Superman Movieverse Forum

2017
Laura thought her daughter’s eyes couldn’t get any larger. Samantha adored Wonder Woman. She had the action figures, the sheets, even the pajamas. Samantha Kendall might not be Wonder Woman’s biggest fan, but she was close. Very close.

Jay nodded politely to the superhero. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, your highness,” he said formally. He turned to his mother. “I’ll go see how Dad’s doing.” With that he disappeared – not quite literally but close enough.

Laura watched Diana watching Jay.

“Fine looking boy. I see he takes after his father more each day,” Diana said. “You must be proud.”

“Of course. I’m proud of both my children,” Laura said pointedly. “But that’s not why you’re here.”

Diana sighed. “Very true. I was sent to ask Charles what his plans were, assuming Luthor is no longer a threat to you and the children.”

“Don’t you mean what our plans were?” Laura asked. “It’s not just his decision.”

“My apologies,” Diana said. “What are your plans?”

It was Laura’s turn to sigh. “I don’t know yet. We’ve waited so long for this, but we never really thought it would happen. We both thought Luthor would hang on forever just to spite us.”

“But if he is gone?” Diana insisted. “I can understand why Charles has refused to allow Jay to reveal himself openly…”

“Mom? Why don’t Dad and Jay want to admit they’re meta-humans, like Flash and Atom?” Samantha interrupted.

Samantha may have only been eight, but she was smart and observant. Of course, that was to be expected. Samantha was the daughter of two of the, formerly, top investigative journalists in the country. Laura had no doubt Samantha would grow up to be anything she wanted – maybe even an investigative journalist. She certainly had the curiosity for it.

“I know they both do some when they don’t think anybody’s watching,” the girl added.

“You noticed that?” Laura asked, not sure if she should be alarmed or not. Definitely an investigator of some sort.

Samantha nodded.

“You remember Dad and me talking about a crazy man named Luthor?” Laura asked.

“Yeah. He’s the guy who tried to kill you and Jay and Dad. That’s why we can’t go visit Aunt Lucy or Grandma Elinor in Metropolis.”

“Luthor poisoned your dad so he couldn’t do special stuff,” Laura explained. “It took a long time for him to recover. And we didn’t want Luthor to know.”

“Oh,” Samantha said. Her forehead creased in thought. “Will I be able to do meta stuff like Dad and Jay?”

“Most likely,” Diana said.

“Sweet,” the girl said with a grin.  She grabbed some cookies from the cookie jar and stuffed one into her mouth.  It seemed Samantha was always hungry these days. Jay had gone through a similar phase at the same age.

“Mom, who did Dad used to be before Luthor hurt him?” she asked around a mouthful of crumbs.

“Superman,” Charlie said from the doorway. He smelled of smoke.

Samantha gave him a wondering look. “And who are you now?”

“Your father,” he said, ruffling her dark hair. “And it’s not polite to talk with your mouth full.”

2008
“You are so dead,” Laura screamed at her husband.  “Aaugh!”  Another contraction rolled over her.

“Remember your breathing, Lo,” Charlie reminded her as the obstetrician checked her progress. “Pant… pant…”

“Just a couple more pushes,” the doctor told them. “The baby’s crowning. You’re almost there.”

“Push, Lo. Push,” Charlie urged. Sweat rolled off her face. He took a cloth and wiped her forehead. She gritted her teeth and grabbed his hand harder.

“We’re almost there,” the doctor assured them. “Just a little more.”

Laura laid back to rest for a moment until the next contraction hit. She’d climbed mountains, fought thugs, went through Special Forces training as a teenager but nothing had prepared her for the level of work she was doing now. Even giving birth to Jason had been easier. Of course she’d been eight years younger then. She steeled herself for the next bout.

“Push, you can do it!” Charlie urged her. Then there was a new sound in the room, a wail of outrage from between her legs. The doctor held up a wriggling, bloody, slimy body with four flailing limbs and placed it on Lois’s belly.

“Congratulations. You have a daughter,” the doctor said.

Laura propped herself up on her elbows, ignoring the pain from the I.V., and looked down at the cause of all her recent pain and sweat. She counted the fingers and toes – everything was in its proper place.

“Would you like to cut the cord?” the doctor asked Charlie, handing him a pair of surgical scissors. Charlie snipped the purple-red cord at the point the doctor indicated.

One of the assistants bundled the baby into the towel and whisked her over to a nearby table to be checked out and cleaned up. “Weight seven pounds, ten ounces, Apgar score 9,” the assistant announced. “She’s a strong little girl. What’s her name?”

“Samantha… Samantha Johanna Kendall,” Laura told her. “After her grandfathers.”

Laura watched Charlie looking down in awe at the newborn in the nurse’s arms. He fairly glowed with pride and joy as he took the baby from the nurse and brought her back to his wife. This is what he had missed the first time – the joy and terror of being there when a new life came into the world. A new life he was responsible for.

Charlie’s eyes were bright as he looked at them. Samantha had latched onto a nipple and even though Laura’s milk wouldn’t come in for a bit, she seemed to be happy suckling. Laura grabbed Charlie with her free arm and pulled him into a hug.

“She’s beautiful,” Charlie murmured, kissing her hair and caressing the dark fuzzy down on their daughter’s head.



Unlike Jason before her, baby Samantha was an ‘easy’ child. She slept through the night at an early age, and even though she was precocious in walking and talking, she didn’t seem to get into quite as much trouble as Jason did when he was a toddler. Of course, a good deal of the relative ease was having an extra set of hands around. Jay was an attentive and helpful big brother. It was also helpful that a small town was far less stressful than the newsroom of a great metropolitan newspaper. And a father with even a few ‘super’ powers was good to have around when dealing with a toddler with a gift for trouble.

Laura’s work hours were regular and so were Charlie’s for the most part. Charlie’s classes were popular with the students and he was hired on full time as soon as there was an opening.

He was there for Samantha’s first steps and her first words were, predictably, ‘dada’.

Laura’s second mystery-thriller, the first as L.J. Kendall, was published when Samantha was three. Like her first novel, this one was well received by critics and readers. Laura became a minor celebrity around town. The extra money didn’t hurt either.

That was also the year Charlie’s mom died.

“She never really recovered from losing the farm like that and being forced to move away from Smallville,” Ben said later, after the funeral.

“I’m sorry,” Charlie said.

“Don’t be. It wasn't your doing and she got to know her grandkids. Until you came back and found out about Jay, she never thought she’d see grandkids,” Ben said. “She was really proud of you, you know, and not just because of… you know.”

“I know.”

Ben looked down at the brass urn that contained his wife’s ashes. “She wanted to be buried next to Jonathan.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Charlie assured him.

That night Laura awoke to find the space next to her empty. Charlie was standing at the window in the darkness, looking out at the sky.

“Charlie? Is something wrong?”

“Bruce called. Another family was found dead. This one was in Florida. He said the physical resemblance to us was remarkable.”

“So, is Luthor pulling the strings, or is someone murdering our look-alikes to try to pick up the contract?” Laura asked.

Charlie shook his head. “Bruce is fairly certain Luthor doesn’t have access to the outside. So that only leaves people trying to pick up a couple million for a triple murder. That’s assuming Luthor was in a position to pay.”

“There’s something else, isn’t there?”

He didn’t speak for a long moment. “I was having a dream about flying like the old days. When I woke up, I was floating.”

Laura hunted in the dark for her robe at the foot of the bed. She moved to stand beside him, leaning against him for comfort – his or her own she wasn't quite sure.

Early in their ordeal she had prayed for the return of his unique abilities. She’d seen how hurt and helpless he felt when watching the TV coverage of disasters he might have been able to prevent if Superman was still around. She had many of the same feelings when watching the news or reading newspapers – even her beloved Daily Planet. So many obvious leads that hadn’t been followed, so much corruption that hadn’t been exposed to the light of day. So many things she could have done…

“I never took her flying,” Charlie murmured. “My own mother and I never took her flying. There was never time, and then… I miss her so much. Does it ever stop hurting?”

Laura sighed. It hadn’t been so bad for her when her father died. She and the General hadn’t been all that close over the years – but his death still hurt. There had been so many things left unsaid between them. Laura doubted there had been much left unsaid between Charlie and his mom.

“I know it sounds like mindless platitudes,” Laura said softly, “but there will always be an empty space in your heart that’s exactly her size and shape. But after a while the sharp edges will soften and you’ll be able to remember all the good things without it hurting so badly. And I know you have a lot of good memories of her and your dad. Just hold on to them.”

He put his arm around her and leaned his cheek on the top of her head. “Have I told you recently how much I love you?”

“Not in the last couple minutes.”

“I would have let you go with Richard, you know,” he said after another long silence. “If Luthor hadn’t forced the issue I would have stood by and watched you marry him.”

“I was engaged to him for five years,” she reminded him. “The betting pool over in Sports wasn't on when I’d marry him but when he’d realize it was never going to happen. I think Polly won that one. She figured that I’d be dead before he figured it out. Mel over in Business would have won the other pool. He had down ‘car bomb’ as the cause of Lois Lane’s death.”

“What do you think they’re betting on now?”

“Who knows? Maybe when Luthor kicks off?”

“Once the League finds out about… they’re going to be pushing for me to be more involved with them,” Charlie said. “I’m not sure that’s wise. But I can’t just stand by and do nothing if I have the ability to do something.”

“Superman’s dead.”

“I know. And he’s going to stay dead.”

“You could run for city council.”

That brought a chuckle. “I want solve problems, not become one.”



Doctor Klein’s tests confirmed that Charlie’s body had finally fought through most of the effects of Luthor’s poison. His power levels were only a fraction of his previous abilities – he wasn't nearly as fast as the Flash and Wonder Woman could probably beat him in a fair fight but he was still unnaturally strong, he could fly, he could see through things and he was nearly invulnerable. With time there was a chance he would regain his former power levels.

Superman had bared his face to the world. He wore bright colors so he could be seen and recognized as someone who had nothing to hide. Few had realized it at the time that it was his human alter ego that wore the mask.

Pax wore dark gray and his hands and upper face were covered, even his eyes. Unlike most of the other costumed heroes he wore a cape. He refused to speak to the media, reserving his rare utterances for the emergency workers on the scene.

His first appearance was at a wild fire that was threatening a Los Angeles suburb. Fire crews had been working on that section of the fire for at least a day and had thought it was under control until the wind whipped up and the fire jumped the freeway. It was Pax who determined the fire had been arson to cover up a murder. In a moment of cosmic justice, it appeared that the arsonist had died as well, caught in the fire when it ran out of control.

The press had a field day. Speculation ran rampant about the new superhero. The most popular theories were that Pax was either a clone of Superman or Superman’s son – the one Luthor had raved about in the Daily Planet newsroom before he murdered Clark Kent. Neither Pax nor the League confirmed anything.

One thing the press didn’t seem to notice was that Pax rarely appeared in the daytime in the U.S. Nor did he stay at disasters for days on end the way Superman had occasionally done. Pax flew in, took care of the job, and disappeared.

Being a school teacher didn’t afford Charlie Kendall the same freedom to disappear as Clark Kent had as a reporter. And being a parent meant he refused to be on call the way many of the League members seemed to be.

Lex Luthor was furious when he found out about Pax.

“They actually had to sedate him,” Bruce told Laura with a chuckle when he called her at her office. “He was ranting about Pax really being Superman in disguise.”

“No one believes him, do they?” Laura asked.

“I’m told the Inquisitor thinks it’s a possibility. After all, Superman’s tomb is empty. They’ve put out a reward for a recording of Pax’s voice so it can be compared to Superman’s.”

“What happens if they succeed?”

“I trust that Pax is more careful than that,” Bruce said.

After a while the press furor died down. Superheroes were becoming old hat.

When Samantha was five more of Jay’s powers began to manifest. Charlie was out of town at a seminar on teaching the Talented and Gifted – appropriate considering both Jay and Samantha tested out as gifted – when the first incident occurred.

“Mom!” Jay yelled from his bedroom that morning. Laura ran in to find Jay sitting on his bed in his pajamas, his eyes screwed shut.

“What’s wrong?” she demanded. “Open your eyes so I can see what’s wrong.”

“No!” Jay wailed. “My eyes started burning and…” He pointed to the wall by the door. Laura turned to see scorch marks. Jay’s favorite Superman poster was blackened.

Heat vision?

“My eyes are still burning,” Jay said in a whisper.

“Stay right here and I’ll be right back for you,” Laura ordered. She ran into the bathroom Jay shared with Samantha and pulled out as much of the flammables as she could, dumping them on the floor of the hallway. Then she started running cold water into the bathtub. She breathed a silent prayer of thanks that when they remodeled the bathroom two years before they left the old cast iron tub in place. Cast iron burned a lot less easily than acrylic.

Laura grabbed all the ice cube trays from the freezer and dumped the ice into the tub before bringing Jay into the bathroom.

“My eyes are still burning,” he complained.

“I want you to look into the tub and open your eyes,” Laura ordered. She wished Charlie was home. It was unlikely Jay would be able to hurt him.

“But I might hurt you!” Jay protested.

“I’ll be standing behind you,” Laura assured him. “Just look into the tub.”

Suddenly the tub erupted with steam. The ice water was boiling. After a few moments the heat seemed to turn down although steam was still rising from the water.

“Feeling better?” Laura asked, waving steam away from her face.

“I… um… I don’t know what happened,” Jay said.

“I suspect your powers are coming in,” Laura said. She expected him to be surprised by her statement.

“You think so?” he asked instead. He sounded pleased.

Laura scowled at her son. “You don’t sound surprised that you might be developing super powers.”

“Mom, I’ve known about Dad and Superman since I was five,” Jay said. “In fact, I figured it out the first day I met him back in Metropolis. What I couldn’t figure out was why nobody else had figured it out.”

“Preconception and misdirection,” Laura said. “Nobody was looking to see Superman in a suit and tie working in an office because Superman never indicated he did anything other than fly around rescuing people.”

“Nobody except Luthor was looking, you mean,” Jay reminded her.

“Nobody except Luthor,” Laura agreed. “I don’t think anyone figured out how he figured it out. Maybe he had a way of tracking Superman. If he did he hasn’t let anyone else know about it.”

“Do you think I’ll end up with all of Dad’s abilities?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you think Dad’s happy being Pax?”

“How do you…” Laura almost sputtered. She and Charlie had tried to keep Jay and Samantha from knowing about Charlie’s other job. Both adults knew that secrets were a hard thing for children to understand or keep.

Jay grinned at her. “Mom, I’m Superman’s son, remember? I promise I won’t tell Sam about Dad being Pax. I mean, she’s just a little kid.”