What if...
Clark had a twin? I know there is at least one unfinished story out there where Clark has an identical twin, and it was a great story to start with. Still, I'd like to see more takes on this premise. Especially if things were slightly different.

What if Clark had a twin that was as opposed to him in temperament as could be, but with the same underlying morals?

What if Clark had a twin sister?

Ooh, all of these are intriguing! (Btw, what are the unfinished stories you mentioned? I'd like to see those).

Actually, one of the ideas on my to-do pile is "What if Clark and Superman were twins?" I mean think about it; we here at FoLCdom are spoiled with the idea of Clark and Superman being actually the same man, so if Lois chooses one she gets both. What if they were actually two different guys? Which one would Lois end up with?

I've also got the idea of Clark and his brother *both* being Superman, via tag-teaming. Man, that would make Lois' hero-worship *so* much more awkward, wouldn't it?

So much fic to write...If only my muse would co-operate...

I think the story Mellie mentioned is Lieta's Both Sides of the Coin.
See above
Hmm... I doubt Rachel would like that very much

Michael

What, no comments on the twin sister thing?

Umm... Yeah... You see. The twin-sibling thingy is... the last bit of fiction I read (well, still reading, although the author's prone to leave me hanging for years...) well... let's just say... it's got twin-siblings. Boy and girl. And things turned out to be very nasty. And bloody. And a bloody mess. True, those two siblings had golden hair instead of brown, but still... To think Lois might end up as Clark's twin... all of Krytpon and all of Earth could be thrown into chaos because of it...

Michael

I'm all for Lois getting both Clark twins.

Well, that might be weird. Maybe you want to write it (in a way that doesn't seem weird, that is)?

Hmm, isn't there a Japanese myth about lovers who die together getting reincarnated as twins? ...Oooh, such potential for evil there...

The 2-Clarks-as-twins story that I loved (and was referenced above) was the unfinished story: Both Sides of the Coin by Lieta . I always hoped she'd finish this. I worked with her for a while but the rest of the story never came together.

Bob

The immediate problem that comes to mind re twins as Superman/Clark is--why invent Superman? Superman is an identity invented to protect Clark's normal life. If Clark has a twin brother who is always Superman and never Joe Regular, then poor Joe never gets a normal life.

The obvious way to solve this is to have the twins take turns being Clark Kent *and* Superman, which kills the Lois choosing between Clark and Superman idea, but adds even more "You are in such deep doo-doo when Lois finds out what's really going on" potential. Especially if only one of them is in love with Lois.

It also makes it harder for Lois to figure it out on her own, because she will see Superman and Clark together from time to time, and Clark won't have to make awkward exits because one of him will always be on Superman duty. Then again, there must be some disasters in which *two* Supermen are better than one, and could the "off duty" Clark really stay away in such a case?

Just thinking out loud.

Ah, but: what if Joe doesn't *want* a normal life? Remember the Silver Age Superman comics? That guy practically did everything except *sleep* in those tights. Maybe this guy just has a different outlook than Clark "I want to fit in" Kent.

On the other hand, maybe Joe started out normal, but then had his own version of ToGoM? "Gee, Clark, I'm so sorry to hear about your brother dying and all. But look on the bright side: Superman is doing a lot more patrols now, so stuff like this probably won't ever happen again!"

Food for thought.

Mary, I love your ideas!

Let's get really evil, shall we?

Let's twin Lois. Then the sisters can fight over Superman and finally resolve their differences when one of them realizes that Clark is the true prize before the other.

What a perfect solution for the sisters. One gets Superman and the other gets Clark.

Only.....

Could be fun.

Tank (who is willing to take the left over Lois)

OK, but if you do this, you have to have at the plot twist at the end that losing Lois finds love with alt-Clark. We can't a Lois without her Clark.

Tank could. That's what makes them Tank endings.

Tank, I love this idea!!!

I see two very reasonable endings.

First, you could have Lois 1 be sort of a Linda King variant that has some elements of Lois but much nastier. She could be someone that is always used to getting her way. She's always taken things and left the scraps for her sister. She's the one that is convinced that Superman will fall for her if she just figures out the right approach. The other Lois can be a slightly mellower version of our Lois. She is used to winning against everyone but her sister. She would be the one that Clark likes and she's the one who finally decides to settle for Clark.

If you make both the Lois's nice, this: is a great idea.

Bob

Of course, the other, easier option is that Clark and both of the Loises move to Utah...

Uh, wasn't this topic about having two Clarks?

(I guess they - both Clarks and both Loises - can move to Utah regardlessly, but still...)

I wasn't implying that I was going to write something like this. I don't write much anymore.

I just threw out this variant into the conversation just for the fun of it. If it inspires anyone, all the good.

Tank (who still hasn't written his TOGoM for 2011 yet)

Umm... /backs away slowly/ I doubt one could write Lois and Clark as fraternal twins and lovers without it coming across as weird...

That would definitely be a new one.

What might also happen is that Alt-Lois ended up, or almost-started-out as Lois's twin sister because somebody thought it fun to dump her in the delivery room. This we could get all the fun stuff with two Loises, one who's slightly wrong/out-of-place/off, with the resolution of sending her home, too, in the end. And yeah, I know there's been a fic once that hat Alt-Lois co-inhabit Lois's body.

Michael

Interesting theories. Particularly the Loises and Clark one

But I like the idea of having twin Clarks. I had an idea where Clark had a younger brother- but twins would be very interesting. Can you imagine poor Jonathan and Martha raising *twin* super-siblings back in Smallville? That would be difficult.

And as if Clark doesn't have enough identity crisis issues already! Really! The idea that he would take shifts being Superman with his brother rings true to me- but I think that Clark's twin would want to be his own person, and each individual would take shifts being Superman- but then that would further confuse Lois- and if she knew Clark and then met his twin, the idea of Clark or his brother ever being the *one* Superman would be confusing.

Assuming Clark's twin would be *good*. Maybe his/her nature would be evil, despite the loving family Jonathan and Martha provided. Then there would Superman and an equally powerful villain.

Evem better - what if Clark was a twin and his brother's/sister's navigational computer on his/her space ship was knocked out during the journey to Earth? Clark would still wind up in Kansas and be found by the Kents. But maybe his twin winds up crashing elsewhere and is found/raised by the Luthor family! He/She would be raised as Lex's sibling and perhaps wind up just as evil as Lex...Lex would have his very own, personal, anti-Superman/Superwoman.

Now that is scary.

I enjoy being evil every once in a while.

<<Hee-Hee>> Virginia R titters in her evil writer's laugh. "I've got another twisted take on this idea." she says, still tittering. <<Hee-Hee>> "I'm use it in my Green-Eyed Monster story if you're curious." <<Hee-Hee>>

"My apologies to Lois Lane," she belatedily apologizes, continuing to titter as she fades back into her writing. <<Hee-Hee>>

Sorry about my last post.

I'm feeling better now. Thank you.

Whoa, DC. I think you hacked my computer - maybe you're the reason why I've been having so many viruses and malware issues of late! I actually am WIP on a story like this... only it was for Superman fanverse not LnC and instead of being Clark's twin it's his younger bro who was kidnaped by the Luthors cuz they didn't realize there were two alien babies that crash landed, just thought one and Kents cant speak up or anything because they'd have to admit to finding alien babies and his brother grows up in a completely different environment... and now I've given away about 2 chaps of my plot Oh well.

Whoa, DC. I think you hacked my computer

I would never leave viruses behind. I might, however, change your background to shirtless Dean Cain pics.

I'd be interested in reading that story once you post it!

Sorry, buddy. But I beat you to the punch there Google images is one of my best friends, and Dean Cain is near the top of the box of things I commonly search... :p

I've got the S sheild as my current background.

Ah, but who's to say that a super sibling raised with Lex would be on Lex's side? If he ended up as evil and self-centered as Lex, I would think that Lex would end up squashed sooner rather than later. Sibling rivalry would be pretty unevenly matched in that scenario.

True, but Lex IS pretty manipulative! I'm sure he could find *some way* of controlling a super-sibling.

Which is exactly what makes Lex so pissy at Superman later on
And also, on a side note, depending on how it is that the super-sibling came to be apart of the Luthor household changes the sibling rivalry aspect. If kidnapped, then maybe there was kryptonite involved, and Clark's bro was forced to do bad stuff until he snapped or even just gave in to the dark side... or if just found by the luthors, then maybe he just grows up differently, not evil, and his "good son" act drives Lex off the deep end... *rambling thoughts inside my head* :rolleyes:

I just remembered that Lex was an orphan at the age of 13. Wonder what happened to his parents?

I'm certainly no comics expert but isn't there a tradition that Lex killed his own parents for the insurance money, which he used to start his financial empire?

Or am I mixing that up with Lionel Luthor from the "Smallville" TV show?

(too lazy right now to look this up properly)

I can't seem to get this thread out of my head.

I've got another scenario. What if Clark had multiple personalities. One was Clark, one was Superman. And he didn't know he was both men. It would be like twins only in the same body. And of course Lois didn't know they were the same man either.

Of course that would mean a whole different upbringing. Maybe it would work better for alt-Clark. Someone without a family.

I'm not sure how you would remedy it, but my guess it would be Lois's love that allow Clark to realize the greatness of both sides of himself and allow him finally be whole.

Interesting idea. Multiple or spilt personality is good. Somewhere on my computer I have a schizofrenic Clark scampering around, but it makes for an interesting subject... I might just drag him out for an appearance...

But back to your thing. That would be very interesting. For instance, how would he switch between Clark and Superman without realizing it? Would it just be him moonlighting in tights and not know it? And there's not really a down side to his second personality-- or would there be a down side simply because there are two different personalities? Lois falling for both would be a definite problem- if it were later on when she was actually dating him, maybe *she* would see the switch and make the connection, and probably be furious to start and think he's covering it up... ultimately I think it would be up to Lois to fix, whether she's aware of the change or not. And yes, it would work better for Alt-Clark, or an alternate Clark at least. Otherwise you would think that Martha and Jonathan would constantly jump in and gently break it to him, trying to keep him stable and that might make for a whole new slew of problems...

Goodness, now I've rambled. Look at the mess you made, Virginia... Maybe someone would like to clean this up for me?

There is a story with this premise. IIRC Lois discovers that sleepwalking Clark=Superman and then has to convince him that he is ala Nightfall. Good story but I don’t have the name at hand.

Going back to the original theme—what if it was Alt-Clark that almost-started-out as Clark’s twin? Suppose Tempus decides to dump Alt-Clark in Kansas right after Clark’s ship landed. Tempus gets a Clark-free zone and the Kents would find two babies, one in a spaceship built-for-one and another identical in every way outside the ship. Clark could be explained by the Cold War experiment/alien theory, but there wouldn’t be any reasonable explanation for Alt-Clark until Martha read about cloning in the late ‘70’s.

Two Faces of Clark is one. There's another where he was adopted by the Lanes, but I don't recall the title. I was even planning to write something like this myself, but never got around to it. XD Ah well.


Hm, I don't think Alt-Clark needs to be a "clone"; maybe there's just two alien babies who grow up to start fighting over Lois Lane. :3

"Superman? What are you---are those orchids?"

"Lois, ignore those roses that my bro--I mean---I...brought you yesterday. These are much more rare and beautiful, like you are! <3"

"Um, okay, thanks. I'll put them over here next to all the diamond jewelry you brought me this morning."

"He---I brought you *what*?!!!"

Thanks. I'll check it out.

You're too funny!

QoC,

Great! I can see insecure Clarks trying to one-up each other. I love it.

I don’t think cloning Clark as a baby would work either, but I could see Martha reading about cloned frogs in some obscure scientific journal and concluding that was what happened to her sons.

Found the one I was thinking of...in Hysteron Proteron by Christy, Clark was adopted by the Langs. Is that the one you were thinking of too, or is there another story I need to find?

There is something in comics canon that couple be played with vis a vis "Clark has a twin."

In the past there was a comic where Superman split himself into two to try and figure out how to restore Kandor (remind yourselves for a moment that this is the Silver Age comics.) One ends up with Lois (living on Kandor without powers... supposedly happily) and the other lives on earth with Lana.

In the 90s they took the "Electric Superman" (not the best comics supposedly) and split him into a Red Superman and and Blue Superman. One was a lot more "plan ahead" while the other one was a lot more "seat of his pants." I bought the first one of those and those two are at each other's throats! Especially when it comes to Lois. I don't have the rest of the comics to see where it went but it might be something to look into if someone wants to write this (I have my planning and plottings on this strictly for the comics.)

There is an element of "they're the same guy" to the Red/Blue Superman though that the "twin Clark" doesn't quite have (which can feel a little squicky because it feels incestuous if they are comfortable sharing her.)

I think personally, I'm more likely to enjoy the "split Clark" than a "twin Clark."

One version of comic canon has Kara Zor-El as Supergirl. If the ship had enough room for two infants Jor-El's brother might have sent her with Kal-El. For the nfic version just make Lois a bit more flexible in her tastes and she has four people to be confused over.

There are several, actually, if you go back to the Silver Age. One that ties in very neatly with the good twin/bad twin idea is the story of Super-Menace, which went something like this:

On its way to Earth, Kal-El's spaceship collides with another, alien craft that somehow duplicates the Kryptonian spaceship. Both ships continue on to Earth, where Kal-El is found by the Kents and the occupant of the other ship by a family of crooks. Time passes and both children grow up. Clark becomes Superboy and then Superman; the other kid grows up to be a bully and juvenile delinquent, but otherwise stays out of the limelight until he becomes Super-Menace. Naturally, he encounters Superman, and I think you can guess the rest.
Ah, the famous original Superman-Red and Superman-Blue story, a classic of its time. It should be noted that the split was accidental, and there was apparently an earlier story in which Red K split Superman into a pair of opposing twins (good and bad), but I don't know that one.
S-R and S-B, modern version. Not as interesting IMO since Clark was Electri-Kal at the time and not Superman at all. Straining for effect, I thought.
Well, they are the same guy, or different personality aspects of him at least, so that's understandable.

Another variation on the twin theme was a precursor to Vatman. In an anniversary origin/recap story in the late 70s(?), Luthor clones Superman and replaces him with the clone in the middle of a tour that the real Superman is giving of a new Superman Museum; the clone is programmed to be more sympathetic towards Luthor, which shows when the latter is mentioned towards the end of the tour. Lois gets fed up with "Superman's" sudden bout of self-flagellation and walks out, only to be saved by the real Superman just before she activates a trap that would have blown up the museum. The two fight until the clone is knocked into a display case which holds real samples of various types of Kryptonite (!), including Gold K, which robs him of his powers. He came back at least once after that, though using technology instead of super-powers.

With all this talk of split Clarks and Supermen, I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned Sheila Harper's story Mxysplit, the plot of which I think can be inferred from the name and that it's mentioned in this context...

Hmm... Clark as a Lane could be Backwards. For whatever that's worth.

There is a fic where Lois is Kryptonian and so is Clark. They think they might be siblings. I forget the resolution. It was a Kerth nom though. I think Pam might know which one - I remember her loving it.

The On the Other Hand universe has Clark with a brother but no twin.

I started a fic with Clark and a twin who worked for NCIS [and hence a mild crossover] but it's still languishing on the hard drive. Where it will likely stay. I don't remember how I'd planned to resolve the CK=S business. But this was going to come to into play: Now, As Before .

I was waiting for Coin to be done before reading it [because of my own idea] but...

Carol

That would be The Girl Next Door by Janet Owens. It's very good.