Pete Ross
35 years ago - Pete Ross is born in Smallville, the son of the local grocer.
31 years ago - 4-year-old Pete first meets and befriends Clark Kent.
20 years ago - 15-year-old Pete joins the Smallville High School football team as a freshman. He talks Clark Kent into trying out.
19 years ago - 16-year-old Pete plays in the football game Clark Kent wins practically single-handedly. He later helps Clark explain that he's quitting the team, even though he doesn't fully understand.
17 years ago - 19-year-old Pete graduates high school, and starts attending Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, studying business management. Lana Lang stay with him while working to afford school.
13 years ago - 22-year-old Pete graduates college and returns to Smallville, helping to run his father's grocery.
12 years ago - 23-year-old Pete gets married in the Smallville courthouse.
10 years ago - 25-year-old Pete is divorced. He runs for the Smallville town council.
8 years ago - 27-year-old Pete runs for mayor of Smallville.
7 years ago - 28-year-old Pete reconnects with his childhood best friend Clark Kent when they all get together in Smallville for Lana Lang's wedding. He reveals that he put together that Clark is Superman years ago, but understood why he needed to keep his secret.
6 years ago - 29-year-old Pete helps Clark Kent create the proper documents when Kara Zor-El moves in with Jonathan & Martha Kent.
5 years ago - 30-year-old Pete has Lana Lang stay with him while she returns to Smallville after the death of Clark Kent.
4 years ago - 31-year-old Pete attends the wedding of Clark Kent & Lois Lane. He becomes quick friends with Jimmy Olsen.
3 years ago - 32-year-old Pete helps Clark Kent create the proper documents when Connor Kent moves in with Jonathan & Martha Kent.
It's probably a fair guess that most modern readers are familiar with Pete because of his role as Clark's best friend on the long-running CW series Smallville. He's one of those characters who has somehow lingered from earlier versions of the comic lore, whose modern depiction really has very little to do with their original depiction. Pete has managed to remain a noteworthy part of Superman's story, though, so it's worthwhile for us to work out the best way to build him into our timeline
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Pete Ross's Comic HistoryWhile I'd always presumed that Pete was as longrunning a part of Superboy's story as Lana, he actually appeared much later, in Superboy #86 in 1961. He was in a backup story called "The Boy Who Betrayed Clark Kent!". Pete is a new kid who befriends Clark and then proceeds to collect every little bit of forensic evidence about Clark he can, right in front of him, which makes Clark think he MUST be working to prove his secret identity... until it's revealed that this is just a thing this kid does.
At this point, the roles of Lois & Jimmy were firmly established in the story of adult Superman, so Pete seemed to fall into the role of Jimmy for Superboy. Eventually he did actually learn Clark's secret, but he actually kept it to himself, even from Clark, and secretly helped maintain his identity. His ability to keep his mouth shut eventually earned him an honorary membership in the Legion of Superheroes. In the Post-Crisis reboot of Superman's story, Pete no longer knew Clark's secret, but he still lived his life very much in his shadow. He married Lana, but their marriage suffered because she was obviously still pining for Clark. Eventually they were divorced, and Pete went on to become a US Senator, the Vice-President under Luthor... and then the actual President. Comics are weird. |
Our Pete Ross StoryThere was a lot we knew we didn't want to do with Pete. We didn't want to set up a marriage with Lana where both of them would feel like the second prize in a life that revolved around a third person who wasn't even in their relationship. We also didn't want Pete to wind up as the president. No matter how thoroughly it might have been explained in canon, the idea that our hero Superman just happens to be boyhood friends with the President just seems way too ridiculous.
Honestly, after you remove those two ideas, the rest of Pete's story actually unfolds really easily. He's a pretty normal guy, for someone in a comic book. He played football in high school, went to college, graduated, went to work, got married, got divorced... he might be any one of us reading this right now. Of course, we also really do like the idea of him getting into politics, we just made the small change to say that he's in LOCAL politics. He runs for the Smallville town council and eventually gets elected mayor. Not only does it feel like exactly the sort of thing Pete would do, but it also helps us explain how the Kents keep having teenagers move in with them and no one seems to question it. |
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