Jor-El

Jor-El, originally known as Jor-L, is a fictional character in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, he first appeared in a newspaper comic strip in 1939 with Superman, his biological son.
Married to Superman's biological mother, Lara, Jor-El is one of the most important scientists on Superman's home planet, Krypton. His research forces him to conclude the planet will explode soon, but he is unable to convince his colleagues in time to save most of its inhabitants. When his prediction proves right, Jor-El puts his infant son, Kal-El (Superman), in a very small spaceship and launches him towards Earth moments before Krypton blows up. Many years later, when Kal-El, now living on Earth as Superman, builds his Fortress of Solitude, he includes a statue of Jor-El and Lara holding up a globe of Krypton. 
Jor-El is usually portrayed as closely resembling his son. Notable actors who have played him in live-action films and TV series are Marlon Brando ("Superman", "Superman II", and "Superman Returns"), Russell Crowe in the DC Extended Universe film ("Man of Steel"), and Angus Macfadyen in the Arrowverse series ("Superman & Lois").
Fictional character biography.
Precursor ("New Adventure Comics").
Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, the creators of both Superman and Jor-L, first introduced a character named "Jor-L" in 1936, more than a year before the first Superman story was published. The original "Jor-L" appeared in "New Adventure Comics" (released in 1936, cover-dated January 1937), a re-titled issue #12 of the previous "New Comics", which would be re-titled again, starting with issue #32, as the 45-year-long "Adventure Comics" series.
Featured in the four-page Shuster and Siegel strip "Federal Men", this "Jor-L" is not an extraterrestrial but, instead, a far-future "ace sleuth" in the service of "Interplanetary Federation Headquarters". The character battles "Nira-Q", the outer-space-faring "bandit queen", in the year 3000 A.D. The 1936 "Jor-L" exists as part of a story within a story, as Shuster and Siegel's strip presents the tale as a scientist's forecast of future crime-fighting told to the contemporary 1930s-era G-man heroes of "Federal Men".
"Golden Age" and "Silver Age" versions.
Jor-El was first referred to indirectly in "Action Comics" #1 in 1938, which only mentioned a scientist who sends his son to Earth. He made his first full-fledged appearance in the "Superman" newspaper comic strip in 1939, where his name was spelled as "Jor-L". His name first appeared as being spelled "Jor-el" in the "Superman" novel "The Adventures of Superman" (1942) written by George Lowther. Later comic books capitalized the "E" in "El." Jor-El's first appearance in a comic book was in "More Fun Comics" #101. 
In the 1960s, now known as part of the Silver Age of Comic Books, DC Comics introduced to its superhero stories the fictional concept of different versions of characters from real-world publication history existing in separate "universes" that could communicate with each other. As DC developed this concept through further stories, the version of Superman's father during the previous Golden Age of Comic Books was identified as "Jor-"L"", matching the original spelling of the character's name, who lived on the Krypton of the Earth-Two "universe" (derived from the versions of characters and stories that appeared during the earlier "Golden Age" period of publication history). In contrast, the concept presented "Jor-"El"" as no longer another spelling of the same name but a different character entirely: the father of the then-contemporary "Silver Age" version of Superman, who lived on the Krypton of the Earth-One "universe" (used to describe the setting for then-current "Silver Age" stories and characters, some of which had been substantially changed from their "Golden Age" versions).
A retelling of Superman's origin story in 1948 first delved into detail about Jor-El. However, his formal and more familiar Silver Age aspects were firmly established starting in the late 1950s. Over the course of the next several decades, there was a definitive summarization in the miniseries "World of Krypton" in 1979 (not to be confused with the similarly-named post-"Crisis on Infinite Earths" late-1980s comic miniseries).
His accomplishments.
As presented in the "World of Krypton" miniseries and other stories from the Silver Age of Comic Books, Jor-El was Krypton's leading scientist, inventing, among other devices, the "Jor-El," a hovercar. He also discovered a parallel plane of existence which he called the Phantom Zone and invented a device by which it could be entered, which he called the Phantom Zone Projector. This device got him a seat on the Science Council, Krypton's ruling body. He lived in Krypton's major city of Kryptonopolis.
Even before Jor-El's birth, the El family was renowned across Krypton for its various contributions to Kryptonian society. Ancestors of Jor-El included Val-El, a famous explorer; Sul-El, the inventor of Krypton's first telescope; Tala-El, the author of Krypton's first planetary constitution; Hatu-El, the inventor of Krypton's first electromagnet and first electric motor; and Gam-El, the father of modern Kryptonian architecture.
Family life.
Jor-El had two brothers: Zor-El, who lived in Argo City and eventually became the father of Kara, alias Supergirl, and an identical twin brother named Nim-El, who lived in Kandor. In several stories, Jor-El's father was established as Jor-El I, and his mother as Nimda (nee An-Dor). Jor-El eventually met and married Lara, the daughter of Lor-Van and a young astronaut in Krypton's fledgling space program (which was soon permanently grounded after Jax-Ur blew up one of Krypton's inhabited moons, leading to eternal banishment to the Phantom Zone); the two had an infant son, Kal-El.
Jor-El's warnings of Krypton's doom.
When Krypton began experiencing a series of earthquakes, Jor-El investigated. He soon discovered, to his horror, that Krypton's core was extremely unstable and indeed radioactive, and worse, that it would eventually reach critical mass and explode, taking the entire planet and its populace with it. Jor-El tried to convince the members of the Science Council of this impending disaster and urged re-establishing Krypton's space program so giant spacecraft could be built to carry the populace to another habitable world. However, the Council was dismissive of Jor-El's findings and refused to comply with his plan. Some even accused him of treachery, trying to cause chaos so he could take over. This had been a plot of General Zod's, which having failed, caused his banishment to the Phantom Zone. Thus the Council was wary of Jor-El's motives.
Around the time he discovered his homeworld's impending doom, Jor-El met his own son Kal-El without realizing it (Kal-El had accidentally travelled back in time). There were supporters of Jor-El's theory, but when a ship was constructed to evacuate them, the city of Kandor was shrunken and stolen by Brainiac, removing the people who believed in Jor-El's work.
Frustrated, Jor-El continued his work on space travel on his own, hoping to build a spacecraft to save his own family. This work included launching several smaller test rockets; one of these rockets included the family dog, who responded to the name of "Krypto." However, as time ran short, Jor-El soon found that he would only have enough time to build a spacecraft to save his son Kal-El. He decided to send Kal-El to Earth, realizing he would gain superhuman powers under Earth's more intense yellow sun and lower gravity. As Krypton finally went through its final destructive stages, Jor-El and Lara placed their son in the rocket and launched him toward Earth, before they themselves were killed along with almost all the rest of the planet's population. Lara could have fit inside the rocket as well, but she chose to stay behind to increase Kal-El's chances of reaching Earth.
Post-"Crisis".
After the 1985-1986 miniseries "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and John Byrne's 1986 miniseries "The Man of Steel" rewrote Superman's origins, details about Jor-El's background and character were changed. In Byrne's version, Jor-El inhabited a cold and emotionally sterile Krypton where even bodily contact was forbidden. Indeed, Jor-El himself was considered a "throwback" for actually expressing emotions toward his mate Lara and favoring the less sterilized days of past Kryptonian eras. Another change in this version was Jor-El genetically altering his son's fetus (gestating in a "birthing matrix") to allow him to leave Krypton (in this version of the mythos, Kryptonians were genetically "bonded" to the planet itself, not allowing them to leave) and merely attaching a warp engine to the matrix instead of constructing a ship wholesale. The result was that Kal-El was "born" when the birthing matrix opened on Earth.
In the 1990s series "Starman" Jor-El meets a time-traveling Jack Knight and Mikaal Tomas, two individuals who both bore at various points the name "Starman", and had been accidentally sent 70 years back in time and hurled across space. Jor-El thereby first learns of Earth's existence; in return, Jor-El helps Knight and Tomas escape from his overbearing father Seyg-El.
In the 2004 miniseries "", Jor-El, along with Krypton and Lara, was, more or less, reinstated to his Silver Age versions, though with such updated touches as Lara contributing equally to the effort of sending Kal-El, once again an infant while on Krypton, to Earth. In this version, Jor-El discovers Earth moments before launching his son's spacecraft. Also, the conclusion of the miniseries has the adult Superman, on Earth, seeing his parents through Lex Luthor's time-space communicator, and on Krypton, seconds before its destruction, Jor-El and Lara see their son alive and well on Earth and know that their efforts were successful. As with Byrne's conflicting view of Krypton, the "Birthright" origins of Jor-El, Krypton, and Luthor have recently been retconned, and, following "Infinite Crisis", they are no longer valid in comics canon.
However, a more recent storyline co-written by Geoff Johns and "Superman" director Richard Donner presented yet another version of Jor-El and Krypton which reintroduced General Zod and the Phantom Zone criminals. With art by Adam Kubert, Jor-El is depicted for the first time with a beard and the design of Kryptonian society is distinct yet again from "Birthright" and "Man of Steel", incorporating elements of Donner's work on the first two Christopher Reeve films, in particular the notion of Krypton's Council threatening Jor-El with harsh penalty of exile to the very Phantom Zone he himself had discovered if he were to make public his predictions of their planet's imminent doom or otherwise attempt to "create a climate of panic."
Jor-El is shown here to have been mentored by friend and noted scientist Non, who corroborated Jor-El's findings regarding Krypton's impending destruction, when the two were arrested and brought to trial before the Council by Zod and Ursa. When Non defies the Council's dire prohibitions and elects to spread the word of the coming apocalypse, he is abducted by Council agents and apparently lobotomized, thus explaining the character's mute simple-mindedness, brutality and destructiveness in line with Jack O'Halloran's performance as Non in the first two Reeve films. Appalled, Zod and Ursa propose to Jor-El that they band together and overthrow the Council, but Jor-El will have none of it. When their murderous insurrection fails, the Council forces Jor-El to exile them to the Phantom Zone and never speak of his findings again, lest he face the same fate. For this perceived betrayal, Zod declares that he will escape and conquer Krypton (confident that Jor-El will actually discover some way to save the planet) and force the scientist and his son to kneel before him one day.
Having been re-built via a Kryptonian crystal during the "One Year Later" story arc, the current version of the Fortress of Solitude, which was also designed to essentially be visually identical to the Donner and Bryan Singer films, now contains an advanced interactive "recording" of Jor-El which, although visually dissimilar to Marlon Brando, is otherwise identical in function to that featured in "Superman Returns".
"Superman/Batman" #50 presents Jor-El sending a probe to Earth that makes contact with Thomas Wayne while he is on a drive with a pregnant Martha, the probe holographically transmitting Thomas' consciousness to Krypton so that Jor-El could better learn what kind of world Earth was to help him decide which of many possible candidates he should send his son to. Thomas tells Jor-El that the people of Earth aren't perfect, but are essentially a good and kind race who would raise the child right, convincing Jor-El to send Kal-El there. Thomas recorded his encounter in a diary, which was discovered by his son Bruce Wayne in the present day.
"New 52" and "DC Rebirth".
Following two line-wide revisions of DC superhero comic books, branded by DC Comics as “New 52” and “DC Rebirth”, the character Jor-El was revised to be still alive within the books’ fictional setting. The 2017-19 miniseries "Doomsday Clock" presented his survival as the act of Doctor Manhattan, who whisked Jor-El away as Krypton crumbled and taken to Earth, where he crashed in a war-torn nation. After being nursed back to health by locals, Jor-El saw firsthand the atrocities of man, as a dictator usurped all of what the people owned, causing them to starve. After witnessing these atrocities, Jor-El is forced to watch the horrors of mankind over the centuries and is represented as Mister Oz, who had been monitoring Superman since his pre-"Flashpoint" counterpart appeared during storylines of "The New 52", a line-wide revision of DC superhero comic books. It is later established that Jor-El was a member of the "Circle", a clandestine organization composed of five powerful cosmic beings and intergalactic rulers including Appa Ali Apsa, Sardath of Rann and the being who destroyed Krypton, Rogol Zaar.
Other versions.
"Elseworlds".
In the "Elseworlds" series "", Jor-El is able to save himself and Lara and accompany Kal-El to Earth, where Jor-El sets up the corporation JorCorp while Lara establishes the self-help movement Raology. 
"Superman Adventures".
In "Superman Adventures" (based on the animated series), the story arc "Family Reunion" sees Superman accidentally travel to a parallel universe where a single Kryptonian city survived Krypton's destruction, with its natives including Jor-El and Lara.
In other media.
Jor-El has appeared (usually briefly) in various media adaptations of the Superman story.
Novels.
"Superman: Last Son of Krypton".
In the Elliot S! Maggin 1978 novel "", Jor-El is shown as having sent a navigation probe ahead of Kal-El's spaceship, in order to find a suitable foster parent on his new planet. In Kryptonian society, scientific achievement was a preeminent virtue, so Jor-El's probe was programmed to seek out the leading scientific mind on Earth, presumably to adopt Kal-El. The probe landed (in the early 1950s, although the date is non-specific) in Princeton, New Jersey, where it soon appeared outside the window of Albert Einstein and communicated its mission to him through telepathy, along with precise details of where Kal-El's rocket would land (near Smallville, Kansas), several days later.
"The Last Days of Krypton".
In the 2007 novel "The Last Days of Krypton" by Kevin J. Anderson, Jor-El is shown as a science hero who is respected and admired by all of the people of Krypton and has a standing offer of a place on the Council. Yet his clashing with this conservative Council over new discoveries supplies much of the tension in the book. General Zod and his two minions make a bid to take over Krypton, first posing as Krypton's saviours.