Jor-El is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, Jor-El first appeared in the Superman newspaper comic strip in 1939.
Jor-El is Superman's biological father, the husband of Lara, and a leading scientist on the planet Krypton before its destruction. He foresees his planet's fate but is unable to convince his colleagues in time to rescue most of Krypton's inhabitants. Jor-El is able to save his infant son Kal-El (Superman) by launching him towards Earth in a homemade spaceship just moments before Krypton explodes. When Superman later constructs his headquarters, the Fortress of Solitude, he honors his biological parents with the inclusion of a statue of Jor-El and Lara holding up a globe of Krypton. The fortress also holds a holographic copy of Jor-El's consciousnesses, letting Superman interact with his father for advice and knowledge.
Jor-El was portrayed by Marlon Brando in the films Superman and Superman II. Archival footage cut from the prior films was used with the permission of Brando's estate to insert the deceased Brando into 2006's Superman Returns in a reprise of the role. Terence Stamp played the voice of Jor-El in the television series Smallville and was portrayed by Julian Sands. The character was then portrayed by Russell Crowe in the DC Extended Universe film Man of Steel (2013) and by Bradley Cooper in the DC Universe film Superman (2025). Angus Macfadyen portrayed the character in the first season of the television series Superman & Lois.
Fictional character biography Precursor (New Adventure Comics) Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, the creators of both Superman and Jor-L, first introduced a character named Jor-L in 1936, more than a year before the first Superman story was published. The original Jor-L appeared in New Adventure Comics (released in 1936, cover-dated January 1937), a re-titled issue #12 of the previous New Comics, which would be re-titled again, starting with issue #32, as the 45-year-long Adventure Comics series.
Featured in the four-page Shuster and Siegel strip Federal Men, this Jor-L is not an extraterrestrial but, instead, a far-future "ace sleuth" in the service of "Interplanetary Federation Headquarters". The character battles "Nira-Q", the outer-space-faring "bandit queen", in the year 3000 A.D. The 1936 Jor-L exists as part of a story within a story, as Shuster and Siegel's strip presents the tale as a scientist's forecast of future crime-fighting told to the contemporary 1930s-era G-man heroes of Federal Men.
Golden Age and Silver Age versions Jor-El was first referred to indirectly in Action Comics #1 in 1938, which only mentioned a scientist who sends his son to Earth. He made his first full-fledged appearance in the Superman newspaper comic strip on January 16, 1939, where his name was spelled as Jor-L. His name first appeared as being spelled Jor-el in the Superman novel The Adventures of Superman (1942), written by George Lowther. Later comic books capitalized the "E" in "El." Jor-El's first appearance in a comic book was in More Fun Comics #101.
In the 1960s, now known as part of the Silver Age of Comic Books, DC Comics introduced to its superhero stories the fictional concept of different versions of characters from real-world publication history existing in separate "universes" that could communicate with each other.Flash of Two Worlds (The Flash #123) As DC developed this concept through further stories, the version of Superman's father during the previous Golden Age of Comic Books was identified as Jor-L, matching the original spelling of the character's name, who lived on the Krypton of the Earth-Two "universe" (derived from the versions of characters and stories that appeared during the earlier Golden Age period of publication history). In contrast, the concept presented Jor-El as no longer another spelling of the same name but a different character entirely: the father of the then-contemporary Silver Age version of Superman, who lived on the Krypton of Earth-One (used to describe the setting for then-current Silver Age stories and characters, some of which had been substantially changed from their Golden Age versions).
A retelling of Superman's origin story in 1948 first delved into detail about Jor-El. However, his formal and more familiar Silver Age aspects were firmly established starting in the late 1950s. Over the course of the next several decades, there was a definitive summarization in the miniseries World of Krypton in 1979 (not to be confused with the similarly-named post-Crisis on Infinite Earths late-1980s comic miniseries).
Accomplishments As presented in the World of Krypton miniseries and other stories from the Silver Age of Comic Books, Jor-El is Krypton's leading scientist, inventing, among other devices, a self-titled hovercar. He also discovers a parallel plane of existence which he calls the Phantom Zone and invents a device that can open portals to it. This device gets him a seat on the Science Council, Krypton's ruling body. He lives in Krypton's major city of Kryptonopolis.
Even before Jor-El's birth, the House of El is renowned for its contributions to Kryptonian society. Ancestors of Jor-El include Val-El, a famed explorer; Sul-El, the inventor of Krypton's first telescope; Tala-El, the author of Krypton's first planetary constitution; Hatu-El, the inventor of Krypton's first electromagnet and electric motor; and Gam-El, who is credited with pioneering modern Kryptonian architecture.
Family life
Jor-El has two brothers: Zor-El, who lives in Argo City and eventually becomes the father of Kara, alias Supergirl, and an identical twin brother named Nim-El, who lives in Kandor. In several stories, Jor-El's father is established as Jor-El I, and his mother as Nimda (née An-Dor). Jor-El eventually meets and marries Lara, the daughter of Lor-Van and a young astronaut in Krypton's fledgling space program, which is shut down after Jax-Ur destroys Krypton's moon Wegthor.Superman #233 (January 1971). DC Comics.
Jor-El's warnings of Krypton's doom When Krypton begins experiencing a series of earthquakes, Jor-El investigates. He soon discovers, to his horror, that Krypton's core is extremely unstable and radioactive, and will eventually reach critical mass and explode, taking the entire planet and its populace with it. Jor-El tries to convince the members of the Science Council of this impending disaster and urges re-establishing Krypton's space program so giant spacecraft can be built to carry the populace to another habitable world. However, the Council is dismissive of Jor-El's findings and refuses to consider evidence of his claims. Some go so far as to accuse Jor-El of plotting to overthrow the Council, as Dru-Zod had tried and failed to do so years earlier.
Around the time he discovers Krypton's impending doom, Jor-El meets his own son Kal-El without realizing it, after Kal-El accidentally travels back in time. There are a small number of Kryptonians who believe Jor-El and put together a large ark ship to evacuate Kandor's population, but when the city is unexpectedly shrunken and stolen by Brainiac, Jor-El loses his only chance to save any of Krypton's people from their impeding deaths.Superman #141 (November 1960). DC Comics.
Jor-El resorts to researching a means of getting his own family to safety. This work includes launching several smaller test rockets; one of these rockets includes the family dog Krypto.Adventure Comics #210 (March 1955). DC Comics. However, as time runs short, Jor-El only has a craft large enough to carry his infant son Kal-El. He decides to send Kal-El to Earth, having determined through scientific analysis that he will gain superhuman powers under Earth's yellow sun and lower gravity. As Krypton goes through its final destructive stages, Jor-El and Lara place their son in the rocket and launch him towards Earth, mere seconds before they are killed when Krypton's core implodes and the planet is instantly destroyed. It is later revealed that Jor-El had asked Lara to leave with their son, as there was just enough room for her in his spacecraft, but his wife had refused, wanting to give their son the best chance possible to survive.
Post-Crisis After the 1985–1986 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths and John Byrne's 1986 miniseries The Man of Steel rewrote Superman's origins, details about Jor-El's background and character were changed. In Byrne's version, Jor-El inhabits a cold and emotionally sterile Krypton where even bodily contact is forbidden. Indeed, Jor-El himself is considered a "throwback" for expressing emotions toward Lara and favoring the less sterilized days of past Kryptonian eras. Another change in this version is Jor-El genetically altering his son's fetus (gestating in a "birthing matrix") to allow him to leave Krypton (in this version of the mythos, Kryptonians are genetically "bonded" to the planet itself, not allowing them to leave) and attaching a warp engine to the matrix instead of constructing a ship wholesale. The result is that Kal-El is "born" when the birthing matrix opens on Earth.
In the 1990s series Starman Jor-El meets a time-traveling Jack Knight and Mikaal Tomas, two individuals who both bear at various points the name "Starman", and are accidentally sent 70 years back in time and hurled across space. Jor-El thereby first learns of Earth's existence; in return, Jor-El helps Knight and Tomas escape from his overbearing father Seyg-El.
In the 2004 miniseries Superman: Birthright, Jor-El, along with Krypton and Lara, was, more or less, reinstated to his Silver Age versions, though with such updated touches as Lara contributing equally to the effort of sending Kal-El, once again an infant while on Krypton, to Earth. In this version, Jor-El discovers Earth moments before launching his son's spacecraft. Also, the conclusion of the miniseries has the adult Superman, on Earth, seeing his parents through Lex Luthor's time-space communicator, and on Krypton, seconds before its destruction, Jor-El and Lara see their son alive and well on Earth and know that their efforts are successful. As with Byrne's conflicting view of Krypton, the Birthright origins of Jor-El, Krypton, and Luthor have been retconned, and, following Infinite Crisis, they are no longer valid in comics canon.
However, a more recent storyline co-written by Geoff Johns and Superman director Richard Donner presented yet another version of Jor-El and Krypton which reintroduced General Zod and the Phantom Zone criminals. With art by Adam Kubert, Jor-El is depicted for the first time with a beard and the design of Kryptonian society is distinct yet again from Birthright and Man of Steel, incorporating elements of Donner's work on the first two Christopher Reeve films, in particular the notion of Krypton's Council threatening Jor-El with harsh penalty of exile to the Phantom Zone if he is to make public his predictions of their planet's imminent doom or otherwise attempt to "create a climate of panic."