Pete Ross

Pete Ross in The New Adventures of Superboy #9 (September 1980). Art by Kurt Schaffenberger.

Pete was the childhood best friend of Clark Kent in Smallville.[2] One night when they were camping together, Pete secretly saw Clark changing into Superboy to attend to an emergency. Pete kept his knowledge of the superhero's secret identity to himself, even avoiding revealing his discovery to Clark. Pete resolved to use this knowledge to help his friend, for example by creating a distraction to allow Clark to slip away from a dangerous situation without raising suspicion.[3]

The Legion of Super-Heroes was aware of Pete's assistance to Clark and made him an honorary member during his teenage years.[4] During the Legion's battle with Mordru, it was stated that Pete Ross's knowledge of Superboy's secret identity would one day end up saving Superman's life (explaining why the Legion allowed Pete to retain that knowledge). No subsequent Superboy or Superman story featuring Pete Ross, as a teenager or an adult, followed up on this detail.[5]

As an adult, Pete became a widower with a son named Jonathan, who also learned the secret of Superman's secret identity.[6] When Pete's son was kidnapped by an alien race, Pete revealed to Clark his knowledge of his friend's dual identity, imploring Superman's help.[7] When Clark was unable to provide this help, Pete suffered a nervous breakdown and attempted to discredit his former friend. Pete resided in a mental institution until his son was eventually saved.[8]

In Alan Moore's story Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow, Pete was captured by Toyman and Prankster and tortured into revealing Superman's true identity before being killed and stuffed in a toychest for Superman to find. Eventually, Superman discovered they were being manipulated by Mister Mxyzptlk.[9]

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series, mainstream DC continuity was altered, such that Superman no longer had a teenage career as Superboy.[10] The Legion of Super-Heroes remained dependent on Superboy's existence as its primary inspiration. In an attempt to resolve the paradox, a Superman/Legion story was crafted, explaining that a version of the Silver Age Superboy (and all his supporting characters, including Pete Ross) inhabited a "pocket universe" created by the Time Trapper, and that the Trapper had protected this universe from being destroyed in the Crisis. Later, the villain tried to destroy the pocket universe Earth. Superboy saved his homeworld, but at the cost of his own life.[11]

Following Superboy's disappearance from the pocket universe Earth, the Lex Luthor of that world is tricked into releasing Kryptonian criminals General Zod, Quex-Ul and Zaora from the Phantom Zone. They proceed to lay waste to the planet, eventually killing its entire population—including Pete Ross. Having been summoned from the regular universe by Luthor and Supergirl, Superman executes the genocidal killers using green kryptonite, and brings Supergirl (a protoplasmic duplicate of Lana Lang) with him back to his own Earth.[12]

The modern version of Pete is a far more minor character in the Superman comics, who eventually married Lana Lang, with the two having a son, Clark Peter Ross, although the relationship is occasionally strained due to Lana's knowledge of Clark's secret and Pete feeling that he was fundamentally Lana's second choice. The two are presently divorced, even after briefly reuniting following the Ruin storyline. Pete was Vice-President of the United States under Lex Luthor and briefly served as President following Luthor's impeachment but quickly resigned.

In the modern comic book continuity, Pete was not initially aware of Clark's secret. Instead, the secret was known by the villainous Manchester Black, who informed then-President Luthor of the secret, only later to wipe his memory of it. Prior to losing the knowledge of Clark's secret, Lex informed Pete that his close friend Clark Kent is in fact Superman. While Pete initially refrained from telling Clark about his knowledge, he did eventually tell him in Adventures of Superman #641.

Recently, it appeared that Ross had become a villain named "Ruin", but it was later revealed that he had instead been kidnapped by the real Ruin, Professor Emil Hamilton. Hamilton also kidnapped Pete's wife and child. Superman defeated the insane Professor Hamilton, rescued Pete, Lana, and their child, and exonerated Pete of the charges against him.

Pete has returned to Smallville without Lana to raise their son. He was seen attending the funeral of Jonathan Kent.

During the "Blackest Night" storyline, Pete works at Smallville's general store.[13]

In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC universe. Pete has only had minor appearances.[14]

• Pete Ross makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Superman: The Animated Series pilot episode "The Last Son of Krypton".
• Pete Ross appears in Smallville, portrayed by Sam Jones III. This version resents the Luthor family for what he sees as their theft of his family's creamed corn business, and is additionally aware of Clark Kent's secret identity. In the third season, the FBI brutally interrogates Ross for information about Clark, causing him to move to Wichita to live with his mother for his own safety. He returns in the seventh season episode "Hero", where he is working as a roadie for OneRepublic and temporarily gains elastic powers from Kryptonite-laced Stride gum.[17]

• Pete Ross appears in the films set in the DC Extended Universe:
  • Pete Ross appears in the 2013 film Man of Steel, portrayed by Jack Foley as a child and Joseph Cranford as an adult. This version is initially a bully to Clark Kent before befriending him after he saves him and some children from a bus crash. As an adult, he becomes the manager of an IHOP and is interviewed by Lois Lane on her search for Clark Kent.
  • Pete Ross appears in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, attending Superman's funeral after his death fighting Doomsday.
• An alternate universe version of Pete Ross appears in Justice League: Gods and Monsters, voiced by Larry Cedar.

Pete Ross appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Mike Smith.