Kal (Smallville)


 * This article is for Clark Kent's personality when he's on Red Kryptonite. For his Kryptonian personality, see Kal-El (Smallville). For his Earth-2 counterpart, see Clark Luthor.

Kal is a recurring antagonist appearing on the WB/CW television series Smallville.

He is the uninhibited personality of Clark Kent that emerges whenever Clark is exposed to Red Kryptonite.

He is played by Tom Welling.

Season 2
In "Red," Clark buys an expensive class ring. Once he puts it on, his personality undergoes a drastic change, and he begins acting rebellious, mouthing off to his father Jonathan when the latter confronts him about buying the ring, neglecting his schoolwork, using his X-ray vision to look through Lana Lang and Chloe Sullivan's clothes, and stealing his parents' credit cards to buy lots of cool stuff. The Kents first suspect "normal" teenage rebellion, but Pete Ross realizes that the class rings contain Red Kryptonite.

Clark asks Lana out on a date, and he takes her to the Wild Coyote, where he shocks Lana by offering to buy them beers. He then ends up offending Lana by deciding to dance with Jessie Brooks, a new student at Smallville High. When Lana starts to leave and he stops her, Clark ends up starting a brawl, and he easily beats his opponents before leaving with Jessie, who offers to them to leave Smallville and go see the world.

Clark decides to move out of his parents' house, voicing his belief that his parents were holding him back from fame and success, and that he's just another piece of equipment to keep their farm going. He then drives off and heads to the Luthor Mansion, where he tells Lex Luthor what's going on. Lex stalls Clark by proposing they go live together in the LuthorCorp penthouse in Metropolis and saying he (Lex) needs to tie up some loose ends. Before leaving, Lex tells Clark to make himself comfortable in the mansion.

Later, Clark is playing pool when Lionel Luthor comes in, and he takes the time to grab Lionel's sunglasses and mock the blind, older man. He introduces himself, and when Lionel voices his astonishment at how the Kents raised "a blatantly aggressive offspring" such as himself, Clark suggests that Lionel move in with the Kents. US Marshal Ted Palmer then comes in and holds Clark at gunpoint, but Clark, moving at super-speed, grabs the gun and shoots it into his own hand, producing flattened bullets. When Palmer tries to flee, Clark grabs the pool table and uses it to pin Palmer against the wall. Palmer then reveals that Jessie's father is on the run for blowing the whistle on his company, and tells Clark there's money in it for him if he gets the information from Jessie's father. Clark, however, knocks Palmer out.

He then heads to Jessie's house, where he tells Jessie he knows about her father and the computer disks with the incriminating evidence on them, and that they aren't leaving until he gets them. Palmer then arrives, much to Clark's irritation, only to then be shot dead by Jessie's father. Jessie's father then advances on Clark and orders him to leave, but Clark grabs his gun. Jessie flees with the disks during the confrontation, and Clark interrogates Mr. Brooks as to the disks' whereabouts before realizing Jessie has them.

Jessie flees through the cornfield, only to be blocked by Clark, who retrieves the disks. Pete then arrives and orders Jessie to run, and Clark advances on his best friend. Jonathan then appears behind Clark with a sledgehammer, and Clark asks his father if he's afraid of him before remarking that his parents were always afraid of him. Jonathan replies that was never the case before telling Pete to "do it," and Pete opens a lead box, revealing a chunk of Green Kryptonite. Weakened, Clark raises his fist to hit Jonathan, who destroys the Red Kryptonite ring with the sledgehammer, restoring Clark's normal personality.

In "Rush," Pete, under the influence of a Kryptonian parasite, slips a piece of Red Kryptonite into Clark's shirt pocket to get him to join him and Chloe (also under the parasite's influence) in engaging in extreme activities. Clark reveals his powers to Chloe and has a brief but tense confrontation with Lex about his right to visit the Kawatche Caves in light of Dr. Frederick Walden barring him from said caves.

During a stop at the Talon, Clark makes out with Chloe before engaging in a game of strip poker with her. After he removes his shirt, the Red Kryptonite falls out; this causes Clark to return to normal.

In "Exodus," after causing an explosion that injures his parents, a guilt-ridden Clark finds a Red Kryptonite ring and puts it on in an attempt to numb his pain and anguish over causing his parents' misery. Under its influence, he leaves Smallville, heading toward Metropolis.

Season 3
In "Exile," set three months after the events of "Exodus," Clark, now going by the alias "Kal," is living in Metropolis, where he has been committing a string of crimes. He sees a sporty car, so he steals a large amount of money from three ATMs in a bank in order to buy the car, which he drives a beautiful woman to Club Atlantis, where he then gives the keys to a valet, telling him it's his. Kal ends up offending his date when she starts to touch the scar that Jor-El inflicted upon him and he roughly grabs her wrist. After Kal leaves Club Atlantis, his scar starts to burn, and he goes to a phone booth, where he pulls off his Red Kryptonite ring, which causes the scar to stop burning. He then puts the ring back on.

The next day, Kal interrupts a bank robbery by men working for Morgan Edge and takes the stolen money for himself. He is later visited by Edge himself, who gives him a business proposal. Later, Kal attends Lex's funeral, where he is spotted by Lana before disappearing from the ceremony.

Arriving back at his apartment, Kal finds Chloe waiting for him, and he rudely deflects Chloe's questions and attempt to persuade him to return home. During the argument, his scar starts to burn again, and he orders Chloe to leave, threatening to go far away from Metropolis if she tells anyone where he is. After Chloe leaves, he takes off his ring to make the burning stop.

Later, Kal is riding his motorcycle when he finds Lana, who blocks his way. He persuades her to climb onto his bike, which Lana does. Sometime after that, he brings Lana to Club Atlantis, where he catches Lana calling the Kents to tell them she has found him and takes the cell phone to speak with his parents, angrily telling them he's not their son, and they're not his parents and they never will be before dropping the phone. He then makes discourteous remarks to Lana about her betraying the people she loves before leaving.

Kal later meets with Edge and accepts his proposal, which is to break into LuthorCorp Plaza and steal a mysterious package from Lionel's office. He makes his way into LuthorCorp, where he enters Lionel's office, breaks into the safe, and retrieves the package. He then turns to leave, only to find Jonathan standing there. Kal refuses Jonathan's suggestion to return home, pushing the farmer and sending him flying into a wall. Jonathan, miraculously unharmed, gets up and declares Clark is coming home with him before rushing at Kal at super-speed. The two of them then go crashing out the window.

"Phoenix" picks up where the previous episode left off, with Kal and Jonathan crashing underground. Jonathan reveals that he and Jor-El have an understanding and tries to remove the Red Kryptonite ring from Kal's finger, only for Kal to send him to flying across the room. Jonathan recovers and rushes at Kal, whom he grabs and sends flying into some debris. Kal then stands up and removes his torn shirt, revealing his scar to a shocked Jonathan.

Kal grabs a pipe and throws it at Jonathan, who ducks and sees Kal has disappeared. Kal then grabs and pushes Jonathan up against a wall, his fist raised to strike Jonathan. Jonathan dares Kal to kill him, but Kal screams in rage and rams his fist next to Jonathan's head, destroying the Red Kryptonite ring and restoring Clark to normal.

Season 4
In "Unsafe," when Clark hesitates over leaving Smallville with her, Alicia Baker gives him a necklace made with Red Kryptonite, causing his personality to change. After making out with Alicia, Clark takes her to Las Vegas, where they get married. However, when they're about to consummate their marriage, Alicia decides she wants "all of Clark" and removes the necklace, restoring Clark to his usual self.

Season 6
In "Crimson," Lois Lane puts on a lipstick manufactured with Red Kryptonite, which causes her to fall in love with the first male she sees: Clark. Later, she kisses Clark, introducing the Red Kryptonite into his body and causing his "Kal" personality to assert itself. Clark reveals his powers to Lois, and they head to Queen Tower, where they nearly have sex until Clark sees an invitation to Lex and Lana's engagement dinner.

Clark, accompanied by Lois, crashes the engagement dinner and rudely voices everything he's been holding in over the past year, such as Chloe's feelings for him, his mother becoming closer to Lionel, and Lana dating his worst enemy, before revealing that Lana is only marrying Lex because she's pregnant with his child. Clark then attacks Lex, grabs Lana, dismisses Lois, and leaves.

Clark brings Lana to his loft, where he professes his love for her, much to her disgust, anger, and confusion. He then kisses her, and she starts to reciprocate when Lex arrives and Lana gets free and goes to him. Lex then holds Clark at gunpoint, but Clark gets the jump on him and prepares to kill Lex until Martha arrives and weakens Clark with a hidden piece of Green Kryptonite, allowing Lex and Lana to flee. Exposure to the Green Kryptonite causes Clark to sweat the Red Kryptonite out of his body, thus returning him to normal.

Season 9
In "Upgrade," Clark investigates the remains of a LuthorCorp lab that exploded, only to end up being exposed to Red Kryptonite in the air, causing his "Kal" persona to emerge once again. He goes to Watchtower and, using the computers there, uncovers stockpiles of Kryptonite weaponry all over the world, which leads him to conclude that Tess Mercer is responsible. He goes to confront Tess, only for Chloe to confess that she and Oliver Queen are the ones hiding Kryptonite weapons in preparation for a potential war against Zod and the Kandorians. Clark is furious at this revelation and accuses Chloe and Oliver of betraying him. He pushes Chloe to the floor and comments he was a fool to think she could ever understand him, then uses heat vision to burn the House of El symbol onto the wall before super-speeding away.

Clark then sets out to destroy the Kryptonite weapon holding sites, and he crosses paths with John Corben. He is weakened by Corben's Kryptonite heart, only for Zod to arrive and blow up the trailer with heat vision. Clark pursues Zod and confronts him, questioning him about how he got his powers. Zod reveals that, when Clark used his blood to heal Zod of a fatal gunshot wound, it not only saved his life but also restored his native abilities. Clark and Zod then form an alliance, and together, they go and destroy the rest of Chloe's Kryptonite weapon sites.

Later, Clark takes Zod to the Fortress, hoping to reunite him with his old friend Jor-El, only for Jor-El to remain silent, much to Clark's annoyance. Zod then tells Clark about the Book of Rao. Corben, under Chloe's control, arrives at the Fortress and engages both Kryptonians in battle. Corben overpowers Clark and stabs him with a shard of Green Kryptonite, neutralizing the Red Kryptonite in Clark's system and restoring his personality to normal.