Personality

[kontykebomb]

Personality

The result of Project Cadmus' "Project Kr", Superboy (aka: Conner Kent or Kon-El) is a sixteen-week-old genomorph clone of Superman, created as a living weapon by Project Cadmus on behest of The Light to either replace Superman if he falls or destroy him should he go rogue. Having spent his first 16 weeks of existence as a science project and mind-controlled puppet, Superboy has only a little over 6 months to call his new life with his new friends and teammates since his liberation from Cadmus’ control.

Although he desires to be a good hero, Superboy has anger issues and an aggressive-but-stunted personality. Easily irritated, he carries a great deal of rage inside himself, partially due to his premature awakening and treatment at Cadmus, to say nothing of his adolescence. Typically sullen, ill-tempered, and grumpy, he struggles with bouts of uncontrollable anger. His pride and power make him very defiant and he hates being told what to do or being dismissed. Conner often behaves with an air of extreme confidence, due in large part to the fact that he is Superman's genetic clone and was created in order to replace him. This makes him exceedingly overconfident in his abilities to the point that he ignores the help of others and impulsively throws himself into situations that he cannot handle on his own.

Despite this confidence, Kon-El wrestles with insecurities and worries about living up to his namesake, Superman, but his rocky relationship with the Man of Steel constantly grates on him and leaves him irritable, somber, and brooding. Since he never really had the opportunity to interact with anyone until recently, Superboy is somewhat anti-social and has a hard time getting along with others or showing his emotions. As such he constantly behaves in a confrontational manner to all people, even those who are attempting to be kind to him. Humbling himself is a very trying thing for him, and contrite actions like admitting he was wrong or making amends to people who he has hurt are difficult for him to do. Due to his premature release, Conner sometimes lacks an understanding of basic human interactions and social norms, usually ending up embarrassing and frustrating himself, though the moments are usually endearing and amusing to his teammates and friends.

However, for all of his rough points, Superboy has a heroic and kind heart, even if the latter sometimes has trouble shining through. He cares deeply about his new friends, seeks to protect them from harm, and desires to keep the innocents around the world safe. His friends routinely encourage him to control his temper and he makes efforts to do so, with varying degrees of success. Conner’s protective nature fosters an intense loyalty to his teammates and despite his anger issues, he can be counted on to come to their aid as readily as he can. As he learns from the others on the Team, both heroic traits and social skills, he begins to mature and develop from his initial animalistic rage.

Thanks to the trust and bond formed with each of the members, Kon-El has started to open up and become not quite so silent, to the point of carrying on conversations without getting angry and reigning himself in during missions to cooperate with his teammates. He’s even begun to branch out and enjoy his life, cooperating in games and leisurely playtimes with the Team. Sometimes Superboy’s naivety and lack of experience leads him to make foolish choices, embarrass himself, or hurt his friends’ feelings. Whereas initially he ignored this, he quickly developed a conscience and began to apologize and take other’s emotions into consideration. With each adventure and challenge he faces with his new family, Conner continues to mature and develop as “the weapon” slowly transforms into a real boy, his own person, and the superhero he is destined to be.


Anger Issues / Brooding / Temper

Many words can be used to describe the young man known as Superboy. At a glance, brash, bold, impulsive, sullen, laconic, surly, defiant and volatile seem to describe his personality the best. While he resembles a typical 16-year-old boy, Conner is anything but typical. He has all the same rampant hormones of a teenager his age and is prone to highly emotional states. But unlike practically every other young adult anywhere, he’s had a very short too short amount time to learn how to deal with and control his hormones and emotions. As it stands, Superboy has serious anger issues, to the point some say it’s his defining characteristic.

Because of his role as a “weapon” for Cadmus, he was kept brainwashed and aggressive, believing his only role was to fight as ordered. Though he was fed an education, personal checks weren’t part of that information, leaving his programming somewhat flawed and incomplete. This programming deeply affected Kon-El’s personality and default reactions. Notably, his typical response to most situations, whether they be disappointment, conflict, or danger, ranges from brooding silence to angry shouting and physical reactions. It takes very little emotive stimulus to provoke an outburst of anger from the fledgling hero, as he’s only just begun to develop any alternative coping mechanisms. Conner’s short temper often seeps through in many areas, from angrily pounding on his enemies to defensively raging at his friends if he feels they’re prying too far into his business.

Though he’s be quick to defend his teammates or himself from insult or speculation from others, this defense is often irritable and rude and usually only serves to aggravate the situation. If he feels hurt or frustrated over something, Superboy often withdraws from those around him, brooding or pouting by himself until he either calms down or—more usually—is called back for a mission. Luckily for him, Kon-El’s work as a hero helps him vent his anger in a not-so-detrimental way and he’ll eagerly take his rage out on his foes, quite noticeable through his brawling style of fighting and superstrength. Fighting is therapeutic to him for this reason, though it also makes him more ill-suited for missions that require either delicate or incognito efforts.

Thanks to his anger issues and developing maturity, he can be a massive jerk at times, stating his opinions bluntly even if they’re considered rude, accusing others over perceived shortcomings, and refusing to listen to advice or reason before storming off. Several times, his friends have had to reign him in one way or another, ranging from physical attempts to stop him to psychically encouraging him to calm down. As time goes on, these efforts have begun to see some improvement in his temper and Conner’s even started to learn how to keep himself in check, even advising some otherworldly visitors not to charge into a fight, a stark contrast to what he often finds himself doing.

Confidence / Arrogance

Due in large part to being a genetic clone of Superman, Superboy possesses many of the same powers—albeit not at the same level—as his Kryptonian progenitor. Because of his powers, Conner often behaves with an air of extreme confidence and self-assurance in battle, enjoying the outlet for his constant frustration. He initially used the fact that his Kryptonian heritage makes him the most physically powerful member of the team to outright dismiss any notions of teamwork or training, only cooperating because he had nothing better to do and their immediate goals aligned with his own.

Similarly, Conner does not identify as a human despite his partial-human DNA; he naturally believes and thus considers himself a natural Kryptonian and references himself that way to others, grouping himself in with the other “aliens” inhabiting Earth. Kon-El’s complete faith in his strength and invulnerability leads him to be exceedingly overconfident in his abilities, to the point that he frequently leaps into battle without care or caution and ignores the help of others, always attempting to take out the visibly strongest target. When reminded of mandatory training with the Team by Black Canary, he angrily rejected the notion and ultimately suffered a embarrassing defeat from her and the android Amazo thanks to his pride.

As expected, this reckless behavior without the aid of his friends or the benefit of a plan often causes Superboy to find himself in over his head, unable to handle the situations he impulsively threw himself into on his own. He’s repeatedly been beaten down, captured, and humiliated by some of the Team’s stronger or more tactically-minded foes, sometimes being left unconscious or too stunned to continue fighting and requiring his friends to rescue him. To add to the mix, his hair-triggered temper makes it easy for his enemies to enrage him, often to the point of being blinded by his pride and anger so much he ends up making a bad situation worse. Between those two vices, Conner sometimes causes others to question his abilities as a hero despite being in the same “superhero family” as Superman.

However, both the Team and his mentors continue to work with him and through the experience (and humility) he gained over some of his missions, Superboy has begun to accept his place and position as a team member. He’s fully capable of following a plan if he’s in the right state of mind and has proven himself able to do so several times under Aqualad’s leadership, even ignoring a fight if it means baiting someone instead. Likewise, after learning and admitting to his limits, he finally requested his mentors to help train him and has begun to work with his teammates in hand-to-hand combat lessons, soon coming to enjoy honing his skills with the help of others and performing well in teamwork.

Rebellious / Defiant

Because of the way he was manipulated by Cadmus (aka: spending his first 16 weeks of existence as a science project and mind-controlled puppet), Superboy is defiant and does not like being told what to do. He will often lash out and outright defy people who he perceives to be authority figures. Even minutes after being rescued by his new friends, Conner not only rejected Desmond, his previous “owner’s”, commands, but angrily yelled at both Robin and Aqualad for telling him to do something, despite one of those ‘commands’ being given to him for an entirely protective reason.

He steadfastly behaves in the manner he wants to behave, refusing to back down to even the Justice League. When the Team’s decision to continue operating was threatened by the senior superheroes, Conner not only questioned their abilities to order the younger heroes around, but stubbornly demanded the League to let them work or get out of their way. Likewise, as mentioned before, he refused to take part in the team training, considering it a waste of time due to his powers, and ignored Aqualad’s orders when they ran counter to what he wanted to do.

Maybe simply because he’s a teenager, some of this rebellion feeds into his pride, as Superboy hates being dismissed or ignored. Seen primarily in his rocky relationship with Superman, each time the Man of Steel ignores Conner or brushes him off, it leaves the younger hero furious, hurt, and prone to stalking off into another brooding mood. During one of these events, he stormed out of the Team’s home base and pointedly left his communicator on the ground, preventing anyone from contacting him.

Thanks to his unruly streak, Kon-El’s prone to irritation when he gets bored and he easily grows impatient, something he even mocked himself for once. Stakeout missions, by his own admission, drive him crazy, and when he’s left to his own devices to occupy himself, he’s not shy about doing whatever he wants, even if it might get him into trouble later on. An offhand excuse of “bored” is usually all the apology anyone gets if he’s caught, as Red Tornado found out.

However, like his anger and pride, Superboy’s rebellious side is slowly beginning to mellow as he spends time with his teammates and goes through life. Though he still doesn’t like being ordered around, he’s willing to take orders, and explicitly prefers this to being the team leader. Similarly, he’s begun to respect the senior heroes and will listen to their advice and wisdom, even if some circumstances end up grating him. In an amusing note, Superboy, like so many other heroes, despite his superpowers and attitude, can still be shut up and cowed by Batman.

Anti-social / Shy / Naïve

Having grown up in “a test tube” for his entire—short—life and thus never really having had an opportunity to interact with other people until recently, Superboy is somewhat anti-social and has limited social skills when it comes to being around others. He has a hard time getting along with others or showing his emotions, thanks to his force-fed education being factual academics rather than social interactions. As such, he usually behaves in a confrontational manner to all people, even those who are attempting to be kind towards him. Whether he’s snapping at his teammates or telling a potential friend to leave him alone, Conner initially wasn’t the best when it comes to being a friendly person.

Though he started to improve since being taken in by the Team, he still has plenty of rough edges. While his teammates obviously know how to have fun, Superboy will often be seen awkwardly hanging back and observing them, or simply sitting quietly watching a blank television screen (and weirdly rebuffing any suggestion to put something on for him to watch). Initially, he had no practical experience with the day to day trappings of life, lacking in the way of “preferences” or having any kind of likes or dislikes. Though he quickly started to develop those, such as enduring a traumatic solo mission that resulted in him hating monkeys and anything remotely simian.

Sometimes this naivety can extend into shyness, and he’ll hang back and away from others to avoid embarrassing himself or admit he doesn’t know or understand something. He once agreed to help Miss Martian (at her request) make dinner, but her nervous excitement over his reluctant acceptance ended up with Superboy covered in food. The event mortified him enough he’s still somewhat wary of helping out in the kitchen. His temper doesn’t help matters either, as his initial reaction to people during his first day at school was barely-restrained hostility. From getting shoulder bumped to seeing Miss Martian get water dumped on her thanks to an initiation prank, Conner was immediately ready to attack the other students, only held back by Miss Martian’s mental pleading to calm down.

Because of his programing, it’s sometimes hard for him to distinguish between “threatening” and “non-threatening” instances, particularly when they share similar actions or appearances. Even his interactions with his friends can be strained by his anti-social behavior, as simple things like making amends with people who he has wronged is a tough concept for him to understand. It took Aqualad’s gentle counseling for Conner to recognize (or admit) he didn’t know how to “do” an apology, and with his encouragement, Kon-El eventually offered an awkward-but-genuine apology.

Like the rest of his personality traits, he has begun to improve on his abrasive side and push past his shyness, even spending time with the Team and enjoying himself playing volleyball, swimming, and building sandcastles at the beach with Aqualad, Robin, and Miss Martian. Interestingly, his bond with both Sphere and Wolf suggests he finds it easier to befriend non-humanoid creatures, particularly those that may be considered “strays” due to their circumstances. A fact Kid Flash and Miss Martian teased him about since Superboy is himself such a stray taken in by the Team.

Idol Worship

While Superboy is improving in forming friendships and trust with his teammates, he continues to experience a very rocky relationship with his would-be-mentor, Superman. Being the Man of Steel’s genetic clone, Superboy was initially very hopeful in getting to meet his genetic “father,” so much so that Aqualad’s offer to introduce Conner to Superman—and later his question as to “what would Superman do?”—were the driving points that ultimately convinced the clone to turn against his creators and team up with his new friends to gain his freedom.

Immediately after the new Team’s success, Superboy did indeed get to meet Superman, but the results were the complete opposite what he hoped for. Superman showed instant apprehension and awkwardness around his clone and deliberately avoided interacting with him. He chastised the young hero for his aid during their first potential team up, refusing Superboy’s plea to help him understand the limits of his power, and later rejecting the young man as his “son” when speaking with Batman. Superman’s initial rejection hurt Conner deeply and is one of the main causes for his constant state of simmering anger. Merely mentioning his lack of attention or affection from his Kryptonian progenitor ignites an extreme rage in Superboy, something Professor Ivo took advantage of when pitting his android Amazo against the upset youth, an event that almost got the clone killed.

Like most of the people who surround Superman, Conner sees his genetic “father” as a perfect being without doubt or malice within him. He idolizes the Man of Steel and feels an intense need to not only emulate him but also desperately desires the explicit approval and attention of the only father he knows, something Superman is very reluctant to give. Even worse, Kon-El’s conditioning by Cadmus combined with the natural affection that a young man has for his father gave birth to a form of hero worship within him for Superman, leaving him feeling lost and angry over his hero’s avoidance.

His desire to be like Superman, as well as his insecurities over his inferior powers compared to his longed-for-mentor, even prompted the young hero to accept the addictive “shields” from Lex Luthor, enabling him to suppress his human DNA and gain access to his full Kryptonian might, all at the cost of risking his sanity and going blind with rage. As Conner is a weapon of Cadmus, created in order to replace Clark if he dies or defeat him if he goes rouge, Superboy feels the Man of Steel is tied greatly to his reason for being alive and thus constantly hopes for his approval someday.

Low Self-Esteem / Fear

Superboy was cloned as “Project Kr” using Kryptonian DNA taken from Superman and Human DNA provided by Lex Luthor. For all his pride and anger issues, the reality of his clone status and his treatment at the hands of Cadmus have left Superboy with damaged self-esteem. As a genomorph, a genetically engineered lifeform created by Project Cadmus, he’ll always be considered “a weapon” to some, “an alien” to others, and “a mistake” to more, a reality Conner tries his best to avoid when it’s not on the table.

For most of his growing period, he was objectified by Cadmus and referred to as an “it” rather than a “he” like a living being. After being rescued from his captivity, Superboy made it clear that he hates being treated that way, a fact Kid Flash picked up on and reprimanded both Superman and Batman for when they called Conner an “it” upon first meeting him. Getting away from this identity is difficult for him, especially since different villains constantly refer to Kon-El with the same objectified language, further pounding home the fact he’s nothing more than a “thing” to them, a failed weapon and a measuring stick or problem.

Though he acknowledges his clone nature, Conner often sees himself as a freak. He’s some sort of science project, a human-looking creation next to far more monstrous-looking brethren, his superpowers aren’t as developed or trained as those of his friends, his intellect is academic but not social, he’s chronologically far younger than everyone around him, and both his nature and purpose are not fully understood, leading to distrust and speculation from the older heroes. Unfortunately for him, Superboy often doesn’t help himself in this regard and gets into awkward situations thanks to his temper and naivety, his overreactions to simple things, his overprotective attitude, and his own lack of knowledge about himself.

His first day at school, he was even referred to as “hot but kind of a freak” by one of the cheerleaders. Villains mock him for his inability to measure up, decry him as a potential danger separate from his team, or try to recapture him to reclaim their lost possession. While he looks human enough, because of his nature and history, Superboy doesn’t consider himself a human, instead identifying as a Kryptonian due to his genetic makeup. This makes it easier for him to get along with aliens and other less-human-looking beings and he bonds faster with these beings since they don’t judge him based on his background.

He understands the reality of his situation very well: despite striving to be his own person and striking out on his own life with his own friends, Conner knows he will always be compared to his genetic—and superior—progenitor, Superman. In spite of his confidence, he worries about living up to his namesake. At one point, a training exercise went horribly wrong, leading to his and his teammates’ apparent deaths.

During his therapy session with Black Canary afterwards (once he came back later after storming angrily out of the first attempt), he broke down about his feelings. Above everything else in his life, Superboy wanted and feared to know what it was to be Superman. In that mental training session, Superman had already died, leaving Conner the world’s “Superman” and the world his responsibility. Even as he watched his friends die all around him and even sacrificed himself to protect them, he felt at peace because he achieved what he longed for the most.

Shocked and ashamed at his own feelings, Conner was guilt-stricken for being happy while everyone else was dead or traumatized, confessing uneasiness at being unable to get over the feelings. This desire-dread combination is further exacerbated by Superman’s non-relationship with him, leaving Conner feeling even more lost amid an entire life he’s literally still just learning how to handle.

Beyond his clone status and “unwanted son of Superman” image, there are other areas of his life where he displays discomfort and uncertainty. While he’s the strongest physically of all his teammates, Conner has to face inexperience more often than his friends. The rest of the Team is composed of crime fighters who have been in costume and battling for years, but Superboy only has a span of six months to base all his experience on, something that causes him to lean even more on his Kryptonian superpowers to provide value and validation both as a superhero and as a teammate.

Similarly, he faces a strange and lonely experience thanks to the side-effect of his cloning process preventing him from physical aging. While all of his friends grow up and mature and he himself ages on the inside, externally Kon-El remains the same as when the Team first saw him: a sixteen-year-old teenager. This presents some very awkward challenges for him socially, making it somewhat risky for him to integrate into some areas of his friends’ secret identity lives. He’s aware of this aspect of himself and though he keeps silent about it to most people, he has confided in a few about his fear towards the “blessing and curse” that comes from it.

In a lighter vein, due in part of his idolized view of Superman and his inexperience with how society views superheroes, Superboy is both irritated and chagrined by the general public wearing the symbols of superheroes, particularly when his fellow students all dress as Justice League members for the Halloween dance he got dragged to. Whether this is out of his pride in his hero status or the fact he was told not to wear his S-shield outside in public (when he’s not being a superhero) is unknown, but likely a mixture of both.

Warming Up

For all his rough spots, Superboy really does possess a heroic heart and kind disposition, even if the latter currently has a lot of trouble shining through. He desires to be a good hero, always trying to do the right thing and keep the innocents around the world safe. Above all, anger issues and brooding aside, he cares deeply about his new friends, even referring to them as such during his therapy session with Black Canary. They’re the only family he has; even moreso, they’re the ones who rescued him from his captivity, and he knows this. As a stray taken in by the Team, Conner is fiercely protective of his adoptive friends and can be counted on to come to their aid as readily as he can.

Of course, while he does what he can to support them during missions, that desire often entangles with his pride and anger issues and creates problems. He instinctively defends his teammates during missions, catching them if they’re thrown or knocked away, blocking attacks meant for them, even jumping atop Robin and Kid Flash to form a protective shield with Aqualad and save from a collapsing building. And that only after having barely known the three of them for just a few minutes. Likewise, he’s not afraid to put himself between the Team and danger, tackling the most threatening opponent or taking the riskiest role during team missions. As Artemis once said, each of the Team is willing to give up their lives to protect the others, Superboy included.

Sometimes, however, this protectiveness, particularly in Miss Martian’s case, can develop into an overprotective streak that doesn’t sit well with her or others, leading to Conner being called out on losing focus or being smothering and not trusting his friends to take care of themselves. Initially irritated by the accusations, he later took the reprimand to heart and started to rely on his friends’ strength as well as his own, making him face the difficulty of working as a team. Teamwork was initially a strange and uncomfortable “waste of time” for Superboy, but thanks to his experiences with the Team, their willingness to protect him from and forgive him for situations he got into and found out he couldn’t handle alone, Kon-El soon proved himself capable of being a focused team player.

The Team’s encouragement and teachings on how to cooperate as a unit quickly began to work at Conner’s stubbornness, and he started to accept their experience over his own, trusted their plans more than his reckless actions, and waiting for briefings instead of storming out. This led to Superboy using his intelligence more during missions, being patient and planning attacks even when by himself, instead of going in with physical strength alone. He can reign himself in during missions to cooperate with his teammates and at one point was even able to fight through his “shield-induced” aggression for the sake of getting his teammate out of a fatal situation, proving his care for them is greater than his rage.

His loyalty to his friends is strong enough that he’ll even stand up to the Justice League when it comes to defending his teammates against accusations or suspicions. Though he hid his connection to and dealings with (see: blackmail from) Lex Luthor and the addiction to his “shields” at first, eventually his affection for his friends and guilt over lying to them ultimately won out and Superboy came clean regarding his genetic connections and his usage of the patches, rather than help lead them into a trap. Because of this and his experience at Cadmus, he is extremely sensitive to betrayal, as he was willing to come to blows with Aqualad for withholding information from the Team and desired to destroy Red Tornado for presumably endangering his friends.

However, in both cases, once he understood the reasons for their perceived “treachery” was to protect the Team rather than hurt it, Conner’s anger quickly mellowed. For the former, he voted to keep Aqualad as the Team’s leader without hesitation, and for the latter, backed down from his aggression when Aqualad reminded him that Red Tornado was created as a “weapon” just like Superboy, and thus deserved a chance to prove himself. Still, because of this devotion, it’s difficult for him to accept lack of communication from his friends when it comes to on-going missions or events and he tries to keep in the know with them as much as he can, to varying degrees of success.

In similar “success varies” areas of his life, Conner’s interaction with his new family has a very positive effect on his anger issues. His friends routinely encourage him to control his temper and he makes efforts to do so. While it doesn’t diffuse it completely, he has learned quickly that his temper is an issue and there are real consequences to yelling and raging at his companions. Thanks to the Team, he’s begun to pay more attention to how his actions affect other people’s feelings and, while initially difficult for him, has learned how to apologize for hurt feelings.

Due to some good-natured prying, friendly stubbornness, and superhero duties, Superboy has begun to break out of his sullen shell, becoming not quite so silent or aloof, and even getting a handle on his anger to the point of carrying on a conversation without getting irritated. His troubled relationships (being a clone and Superman) still get him down, but the acceptance and encouragement he found in his friends is helping Kon-El learn that his arrogance and power don’t have to fill in for his self-esteem as a person. He’s slowly opening up to them, simultaneously strengthening his self-image and accepting himself, while also gaining more control of his anger and getting more in touch with his emotions.

Lacking social interaction is a big hurdle for him and his naivety and lack of experience sometimes leads him to make foolish choices and embarrass himself, but none of these things have driven his family away. Superboy’s learned both heroic traits and social skills from the others on the Team. Thanks to the trust and bond formed with each of the members, he’s begun to mature and develop from his initial animalistic rage into a young man, branching out and enjoying his life. Whereas he’ll sometimes stand separate and awkward to the side while the others relax, other times he’s been amiable to playing with them as well, including spending an entire day at the beach swimming, playing volleyball, and even letting the others build a sandcastle atop him.

Likewise, he’s mellowed enough to occasionally accept and even give taunts or jests during battle, once using it as a diversion tactic against an enemy. He ended up really getting into, surprising himself. Though most jokes fall flat on him, he’s still able to have fun with the others, participating in birthday parties and even getting dragged off to Halloween dances at his school. All in all, with each adventure and challenge he faces with his new family, Superboy continues to mature and develop as “the weapon” slowly transforms into a real boy, his own person, and the superhero he is destined to be.

Quotes

Superboy: “Jealous much?”

Superboy: "I hate monkeys."

Superboy: “Don’t talk to me.”

Superboy: “I choose… freedom.”

Kid Flash: “He… he can talk?”
Superboy: “Yes, ‘HE’ can.”

Superboy: “Don’t. Give. Me. Orders.”

Superboy: “So what are we waiting for? A theme song?”

Professor Ivo: “I didn’t realize that Superman had a brat.”
Superboy: “He doesn’t.”

Superboy: “Look, I've been remarkably patient. Y'know, for me.”

Superboy: “Yeah, well, there’s a time to go in strong and a time to go in smart.”

Superboy: “Those were my favorite boots.” (After his feet slip into lava)

Superboy: “We bonded, okay?!” (Regarding why he’s defending Sphere)

Kid Flash: “You here to help us or fry us?”
Superboy: “Huh. I don’t seem to have heat vision, so I guess helping is my only option.”

Batman: “Complications come with the job. Your ability to handle them has impressed the League.”
Superboy: “The whole League?”
Batman: “Given time, yes. Kryptonians, as you know, have very hard heads.”

Superboy: “Hope survives because the battle isn’t over. Not as long as even one of us is willing to fight!”

Superboy: “GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” (To Miss Martian after being telepathically spoken to)

Superboy: “Superman can fly… Why can’t I fly?” (After plummeting down an elevator shaft)

Superboy: “No capes. No tights. No offense.” (In response to an offer for a high-tech costume)

Superboy: “Fine… feeling the aster.” (Joking with Robin after the group defeated Professor Ivo and Amazo)

Superboy: “I don’t need help! Don’t want any!” (In response to Aqualad’s order to stand-down and wait for backup)

Professor Ivo: “Normally Amazo would study and mimic your abilities during battle, but what’s the point? You’re all such poor copies of the originals.”
Superboy: “So everyone keeps saying.”

Superboy: “I mean, what business does she have throwing a guy with super strength?” (Sulking after getting beaten by Black Canary)

Superboy: “Why let them tell us what to do? It’s simple. Get on board or get out of the way.” (Addressing Batman regarding the sidekicks teaming up)

Superboy: “From the moment I first opened my eyes in that Cadmus pod, there’s been one more thing that I’ve wanted and feared. To know what it is to be Superman.”

Superboy: “I am the Superboy, a genomorph, a clone made from the DNA from the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish or destroy him should he turn from the light.”

Superboy: “Oh please — with my powers the battle’s always on my terms. I’m a living weapon, and this is a waste of my time.” (Scoffing during Black Canary’s lecture on hand to hand combat)