The Adventures of Superman (radio) home planet of Krypton is located on the far side of the sun, as opposed to a distant star system as it is in most stories. During the journey to Earth, baby Kal-el grows into an adult and emerges fully grown from his ship after it lands on Earth. He is never adopted by the Kents but immediately begins his superhero career. This was eventually retconned in later episodes to match the narrative of the comic books. This serial introduced the fictional mineral kryptonite, the radiation from which can weaken and even (in some continuities) kill Superman. Aside from giving
Superman: Last Stand on Krypton Zod. Zod questions Luthor and finds out Superman is on the planet and Luthor agrees to help him. Zod's robots descend upon the New Kryptonian sanctuary, where the colonists are infected with Kryptonium, a.k.a. the green death. The animals and people in the colony die horribly. Superman pleads with Zod to avoid war, but Zod declines, and hands him over to Luthor. Luthor infects Superman with forms of the green death, which turns him into a brutish being in the process. Superman is thus rendered animalistic and unintelligible, but his motives are still pure. He takes Lois to his father,