As Barry and Kara were taking the Kryptonian pod to the D.E.O., they were unaware that another ship had entered Earth’s atmosphere. This vessel had severe hull integrity damage and broke apart into four smaller pods, each crashing into different locations around the planet. Three of the pods impacted so hard that they buried themselves deep underground, their occupants remaining in a state of hyper-sleep. The fourth pod, while it too suffered a violent crash, appeared over a rural farming town.

A farmer on his way back from his fields saw the streak of fire in the sky just before it hit his truck, destroying the vehicle in a massive explosion. He had barely managed to escape the vehicle, landing in the wheat fields. What he saw next defied explanation as a woman with blood red hair emerged from the wreckage. He passed out shortly after, and his story would become a tale over many beers at the bar nearest his home.

Billions of years before the births of Kal-El and Kara, the planet Krypton was a violent world, inhabited by only a few scientists who were forced to remain in their vessel as the very environment of the planet was fatal to humanoids. Among them was an off-world alien by the name of Bertron. He had been one of the top minds in the universe and the natives of the planet had sought him out to help tame their world.

None of them could have known when he came to answer their call that his plans had far more dangerous ramifications. Bertron had set out to create the ultimate life-form. For several years he and the rest of the scientists cloned a baby, sending it out into the world. Each time the baby was destroyed and the process would begin again. Forty years later, the baby had evolved into the creation Bertron had envisioned.

But this evolution came with a price. The creature, now being referred to as the Ultimate, remembered each instance where he met his death. Enraged, he killed all of the native life forms before turning his attention to the scientists themselves. With nothing to keep him on the planet, the creature escaped by means of a supply ship that Bertron had kept in contact with, as he despised the locals and wished to have as little contact with them as possible outside of their experimentation. Years passed and the experiment known as the Ultimate faded into legend until he was forgotten completely. Krypton flourished and became a scientific haven.

During what would become known as the Golden Age of Krypton, the Science Council learned of past genetic experimentation and ordered their most respected members to form the guild that would restart these tests. Jor-El and Zor-El were the first two of many to follow. While Jor-El saw practicality in the genetic engineering and all the benefits it could provide, Zor-El was heavily influenced by the military guild to create weapons. The High Council of Krypton had grown into an attitude of extreme isolationism. They felt that the outside universe had no need for their scientific advancements which led to many wars. Apokolips, Thanagar, and Colu sent warriors to Krypton, leading to the decimation of many cities.

These attacks furthered the decision to create genetically modified warriors, a call to arms spearheaded by General Zod whom had fought valiantly to protect Kandor against Braniac and his Coluan army. The calls were listened to by the High Council, and Zor-El and his team were forced to cooperate. Five aliens of varying species were taken, most of which were criminals that had attacked Kryptonian ships that had left the planet. These five were tested on and turned into what the military guild dubbed Worldkillers. With promises of their sentences being commuted; they fought to protect Krypton, but soon realized that it was only a matter of time before an army came that would prove to be more than they could handle.

Twelve years had passed as the Worldkillers along with Zod’s army had kept Krypton safe. Kara had been born during those years of peace and Zor-El realized he didn’t want his daughter to grow up knowing only war. When Kal-El was born, his arrival brought the two brothers back together after years estranged. Jor-El had thought his brother was participating in the experimentation voluntarily as Zod only showed his altruistic side in public.

It was during that same time that Krypton’s core became dangerously unstable. Jor and Zor went to the High Council but failed to convince them of the impending disaster. Zod, being disillusioned himself after Brainiac’s attack resulted in the death of his wife, went rogue after he was ordered to arrest the brothers; but refused. He was exiled to the Phantom Zone which paved the way for Brainiac’s return. Kandor was taken and Argo City barely survived as the Worldkillers joined with the Coluan forces and set the planet’s destruction ahead years before the core was initially predicted to explode.

“Jor…we have to do something. Krypton is dying. Despite the house arrest we are under, we cannot let Kal die with us.”

“Zor and I told the Council this day was coming Lara, but we were ridiculed for our knowledge. It is time that we enact the plan you and I and Zor and Alura initiated twelve years ago.”

Zor-El and Alura met Jor-El and Lara in the launch bays with Kal and Kara. As the planet was exploding around them Kal was placed in his pod first, launched to the stars as Kara’s parents and Kal’s put all their hopes onto her.

“Mother, Father, I’m scared.”

“Do not worry Kara, we’re sending you some place safe. It is a small world, far less advanced than Krypton. You must watch over Kal-El. In time under the yellow sun, the both of you will gain powers that will elevate you in the eyes of mankind. Do not make the same mistakes our High Council has. Be a light in the darkness for humanity. When they look to the skies, the two of you will bring them hope.”

“Will we be together on this new planet?”

“In time, we will find you. Now go Kara…go!”

Kara climbed into her pod, her eyes filled with tears as her pod was launched into the stars on the same course as Kal-El’s. When they were sure she was a safe distance away, the brothers and their wives parted ways with each other. Brainiac had launched a new attack on Argo City, causing Zor-El to enact the second part of his plan. He had created a force-field that would protect Argo even as Krypton was destroyed around it. In the core of the city was an engine of his and Jor-El’s design that would allow the city to survive indefinitely. Together they made their way to Argo in an attempt to escape the planet’s fate. Alura was the only one to make it as the force-field activated just after the leader of the Worldkillers caught up to Zor-El.

“You will not escape Zor-El.”

“I know…but my daughter, my wife and my nephew will live on. Someday they will right the wrongs I have committed in the name of science. Creating you was a perversion, and thankfully one I will not have to live with for much longer.”

“How right you are. As for your family, it is only a matter of time before we find them and all Kryptonian life is extinguished from the universe.”

“You will not intimidate me Worldkiller. My brother may have resigned himself to Krypton’s fate, but I will not go down without a fight.”

Zor-El fired the weapon he had kept concealed as he sent Kara away but it had no effect on his enemy. The warrior rushed forward, and with one hand easily lifted the scientist off the ground, snapping his neck as Alura watched and screamed for him. In the next moments, the Worldkiller was transported up to a vessel as Krypton’s destruction reached a fever pitch while Argo City was launched to the stars. Alura fell to her knees in tears as she watched her home engulf the lifeless corpse of her husband. All the hope she had left was that Kal-El and Kara would make it to their new home of Earth.

Twenty four years passed as Argo City drifted in space. Alura feared she would never learn if the sacrifice the House of El had made to save their children was successful. The city had formed a new council that governed the survivors while attempting to ensure that the mistakes of old were not made again. In a few years after grieving for her lost family, Alura joined the Council to provide a calming voice in turbulent times. Life went on, the people began to hope again, and an unprecedented peace reigned from the ashes of Krypton. But such a peace was never meant to last as the sensors Alura repaired to detect dangers alerted the Council to a vessel entering Argo’s orbit. As the vessel came into view, it was one Alura was intimately familiar with as it was the last sight she had seen before her home destroyed itself. The Worldkillers had survived.

Days passed as Argo City was under siege. The threat was unyielding, each Worldkiller ruthlessly killing survivors. All the four could remember were their names, purpose and their creation on Krypton. Beyond that, they were a blank slate, bred only for destruction. One by one, Argo’s population fell. All that remained were Alura and Nara, her sister-in-law’s Grandmother. Nara had been a highly respected voice on the High Council of Krypton and retired to Argo when her term was up.

Now the two women make another desperate attempt to survive. Alura had kept the specifications Jor and Zor had used for the pods and over the years improved on them, creating her own. Debris was raining down as Alura’s pod was launched to the stars, in the hopes that she would find assistance from a benevolent race to help defeat this enemy. However, she didn’t know when she built the pod to Zor-El’s specifications he had included a failsafe that was designed to track Kryptonian survivors. This failsafe brought her to Earth in a state of suspended animation, but alive. Unfortunately the threat followed her as Argo City now floated lifelessly in the cosmos. The last remnant of Krypton was now nothing more than a ruin in testament to the once proud civilization’s ego and complacency.