conduit

Conduit
Conduit as he appears in Adventures of Superman #0. Art by Barry Kitson (pencils) and Glenn Whitmore (colors).
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Superman: The Man of Steel #0
In-story information
Alter ego	Kenny Braverman
Abilities	Kryptonite-based energy manipulation

Conduit (Kenny Braverman) is a DC Comics supervillain, and primarily an enemy of Superman. Conduit appears to be a post-Crisis version of the old Superman foe the Kryptonite Man.

Fictional character biography

On the night Kenny's mother gave birth to him, a powerful snowstorm made the roads icy and slick. On the way to the hospital, the car Mr. Braverman was driving skidded on ice. Moments later, Kenny was born in the car, and infant Kal-El's starship passed over the Braverman's car. Kenny suffered a high level of radiation poisoning due to Kryptonite exposure from the Kryptonian ship, and during his childhood, his health failed from time to time, but he always managed to recover. Kenny even became a remarkable athlete at Smallville High School. However, he always came in second place to Clark Kent.

In order to learn how to manage the changes his body went through, Kenny volunteered to be thoroughly examined by the CIA. Afterward, they recruited him to do a covert operation in France, but Clark ultimately thwarted Kenny's efforts. Thus, Kenny grew to despise Clark.

Once he developed inherent superpowers due to the events of his birth, Kenny focuses them through a special high-tech suit. He also wears metal gauntlets on each arm that can emit beams of Kryptonite radiation. Kenny then tries to kill Clark and Lois Lane. While he fails to kill them, he ends up dueling Superman.

When Conduit discovered Superman was secretly Clark, he began to stalk Clark, sending Clark notes saying "I KNOW" and planting bombs intended to kill Clark's friends and co-workers. Kenny concluded that when they had competed as children, Clark had possessed all of the powers he possesses as Superman, and thus had cheated, refusing to believe Clark's insistence that his powers only fully developed when he was an adult. Seeing no other option, Superman attempted to forsake his identity as Clark Kent and go into hiding, but Kenny eventually tracked him down and knocked him unconscious.

Kenny then proceeded to place Clark in a fake Smallville set twenty years in the past, filled with android versions of its citizens programmed to hate Superman and regard Kenny as a hero. Several of them attacked Superman, including imitations of Clark's parents, Jonathan and Martha. Conduit also added an android of Lois to the mix, although this one was the same age as the real Lois due to her not being part of the childhood Kenny was trying to duplicate. While Superman dealt with that, Conduit waited for him at a duplication of the Smallville High School football stadium, where the two agreed to fight one-on-one without their powers, making it "just Clark and Kenny."

However, Kenny eventually resorted to using his powers and the hand-to-hand combat escalated to an all-out brawl that heavily damaged the stadium. In a desperate attempt to defeat Clark, Kenny channeled electrical energy that was powering an audience of robots, all of which were built in the image of Kenny's father, into himself. As a result, Kenny overloaded and died, his last words being to say that this is all Clark's fault. Saddened by Kenny's death, Superman returned Kenny's body to his father. He also criticized the man for only focusing on Kenny's losses, rather than congratulating Kenny for his successes in life.

Conduit has been identified as one of the deceased entombed below the Hall of Justice.

Powers and abilities

Conduit wears body armour that provides some protection from energy and physical attacks. His body armour allows him to fly. He has two extendable cable with which he can ensnare an opponent. Conduit is able to fire blasts of Kryptonite radiation.

Other media

Kenny Braverman (voiced by Scott Menville) appeared in "New Kids In Town," an episode of Superman: The Animated Series. The episode, set in the early 1980s, featured Clark Kent as a teenager, first becoming aware of his superpowers in Smallville. The arrogant football athlete Kenny taunts Clark at a high school dance. Clark, in turn, inadvertently humiliates and physically injures Kenny by using his superpowers. Later, at a roadside diner, Kenny is accosted by Brainiac, who demands to know where Clark lives. He eventually tells the Kryptonian android what he wants to know, and is hurled through a neon sign for his troubles.

Although Conduit was never featured in Superman: The Animated Series, the high-school rivalry between Kenny and Clark clearly referenced their comic-book conflict.

Conduit (in his kryptonite-powered suit) was part of Kenner's Man of Steel toy line.

See also

• List of Superman enemies

External links

• http://www.dcuguide.com/who.php?name=conduit