The Cleric

The Cleric is an ancient alien of an unspecified species in "Superman" comic books, introduced in a story arc where Superman had exiled himself to outer space as a result of trauma from murdering three Kryptonians from another dimension. He is the keeper of the Eradicator device, created several millennia ago by an ancestor of the house of El on Krypton.

The Cleric arrived on Krypton over 250,000 years ago, in the verge of a civil war between worshippers of Rao (Krypton's god) and scientists. The debate that fueled the war was that each Kryptonian had three clones of him/herself created after birth and kept in stasis in different aging periods (one child, one youth and one adult). These clones did not develop their own minds and personalities and were used as mere replacements, should a Kryptonian lose a limb in an accident or needed an organ transplant. Religious people on Krypton found this unacceptable and started a movement to free the clones and abolish further cloning. The Cleric arrived in the middle of this situation, himself being a priest of an unspecified deity and very similar in values and church institution to a Catholic priest.

The Cleric joined the anti-cloning movement and focused on expressing their values in a pacific way, gathering more and more followers as time passed. The Science Council started considering the alien a threat and appointed a young scientist, Kem-L to create a weapon to preserve Kryptonians above other species, the Eradicator. Armed conflicts began between the two factions and the Eradicator was put to use against the Cleric, who miraculously survived the blast. Realizing that there would be no peaceful end to the conflicts, he brought forth a spaceship called The Ark (in a clear reference to Noah's story from the Bible) which he would board with any Kryptonian willing to follow him to depart Krypton and never return. Many Kryptonians joined him for the journey to the stars, but they met a disastrous end; every Kryptonian died as soon as the Ark abandoned Krypton's atmosphere. Unbeknownst to the Cleric, the Eradicator had a secondary effect. It genetically linked every Kryptonian to their home planet while it also made the Kryptonian environment deadly to any alien species. The Cleric survived, only to carry on with the guilt from the deaths of his followers for several centuries, which he passed exiled in an asteroid. During this time, through unknown means, the Eradicator (having gained a degree of consciousness and exceeding its programming) made its way to the Cleric who became a guardian for it until given to Superman, the rightful heir, during his journeys through space.

The Cleric died soon after, hinting that the Eradicator had been keeping him alive somehow.

His body resides on the same asteroid where he was exiled, buried with the gladiator Draaga and watched over by an alien known as "Cellkeeper".

uperman/Aliens

In the "Superman/Aliens" crossover series, it was revealed that the Eradicator buried the remains of his Kryptonian followers on the planet Odiline, whose people came to regard Kryptonians as their spiritual protectors, adopting many aspects of Kryptonian culture and language in homage to them. As with all crossovers, the canonicity of these events is unclear.