SUPERMAN UNIVERSE

Pet Sheet
PLOT: Superman must stop the pitifully confused, yet
violent doppelganger of himself created by Lex Luthor from
causing irreparable harm to Metropolis in his misguided
attempts to emulate Superman himself, ironically forcing
Superman to save his own arch nemesis in the process, all
the time unaware of the malevolent Kryptonian force that
collaborated with Luthor and awaits the end of one crisis to
start another.

STORY: Public outrage over Superman’s severe injury of

down-on-his-luck, petty crook John Corben results in an
identity crisis for the Man of Steel. It is all too soon
manifested in flesh and blood when, in a complicated scheme
on the part of Lex Luthor to clone Superman for the sake of
framing him in multiple “crimes,” the duplication ray
(developed with a mysterious partner code-named Brainiac)
malfunctions and creates a confused, violent and primitive
doppelganger. It has all of the Man of Steel’s powers,
idolizes Superman and tries to emulate him by turning on
Luthor, inadvertently hurting innocents in the process.

NOTES
 LANA LANG is a Metropolis anchorwoman for WGBS-TV and
quiet proponent of Gotham’s Batman over what she sees as
Metropolis’ naïve and nationalistic Superman / She starts
the movie covering Superman’s encounter with violent and
suicidal bank robber JOHN CORBEN, using the encounter and
her position in the media to fuel the controversy
surrounding Superman’s actions
 Lex and Superman’s youthful acquaintance will differ from
Smallville: During his youth, Lex had been an aspiring
scientist and a friend of Superboy. Lex begins
experiments in creating an artificial new form of life,
as well as a cure for Kryptonite poisoning. An accidental
fire breaks out in Lex's lab, Superboy uses his super-
breath to extinguish the flames, inadvertently spilling
chemicals which cause Luthor to go prematurely bald; the
botched rescue also destroys Lex's artificial lifeform,
along with the Kryptonite cure.[2] (Wikipedia Entry) It
will be the adult Luthor’s continuation of those
experiments that results in BIZARRO.
 Brainiac is once again from Colu, once a rival planet of
Krypton’s that may or may not have had a hand in
Krypton’s destruction. Brainiac’s mission to wipe out
Superman extends from his duties as a Colu-an secret
agent to wipe out all Kryptonians.
 After constructing his Fortress of Solitude, Superman
honored his deceased biological parents with a statue of
Jor-El and Lara holding up a globe of Krypton.
 There needs to be a scene similar to the one in Shuster
and Siegel’s very first Action Comics Superman story
about EXACTLY why Lois can’t completely warm up to Clark,
which is that to protect his identity, he has to be mild-

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 mannered to the point of almost seeming cowardly, coward
being the word Lois uses to describe Clark in the comics.
Replace it with something else here, but be as specific.

OUTLINE
I. INTRODUCTION
A. LANA LANG covers Superman’s attempt to end a standoff
between Metropolis PD and former reporter turned bank
robber JOHN CORBEN. When the talk isn’t working, Superman
convinces the cops to give Corben the car he wants,
whereupon he leads cops on a high-speed chase before
crashing, severely wounded in the process. Superman is
blamed for his inability to diffuse the situation and, in
this case, his inability to protect life.
B. While Clark visits Corben in the hospital, LOIS and JIMMY
conduct an interview with DR. VIRGIL DOX, a geneticist
with technology that is supposed to instantly read and
synthesize a human’s basic DNA code for use later,
presumably in the replication of organs for transplants,
etc. Cloning is mentioned, but the doctor swears off the
use of his technology for cloning. During the interview,
however, Lois strategically spills something on the
doctor’s clothing right before the photo-op. While the
doctor is out the room changing clothes, she slips a USB
card into his computer and downloads an overview of his
laptop’s hard drive.
C. At the news station, LANA LANG is ordered to report on a
secret message sent to the station indicating that LEX
LUTHOR is alive and willing to, before turning himself
in, disclose information about a threat to Metropolis
greater than he. However, he is only willing if he can
disclose it to SUPERMAN in person one night at a
designated time and location. She resists doing the
report, but is overruled. That evening, she gets a not
altogether unexpected visit from CLARK KENT at her
penthouse. He warns her of the dangers that will come
with her report, but she protests that she already knows
and the conversation quickly turns to why she dislikes
SUPERMAN. She knows his secret from when he told her in
college and she’s still bitter about their breakup not
long thereafter, especially with the burden of keeping
his secret with nothing in return. She asks and Clark
says that Lois still doesn’t know.
D. SUPERMAN meets with the MAYOR, who wants him to meet with
LUTHOR. Superman resists, but the Mayor is new and can’t
be seen as soft on Superman after the Corben incident, so
he insists that Superman owes it to the city to get
whatever information Luthor has and to aid in Luthor’s
recapture. Superman doesn’t like it, but agrees.
E. At the Fortress of Solitude, KAL-EL seeks advice from
JOR-EL’S crystal about whether or not he should continue
leading his dual life, ultimately coming to the temporary
conclusion that there’s no other immediate alternative.

II. RISING ACTION

A. SUPERMAN meets with LUTHOR at the designated time and
place, but after a tense bit of small talk, Luthor
decides not to talk, instead pulling out what looks like

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 a gun, at which point headlights flash on from squad cars
behind Superman and COPS draw guns on Luthor. Little do
they know that Luthor pulled the trigger and that the gun
is pat of the DNA collection technology Lois is covering
at the Daily Planet.
B. LOIS LANE is surprised to find CLARK KENT when she enters
the viewing room to watch Luthor’s interrogation late the
same night. She teases him and asks jokingly if PERRY
WHITE put him on the story last-minute as a prank (since
Kent has a rep for going to bed early), but she doesn’t
get the usual boy-scout responses. Instead, Clark is
short on words, distant and calm. Clark listens to a few
remarks from Lois about Superman, then excuses himself
for the night. Lois watches him exit, mildly concerned,
but then easily turns her attention back to the interview
to hear Lex taunting the cops. Then, he’s asked about
the gun, at which point Lex smiles and chuckles
condescendingly before announcing that he’ll be cleared
by morning but that, in the meantime, he’s lawyering up.
The cops remind him that his stolen assets were seized
after his last disappearance, but Luthor just smirks. At
that point, Lois quietly leaves the room and sneaks into
the evidence locker down the hall. She just manages to
get a look at the gun they took from Luthor, just long
enough to recognize it from Dox’s office, before getting
caught and thrown out.
C. JIMMY OLSEN is on-site when LEX LUTHOR is released on
bail the following day, photographing him entering a
limousine and catching the familiar face of DR. DOX in
the back seat. Inside the limo, Lex thanks Dox and asks
if things are proceeding with the “test subject.” Dox
replies in the affirmative but with the stern assertion
that, in the end, he is the one in control, that they
“had a deal” which he expects Lex to live up to and that
double-crossing someone of Dox’s intelligence would be
“unwise.”
D. Lois and Clark chat at Lois’ desk as she prepares to go
somewhere, apparently waiting on someone to pick her up
to go to lunch, saying it’s another reporter with whom
she’s considering collaboration on the Dox story, which
she says has seen new developments. Before expounding on
those developments, though, she says, “speaking of
which,” and begins complimenting Clark on his “sensitive”
coverage of Corben’s crime and injury. When she asks if
there are any new developments on that end, Clark says
that all he knows is that a civil liberties group that
helps prisoners has raised the money for a supposedly
groundbreaking series of operations to be done on Corben.
The doctor is new in Metropolis and is not only an
orthopedist but also a cyberneticist named DR. VALE.
Clark says that’s all he knows and that he’s a bit
frustrated and suspicious about the lack of information
coming from the doctor’s office, to which Lois jokingly
asks if “the boy scout” is getting paranoid. Just then,
Clark spots the picture of Dox in Lex’s limo taken by
Jimmy as Lois is putting it in her satchel. He asks
about it just as Lois looks up to spot her lunch partner,
at which she says, “Sorry, Smallville, I’m going to have
to sit on this story for a while, and besides, it might
not just be mine anymore.” Clark follows her gaze to see

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 LANA LANG approaching the desk. Lana smiles cordially at
Clark, but only speaks to Lois, asking if she’s ready.
Clark says hello and asks how things are going at the
station, to which Lana just says that as long as she’s
got Superman’s rep by the tail, her job is secure. She
immediately looks at Lois to apologize for putting down
Lois’ hero, but it’s clear Lana is jesting and that, for
the most part, Lois knows that, even if she doesn’t know
entirely why. Clark adjusts his glasses and clears his
throat as he sadly watches the two leaving.
E. As Dr. Dox is keying in some “final adjustments” in a
hidden location on a massive, advanced cryogenics machine
(of sorts…), in which floats an obscured male figure in a
murky solution behind glass, LOIS LANE and LANA LANG are
talking about their would-be collaboration over lunch.
Lois reasserts her surprise that Lana would consider
working with her and asks how it came about, considering
the otherwise cool relations between The Daily Planet and
her news station. Lana simply says that she has some pull
there and convinced her own editor that Lois’ abilities
as a reporter and popularity as a journalist made her
transcend any rivalry with the Planet as an asset to any
news organization. Lois compliments her on her classy
and flattering answer, then asks pointedly if her
decision has anything to do with Clark, to which Lana
starts by saying that if it did, she’d be collaborating
with Clark. Lois sees through it, but lets Lana continue
after a pause. Lana says she always thinks about Clark,
but that what they had between them peaked and faded back
in college. Lois asks what the problem was and seems
stunned when Lana says it had to do with Clark’s honesty,
surprising Lois because Lois thinks Lana is implying that
Clark is dishonest, something with which Lois would and
does flatly disagree.
F. LOIS LANE is the victim of a carjacking while going home
at night, but is rescued, as usual, by SUPERMAN – or, at
least, someone she initially thinks is SUPERMAN. This
time, however, though as strong as always, he seems to be
smiling awkwardly as he not only rescues Lois, but also
kills one of the carjackers as the other runs away,
dismissing the death and casually bidding Lois good night
as he flies off.
G. CLARK arrives at the scene in civilian clothing as LOIS
is giving a statement to the cops. He waits,
eavesdropping on her statement. Then he approaches.
She’s a little shaken, but otherwise fine. What she’s
shaken about more than the carjacking, though, is the odd
behavior of Superman, with whom her disappointment is a
bit overshadowed by her concern for him as she grimly
points to the covered body of the man he killed. Clark
asks in which direction he flew and gets a surprising
answer – a question, from Lois, about why Clark wants to
know that? Clark makes up an excuse about putting more
detail into his stories, for which he gets another
compliment, then excuses himself to survey as much of the
rest of the scene as he can. When it finally occurs to
her, Lois acts surprised that he’s been put on the case,
but Clark, inwardly and secretly very concerned, simply
says he'd be willing to share a byline with her but that
he really needs to go. He walks slowly around the scene,

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 surveying it, using X-ray vision to get a look at the
dead guy. For a moment, his expression of appall is
evident as he sees the extent of the dead guy’s wounds,
but he quickly chokes it back and takes out his notepad
and pen, pretending to make notes. Then, he walks a few
feet away as if to leave the scene and looks into the
skies. At first he sees nothing, but then he sees a
single form way up there, about his size, floating in air
but bobbing up and down a little. Whoever or whatever it
is watches the scene. Clark then looks around, finds a
hardware shop still open with a back door, then rushes
through it, changing into Superman while he’s obscured by
the racks in the nearly empty shop. Out he flies towards
the figure that starts to flee. Speculating to himself
that one of his Superman robots might have malfunctioned,
he can’t believe his eyes – the figure is he a little
bulkier with almost chalk-white skin with tiny scars the
width of threads shooting up and around his body.
Superman yells out that he doesn’t want to hurt the
being, at which point the being recognizes his voice –
his own voice – and the two stop in mid-air to talk.
Superman awkwardly thank [BIZARRO] for saving Lois, then
asks why he killed the man. Bizarro asks who Superman
is, believing him to be the impostor, but when Superman
doesn’t answer Bizarro turns to answering Superman’s
question. In mildly broken speech patterns that get
worse as he goes on, Bizarro explains that he had no
choice and that Superman would do the same thing since,
evidently (not Bizarro’s words), Superman is his long
lost brother. Superman notices that Bizarro gets
frustrated that the longer he talks the harder it is for
him to get the right words out. Superman doesn’t know
what to say, so after a moment, he simply says, “I have
no brothers.” Bizarro looks puzzled and greatly
frustrated, almost to the point of anger and tears.
Bizarro asks who Superman is if not his brother, but
doesn’t give Superman a chance to reply. Finally, in
desperation, Bizarro punches Superman way off into the
distance then flies away. Superman recovers in mid-air
and looks for Bizarro, but sees nothing. He is deeply
concerned.
H. In a staff meeting with Lois, Clark, Perry and Jimmy,
Clark gives his update on Corben and Jimmy makes a remark
about Luthor staying at his lawyer’s apartment. Lois then
mentions the incident with Superman and the carjackers
and that she’s concerned because there may actually be
grounds for Lana’s anti-Superman crusade. Perry tries to
get Lois to take a break from the Dox story to cover the
Superman development, but Lois refuses both for
professional and personal reasons. Clark, unable to show
personal alarm, decides instead to volunteer for the
story himself, which surprises the others in the room as
they go silent for a moment. Perry breaks the silence,
though, congratulating Clark for stepping up to the plate
and volunteering for a story that might boost his career.
For that reason, he says, he will give and does give the
story to Clark. Obviously, this lets him investigate it
as Superman on Clark’s time without compromising his
cover.
I. At the Fortress, Superman has his Robot assistant

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 tracking alpha waves similar to his, believing it will
help him find Bizarro. In the meantime, he tries to
contact Lois, calling her home from his computer, but
gets no answer. Not surprised, but still curious, he has
the robot temporarily switch tasks and do a scan of the
city for Lois, which finds her at a Metropolis nightclub.
J. He goes there as Clark Kent to find Lois all dressed up,
still a little sore from having been thrown around at the
carjacking, but frustrated that Clark might blow her
cover. She is there having followed Dox, who is sitting
across the room. Clark then suggests that they dance,
which is a request she initially refuses before Clark
insists it will help blend them in the crowd and help
people forget they saw the spat when Clark arrived. Lois
reluctantly agrees. They dance. Clark enjoys it, but to
Lois’ surprise, she does, too, and says so. Though she
still calls him “Smallville,” she says his embrace
reminds her of something comforting that she can’t quite
put her finger on. Just then, another man rudely
approaches and flirts with Lois. Lois resists him, but
he insists on cutting in. Lois tells Clark not to be
intimidated by the man, but Clark insists on avoiding
conflict and steps aside. Lois gets angry, refuses to
dance at all and storms out of the club. Clark follows
her out to the street to ask what was wrong. Lois, while
waiting for a cab, very passionately chides Clark for
having seemed to be pursuing her for years and then, when
he has her and they’re dancing, he doesn’t have the guts
or seem to want it enough to not let some stranger
intimidate him and cut in. Clark doesn’t know what to
say, but he doesn’t get the chance anyhow. Lois’ cab
pulls up and she gets in without another word. As the
cab drives off, though, Clark hears Dox’s name spoken
angrily nearby, then Luthor’s.
K. Lex’s lawyer has pulled out of the club and into an alley
with Dr. Dox. The lawyer chides Dox for the problems with
their “test subject.” Dox insists that it couldn’t have
been predicted and that he made the risks clear to Luthor
from the start, but the lawyer isn’t satisfied. He takes
out a cell phone, dials a number and over its speakers
comes Luthor’s voice, greeting Dox and reminding Dox that
they had a deal and that he’d better listen to the lawyer
and solve the problem. Dox softly instructs Luthor not
to test him. Luthor responds that he wouldn’t have if Dox
hadn’t already tested him and his patience with the
screw-up. Luthor hangs up and the lawyer smiles at Dox.
Superman is listening to this, but doesn’t get in seeing
range, so what he doesn’t see is Dox killing the lawyer
quietly in the alley.
L. Meanwhile, Bizarro is secretly hovering over the scene,
listening to everything and everyone, hearing Luthor’s
lawyer, Dox and Luthor over the phone. A dim light goes
off in his head and he flies to Dox’s laboratory, which
late at night is empty. He looks around and finds
genetics equipment and the large tube in which he
gestated. He suddenly recalls images and sensations from
having woken up there and being instructed and gets
angry.

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III. CLIMAX
A. CLARK KENT is asleep in his apartment when a beeping goes
off in his head, waking him up. After the beeping, he
hears the voice of his robot at the Fortress telling him
that their subject is nearing the apartment where Lex is
being held. Clark immediately bolts out of bed and into
action.
B. At the rather lavish apartment with balcony, Lex
desperately tries to get in touch with his lawyer, but
doesn’t get an answer. Instead, from his balcony he gets
a broken voice saying that his lawyer is dead and that
soon, he will be, too. Luthor looks over, sees and
recognizes Bizarro. Luthor says that Bizarro was
designed to take commands from Luthor’s voice and then
commands him to back down, but Bizarro says no,
approaches closer. Just as Lex gets that he’s in
trouble, the real Superman flies in through the balcony
and confronts Bizarro, telling him to stop. Bizarro
turns, tells Superman that “Lex is villain,” but Superman
insists that if he really wants to be like him, he won’t
take a human life. Bizarro then calls Superman weak,
then runs towards him, attacking and knocking him off the
balcony. The two fly downwards towards the street,
trading punches. They hit the pavement in the middle of
traffic and despite Superman’s calls for the fight to
stop, he’s forced to defend himself from the obviously
mad and out-of-control Bizarro. This goes on for several
minutes, during which time both Lana’s news van and Lois
and Jimmy, in their own cars, arrive to watch, take
pictures and report. As Jimmy takes shots of the fight,
Lois and Lana look on, equally confused and a bit
saddened by what they’re seeing. Lois then looks up to
the balcony from where they fell and sees, in the moon
and street lights, Lex Luthor looking down, watching
everything with an ever so slight grin on his face. While
all this is going on, Lois gets a call on her cell phone
from Perry saying that they just got word that Luthor’s
lawyer has just been found dead in the alleyway next to
the club to which Lois followed Dox. He also says that
the police had apparently been warned against the law by
Luthor’s lawyer that Luthor had another devious motive
behind what he was doing, so they’re en-route to the
scene to pick up Luthor for questioning.
C. Just as she gets off the phone, Superman gets the better
of Bizarro, knocking him out cold. As Superman catches
his breath, he glances over to see both of the women in
his life, desperately wishing in the moment that he could
come clean to both at once. But, obviously, he can’t, so
with some difficulty, and in spite of Lois’ calls to him,
he lifts Bizarro up over his shoulder and flies off.
D. Once the action has ended, Luthor walks softly back into
his mostly dark apartment, inwardly relieved and
confused. Just as he pours himself a drink and sits down
to relax, he hears the police banging on the door. He
answers the door, asks what’s going on, and the police
tell him that they are taking him to the station to
question him on the death of his lawyer, which surprises
Luthor.

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IV. FALLING ACTION
A. Later that night, an equally stunned Lois and Lana are
at the empty offices of the Daily Planet going through
Lois’ research on Dox. Evidently, Lois has told Lana
about the club and her suspicions about Dox from the
beginning. Lois also mentions the gun-like device she
found in Dox’s lab, at which point Lana mentions that
Lex had a similar device when he docked and first
approached Superman on the pier. Connecting the dots
that Dox is a geneticist, together they speculate that
Dox and Luthor might be behind the imperfect Superman
clone.
B. At the Fortress, Superman and his robot assistant use
advanced Kryptonian technology to analyze the
unconscious Bizarro, apparently using a certain
concoction to keep him unconscious. As they run one of
the tests, Superman waxes philosophic about how hard
it’s been to maintain two identities and then to see
himself as if through a broken mirror. He also
speculates that whatever created Bizarro was not earth
technology, a comment grimly confirmed by the robot
assistant, which also says that the technology isn’t
Kryptonian, either. When Superman asks, the robot
identifies it as Coluan, belonging to an extinct
biological race whose machine spies committed terrorist
acts on Krypton shortly before Krypton’s destruction.
Superman then instructs his robot to wake up Bizarro so
he can possibly answer some questions, which he does.
When Bizarro awakens, he is initially violent, but the
robot gives him a paralytic, which disables him but also
frustrates him. Superman then asks what he remembers
about his origins, and Bizarro just rambles about “long,
glass tubes,” “red lights,” and repeats the word “Dox”
over and over again.
C. Early the next morning, just before dawn, Superman lands
on Lois’ balcony and gently wakes her up. He warns her
not to go near Dox and she says she already knows. She
also apologizes for being a little rough on him the
night of Corben’s accident and that she can see now how
hard things are becoming and asks about the clone.
Superman tells her that his analysis indicates that Dr.
Dox made the clone with the assistance of Lex Luthor
from alien technology once used to terrorize Krypton.
Superman says, though, that he doesn’t know Dox’s real
identity, just that he’ll (Superman will) take care of
him and for Lois to keep her distance. Lois asks if she
should pass the message along to Lana, which causes
Superman to pause, a bit stunned. Superman answers by
simply saying that Lana probably already knows better.
When Lois asks why, Superman simply says that they had a
history together, but that it was a long time ago. The
sun comes up and, as it nears time for Lois to get ready
to go to work, the two say goodbye.

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V. CONCLUSION