I'm pretty sure that Kryptonite was a fairly late addition to the whole Superman canon, invented for an episode of the radio series where the actor who played him had a bad cough and couldn't read his lines. As they made Superman more and more powerful it became an integral part of the character, the only way anyone remotely normal could harm him.

In the L&C world they don't know about kryptonite at first, not until TGGGOH in S1 - so by the end of S4 they've only had about 3 and a half years to study the problem. Clark isn't a scientist, unlike the comic book version who seems to be an all-round genius when it suits the plot. I'm pretty sure that at one point he asks Professor Hamilton to look into finding a cure, but it's probably like asking for a cure for radiation poisoning - there are drugs that can help a bit, but the only real solution is to avoid radioactive materials. There have been stories in which he uses lead in the weave of his costume to reduce exposure, but I can't see that working very well with Spandex on a regular basis.

More fundamentally, Superman is a fairly boring character without vulnerabilities - to kryptonite especially, but also he's vulnerable through his love for Lois and his parents.

Take away the kryptonite and the other vulnerabilities are suddenly a lot less important - it's pretty hard to endanger Lois if Superman can disarm you before you even know he's there. Kryptonite (or the threat of it) levels the playing field a little.

I'm fairly sure that there's at least one baby superman story in the archive, can't remember who wrote it.


Marcus L. Rowland
Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game