On the planet Krypton, Jor-El of the Kryptonian high council discovers that the planet will be destroyed when it drifts out of its orbit towards its red supergiant sun. The other council members dismiss his claims. To save Kal-El, his infant son, Jor-El sends him in a spaceship to Earth, where his dense molecular structure will give him superhuman strength and other powers. Krypton, thereafter, is destroyed.
The ship lands near Smallville, Kansas. Kal-El, now three Earth years old, is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who are astonished when he lifts their truck. They decide to raise him as their own, naming him Clark after Martha's maiden name. Jonathan tells the boy that he must have been sent to Earth for "a reason".
