CLARK
Real Name: Clark Kent, possibly Ken Clarke (See Comments)
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Newspaper and television journalist
Group Membership: Employee of an unknown Metropolitan newspaper/television station (possibly the Daily Planet [See Comments])
Affiliations: Chief, Dick Johnson, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Joe Robertson, Phil Sheldon
Enemies: Avant Guard, Blackout (Lilin), Mojo
Known Relatives: Lois Lane (wife)
Aliases: None, possibly Ken Clarke (See Comments)
Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York
First Appearance: (DC) Action Comics#1 (June,
1938);
(Marvel) X-Men I#98 (April, 1976)
Powers/Abilities: Clark Kent is a capable newspaper reporter and television journalist.
History: Very little is known about Clark except that he appears to be a friend of Joe Robertson of The Daily Bugle. He is on the staff of a prominent but unrevealed tabloid newspaper agency in the New York City area with a television news crew as well. Clark seems to be fascinated by the super-hero population around Manhattan, a trait which irks his frequent associate and news partner, Lois Lane.
(Daring Mystery Comics Special 70th Anniversary Special#1) <1939> - After reporter Dick Jones broke an exclusive story only three months after joining the paper, Clark congratulated him for his impressive journalism.
(Marvels#4) - Around the time of the first public appearance of Solarr, as well as Thundra's challenging Ben Grimm to a duel in Shea Stadium, Clark, with Lois and Jimmy Olsen, attended a party with famed photojournalist Phil Sheldon.
(X-Men I#98 ) - While in Manhattan, Clark encountered the X-Men in public shortly before the mutant group was attacked by the murderous, mutant-hunting Sentinels.
(Marvel Team Up I#79) - Clark was invited to a Christmas party at the Daily Bugle, and was asked by Joe Robertson as to how he liked working for a major Metropolitan newspaper.
(Captain America I#260) - Clark was present at a press conference at Ryker's prison when Warden Michaels used Captain America to test out the new security of the facility.
(Avengers I#228) - Clark watched a telecast of Henry Pym's trial on television with several other civilians. He commented that it could be the biggest peacetime treason case since the United States vs. Rosenberg.
(Thor I#341) - Bereft of his persona as Don Blake, Thor was granted the non-conspicuous identity of Sigurd Jarlson, replete with glasses to avoid being noticed in public. Despite normal attire, Clark nearly recognized him after bumping into him on the SHIELD Helicarrier, while attending a press conference with Lois.
(Venom: Seed of Darkness Flashback#-1) - Clark and Lois visited the Daily Globe offices, with Clark commenting to his companion how disorganized and frantic it seemed in comparison to their workplace.
(Secret Wars II#7) - On the evening news, Clark discussed the notoriety of a self-taught guru in the South Pacific. In actuality, the guru was the extra-dimensional being known as the Beyonder living in seclusion.
(Uncanny X-Men Annual I#10) - At New York City's Delacorte Theatre, Clark attended the New York Shakespeare Festival's summer production of "A Comedy of Errors." The play was interrupted by the extra-dimensional being Mojo, who took the theatre hostage and forced the New Mutants to battle brainwashed X-Men for his violence-obsessed movie industry. Wolverine, Psylocke and Rogue overcame their programming and defeated Mojo, saving Clark and all other spectators present.
(Avengers I#296) - Clark and members of his film crew attempted to interview the Black Knight after he was overcome by the curse of the Ebony Blade. They were warded off by the god Thor who spirited the Black Knight to safety.
(Excalibur I#8) - Covering a news story in Manhattan, Clark and Lois noticed Captain Britain flying overhead in his search for missing Excalibur member Meggan.
(Uncanny X-Men I#245) - Clark decided to drop a story of the X-Men fending off an invasion by the extraterrestrial race called the Cadre from the news. Instead, he covered the inauguration of the new President of the United States.
(Amazing Spider-Man Annual#23) - While visiting Joe Robertson at the Daily Bugle, Clark witnessed Jennifer Walters (The She Hulk) storm out of J. Jonah Jameson's office after trying to get his paper to make a retraction on a story.
(Power Pack I#57) - Clark observed the battle between the Star Stalker and Power Pack, and exlaimed "Up in the sky! It's a bird-- it's a plane-- I-I don't know what it is!" when he beheld Smartship Friday.
(Avengers I#325) - While covering one of Sersi's parties, Clark danced with the She-Hulk.
(Avengers I#327) - While taking the subway, Kent saw the young hero Rage running alongside it in the tunnel. He compared the hero's speed to that of a speeding bullet.
(Web of Spider-Man I#75 - BTS) - After realizing their feelings for each other, Clark and Lois decided to get married. They spent their honeymoon in New York City.
(Web of Spider-Man I#75) - While in Manhattan, Clark and Lois were trapped in a freak snowstorm created by Bora of the Avant Guard. They were saved by Namorita and Nova of the New Warriors.
(Daredevil I#292) - Leaving a NYC restaurant, Lois and Clark attempted to collect their coats from the coat check desk, unaware the man whose attention they were trying to get had moments earlier been murdered by Tombstone.
(Thor I#476) - Clark and Lois were seen reading a newspaper outside of the Brighton and Associates Office.
(Ghost Rider III#66) - Walking along the street, Lois and Clark were attacked by Blackout, who was on the run from Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance. Clark attempted to protect Lois, saying, "Stand back, Lo! This is a job for --!" When Ghost Rider appeared, Blackout grabbed Clark and threatened to kill him. Ghost Rider transformed back into his mortal alter ego, Dan Ketch, causing the killer to drop Clark in favor of a new target. But then, Ghost Rider returned and subdued the killer. Clark and Lois hugged each other as Ghost Rider carried Blackout away.
(Daredevil II#8) - Clark reported on the death of Mysterio (Quentin Beck) on TV.
(Marvel Vision#1) - A news article by Clark about the Avengers/Force Works adventure known as "The Crossing" (circa Avengers I#394) appeared in the Daily Bugle.
(Marvel Knights Spider-Man#6) - Lois, Clark and Jimmy watched Peter Parker (sans costume because he had been kidnapped from hospital by the Vulture/Adrian Toomes) crawling up a window at their offices.
(Fantastic Four III#538) - Clark was among many people who journeyed to the site in Oklahoma where Mjolnir had crashed to Earth and people had come to see if they would prove worthy of lifting it.
Comments: Created by Jerry Siegel and Joel Schuster,
adapted by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum. Will and others express varying opinion's below, but to stay true to Marvel continuity, Clark as seen on Earth-616 is an alternate dimensional counterpart of Superman. DC exists in a separate dimension/continuity than Marvel. This was established decades before the Amalgam series and is the case in almost every single one of Marvel's greater than 20,000 stories and god only knows how many DC comics. Technically, Marvel and DC are within different Megaverses, but within the same Omniverse.
Obviously, Clark is Marvel's little homage to a certain Man of Steel over at the Distinguished Competition. A few of Marvel's characters have been directly inspired by the extra-terrestrial hero, namely: Gladiator; he and his team, the Shi'Ar Imperial Guard, were patterned after Superboy, a younger derivative of Superman, and the Legion of Super Heroes, and Hyperion whose Squadron Supreme was patterned after the Justice League of America.
In Imperial Guard#1 and Thor II#34, Gladiator wore a human disguise which closely resembled that of Clark Kent. In addition, in the Imperial Guard series, Gladiator's name was revealed to be Kallark. Will U comments: Personally, I think I prefer the idea more of the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe co-existing in the same tangent rather than the two-universe nonsense and confusion established in the Amalgam Series. Certain aspects in the Marvel Universe concerning gods, ET's, Atlantis and the supernatural would work a lot better for the DC characters in my mind than over there [DC] where every time [something] goes wrong some crisis destroys everything and then restarts it from scratch.
Actually, Clark Kent is colored wrong in Avengers I#296, but the profile and the fact he is a reporter makes it obvious it is he. Similarly, he is credited in being in X-Men Annual#10, but he is very hard to find, though he must be part of the theater audience.
Rumor, fact or fiction? Somewhere I heard that before he passed away, either Jerry Siegel or Joe Schuster sold the rights to their unpublished characters to Marvel or to a company that later sold them to Marvel. Thereby, Marvel has a rather tenuous-if-not-indirect link to the rights of their Man of Steel character. Am I the only one who has heard this? Per Degaton comments: Some evidence indicates that Earth-Crossover, the world where (according to Mark Waid in the ICG DC Index series) the four 1970's and 1980's DC/Marvel crossovers took place, (or a variation of it at least) still exists in the Marvel multiverse. In What If I#1, Uatu the Watcher made reference to the Superman/Spider-Man team-up. During the Avengers Forever mini-series, the Avengers had the opportunity to see other universes in the Marvel multiverse--and we saw Doctor Octopus escaping from prison with Luthor on page 9 of Avengers Forever#8. The trade paperback to the series confirmed that this scene referred to the first Superman/Spider-Man story. So, although Crossover Earth may no longer exist in the DC continuum, it probably still exists in the Marvel Multiverse. It probably got saved from the Crisis there. I can imagine that far fringes of the multiverse have characters not often seen elsewhere (for example, the Transformers of Earth-Transformers UK). Also, the online fanzine Fanzing in their 44th issue, did an informative article on the DC/Marvel tie-ups. From there, they noted that the Superman/Hulk one-shot from the early 1990's got officially marked as a What If, again indicating that it took place somewhere in the Marvel Multiverse. Also, in Superman/Fantastic Four, Superman in one panel notes that he had to ask Access to send him to Earth-616! It would be highly appropriate for Clark to meet Fastforward someday, but besides that, I would point out one omniversal oddity: in JLA#142, written by Steve Engleheart, the JLA met a woman named Willow, who was implied to be Mantis from Avengers. Well, the ICG Official Index to the Justice League#5 admitted that she was Mantis! So Mantis skipped around the multiverse. Recylcing Bin article The Marvels series by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, besides the appearance in#4, did another Clark Kent homage in Marvels#0 (originally published in Marvel Age#131-133), as well as Marvels#1. These appearances took place in the 1940's, so the Clark Kent and Lois Lane analogs from those stories cannot be the same as the Clark Kent we have seen in modern era stories. Loki comments: (from the Spider-Man Appendix)
Clarke, Ken UK Spider-Man Annual (1982) Daily Planet reporter covering the arrival of "Starngore" in Central Park. He stopped Peter Parker from being electrocuted by the "force field" protecting the "spaceship." Someone who was quite clearly Clark Kent (along with Lois Lane and a photographer who looked like Jimmy Olsen, but was also wearing a Miracleman t-shirt) appeared in the recent Marvel Knights Spider-Man (issue#4, page 15). I doubt that Mark Millar is continuity-obsessed enough for this to be the same Clark Kent as the one detailed on this page, but you never know...
Clark Kent's full name is revealed in the Captain America I#260 entry in Avengers, Thor & Captain America: Official Index to the Marvel Universe#6 (November, 2010). Same goes for Jimmy Olsen. Clark makes an appearance in Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1 (November, 2009) but it is probably not the same character as the story takes place during World War 2. It probably should be noted that his Earth-1610 counterpart makes apparance in Ultimates I#3 (May, 2002). Note that with Ken Clarke, we may now have the full name of the non-powered Superman analog [or a possible alias for him -- Kyle] assuming you want to allow the appearance in the Annual - and he is specifically named as a reporter for the Daily Planet! Since he doesn't lend Spidey a hand battling "Starngore," a would-be "alien conqueror," I think that's a fair indication he doesn't have powers (or his x-ray vision saw through Electro's disguise, and he knew Spidey wouldn't need assistance). Thanks to Loki for adding the Daredevil II#8 and Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special#1 appearances. BIG THANKS to artist James Fry for pointing out the missed Venom: Seed of Darkness appearance. Profile by Will U and
Per Degaton,
with help and bold, italicized editorial from Snood. CLARIFICATIONS: images: Appearances:
First Posted: 10/27/2003 Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know. Non-Marvel Copyright info Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!
On Earth-616, there is no evidence that Clark is anything more than a mild-mannered reporter, though there is nothing to refute that, either...other than legal issues, copyright, etc.!
Also, though the homage is undeniable, I'm fairly certain in the Marvel Universe that he has only been named as Clark, and not specifically as "Clark Kent."
So, with that in mind, let the games begin.
--Snood.
One might add the first Captain Marvel since his female counterpart, the first Ms. Marvel, was also named Danvers like one certain Man of Steel's cousin, now since deceased.
Sigh...now I'm going to be bombarded with updates regarding Captain Marvel (SHAZAM), etc. That's all covered under the Miracleman profile. Captain Mar-Vell is/was an alien hero on Earth, but that's about the end of the similarities. Maybe the Danvers name was a tip of the hat, or maybe not.
Clark is not named in Cap#260 or Thor#476, but
is seems to be him, based on appearance.
(Maybe DC's Crisis wasn't as complete as it thought -Will U)
--Mike Castle
Thanks to Ixnay0002 for supplying the Ghost Rider info, Loki
for the UK Spider-Man Annual info, Prime Eternal and Ron Byrd
for the Marvel Vision summary.
Clark should not be confused with:
Excalibur I#8, p3, pan6 (main)
Daring Mystery Comics Special 70th Anniversary Special#1, p2, pan4 (during Golden Age)
Thor I#341, p8, pan3 (helped up by Sigurd Jarlson)
Venom: Seed of Darkness#-1, p9, pan5 (at Daily Globe)
Daredevil I#292, p3, pan8 (with Lois)
Daredevil II#8, p1, pan1 (on TV)
Imperial Guard#1, p9, pan1 (Gladiator (Kallark) in human disguise)
X-Men I#98 (April, 1976) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Marvel Team-Up I#79 (March, 1979) - John Byrne & Chris Claremont (writers), John Byrne (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Captain America I#260 (August, 1981) - Al Milgrom (writer), Alan Kupperberg (pencils), Quickdraw Studios & Al Milgrom (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Avengers I#228 (February, 1983) - Roger Stern (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Brett Breeding (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Thor I#341 (March, 1984) - Walt Simonson (writer/artist), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Secret Wars II#7 (January, 1986) - Jim Shooter (writer), Al Milgrom (pencils), Steve Leialoha (inks), Bob Budiansky (editor)
Uncanny X-Men Annual I#10 (1986) - Chris Claremont (writer), Art Adams (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Ann Nocenti (editor)
Avengers I#296 (October, 1988) - Walt Simonson (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
Excalibur I#8 (May, 1989) - Chris Claremont (writer), Ron Lim (pencils), Joe Rubinstein (inks), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#245 (June, 1989) - Chris Claremont (writer), Rob Liefeld (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man Annual I#23 (1989) - Gerry Conway & David Michelinie (writers), Rob Liefeld (pencils), Tim Dzon, James Brock, Curtis, Vince Mielcarek & Keith Williams (inks), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Power Pack I#57 (July, 1990) - Michael Higgins & Seth Kruchkow (writers), Tom Morgan (penciler/inker), Andy Mushynsky (inker), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Avengers I#325 (October, 1990) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Rik Levins (pencils), Fred Fredricks & Diverse Hands (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Avengers I#327 (December, 1990) - Larry Hama (writer), Paul Ryan (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Howard Mackie (editor)
Web of Spider-Man I#75 (April, 1991) - Tony Isabella (writer), Alex Saviuk (pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Daredevil I#292 (May, 1991) - D.G. Chichester (writer), Lee Weeks (pencils), Fred Fredricks (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Marvels#4 (April, 1994) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Alex Ross (artist), Marcus McLaurin (editor)
Thor I#476 (July, 1994) - Roy Thomas (writer), M.C. Wyman (pencils), Mike DeCarlo (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Ghost Rider III#66 (October, 1995) - Howard Mackie (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils), Sergio Melia (inks), James Felder (editor)
Marvel Vision#1 (January, 1996)
Venom: Seed of Darkness#-1 (July, 1997) - Len Kaminski (writer), James Fry III (pencils), Chris Ivy (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Daredevil II#8 (June, 1999) - Kevin Smith (writer), Joe Quesada (pencils/editor), Jimmy Palmiotti (inks)
Marvel Knights Spider-Man#4 (September, 2004) - Mark Millar (writer), Terry Dodson (pencils), Rachel Dodson (inks), Axel Alonso (editor)
Fantastic Four III#538 (August, 2006) - J. Michael Straczynski (writer), Mike McKone (penciler), Andy Lanning, Kris Justice, Cam Smith (inkers), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Daring Mystery Comics Special 70th Anniversary Special#1 (November, 2009) - David Liss (writer), Jason Armstrong (artist), Bill Rosemann (editor)
Last updated: 01/30/2021
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099
Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you
should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com