The Kawatche are a Native American tribe whose name literally means "Skinwalkers" and who possess an intimate link with the planet Krypton, The House of El, and Clark Kent which streches back over 500 years.
Clark Kent and Kyla Willowbrook explore the Kawatche Caves.
The oral history of the Kawatche people begins with a story of "a man from the stars" who came to Earth five hundred years ago. This visitor fell in love with the "mother" of the Kawatche people. From that affair, according to legend, the tribe was born.
The Kawatche people lay claim to a series of underground caves near Smallville, Kansas. These caves contain paintings and special symbols, which appear to be some kind of alphabet, although the Kawatche do not have a written language.
Jeremiah Holdsclaw, a graduate student and teaching assistant at Central Kansas A&M University, was at one point to be the future leader of the Kawatche tribe.
Skinwalkers[]
Kyla Willowbrook transforms from wolf to human.
Skinwalkers are metahumans within the Kawatche tribe with the power to morph into wolves. The background of the skinwalkers centers on the idea that the Man From the Stars brought special green rocks that had strange affects on the people - allowing them to merge with wolf pelts.
It is unknown how many skinwalkers exist in the 21st Century. In 1831, Ezra Small came across an entire pack of skinwalkers.[1] Right before he was attacked by skinwalker Kyla Willowbrook, Lionel Luthor could hear many wolves howling (indicating that there were several more skinwalkers nearby).[2]
The Slumbering Place[]
The Slumbering Place is a burial ground where the ancient Kawatche used to perform death rituals. Jeremiah Holdsclaw was writing a dissertation on this burial ground as part of his studies.
The Caves[]
The Kawatche Caves are a series of underground caverns that were once inhabited by the Kawatche First Nation. LuthorCorp once owned the land containing the caves. In response to a petition drive led by Henry Small, the state of Kansas decided to exercise the Historic Artifacts Amendment and bought the project from LuthorCorp at thirty cents on the dollar. LexCorp secured the contract from the state for the preservation of the area.
Map of the Kawatche caves
Ownership of this contract was reverted to LuthorCorp when Lionel Luthor bought out LexCorp.
One cavern contained a series of pictograms painted on the walls that told of the legend of Naman and Sageeth. The location of the cavern had been lost until a rock slide caused by Clark Kent opened a fissure into the caves.
Naman[]
The painting of Naman and Sageeth in the Kawatche Caves.
Naman is the name given by the Kawatche people to a man from another planet who is prophesied to "protect the entire world". This is assumed to be Clark.
Sageeth[]
Sageeth is a friend of Naman who is said to be like a brother. The prophecy tells of Sageeth one day turning against Naman and becoming the "bearer of darkness". The two will represent the balance between good and evil.
The Woman Naman's Destined to be with[]
An unnamed woman who is depicted in a drawing in the Kawatche Caves. She is said to be the woman who Naman will one day be with.
Palak[]
Palak, also known as the Starblade, was a mythical dagger that possessed mystical properties. The legend of Naman tells that the original visitor left Palak in the wall of the caves for the Kawatche people to safeguard.
According to the legend, the Starblade is supposed to shine a light on the true Sageeth so Naman could identify and destroy his greatest enemy. If Sageeth ever touched it, the blade would disintegrate. Because of its importance, a person holding the blade was given abilities similar to those of earthbound Kryptonians to protect it until it could be delivered to the true Naman.
Any person (except Sageeth) holding the blade was given these abilities:
- Super strength {the strength of ten men}
- Super speed {faster than the human eye can see or follow}
- Invulnerability {invulnerable to most forms of harm}
- Heat vision {able to shoot fire from one's eyes}
Lex and Lionel Luthor look upon the Starblade.
Palak was missing for hundreds of years when the portion of the Kawatche caves with the Naman legend was hidden and lost to the tribe. After Lionel Luthor overtook LexCorp, LuthorCorp gained jurisdiction over the caves. Convinced the caves contained the secret for curing his terminal liver disease, Luthor commissioned studies and excavation which unearthed the Starblade.
Clark Kent as Naman[]
While doing research of the caves for her grandfather, Kyla Willowbrook discovered Clark Kent in the hidden chamber after he'd fallen through a fissure into the caves. She noted that he didn't have a scratch on him from the fall. Finding the lost pictograms, Kyla told Clark of the story of Naman and Clark was surprised it bore such a similarity to his own arrival and abilities.
During a second investigation of the cavern, Kyla revealed the legend of Sageeth and the dark-haired woman. The excavation of the land above the caves by LuthorCorp caused the ground to become unstable and a minor quake brought on a partial cave-in. To save Kyla from a large falling rock, Clark revealed his powers and both came to believe that he is Naman. Joseph Willowbrook, Kyla's grandfather, also came to believe this.
Kyla and Clark assumed that she was the dark-haired woman from the prophecy until her death. If the legend of Naman is believed to be about Clark, Lois Lane is most likely the woman depicted in the drawing. After Kyla's death, Joseph Willowbrook gave Clark the bracelet with the aquamarine diamond to give to the "true one" in his life.
About a year after Kyla's death, Palak was discovered by Lionel Luthor in the caves. Lionel called upon Joseph Willowbrook to identify and authenticate the artifact. Willowbrook brought Jeremiah Holdsclaw with him and, knowing of the legend, Holdsclaw took the Starblade from Lionel. He attempted to break the blade with a stone, but the blade protected itself and granted Holdsclaw superhuman strength, speed, invulnerability and the Kryptonian heat vision.
Whether caught up in the legend or corrupted by the Starblade, Holdsclaw believed that he was Naman. Holdsclaw confronted Clark as being a false prophet to be killed and stabbed him with the Starblade, suggesting the blade might be made of Kryptonian metal.
Believing Lionel Luthor to be Sageeth, Holdsclaw captured and prepared the elder Luthor to be sacrificed at the Slumbering Place. Lex and Clark arrived separately to free Lionel and stop Holdsclaw, respectively. A struggle between Clark and Holdsclaw ensued in the woods near the burial ground, during which the Starblade was knocked free, stripping Holdsclaw of his powers and leaving the man comatose. The Starblade landed between Lionel and Lex. Both men attempted to grab the knife and, as both touched it, the Starblade disintegrated.
Clark was unable to see which Luthor touched the knife first and therefore which could be the prophesied Sageeth. He admitted to being unwilling to believe that Lex could possibly be his greatest enemy.
Years later, informed by a journal left by the late Lionel Luthor, Tess Mercer told Clark that the Kawatche cave drawing of the two-headed beast that represented Naman and Sageeth presented another possibility: that Clark is Naman and Davis Bloome is actually Sageeth. Davis, the "human" camouflage for the Kryptonian monster Doomsday, arrived on Earth the same day as the meteor shower that originally brought Clark to the planet. Just as Brainiac and Faora both told Davis that he arrived on Earth to kill "the other Kryptonian" and evolve into "Earth's ultimate destroyer", Tess believed Davis was destined to kill Clark.
Tess confronted both Davis and Clark with this information, referring to Davis as the "Judas" to Clark's "Jesus". Clark, now aware of Davis' Kryptonian heritage, denied everything Tess presented to him. Davis reluctantly accepted that his sole purpose was to destroy Earth's savior and, fearing his destiny, asked Chloe Sullivan to help him commit suicide in a LuthorCorp cage fitted with liquid Kryptonite. Clark intervened, wanting to find a way to help Davis with redemption. During the discussion, Davis began his transformation into Doomsday and, to protect Clark, Chloe pulled the switch to activate the cage. Chloe and Clark both believed Davis died as a result.
Clark visited Chloe at her apartment following Davis' supposed death and found her holding a picture of the Naman and Sageeth beast drawing. Clark, assuming that Davis was Sageeth, shared with Chloe that he was shocked to find that the confrontation wasn't as big a battle as prophesied. He burned the picture in Chloe's fireplace, believing the prophecy to have been fulfilled.
Chloe found that Davis had survived the Kryptonite cage and that he had actually grown more powerful as a result. After Chloe ran off with Davis as a means to keep him from Clark, Oliver Queen advised Clark that the best course of action would be to kill Davis. Clark devised an alternate plan to save and redeem Davis by separating him from the Doomsday beast using black kryptonite. Oliver and the Justice League captured Davis in hopes to kill him but Chloe intervened with Clark's plan. Clark confronted Doomsday and trapped the beast miles underground while Davis, his soul dark and twisted even separated from the beast, met his end in a violent confrontation with Jimmy Olsen.
It is unclear if the defeats of both Doomsday and Davis either represent or fulfill the prophecy. The visual evidence of the Starblade disappearing at either Lionel or Lex Luthor's touch directly contradicts this. Tess's relation of the story could be deception, a fabrication for her own purposes. It is possible, given her determination to make Clark face his destiny as the Traveler, that her motivation was to force a confrontation between Davis and Clark. It is also possible that Tess misinterpreted the information presented in Lionel's journal or Lionel was unaware of his possible connection to the prophecy. In the comics, Lex Luthor was always portrayed as Superman's nemesis, though Doomsday is famous as being the only villain who was ever able to kill Superman.
Notes[]
- The Kawatche tribe is fictional. There is a tribe called Kaw, in the states of Oklahoma and Kansas.
- In Kandor, it is revealed that the Stones of Power (alongside the Orb) were created by Jor-El and sent to Earth, under orders from the Ruling Council (being sent into Earth's past), to create the Kandorian army and Jor-El's clone. It is unknown if this revelation disproves the notion of Clark being Naman.