*Unnecessary disclaimer that Superman is a character belonging to DC comics not, surprising as it may seem, me*
An alien ship bearing a single passenger appeared in the heavens before plummeting to Earth to come to rest in a great grassland near a solitary homestead. It would be many years before this one survivor of a world-shattering cataclysm would come to know the meaning of his survival.
"I'm tired of safe," Clark grumbled from the passenger seat. "I just wanna do something useful with my life."
Jonathan Kent glanced at his son, suppressing a grin and an eyeroll at the dark hair flopping into his surly teenaged eyes. "So farming, feeding people. That's not useful?"
"I didn't say that," Clark sulked.
"Our family's been farming for five generations."
"Your family, not mine."
Both Jonathan and Martha sighed; this argument had grown old in the few years since they'd told Clark the truth about his heritage.
"I don't even know why I'm listening to you," Clark continued. "You're not my dad. You're just some guy who found me in a field."
"Clark."
"It's all right, Martha. He's right." Affirmation, chapter two of Positive Parenting. "Clark has a point. We're not your parents. But we're doing the best we can. And we've been making this up as we go along, so maybe..." Jonathan braked as traffic suddenly slowed. He peered ahead, looking for the holdup. "Maybe our best isn't good enough any more," he half-mumbled.
"Look, Dad..."
"Hold on." Jonathan stared at the sky as his heart skipped a beat. There was a twister forming barely a mile ahead. He put the car in park and opened the door, the rest of the family following suit, argument forgotten. Other commuters were already running away from the storm. He whipped around, remembering the overpass with relief. He tapped Clark, who was still staring in shock, bravado evaporating. "Go for the overpass." The wind was already whipping up, and he corralled his family. "Go for the overpass!" Another panicked family stumbled towards him. He half-shoved them towards the overpass. "Take cover! Take cover!" He helped an older woman from her car. "Over there. Just follow them... Take cover!" He noticed a young mother struggling with a car seat and hurried over.
"She's stuck," she said frantically. He helped extract the toddler.
Dimly, over the shouting and the wind, Jonathan heard Martha's voice, and his stomach clenched. "Hank's still in the car. Hank's in the car."
"I'll get him, I'll get him," Clark said. Jonathan could hear a note of fear in his son's voice- the boy thought he could do anything, but he was still just... a boy. He would do amazing things one day, but not yet. Jonathan Kent ran towards his wife and son and thrust the squalling toddler into Clark's startled arms.
"No, no. Get your mom to the overpass." He turned back towards the car and the huge tornado touching down not a mile away, but Martha grabbed his arm.
"No, Jon," she said quietly, tugging him towards the uncertain safety of the overpass. "It's too late."
"I'll get him," Clark repeated. "I can do it." He was pale but determined.
"No," Jonathan said, pulling both of them to the overpass, trying to ignore his poor dog howling behind him.
"Dad..."
"No," Martha said. "That twister's too close. This ends one of three ways: you get over there and free Hank but either die in the storm with the dog or reveal yourself. Your dad gets over there and dies with the dog. Or we all go to the overpass and lose Hank, but perhaps survive with all the other people huddling over there."
"But-"
"Clark, an overpass is not safe in a storm this strong!" she cried. "You may well have to reveal yourself, but it will be to save everyone, not to risk yourself!"
Clark glared at her, but said nothing more as they hurried to the overpass and relinquished the toddler to his mother. Jonathan looked back at the storm, starting to pick up cars on the highway and realized his wife was right. This overpass wasn't safe at all. Even in smaller storms, it would really only help to protect from falling debris. This tornado was a monster that could easily rip the road itself out. He glanced at Clark, who was still staring at their car, where Hank must still be cowering.
Slowly, Clark bent down and picked up a stone from the edge of the roadway. He straightened, hefted the stone once, and threw it. It flew straight and true and fast as a bullet, completely shattering the glass of the back seat. "Hank!" he yelled over the storm. The dog jumped through the window and bolted towards them, howling. Martha burst into relieved tears, crouching to meet him with a hug.
Jonathan took a deep breath, feeling a little dizzy. Was the pressure changing? He started gesturing to some of the people around him. "Up there... Up on the slope, close to the top as we can get..." Clark and some others took up the message, shepherding the group to crouch in the eaves. And they waited, watching as the twister flung vehicles from its path. A soul-shattering thump set off some screams: something crashing into the roadway above them. The wind beat against them like a rip current. Clark shifted around until he was at the very front of the group, one more windbreak. Then Jonathan saw a car floating toward the group. "Clark!" His son stepped towards the missile, stopping it with his shoulder, then holding it place to protect the group. More screams.
...The wind whistled and howled, but moved past. They watched the tornado move on down the road, shedding vehicles and other debris. It shifted course and raced out of Jonathan's view. After a few minutes, someone on the other side of the group commented, "It's goin' back up." A collective sigh swept the group. "But there's another smaller one way far off. It's not coming this way, but..." but another one could. No one moved just yet.
No one was staring at Clark though, at least not yet. Jonathan turned to look at his son, and realized luck was with them. Clark was surreptitiously supporting the sideways car with one hand and petting Hank with the other, but the top edge of the car was actually resting against one of the struts supporting the pavement above them. It was dark enough in the shadows and the overcast skies that, in all likelihood, no one would realize what Clark had done. Clark looked up and met his eyes, expression unreadable. Jonathan had the unmistakable feeling that something had irreversibly shifted between them. Both he and Martha had been willing to sacrifice the dog they had loved for a decade for the safety of their son. Of course they were. But their son was destined to be something more. He had found the solution, but he would not forget this day. Jonathan could practically feel the future pressing on his heart. Eventually, inevitably, Clark would face this situation again and would have to choose who to save: innocent people, his loved ones, or himself.
Or maybe it wouldn't come to that. Clark was special. He had the power to do great things and he, at least at this point in his young life, wanted to save everybody. For years, Jonathan had been deliberately restraining his son, afraid that allowed to fly too soon, the boy would fall. Or more importantly, he would be taken away by a government that could not be trusted with an innocent individual. He would be molded into a weapon. His compassionate spirit would die, because no one with a power like Clark's could survive the greedy machinations of the state unscathed... But here, Clark had actually done something extraordinary. He had heeded his father's advice and not revealed the extent of his powers, despite having every reason to do so. Yet he had not agreed to sacrifice even a dog's life for his own, as both Jonathan and Martha had admonished. He had recognized the wisdom of discretion but refused to yield his morality in the heat of the moment. Instead, he struck the perfect middle ground and found the subtler solution. Yes, today was a day of transition for their family, Jonathan realized. One day, Clark would choose to be something more than a farmer in Kansas, and it was now his parents' job to let him, to help him learn about his powers and his history, and to help him stay safe.
They couldn't hide forever.
Several years later, a second alien ship appeared in the skies above Earth. This time, it did not bear a single refugee; it was a ship of war, for what else might you name a mobile prison for military officers? General Zod of Krypton led this band of war criminals. He was looking for Kal El, last son of Krypton. He was looking for Clark Kent, though he didn't know it.
"What do I do, Dad?" Clark said quietly, as the family watched the news broadcast, listening again for the summons from the aliens. His kin.
"I don't know, Clark."
"I can't trust them. General Zod at least was known to my father's hologram." (Jonathan and Martha had helped Clark track every alien conspiracy they heard of until they finally struck gold and discovered the secret of the Fortress of Solitude, last gift of Jor El for his son, Kal El.) "He was a radical on Krypton, and he's threatening war here..."
"You should consult with Jor El again, Clark," Martha said. "You need to know what this Zod's goals are. Then we will know the best course of action to keep everyone safe, including you."
Clark nodded. "And I can get that information to the military with Lois' help. I'd like to use her as an intermediary for now, at least. I'm as much an alien as these others so far as the government knows." Clark's adoptive parents had successfully instilled a degree of wariness in their son. He was a prudent young man, though decisive when it mattered. He had been making regular use of his powers on a small scale already, racing to help in disaster scenarios around the world. Always, though, he was discreet. He preferred to divert catastrophe rather than combat its effects, and he remained in the shadows doing it. As of yet, no credible witnesses had created any rumors of a incredibly fast and strong young god working miracles in a cape. Martha Kent spent several hours scouring the internet every day for signs he had been discovered. "Sounds like a plan, or at least a place to start. I'll be back in a few hours." He shoved an elderly Hank off his lap, walked out the door and took to the skies, both parents watching proudly from their window.
That very day, Clark visited the Fortress of Solitude. He learned everything he could about the biographies, politics, and crimes of General Zod and his long companions. He relayed all of this information to the UN Security Council via Lois Lane and her DC connections. He learned in turn of government atmospheric surveillance data revealing General Zod had acquired an unusual ship quite unlike the description Jor El had offered of the prison vessel. A second visit to the Fortress of Solitude revealed this was likely a piece of terraforming equipment with rather destructive capabilities. By the evening, Clark had settled on a plan to first reason with Zod, then if that failed disable his machine and capture him, with the help of the US military (although they were not aware that the alien technology would in fact be destroyed, not disabled). By the morning, Zod had heard and refused a prerecorded peace overture from Kal El, Superman had revealed himself to the world, and Clark was quietly using his heat vision to burn through every key circuit on the gravity drill, holding his breath against the vacuum of space. Zod noticed before he was completely finished and attacked quite viciously, but their epic clash was fortunately confined to the upper stratosphere, where Clark had a clear advantage once he broke Zod's air helmet. Conveniently, they did finish destroying the drill by accident. The other Kryptonians were more reasonable; recognizing the collapse of their plans to terraform Earth into a second Krypton, the chief of Zod's lieutenants defected in the midst of battle, helping to contain Zod's rage so everyone could reach the safety of terra firma. Zod was taken into military custody and confined in a secret bunker below ground (which was fortuitous, as it cut off his access to sunlight and attendant superpower potential). The other Kryptonians were questioned but released under house arrest pending full review of their cases. Superman became a celebrity overnight, and it was a role Kal El/Clark Kent was uniquely suited to. Everything was beautiful, and no one died.
Author's Note: That last line is a mutated Kurt Vonnegut reference. Anyhow, this thing was inspired by the wonderful Toast series, Children's Stories Made Horrific, and its companion series, Horrifying Children's Stories Made Comforting and Anodyne. Both these series are hilarious and highly recommended (my favorite is Curious George, with Stockholm Syndrome). In rather a lot of popular stories with tragic or even semi-tragic character arcs, a lot of the problems come from characters acting in irrational (though often emotionally correct) ways-in Man of Steel, I think the untimely death of Jonathan Kent and Clark's subsequent guilt informed rather a lot of the rest of the plot, including the ending that left so many fans cold. I actually did like the movie pretty well, much better than the DC team-up movies have been, though WonderWoman was better.
Incidentally, I do have another Children's Stories Made Comforting and Anodyne: the Loki edition (it shouldn't be hard to guess which scene I rewrote for that).