Hyper-Man

A superhero on the far-distant planet Oceania—clad in a purple costume with green trunks, orange boots and cape, a yellow belt, and a stylized yellow "H" emblazoned on his chest—who bears a close physical resemblance to Superman and whose origin, career, and secret civilian life closely parallel the Man of Steel's.

Born on the far-distant planet Zoron, "a world of heavy gravity" faced with impending extinction, the infant Hyper-Man was placed inside a rocket by his father and launched into outer space, the sole survivor of his planet, as behind him the entire planet Zoron exploded into stardust. Arriving on the planet Oceania, "a smaller planet" of "light gravity" described as "almost a twin of Earth," Hyper-Man instantly acquired super-powers identical to Superman's, grew to manhood in the home of loving foster parents, the King family, and protected by his secret identity, that of mild mannered Chester King, began a colorful career in crime-fighting under the name Hyper-Boy while still in his teens.

Upon the death of his foster parents, Chester King moved to the large city of Macropolis, a close counterpart to Earth's Metropolis, obtained employment as a "roving television reporter" for the Oceania Network, where his editor bears a striking resemblance to Earth's Perry White, and where girl reporter Lydia Long plays a role in his life paralleling that played by Lois Lane in the life of Superman, and continued his career in crime-fighting as the dynamic Hyper-Man.

When Hyper-Man arrives on Earth to ask Superman to return with him to Oceania to help him preserve the secret of his dual identity, Superman routinely feeds Hyper-Man's life-history data into the Super-Univac at his Fortress of Solitude, so that the giant electronic brain can work out a complete history of Hyper-Man future life for Superman's files and learns to his horror, that Hyper-Man will lose his super-powers within 24 hours and die within a year as the result of his prolonged exposure to a substance called blue Zoronite, a fragment of the exploded planet Zoron that is as deadly to Hyper-Man as Kryptonite is to Superman.

Rather than inform Hyper-Man of his computer's grim prediction, however, Superman accompanies Hyper-Man to Oceania and, through a series of seeming blunders forces Hyper-Man into premature retirement by exposing his secret identity to the entire population of Oceania and by feigning responsibility for the loss of Hyper-Man's super-powers actually caused by the chunk of zoronite. The forced abandonment of his super-hero career, however, frees Chester King to marry Lydia Long, a luxury he could never have permitted himself while he remained active as Hyper-Man.

A year later, with his wife at his bedside, Chester King, the former super-hero of the planet Oceania, dies, as Superman knew he would, but Superman's strategy of forcing him into early retirement has at least enabled him to enjoy a full year of wedded bliss without being tortured by the agonizing knowledge of his impending death from zoronite poisoning (Act No. 265, Jun 1960: "The 'Superman' from Outer Space").