EXT. FARMLAND John and Martha Kent lay in the field, looking at the stars. Martha looks from her wedding ring to John. MARTHA John? JOHN Yes? MARTHA I've been meaning to tell you- JOHN Oh my god... He stares up, astonished. She looks to where he's looking: a meteor cutting through the sky. It hits the ground a few miles away, causing a small explosion. John and Martha look at each other. CUT TO: Their red truck pulling up to the crater. John slams the door behind him as he runs up to its edge. MARTHA Don't get too close. JOHN Someone could be hurt. MARTHA Just... be careful... John nods and turns to venture down into the large crash site. Martha waits, biting her nails. She paces impatiently across the field. He returns a few seconds later, carrying something in his arms. Close in on baby Clark. Created using Celtx 2. TITLE: SUPERMAN It fades into a black screen. All we hear is the muffled sounds of panic and alarms. They slowly get clearer and clearer until we CUT TO: INT. AIRPLANE The passengers scramble for their seatbelts and their oxygen masks. 25 YEARS LATER The pilots try everything they can to get control of the plane back. They flick switches and tap dials. They attempt to talk over the noise. Suddenly, the plane rocks. It stabilizes. PILOT What's going on? (To co-pilot) Did you do that? The co-pilot shakes his head. The passengers quiet down as they feel the change in movement. One of them looks out the window and sees the clouds going by at a normal speed. EXT. SKIES The airplane lands slowly in a field. It touches down with a slight bump. The exit slide is deployed as the emergency exit opens. The pilot watches in awe from his window as a small object takes off at super speed. CUT TO: INT. PERRY WHITE'S OFFICE Lois Lane tosses pictures of that plane on Perry White's Created using Celtx 3. desk, who barely looks at them before groaning. PERRY Lois, not today. LOIS I'm telling you there's something here! PERRY We have more important things to deal with than your imaginary "superhero", okay? What happened to what you're supposed to be covering? LOIS Because Crop Shares is boring? This is something that could make history! PERRY Or it could lead nowhere, which it will. Drop it. Perry hands the pictures back to her as he leaves the office. LOIS Fine. I will. PERRY No, you won't. LOIS You're right, I won't. She follows him out. INT. DAILY PLANET Steve Lombard watches as they pass by his cubicle. LOMBARD Good morning, Lois. Still chasing Bigfoot? LOIS Still piling up restraining orders? LOMBARD Hey! Created using Celtx 4. LOIS (To Perry) Just give me two weeks. Two weeks, that's all I'm asking. PERRY The answer still is and always will be "No". The Planet doesn't have time for conspiracy theories. LOIS They do if they're true. There have been too many accounts of the same figure, all rescuing them. This can't be a case of mass hysteria. PERRY People see what they want to see. They were in accidents and disasters and were saved by a fluke. He steps into an elevator, Lois hanging outside of it. PERRY If they want to see that fluke as an all powerful man of steel, more power to them. But it stays out of our coverage. LOIS There's proof here. PERRY There's "proof" that JFK and Elvis are drinking martinis in the bahamas. But I'm afraid we aren't that kind of news outlet. Get back to the Crop Shares. The doors close. Lois looks at the picture of the plane. FADE TO: INT. KITCHEN An older John Kent reads the newspaper with that picture in the headline. Martha fixes him and Clark breakfast. JOHN Have you read this yet? Created using Celtx 5. CLARK Nope. JOHN It says here that flight 938 experienced engine failure, but was saved by an "unidentified flying object". He sets the paper down and looks at Clark. JOHN You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you? CLARK (Smiling) Not a thing. JOHN We've talked about this. MARTHA John... JOHN You can't be letting people see you like this. CLARK I didn't let them see me! I was out of sight the whole time. JOHN No, you weren't. You wanna know how I know? because they say "Unidentified object" and not "mysterious circumstances". MARTHA John, you can't expect him to do nothing. CLARK Especially with all I can do. I don't know where these powers came from... (John and Martha exchange a look) ...but I know I can't not use them. He notices the way they're looking at each other. Created using Celtx 6. CLARK You know why I'm like this. MARTHA Clark... CLARK I knew you did, but you said you didn't and I believed you! MARTHA Clark! CLARK What? JOHN Why don't we take a trip to the barn? CUT TO: INT. BARN The wooden doors are swung open by John. Clark steps into view and stares into the entrance. Inside is the ship that brought him to Earth. He looks at his parents then back at the rocket. He climbs down into the pit. He checks out the pod, walking around it slowly. MARTHA I'm actually surprised you didn't find it sooner. You know, with the x-ray vision? CLARK What is this? JOHN It's where we found you. CLARK Found me? MARTHA You were inside it. At first we thought it was Russians or something. But then you started doing things. Created using Celtx 7. Lift tractors to get your ball back, burn things just by staring at them, never getting injured or sick. We realized... well, we realized you weren't from around here. Clark touches the cold alien metal surface. JOHN I think we should give him a moment. Martha nods and the two of them exit the barn, closing the large doors behind them. Clark reaches the front of the capsule. He places his hand on its hood. Suddenly, a mechanical device pops out of the front and scans Clark before disappearing back into its smooth metal. Before Clark can react, the device clicks and a hologram of Jor-El appears in front of him. JOR-EL Hello, Kal-El. Clark stares in shock. He isn't even sure how he should respond. CLARK My name's Clark. Not Kal-El. JOR-EL That may be the name you have now, but your birth name is Kal-El. CLARK Who are you? JOR-EL My name is Jor-El. I was your biological father. CLARK Was? JOR-EL The original Jor-El died with the rest of the planet Krypton when it was destroyed. I contain the neural copy of his brain waves. Created using Celtx 8. CLARK Wait, slow down. What is Krypton? JOR-EL The planet you were born on. CLARK So... I'm an alien? JOR-EL I chose to send you to Earth because the dominant species most resembles our own biologically. But of course there are differences. CLARK Yeah, I would've thought so. JOR-EL I am here to answer any questions you may have. Clark thinks. He has so many. CLARK I have... abilities. Are all Kryptonians like this? JOR-EL No. The radiation from the yellow sun keeps your skin cells hardened, making you almost completely indestructible. Sometimes your body will absorb too much and the excess will be released through your eyes. CLARK Were you a scientist? JOR-EL I was. The decreased gravity gives you the appearance of incredible strength, speed, and the ability to fly. CLARK I can fly? JOR-EL With practice. Created using Celtx 9. JOR-EL Are you alright? CLARK Yeah, it's just a lot to learn in one sitting. I'm the last of my kind? JOR-EL Unfortunately, yes. CLARK What happened? JOR-EL We were attacked. CLARK By who? JOR-EL I'm not entirely sure. Krypton was fairly isolated from other, alien cultures. CLARK "Alien"? JOR-EL Foreign to our planet. CLARK I know what it means, it's just that I didn't even know there were interacting alien cultures, let alone I was from one. JOR-EL I know this will be hard for you- CLARK Do you? You're a computer. JOR-EL I am your father. CLARK No! No, you're not. Jonathan Kent is my father. Martha Kent is my mother. I don't know what you are or what I am, but I do know that I don't want any part of it! Created using Celtx 10. JOR-EL Kal-El- CLARK Clark! My name is Clark! JOR-EL Clark. I am not here to tell you who you are. Merely explain where you're from. CLARK Maybe I didn't need to know. Maybe I didn't want to know. JOR-EL I wish I could have sent you to a place with people more like us. But I couldn't, because it doesn't exist. CLARK You could have let me die with the rest of you. JOR-EL Clark... You can bridge the gap between two worlds. Or you could ignore it. The choice is yours. CLARK You're asking a lot.