Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Kal-El's best Legion Buddies

I have a plot bunny in my head, and I need some help.

Who were Kal's best friends in the Legion?

I think Mon-El would definitely be one. And Jo. The three of them were the Legion's big guns in the Adventure days, and they seemed to hang out a lot.

Given that Supergirl once tried to fix Superman up with Saturn Woman-- and he didn't seem adverse to the idea-- I'd say that Imra might also be a close friend.

And I'd say Lu would be one as well.

Anyone else have any other suggestions?

It wasn't explicitely stated but I think Superboy and Karate Kid would have kind of bonded after their tussle. Superboy definitely imo had a special respect for Val.

Kal-El and Wildfire seemed to have formed a bond during the 70's.

I also believe there would have been a special bond between Kal and Jan since both were the sole survivors (not counting Kara, Dev, Krypto, Beppo.... ) of their home planets. I would love to have seen this explored in depth.

Garth and Brainy for sure--Garth was the first Legionaire to save Superboy's life (and did anyone else ever get to ride into battle on Krypto?) and Kal-El was willing to even the favor. In one of the last pre-crisis Superboy appearances, he was playing a game against Brainy which Kal won when he subtly remarked how much time his cousin was spending in the 30th Century lately.

Have to agree with Garth. He was an LL after all and it seems everybody Supes meant with the initials LL...was important.

Mon-El for sure! His big brother. Brainy I think as well.

I always figured that Mon, Jo, Brainy, Imra and Garth were Superboy's best friends in the Silver Age Legion, although he was pretty much friends with all of them. Later, Karate Kid and Wildfire had special friendships with him too.

Of course, as the years went on, Kal-El would feel especially close to Tinya, Cos, Cham and others after years and years of missions.

His two best friends would be Brainy and Mon.

I don't really remember seeing him hang out specifically with any one Legionnaire (or group of Legionnaires). There were definite cliques, but Superboy always felt like an outsider to me. Supergirl, on the other hand, had the not-quite-relationship with Brainy. Unlike her cousin, she seemed to regard the Legionnaires as real people and her time with the Legion as something other than a vacation from her 'real life.'

Superboy always seemed to be 'hanging out' until his next return to his *real home,* while Supergirl seemed more comfortably a part of the team, during her brief stopover in the 30th.

Perhaps part of that notion of mine comes from the title. When Supergirl was part of the team, she was part of the team (still talking about the Supergirl who kinda-dated Brainy and died in Crisis, not the current WaK version). When Superboy was part of the team, the title of the comic book made sure to *seperate him* from the Legionnaires. It was Superboy *and* the Legion of Super-Heroes, a sentence structure that stated outright that Superboy was not *part* of the Legion of Super-Heroes (even if he actually *was* a member! The title was actually giving the wrong impression.).

As much as it's easy to speculate that he and Jan, for instance, had a lot to bond over, or that he and Mon (and perhaps Jo, and originally Thom) had powers in common, I don't remember seeing this ever portrayed in the comic.

We can look at Dirk and say, "We've seen him playing D&D with Thom." or at Brin and say, "He and Val developed a friendship sparring, and he hung out with Blok a lot." or at Lyle and say, "He and Brainy were good enough friends for slashfic to result..."

But did Superboy ever hang out with particular Legionnaires? He could call all of them his 'friends,' in the sense that they're a friendly bunch, but did *any* of them really seem like specifically *friends* with Superboy, the way Blok and Brin were friends, or the way Conner and Tim Drake were friends?

Yes.

There was one story where Superboy and Ultra Boy-- and I *THNK* Mon-El-- weren't present during a mission because they were in the past helping Pete Ross celebrate his birthday. (That was one of the reasons that I thought of Jo as being one of Clark's best friends.) As I mentioned before, during a story where Supergirl tried to hook Superman up with a wife, he seemed VERY interested in Saturn Woman. (Which is the first adventure where we found out that she and Garth would eventually marry.)

Superboy and Mon-El often teamed together, and there was at least one other story I remember where they-- and Jo--worked to try to shatter the Iron Curtain of Time ... so I do tend to thik of the three of them as a trio.

During most of Superboy's tenture the general way stories were made was that we didn't see him just lounging around and hanging with his buddies. He was a commuter and tended to show up when he was needed more so than when he wanted to have fun.

Even so, I would say that the idea that Imra, Lar, Luornu, and MAYBE Querl-- considered themselves close friends of Superboy is prety hard to dispute when you consider that they were willing to conspire against their fellow Legionnaires and violate their most sacred oath to get justice for Kal.

(I think that Querl's rationale in facing the Time Trapper may have had more to do with Supergirl, rather than Kal, but it's hard to say at this point since she had already been wiped out by the Crisis.)

My impression was that the Legionnaires considered Kal a guest, which is different than a friend. Brainy and Imra both seemed like they were sort of guides for him, to help him understand the differences between his home and the future. Yes, some of the guys were fun for Kal to buddy up with; Wildfire, Timber Wolf, Lightning Lad, Jo. The girls all kinda oogled over him, especially Lu.

However, Lar stands out as a friend to Kal. First of all, because of their excitement at possibly being brothers. It was fun for each of them to have someone else with similar abilities, and to look so much alike, to even wear similar colors. That bond never broke. I recall the scene when they were eating Ma's pancakes super fast. That's the kind of things buddies do for fun.

Tinya kissed him on the cheek twice (both times in stories written by Levitz).

The first story you mention is "Sun Boy's Lost Power" from Adventure # 302. It's only Superboy and Ultra Boy who surprise Pete with a giant birthday cake. Ultra Boy seems to be there because he became friendly with Pete in Superboy # 98, Ultra Boy's first appearance.

As for the other reference, Superboy, Mon-El, and Ultra Boy were the three mightiest Legionnaires (excluding the rarely seen Supergirl), so it makes sense that they would work together to try to pierce the Iron Curtain of Time, whether they were friends of not.

I like your description of Superboy being a commuter. Certainly that would have inhibited him from forming close friendships with most of the others.

um, don't forget Duo Damsel!