building and saw a literal civil war being waged between Zod's faction and the part of Krypton's army that stayed loyal to the council he was trying to overthrow. Jor-El called his flying mount and hurried to Krypton's incubation and genesis chamber where Krypton's children were grown. Without fear, Jor-El dove into the chamber and retrieved the Codex which was the skull of an ancient Kryptonian and is the genetic template for every single Kryptonian yet to be born. It's what would allow the Kryptonian race to be reborn and continue onward. After stealing the Codex, he returned to his home where he began readying it to be merged with the DNA of Kal-El. Krypton was dying but there was a chance for his son to survive.
"Kelex, did you put in the coordinates?" Jor-El asked.
"Yes. Planet Earth. Orbiting a yellow sun, just as you said it would." Kelex answered, showing him the galaxy they were sending Kal-El to along with the information they had.
"Earth? The planet your ancestors visited years ago?" Lara asked Jor-El.
"Yes. It orbits a young star which will make Kal-El stronger." Jor-El said as Kelex brought up the scans of the planets lifeforms native to the planet known as Homo-sapiens AKA Terrans AKA Humans.
"But they are so primitive and barbaric." Lara told him.
"We were so different?" Jor-El asked her. "They're a young species but with a capacity for good."
"He'll be an outcast there. A freak. They'll kill him." Lara worried.
"How? He'll be a god to them." Jor-El assured her but Lara was still worried. Whether it was about the planet or just about leaving her child was hard to say. Probably both.
"What if the ship doesn't make it? He'll die out there. Alone." Lara looked down at her son and her heart broke in two. "I can't do it. I thought I could but I just can't."
Jor-El walked over to his wife and held her hands. "Lara…Krypton is doomed. This is his only chance. It's our peoples only hope. I'll upload the Codex."
"No wait…" Lara begged him. "Just let me look at him. We'll never get to see him walk. Never hear him say our names."
"But out there…among the stars, he will live." Jor-El assured her as she kissed Kal-El on the head. Jor-El kissed his son and placed him on a blanket before he activated the infusion process. The Codex was slowly integrated into Kal-Els genetic structure so he now carried with him the future of their race. Once the procedure was complete, Jor-El went to another console and placed his command key inside a slot which opened up a compartment revealing a glowing red rock. It was a sun crystal which was a rock of immense energy more powerful than anything seen in certain parts of the universe. The sun crystal would be the power and key to unlocking the ancient Kryptonian Crystal of Knowledge hidden away on earth. When Kal-El was ready, he would search for it and it would give him everything he would need. "It's time, Kelex."
"It has been an honor, sir." Kelex told Jor-El before he removed Kelex's memory core and liquid geo interface. He placed them inside a small compartment in the capsule along with the sun crystal before closing it. He then inserted his command key into the ship's slot to power it up.
Lara and Jor-El looked at baby Kal-El and committed this sight to memory. "Goodbye my son. Our hopes and dreams travel with you. You will travel far, my little Kal-El but we will never leave you. Even in the face of our deaths." Jor-El gave his son one last kiss as Lara cried tears of sadness and despair. Jor-El pressed the command key in and the capsule was raised into the rocket which would take it to Earth. The planet was 21 million light years away but with the ships phantom drive it would make the trip.
Jor-El donned his family armor and Lara prepped the launch sequence when Zod and two of his men walked in. "I know you stole the Codex, Jor-El. Surrender it and I'll let you live." Zod offered.
"This is a second chance for all of Krypton. Not just the bloodlines you deem worthy." Jor-El stated and Zod sensed he had done something.
"What have you done?"
"We've had a child, Zod. A boy child. Krypton's first natural birth in centuries. And he will be free to forge his own destiny." Jor-El said with all the pride he had as a father.
"Heresy! Destroy it!" Zod ordered but before his two men could open fire, Jor-El shot them dead. Zod and Jor-El engaged in a fist fight with Jor-El managing to hold his own while Lara finished the ignition sequence for the rocket. Jor-El recovered from a punch and kick to the side before putting Zod into a submission hold. Just as Lara was about to launch it, Zod tried to plead with her. "Lara, listen to me! The Codex is Krypton's future! Abort the launch!"
Despite his pleas, she went through with it and the engines on the rocket ignited, taking it out of Jor-El's lab and into the atmosphere. "NO!" Zod shouted in anger before activating his wrist blade and stabbing Jor-El in the stomach. Jor-El felt the life slowly leave his body but his last visage was of his son's pod leaving so he could die in peace. Lara rushed over and knelt beside her husband's body as Zod touched the wound on his head. "Your son, Lara. Where have you sent him?"
"His name…is Kal-El, son of Jor-El. And he is beyond your reach." Lara stated in defiance.
Zod walked out of Jor-El's lab and looked up at the rocket in the sky. "Bring that ship down!" He ordered. One of his men in a Kryptonian starfighter flew after the rocket and locked on to its heat signature but before it could fire it was destroyed by a missile. Zod could only watch helplessly as the rocket engaged its Phantom drive and warped away. Zod and his men were soon surrounded by the Kryptonian army and his coup had failed.
Several Days later...
Zod and his men were restrained and gathered before what was left of the council as well as Lara for their punishment. "General Zod, for the crimes of murder and high treason, the council has sentenced you and your fellow insurgents to exile in the Phantom Zone. Do you have any last words?"
Zod rushed forward in a fit of anger but the guards stopped him in his tracks. "You won't kill us yourself but you'll damn us to a black hole for eternity! Jor-El was right! You're a pack of fools! Every last one of you! And you!" He rushed towards Lara but the guards restrained him. "You believe your son to be safe?! I will find him! I will reclaim what you have taken from us! I will find. I will find him, Lara. I WILL FIND HIM!"
Zod and his 12 surviving conspirators were put into a ship and sent to the Phantom Zone which was prison dimension that Krypton used to house its dangerous criminals and existed outside of time and space. Zod and his men would spend the rest of their lives trapped there in its horror but considering what was going to happen to Krypton it was a blessing in disguise.
Lara placed Jor-El's armor safely away back home before she walked to a nearby window to witness the end of her planet. The planet trembled and volcanoes spewed lava from the ground. Billions of others across the planet fled in terror but there was no place safe. "Lady Lara, shouldn't you find refuge?" Her service robot asked her.
"There is no refuge, Kelor. Jor-El was right. This is the end." Lara watched the collapse of her planet before looking up at the sky with tears of sadness mixed with hope. "Make a better world than ours, Kal." Soon enough she was consumed in fire and the planet Krypton imploded in an explosion of cosmic energy from the dead celestial. The remnants of Krypton were sent out across the universe and where one planet used to be, now asteroids were all that remained.
Soon, a towering red figure shimmered into view to look at the destruction. It was the Celestial known as Arishem. "A waste. This planet's Eternals failed in their goal." Arishem said before he vanished.
The Watcher appeared in the stars and observed Krypton's destruction. Billions of souls gone in an instant. "And like that…an entire species was gone. It's once great people were wiped out by their own doing."
He then watched Kal-El rocket warp through time and space towards earth. Krypton was in the Andromeda Galaxy which was millions of lightyears from the Milky Way. While thousands of years passed in the normal flow of time, the rocket's phantom drive would get it to earth and only three years would pass for little Kal-El. "But a small glimmer of hope still burned bright…and his story would be echoed through eternity."
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