Begun this clone's war has.
Deadline is reporting that the DC Universe series Titans has cast Joshua Orpin as Conner Kent, better known to DC Comics fans as Kon-El, a.k.a. Superboy! The character was previously teased in a post-credits scene at the end of the Titans Season 1 finale, "Dick Grayson", and factors heavily into the show's upcoming second season.
According to the article, Superboy is described as "Superboy, a.k.a. Conner Kent, is the angsty teenager of steel searching for purpose and the truth about his past. While looking for answers, he crashes into the world of the Titans where he finds an unlikely home and surrogate family as well as revelations that carry more complications than he ever bargained for."
Orpin, 24, is a 6'1" Australian actor who will be seen in the upcoming Foxtel drama series Upright and his most recent appearance was in The Blake Mysteries: Ghost Stories for the Seven Network in Australia. In addition, he was in the film The Neon Spectrum.
Created in 1993 by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett, the Conner Kent Superboy first appeared in The Adventures of Superman #500. After the death of Superman at the hands of the supervillain Doomsday, Project Cadmus Executive Director Paul Westfield wanted to create a clone replacement of Superman that would follow the agendas of Project Cadmus as well as his own personal agenda. After failed attempts to acquire Superman's DNA (which included an attempt to steal his corpse), Westfield decided to genetically alter a human clone to look like Superman and made the clone to be the closest human equivalent to a Kryptonian as they could based on their research. During their research when they had Superman's body, Westfield's scientists discovered a bio-electric aura surrounding Superman's body that provided some of Superman's powers such as invulnerability, flight through a form of self-telekinesis, protection from getting dirty and protection from skin-tight clothing to be damaged. The aura was translated into a telekinetic field for a human that would give the clone the ability to simulate Superman's powers such as flight, invulnerability, and strength. This was later known as "tactile telekinesis" by the scientists.
After twelve failed attempts, the clone known as Experiment 13 was grown from a single cell to a teenage boy in less than a week and was a complete success. The clone was given implanted memories and underwent an artificial maturation process intended to match the age of the original Superman. This clone was released from his cloning tube too early, however, and emerged as a teenager. While at first calling himself "Superman", he would later be known as Superboy.
A defining moment in Superboy's life came following Superman's resurrection, when he asked Superboy to come with him to the Fortress of Solitude. After explaining how he considered Superboy part of his family, Superman offered him the Kryptonian name Kon-El. Superboy tearfully accepted, overjoyed with the simple joy of having a real name, and would eventually accept the everyday name "Conner." After Cadmus was shut down, Superboy had no job and no place to stay. He relocated to Metropolis, becoming the "super" at a tenement building called Calvin Gardens. Eventually Superman invites him to stay with his parents in Smallville, which he gladly accepted and did for quite some time. Superboy soon became a founding member of Young Justice, a group of teenage heroes who intended to be the next Justice League one day.
Later basing himself in Smallville with a new civilian identity as Clark Kent's cousin "Conner Kent", Superboy was asked by Superman to accept Cyborg's invitation to join a new incarnation of the Teen Titans with his former Young Justice teammates Robin, Impulse, and Wonder Girl. Other members of the team were Teen Titans veterans Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy. After the new team gathered at Titans Tower in San Francisco Bay, it was revealed via an email sent to Robin that Superboy's human DNA was not from Paul Westfield, but from Superman's arch-enemy, Lex Luthor.
Orpin will be the second actor to portray the Conner Kent Superboy in live-action, after Lucas Grabeel in the CW series Smallville. The character has also appeared in various animated projects, including Young Justice (voiced by Nolan North), Teen Titans Go!, The Death of Superman, and the Reign of the Supermen TV movie (voiced by Cameron Monaghan).
Titans is expected to return to DC Universe for Season 2 sometime in Fall 2019.
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