A troublemaker in the idyllic Kryptonian society, Dev-Em was one of the few who heeded the words of the scientist Jor-El, and placed himself in suspended animation just before the destruction of Krypton. The explosion threw his craft away from the planet and towards Earth. Upon landing on Earth, he immediately started his troublemaking ways again, targeting Superman this time. While for a time he earned the nickname "Brat of Steel," he has grown up a lot since then and become a much more mature, responsible member of society and a worthy son of Krypton.
Personality
Dev-Em is something of a reformed troublemaker. As a teenager, he was a rowdy brat, which is bad enough for a human kid, but for a Kryptonian teenager it was even worse. Fortunately for the world, upon coming to Earth he ran up against Superman, who saw him for what he was: a young man in need of guidance. After a few years of love and discipline, Dev found himself learning new ways to handle things. Now, he rather looks up to Superman, and while Dev might still have some mischievous and cheeky tendencies, it's more of a demeanor. Beneath the façade, he's really quite mature and responsible.
Once cocky and arrogant, he is still confident, but now in a more balanced way. Where he was once intoxicated by his "superiority" to all Earthlings, he now feels a great sense of responsibility to use his gifts wisely. He's not wholly selfless or afraid to enjoy his powers by any means, but he puts the greater good and the well-being of others before his own desires. Acts of kindness from others have taught him to do the same in turn, though he still often enjoys testing others' limits, now in a way that's playful and good-natured rather than antagonistic or aggressive.
Where once Dev was a delinquent, practically a criminal in the making, he has matured a great deal and become a much more balanced, compassionate, and yet still fun-loving and high-spirited adult.
Background
Section
Dev-Em has never been a particularly harmonious sort. In the idyllic and peaceful society of Krypton (before the explosion), Dev-Em grew up as something of a troublemaker -- the Dennis the Menace of Krypton, basically. He pulled pranks for the sake of pranks, harassing his neighbors for seemingly no reason. However, despite this, he was one of the only others who believed Jor-El's words of a coming planetary catastrophe.
Being a particularly technically-minded Kryptonian, Dev-Em built a cryostasis unit for himself. He wanted to build them for his parents Ron-Em and Leeta, but they thought it was all hogwash and refused. With little time to spare, Dev-Em got into his cryostasis unit and activated it, then launched it into space. He intended to wait in orbit for the catastrophe to pass, and then help pick up the pieces.
Unfortunately, the catastrophe was even more serious than he had anticipated. The explosion of the planet flung the craft into deep space, and because it wasn't near a planet capable of sustaining life, the unit continued to hold Dev-Em in cryostasis. It wasn't until the craft crashed on Earth that it released him.
Section
It didn't take him long to discover that Kal-El, the son of Jor-El, was a major celebrity here. And of course he started to harass Superman, mainly because despite Dev having been older, the Kal-El HERE was a full-grown adult, while Dev-Em was still a teenager. This was of course due to the cryostasis unit keeping him in... well, stasis until he reached Earth.
Eventually, though, the constant thwarting by Superman -- with a healthy dose of humiliation, because what teen likes to be suspended in the air and spanked in front of a crowd? -- wore him down, and he stopped the very public and harmful pranks. This left him kind of retreating from the public eye quite a bit.
Over the ensuing years, Dev-Em became a part of Team Superman and even an adopted member of Superman's own family. For a while, he was regarded by the public as the bratty "little brother" of the Superfamily, but he's finally started to outlive that reputation... even if some of his exploits may long live in infamy. Rumor has it that his permanent record is used as a way to test the mettle of potential teachers at Sky High, even though he graduated a couple of years ago. But now he's really come into his own, a more mature and responsible hero than anyone would have once thought possible.
SKILLS
COMBAT - Competent: Although initially Dev-Em relied fully on unrefined brawling, mostly throwing his weight around, he's gained some more focused skill since then. Mostly, this has come in the form of instruction from Superman in the Kryptonian martial arts of Torquasm-Vo and Horu-Kanu. Beyond merely learning to fight, much of this means having learned specific control. For Clark, this training has meant as much the ability not to cause excess injury to others as it has to actually defeat opponents.
KNOWLEDGE - Competent: Dev has completed (and done surprisingly well in) his training at Sky High, as well as taking some college courses and done a fair bit of independent study. For general Earth-based knowledge, he is Competent. When it comes to knowledge of Krypton, its culture, history, language, etc., he ranks as an Expert.
SCIENCE - Expert: Even a basic Kryptonian education granted Clark a knowledge of science to rival that of an experienced professional in any conventional scientific field. By Kryptonian standards he is not up the level of, say, Superman, but he is still quite capable. For instance, even as a teenager he managed to engineer and build a functional cryostasis unit for himself that was of sufficient quality to survive the explosion of Krypton while the craft was in orbit around the planet.
VEHICLES - Competent: Dev-Em's greater reflexes contribute, but even on Krypton his skill with various vehicles and craft was considerable, able to maneuver skillfully even at high speeds or in difficult terrain or heavy traffic.
POWERS
FLIGHT - Enhanced: Dev-Em has had less time to get accustomed to his flight power, so his finesse with it is much less. However he is still capable of hypersonic flight within Earth's atmosphere, and even greater speeds outside it. It's just the landing that's the problem. Going that fast tends to cause quite a bit of damage upon landing.
HEAT VISION - Enhanced: By utilizing his stored solar energy, Dev-Em can affect the raise in temperature of an object, via a "beam" of energy from his eyes. This basically functions as a high-yield laser and can make objects combust or explode. Obviously he must be able to see the target before he can do this. His tears may interfere with this, however, decreasing the temperature and interfering with his aim.
INVULNERABILITY - Supreme: Besides the typical greater density of a Kryptonian body, those seeking to damage the Brat of Steel will also have to contend with Dev-Em's yellow sun-powered toughness. Normal Earth diseases and toxins don't generally affect him, his body is resistant to damage on the magnitude of several hundred tons of force, and he heals extremely quickly.
KRYPTONIAN - Basic: Even when not powered by the Earth's Day-Star Sol, Dev-Em is still a Kryptonian, and his mass is more densely-packed than a normal human being's. This gives him a greater durability than a human, as well as slightly greater strength (one cannot have greater mass than a human without the strength to move it the same way a human does, after all). When powered by Earth's sun (or a star much like it), he becomes superhuman across the board -- incredible strength, speed, toughness, and intelligence.
SOLAR BATTERY - Basic: Dev-Em functions like a sponge for the radiation of Earth's sun, using the absorbed solar radiation to fuel his other powers. He can absorb solar light during the day (obviously) or during the night, if the moon is visible (as the moon merely reflects the sun's light).
SUPER BREATH - Supreme: Dev-Em is capable of expelling the air from his lungs in gale-force blasts, either for the purpose of literally blowing things (or people) away, or super-cooling an object to freeze it. He can also hold his breath for about a day before having to replenish the air in his lungs, allowing him to travel through hostile environments for that length of time.
SUPER SENSES - Enhanced: Dev-Em's senses are quite strong, bolstered (as is the rest of him) by the Earth's yellow sun. He is able to see into the electromagnetic spectrum (however, he must concentrate on doing just that for him to do this) as well as being able to see fine details on an object from so far away a human could only barely notice said object. His senses of hearing, smell, taste, and touch are all similarly sharp.
SUPER SPEED - Enhanced: While Dev-Em possesses the typical speed of a sun-powered Kryptonian, his practice in use and the application thereof leads him to use it at a lower level than he might probably be capable of if he actually sat down and learned to use it. As it is, he can usually manage about fifty times the speed of a normal human, and just under supersonic speeds while in Earth's atmosphere.
SUPER STRENGTH - Supreme: Dev-Em's strength is typical of what one would find in a Kryptonian exposed to the Earth's sun. He can lift and throw pieces of buildings with ease or strike an opponent with roughly the force of an eighteen wheeler striking a wall at ninety miles an hour (a conservative estimate). Typical yellow sun-powered Kryptonian fare.
WEAKNESSES
KRYPTONITE When Krypton was destroyed, some of the planet's matter was charged with radioactive energy from its star, Rao, interacting with the crystalline material of Krypton's planetary body. The end result was the gemlike green substance known as "Kryptonite." The molecular and radioactive properties of Kryptonite make it harmful to Kryptonian cells, thus making it harmful and toxic to them. If Dev is struck by a Kryptonite weapon, he will be harmed as a normal mortal would. Even being near Kryptonite causes him to feel physically ill.
However, the rate of recovery once removed from the emissions is as rapid as the rate of damage, and Dev will be back to normal in under an hour after exposure if he can directly absorb enough solar energy. Kryptonite radiation can be blocked by lead or super-dense materials. Dev routinely undergoes Kryptonite serum treatments of Superman's design. As a result, the toxic effects of Kryptonite are much reduced for him. It can still harm him when used as a weapon, but while the toxic effects weaken him, he is much more likely to be incapacitated than killed.
There are other, rarer forms of Kryptonite as well, such as red Kryptonite, which induces bizarre effects for a period of about twenty-four hours, or gold Kryptonite, which temporarily suppresses most Kryptonian powers in a manner similar to red solar radiation.
MAGIC/PSIONICS Against the powers of magic or various mental psychic powers, Kryptonians have no special defenses. They are not explicitly "weak" against these forces so much as they cannot especially resist them. Many psychic powers and magical effects can ignore Dev's various defenses and resistances, harming him or affecting him much as they would an ordinary Earthling. Notably, however, Dev has a fairly strong will, giving him a decent chance to fight off mind-control or other mental compulsion. This gives him no protection from direct mental attacks, which he weathers about as well as any strong-willed human being.
SOLAR-POWERED Kryptonians require solar energy to function at peak capacity, or their powers fade to greatly reduced levels or disappear entirely if their solar reserves are empty. They cannot absorb energy from the lower frequency of orange K-type stars, and the radiation from red M-type stars actually disrupts their absorption process. Under the light of such a star, they will begin to lose their powers at a slow but steady rate. Within a few hours of such conditions, they will be effectively drained of their powers.
