Quite some time elapsed from their last direct meetings during joint cases of the Justice League and Justice Society, so that when Earth-Two's Superman visits his counterpart on Earth-One they've each experienced changes in their own status quo.
For instance, Kal-El dealt with a significant power loss for a period of time, when a sand duplicate from the dimension of Quarm was spawned at the same time as all Kryptonite being transmuted into a harmless substance. In addition, as Clark Kent he was promoted to become an on-air anchor for WGBS, which had acquired his employer the Daily Planet.
Meanwhile, Kal-L met his one surviving family member from Krypton-Two, Kara Zor-L who would become Power Girl...sometime after her counterpart Supergirl arrived on Earth-One. Adopting her to raise as a troubled teen, aided by his wife Lois, he had to continue to juggle his position as editor-in-chief of the Daily Star. Additonally, due to advanced age his own powers began to wane significantly, at times fluctating to levels from his peak to when he was lad.
Upon this backdrop, the pair of planetary protectors were now faced with a threat from between their two worlds, the monster Krogg who now threatened Earth-One. Individually, neither Metropolis Marvel matched the malevolent might of this monstrous malice. Professor Potter, however, theorized that the same transmatter machine which bridged the gaps between universes and brought Krogg to his own, might merged the Men of Steel.
Interestingly, Kal-El had some skepticism that they'd only be as strong as their weaker member, yet then contradicting himself stating they were equally matched. Perhaps he was aware of their erratic power-levels during this period and on previous encounters. Regardless, both Kryptonians merge together into a Super-Superman, with a limited time frame to dispatch Krogg before they themselves self-destruct causing harm to the world.
During their initial melding, we are party to observing their internal thoughts. Evident in this interchange of dialogue are a few interesting traits, first and foremost is how they address each other. The Earth-One version calls his counterpart "Kal", while the Earth-Two version calls his "Superman", which would seem inconsistent given that the latter is older than the former and should be addressed by the respectful title rather than a personal name. Yet both seemed comfortable using this aforementioned names to refer to and differentiate from one another. Why?
During their initial melding, we are party to observing their internal thoughts. Evident in this interchange of dialogue are a few interesting traits, first and foremost is how they address each other. The Earth-One version calls his counterpart "Kal", while the Earth-Two version calls his "Superman", which would seem inconsistent given that the latter is older than the former and should be addressed by the respectful title rather than a personal name. Yet both seemed comfortable using this aforementioned names to refer to and differentiate from one another. Why?
It would appear that, as they merged and their thoughts became open to one another, the Supermen perhaps pieced together each others' pasts. As Superboy, Kal-El had encountered another parallel world's Boy of Steel who attempted to interfere with the career of his ally Police Chief Parker, and as adults both encountered parallel worlds with parallel people. And as indicated when they met as Supermen while battling Aquarius, neither seemed to have been aware that they had met each other as lads. Now, knowing that it was the Earth-One Superman was mentor of Earth-Two's Superman while as Superboy, the older Man of Might deferred to the younger Man of Tomorrow using the title. Meanwhile, the younger twin finally acknowledged to his older version their common given name, a name which the golden age Kryptonian never was addressed as until meeting his cousin.
Another interesting feature in their internal dialogue is how the elder Superman was distracted, which was natural given the near-death state of his longtime friend James Olsen. Still, both men kept their concentration on the task at hand and wisely dealt with Krogg. And the final internal monologue of Kal-El indicated his displeasure at the experience of having to share his physique with his cosmic twin, no doubt due to their differences. Interestingly, he refers to the Earth-Two Superman as Kal-EL... perhaps an error on the chroniclers part as to the spelling of his native surname. One another matter of note, aside from their points of origin and a slight graying coupled with a slanted "S" insignia, the golden age Man of Might was not much different from the silver age version. His later solo tales as well as subsequent meetings would differentiate the pair even further...
Another interesting feature in their internal dialogue is how the elder Superman was distracted, which was natural given the near-death state of his longtime friend James Olsen. Still, both men kept their concentration on the task at hand and wisely dealt with Krogg. And the final internal monologue of Kal-El indicated his displeasure at the experience of having to share his physique with his cosmic twin, no doubt due to their differences. Interestingly, he refers to the Earth-Two Superman as Kal-EL... perhaps an error on the chroniclers part as to the spelling of his native surname. One another matter of note, aside from their points of origin and a slight graying coupled with a slanted "S" insignia, the golden age Man of Might was not much different from the silver age version. His later solo tales as well as subsequent meetings would differentiate the pair even further...
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