Kelex

Kelex is a fictional robot created by John Byrne as caretaker of Superman's Fortress of Solitude in "Superman" comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in "The Man of Steel" #1, in which he was one of Jor-El's robotic servants on the planet Krypton. Presumed destroyed along with Jor-El and the rest of Krypton, Kelex has nonetheless returned to Superman comics as Superman's primary robotic servant within the Fortress of Solitude.

Kelex has a streamlined design with a shiny, gold-orange finish. He has two long, slim arms which end in three pinchers, and possesses an anti-gravity module which allows him to hover. Connected to his body via a thick flexible cable, his head is flat, wide at the front and tapering to a rounded point at back (similar to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial). His obsidian faceplate is vaguely goggle-shaped, flat and featureless, except for an electronic waveform resembling an EKG which travels left to right across its surface.

History

When Kelex first appeared in 'The Man of Steel', he was only in one page of the first issue- he greeted his master, Jor-El, upon his return. Jor-El then orders him to bring the baby Kal-El (who would become Superman) in his birthing matrix. It is revealed in conversation with another of Jor-El's servant robots that Kelex had served Jor-El for all of his life, much longer than the other robot had, and had never seen him like this. The robot didn't appear for the rest of the issue, nor for the rest of the miniseries. He was presumably destroyed along with the planet Krypton.

Later, when a Kryptonian device known as 'the Eradicator' was obtained by Superman, it tries to recreate Krypton on Earth, beginning with the South Pole in the Antarctic. Superman stops it, but the attempt had created the Fortress of Solitude. Along with the fortress had been created a group of robotic servants, one of which was a recreation of Kelex. Kelex is largely indistinguishable from the other Kryptonian robots who maintained the fortress.

The Fortress of Solitude is dramatically redesigned when Dominus took mental control of Superman. It is then destroyed Lex Luthor, severely damaging Kelex. When Superman returns to the fortress, he repairs the robot enough to enable him to speak. They were both sent to a ghostly replica of the Fortress, complete in every detail. Superman is able to keep a link to the ghostly fortress through Kelex, now reduced to a head. Later, when realizing Brainiac 13 is vulnerable to Kryptonian technology, Superman rebuilds Kelex.

The fortress was later restored within a Tesseract (an infinite space within a finite containment), and Kelex is once again its caretaker. Natasha Irons reprograms Kelex so that he would speak more in slang, such as calling Superman 'Big Blue'. During the "Superman: Godfall" storyline, he even uses 'yo mama!' as a comeback.

That incarnation of the Fortress is destroyed during the "For Tomorrow" storyline, and it was unknown whether Kelex survives its destruction. After Superman relocates his new portable fortress to South America, Kelex was seen again in the "Superman and Batman vs Alien and Predator" limited graphic novel series, though the canonical status of this series is unclear.