ABSTRACT
Superman’s self-sacrificing nature in defending the weak and disenfranchised places him at odds with the supposed responsibility of the Ubermensch to oppose any physical and moral weakness. As a supposed moral exemplar for humanity, Superman’s behaviour was always subject to intense scrutiny. According to Arno Bogaerts, “Very few philosophical concepts have been as closely linked to the superhero genre and the mythology of its greatest representative, Superman, as the Ubermensch”. Originally a Superman clone, Kon-El was later declared to be a human–Kryptonian hybrid created using Superman and Lex Luthor’s genetic material, and in some versions is a clone with three genetic parents. While Conner’s conception demonstrates the extreme separation of the gestational from the sexual that ectogenesis makes possible, other comic book characters derived from artificial gestation do not. Ectogenesis is often used in science fiction and popular culture for villains to create super soldier armies or cultivate humans and clones en masse for other specified purposes.
