5 "new twists" for a new Superman project

[magha_regulus]

Got two right now, will try and come back with more.

1) Kal-El is aware and intelligent enough as a baby to pick the Kents specifically as his parents. The ship's AI runs scans on the surface from a safe distance in the sky and picks up on Jonathan and Martha's truck in a storm. Kal can hear Jonathan trying to calm Martha down because she's nervous with goofy jokes, that makes Kal squee in delight. The storm downs a power line however, and Jonathan hydroplanes and is near crashing when Kal cries out. The AI understands that Kal wants to help and offers Kal a lever which will turn on a beam that will stop the truck in its tracks and save Jonathan and Martha's lives. This saps the remaining power from the ship though, and it crashes in a field.

2) The ship's AI is removable from the craft itself as a type of advanced disk. It can even take a tiny holographic physical form, and this construct early on aids the Kents in how to properly care for Kal's unique abilities, and then as Clark grows older, even becomes a companion when he has little friends. He is named Kelex and he will remain a companion throughout Clark's life, eventually becoming primary caretaker of the eventual Fortress of Solitude.

3) Mon-El is introduced as a middle-aged Daxamite whom was once friends with Jor-El. Before Krypton's destruction his friend communicated to him his plans for his son, and afterwards he takes to the stars to locate what happened to little Kal-El. It takes some years but he finally tracks the rocket to Earth, and takes the guise as a kindly farmer living near the Kents. From then on he's almost like Clark's Obi-Wan, keeping an eye on him and even protecting him from threats when necessary. He eventually is poisoned aiding Clark shortly after revealing his identity, not long before Clark plans to leave Smallville for the larger world. Clark gets an antidote from the Legion but a side-effect is deaging him to a teenager, and the full effects won't be felt for so long that he has to be sent to the Phantom Zone before gifting Clark with relics of Krypton once gifted to him from Jor-El. Amongst these is his costume.

I love these Mon-El ideas!

[magha_regulus]

More new possible twists:

6. Krypto is a hyper-intelligent manufactured organic servant (HIMOS?) who was a non-humanoid caretaker of baby Kal on Krypton.

It was placed in the rocketship to safeguard Kal on Earth. Upon arrival, Krypto was ejected from the craft, scanned the first sentient life form it found and assumed its shape. Something went wrong and Krypto found that not only was it now stuck in the shape of a dog, it had lost its ability to communicate verbally. It followed Kal and the Kents back to the farm, and quickly got itself adopted by the Kents as well.

Once Clark discovers his alien heritage and learns Kryptonian, Krypto is finally able to communicate (tho only in sounds too low for humans to hear). Krypto eventually regains his more alien-pet form that it changes into whenever it aids Superman in public.

7. Kara Zor-El arrives on Earth at age 12, roughly the same time Dick Grayson loses his parents.

She is found by the adult Kal, who immediately adopts her himself as "Karen Starr" and has her stay with Ma and Pa until she is ready to commute to Midvale, now a suburb of Metropolis, to go to high school. She is a peer of Dick and Babs. She becomes Supergirl at 13 and keeps until age 22, at which point she takes the more adult name Power Gal.

8. Brainiac is perfectly androgynous, neither distinctly male nor female, but also completely non-sensual, i.e. could be played by Tilda Swinton.

No visual emphasis on muscles nor breasts nor exposed skin, just tall and thin and tentacles for "hair".

9. Jimmy Olsen turns out to actually have been an amnesiac Lar Gand in disguise all along.

A Daxamite, who now is only as powerful as the original golden age Superman, Jimmy/Lar becomes the 2nd Superboy, then Mon-El/Valor. Also, Karen's age-appropriate relationship endgame.

10. Clark was the 1st Superboy, joined the LOSH part- time in high school, full-time in "college", and made TONS of mistakes during his time with the team in the future.

I'm talking MAN OF STEEL movie destruction of Metropolis level mistakes. His time-traveling memory is fully restored prior to his public debut as Superman in our time.

Man, I'd love it if even one of these 10 ideas made it somewhere, someday.

I love your krypto idea