Zak-Kul

A “renegade scientist” of Kandor, sought by the Kandorian police for crimes he committed on Krypton, who escapes from the bottle city in October 1958, enlarges himself to normal human size by means of an ingenious size-changing apparatus powered by the radioactive element Illium-349 and then transforms himself into a Superman look-alike with the aid of an “electronic plastic surgery” machine—or “face-molding instrument”—on display in the Fortress of Solitude, all as part of an elaborate scheme to impersonate Superman permanently on Earth so that he can avoid being returned to Kandor to stand trial for his crimes.

With the real Superman imprisoned in the bottle city as the result of Lois Lane's having mistaken him for the impostor and having used Zak-Kul’s size changing apparatus to reduce the Man of Steel to microscopic size, Zak-Kul, now clad in a spare Superman costume stolen from the Fortress of Solitude, literally usurps Superman’s life, capturing criminals and performing super-heroic deeds, basking in the real Superman's fame and glory, even going so far as to become “an ardent suitor of Lois Lane.”

Believing that she is being courted by the real Superman, Lois Lane joyously accepts Zak-Kul’s proposal of marriage (“The answer is yes... yes... a million times yes!” she exclaims ecstatically; “Hurry.. take me to the justice of the peace at super speed... before you change your mind!”), and for a time the couple are actually husband and wife, “I’m the happiest girl on Earth!” thinks Lois as she and the bogus Superman share a passionate embrace. “Superman is my husband!”

Before long, however, Zak-Kul comes to the conclusion that he will have to kill his new bride to prevent her from learning that she has wed an impostor, and Lois is rescued from seemingly certain doom only by the heroic intervention of the real Superman, who escapes from Kandor in the nick of time to save Lois, apprehend his impersonator, and return the villain to the bottle city to stand trial for his crimes.

“I was married to Superman for a while ... but the wrong one!” sighs Lois to Clark Kent soon afterward. “The courts, of course, annulled the marriage! Oh, Clark, will the right Superman ever propose to me?”

“Er... how would I know, Lois?” replies Clark slyly (Act No. 245: ‘The Shrinking Superman!”).

Zak-Kul’s size-changing apparatus, confiscated by Superman, is now on display in the Fortress of Solitude (S No. 158, Jan 1963: “Superman in Kandor” pts. 1-3 ”Invasion of the Mystery Super-Men!”; “The Dynamic Duo of Kandor!”; “The City of Super-People!”).