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Okay, so Lex Luthor, Lana Lang, Lois Lane,
those are the easy ones.
But then, there's Lori Lemaris, Letitia Lerner,
Lyla Lerrol, Linda Lee, fricking Linda Lee,
which brings us to Kyptonian names like
Lara Lor-Van, Leslie Lar, the entire hose of El,
and the symbolism that evokes.
Ah!
Oh, how you doing you wonderful nerds?
Scott here.
I think I'm on to something.
I'm not sure if you've noticed,
but the letter L is strangely interwoven
throughout the Superman mythos.
It's as much a part of his literary legacy
as his iconic costume, or the famous curl in his hair.
Now, you might think that the letter S
is the more critical character seeing as how
it's right there on his chest, but nope
because the writers came along and said
guess what that S has been a secret L this entire time
you nerds.
So, what's the deal here?
Why are Superman's legends liberally littered
with this lone, lurking letter?
(heart beating)
What do you want?
What do you long for?
(dramatic music)
So, according to Larry Tye the author
of Superman: The High-Flying History
of America's Most Enduring Hero,
the double L naming was a signature move
for Superman's creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
That's where I would point to them if I had
them up on the board.
They would name every Superman character with two Ls.
The pair even turned into a meta-game.
Readers would write in whenever they'd uncover
a character's name had those signature Ls.
As to why this became a Superman tradition,
there doesn't seem to be one straightforward reason.
It's not uncommon, in the medium, right?
Alliterative names are a staple of the comic book
superhero industry.
They're useful for characters targeted at
young audiences because they're easy to remember.
Heck, they're useful for creators as well.
We've already made an entire video about how
Marvel has so many alliterative names because
it helps Stan Lee keep all the characters
straight in his head.
At least, that was how it was supposed to work in theory,
not so great in practice.
Go check out that video when you get the chance,
but outside of common sense,
it seems like this classic trope in the Superman franchise
became one by complete chance.
Which is...
That's pretty unsatisfying, isn't it?
Either way, this phenomenon has been brought
in the comics as well.
Notably in 1968's Superman No. 204
In this story, a scientist named Lorraine Lewis
falls in love with Superman,
and in her attempts to court the man of steel
she's bested continuously by his other love interests,
Lois Lane, Lana Lang, and Lori Lemaris.
So, naturally, she captures all three to bait
Superman with a trap that consists of two giant Ls
that burst into flame,
and ultimately, killed Lorraine.
Hence the name of the story,
The Case of the Lethal Letters.
Even earlier, before this comic, in issue No. 157,
a story titled, Superman's Day of Doom,
involved Kal-El receiving a prediction machine
which claimed that he would find himself
in a snag and be saved by a pair of Ls.
Later on, Superman comes in close contact
with some pretty nasty kryptonite.
As his life energy drains, he realizes
that he has strangely been connected with
loads of people with double L initials,
and wonders which one of his many friends
would serve as his guardian angel.
Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lex Luthor, even?
But it wasn't any of them.
No, Superman was saved by a little boy named
Steven Snappin.
Wait what?
How does that make any sense?
Well, as Steven goes on his merry way,
Supes notices the back of his shirt reads
Little League.
Double Ls.
Bit of a stretch there Steven.
Bit of a stretch.
Wait a minute, Steven Snappin.
That's two Ss.
I wonder.
Maybe we've been thinking about this too literally.
What if the heart of this Superman L conspiracy
is at the heart of Superman?
Because an S is not always an S.
- What's the S stand for?
- It's not an S.
On my world it means hope.
- Superman may have been given the name Clark Kent
when he crash landed on Earth,
but he already had a name when he was a baby
on his home planet of Krypton.
His biological parents called him Kal, Kal-El.
His surname is, literally, El.
That's what the S on his chest stands for.
It's the family crest of the house of El.
It's like one big family.
He's Kal-El,
his father's name is Jor-El,
his uncle's name is Zor-El.
You get it.
But interestingly that scheme doesn't apply
to everyone on Krypton.
Remember Zor-El from one sentence ago?
Well, he had a daughter that you may have heard of.
- [Supergirl] My name is Kara Zor-El.
I am Supergirl.
- Supergirl's adopted Earth name is, currently,
Kara Danvers, even though, it was originally
Linda Lee because of course it was!
But her Kryptonian birth name was Kara Zor-El.
Which you'll notice doesn't exactly have
the same structure as Kal-El.
This is because Kryptonian names are determined
based on biological sex.
Male Kryptonians have a personal name
hyphenating a house name,
and female Kryptonians have a personal name
followed by their father's full name.
So, Supergirl's father is Zor from the house of El,
making him Zor-El,
and her Kara Zor-El.
You can see this in Superman's parents as well.
As we already established, his father Jor
is from the house of El, thus, Jor-El.
While his mother Lara is from the house of Van,
and whose father's name is Lor,
hence, Lara Lor-Van another double L.
When will it end?!
No, not when will it end.
When did it start?
I mean in early Superman stories the S symbol
wasn't much more than the man of steel's brand.
It didn't stand for anything
much less a family crest.
That idea didn't start in the comics at all.
It started right here.
("Superman Theme" by John Williams)
Ah yes, 1978's Superman: The Movie.
It's a good film, if you haven't seen it.
I'm not usually one to give in to nostalgia
and say that movies in the past are better
than movies today simply because they're old or whatever,
but Christopher Reeve is still
my favorite live-action Superman.
I don't even know why I have to throw in live-action
in there as a qualifier.
He's just my favorite Superman, period.
But more importantly, this is the film
where we'll find more answers to this L conspiracy.
Specifically, on the opening sequence on Krypton.
This is the heartbreaking scene when Superman's
parents send him away to live on Earth
as their own home world collapses around them.
What's interesting is what we see on Superman's father.
It's that iconic S symbol.
You see, the original screenwriter for the film,
Mario Puzo, noticed that Superman's logo didn't really
mean much of anything in the Kryptonia mythos,
and he wanted to change that for the movie.
His original idea was to make Superman's logo
the official symbol of Krypton,
representing the entire planet.
That idea didn't end up sticking though.
You'll notice that it's really just Jor-El here
who's wearing the symbol during this part of the movie,
and that's because, as the story goes,
the actor who played Jor-El, Marlon Brando,
wanted an excuse to wear Superman's logo
on his own costume even though he wasn't
playing the man of steel himself.
And if Marlon Brando says he wants to wear
the Superman logo, you make that happen.
You don't deny Brando.
Thus, in later rewrites of the script the immortal
Superman logo was retroactively adopted
as the coat of arms for the house of El.
It stands for his heritage.
It links himself to his ancestors.
To his culture.
And maybe not just his culture.
Superman's creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
were both born into Jewish families,
and as you can probably guess,
their shared upbringing bleeds into a lot
of Superman's mythology, including his house name, El.
Now, I'm gonna be honest with you guys,
I'm not super religious anymore.
Sorry to my parents who are watching this.
It's kind of an awkward way to break it to you.
Can't wait for that phone call.
But I think it's absolutely worth talking about
the religious influences that molded the man of steel.
You know, for funsies.
Throughout the Bible, the suffix El is used a lot.
Not only does El serve as one of the names
for the big G man himself,
which is pretty apt for a super man.
You can also find it at the tail end of many
top tier biblical figures.
Daniel, the beloved Jewish prophet of the
Kingdom of Babylon, who interpreted dreams
and received apocalyptic visions all while
remaining faithful to his religion.
Samuel, the celebrated Jewish military leader,
who's been described by biblical scholars
as a predecessor to Jesus Christ.
And Michael the angel, who advocated for the Jewish
people, and went toe-to-toe with Satan on the battlefield.
All of these figures are peacekeepers, leaders,
or combatants against otherworldly evil,
and those descriptions fit Superman's mold pretty well.
Now, all this is speculation, of course.
We don't actually know if Siegel and Shuster,
intentionally, made Superman's birth name a reference
to celebrated Jewish icons of the Bible,
but the similarities are, indeed, there.
And there's also the, frankly, over discussed idea
that Kal-El's origin story also mirrors the upbringing
of an all-star in Jewish faith,
the sea-splitting legend himself, Moses.
So, stop me if you've heard this one before.
Fearing the complete extinction of their people,
a parent sends their infant son traveling
to a far away place where he's eventually adopted
and raised in an entirely different culture,
only to then grow into adulthood and fashion himself
as a leader aided by abilities beyond that of a mortal man.
Sounds pretty familiar, right?
Moses is described as a figure of peace
who brings the Jewish people of Egypt out of slavery
and into an exodus into towards a kingdom of their own.
He stands up to his fellow man,
and with the power of the man upstairs,
becomes a hero to his people.
Moses and the house of El, both represent hope.
And like I said, while we don't know for sure,
it doesn't seem like a stretch to think that
Siegel and Shuster worked in these references intentionally.
From the initials of countless supporting characters,
to Kryptonian houses and culture,
to biblical names and influences.
The language of the Superman franchise
come from all corners,
and it may be impossible to trace everything
to a select few sources, but at the center
of Siegel and Shuster's character lies the legacy
of a lonesome letter.
But what do you guys think?
Is there something to this L conspiracy
in Superman's mythos,
or, as always, am I just reading too much into things?
Or does it go deeper?
(laughing)
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And usually right here I let YouTube's mysterious algorithm
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but I want to, specifically, recommend this one
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Statistically, none of you have seen it.
So, if you liked this video, you'll really love that one.
Thanks for watching.
My name is Scott, reminding you to read between the panels,
and grow smarter through comics.
See ya.