Kryptonite Man appeared in Superman #397. He had been the ruler of a race of humanoids who inhabited Krypton (called "Ny'L'Uyl" in his language) eons before Superman's ancestors. When a nearby cosmic body threatens life on Krypton, the second Kryptonite Man, whose real name is never given, sends all of his people into stasis deep underground, while he himself remains on the highest mountain peak, to act as guardian. He is then placed in suspended animation for what is to be 20 years, at which time, he will awaken to determine if the planet is habitable once again. For some reason, the machinery fails, and the unnamed ruler slept for over 1,000 years. Unfortunately, the very day he awoke is the day Krypton exploded. The mountain that the unnamed ruler's observatory was on is sent into space. Somehow, the king is able to feed off of the Kryptonite radiation the mountain produced. He eventually became dependent upon these energies to sustain his life at all times, weakening outside of its influence. This second Kryptonite Man blames the pink-skinned humanoid inhabitants (Superman's race) with the death of Krypton, never realizing it was a natural disaster. Eventually, after the Kryptonite radiation of the mountain began to fade, the Kryptonite Man encounters a race known as the Seeders. For unknown reasons, the ships of this race produce radiation similar enough to Kryptonite radiation, that Kryptonite Man could feed off of, and survive. Kryptonite Man discovers the existence of Kryptonians on Earth, and stealing a Seeder ship, travels there to confront and kill them. Kryptonite Man attacks Superman, but their battle was interrupted by the Seeders, who took offense to Kryptonite Man's theft. The story continued in Supergirl (vol. 2) #21, where Supergirl joined Superman in fighting Kryptonite Man and the Seeders. Superman clone In the Post-Crisis era, the Kryptonite Man appears in Superman (vol. 2) #43 as a green-skinned clone of Superman, grown by the scientific spies Simyan and Mokkari. Captain Atom creation A character in the ongoing series Superman/Batman also uses the name Kryptonite Man. This version of the character is created when Captain Atom absorbed the explosive energy from Major Force, then went out to destroy a Kryptonite meteor. The Kryptonite energy somehow combined with the remaining energy from Major Force in Captain Atom to create a sentient energy force. After being siphoned from Captain Atom by the Toyman, the energy