Mon-El is a
native of the planet
Daxam and is a longtime friend of Superman. His real name is Lar Gand and he is fully aware that Clark Kent is secretly Superman.
Arriving on the planet Earth
while Superman was still a teen-ager in
Smallville (see Superboy), Mon-El discovered that, in the alien environment of Earth,
he possessed super-powers identical to Superman's.
Soon afterward, however,
he was completely robbed of his super-powers as the result of a
potentially fatal overexposure to lead, which affects Daxamites in the
same manner as Kryptonite affects Kryptonians.
To halt the physical
deterioration wrought by the lead poisoning and thus save Mon-El's life,
Superboy (the young Superman) projected his friend into the Phantom Zone.
He will remain there
unaging, until the thirtieth century A.D., when, thanks to a special
"antidote serum" developed by Brainiac 5, he will be released from the
Phantom Zone permanently to assume a regular role in the Legion of
Super-Heroes.
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