a list of canon facts about kon-el that not everyone may know (ranging from obscure trivia to general knowledge)!
he has a phobia of needles (and also mentions hating probes)
cadmus downloaded star wars and star trek into his head in the tube
his leather jacket was the first possession he ever owned (and the original one was destroyed pretty soon after he got it)
he's only had three actual romantic relationships since his debut 1993, two of which were with adult women who groomed him (the third was with cassie sandsmark!)
he is a fan of liz phair, garbage, r.e.m., and nirvana (among others)
lex luthor had nothing to do with him or his origins for the first decade of his existence. this only changed via a retcon in 2003 (which was, in my opinion, very poorly written)
he once had a nightmare involving tim in "avian drag" and bart in a playboy bunny outfit, which could mean nothing
john henry irons once called him a chalupa
his TTK is powerful enough that he once destroyed every single gun in los angeles in a single instant!!
he has attempted suicide on-page twice
he also has a bunch of science terminology and knowledge implanted from his time at cadmus and knows a lot more about some technical scientific subjects than people expect
he and superman have a positive and loving relationship that isn't easily defined by nuclear family terms
one of his friends in the 90s was a gay afrolatino teenager with a fish alien boyfriend
he can correctly pronounce "mxyzptlk"
superman gave him the name "kon-el", the name of a sorta-cousin of his from krypton, to signify that they were family, which made kon so happy he cried
krypto was specifically his dog in the 2000s, not a general family pet, because krypto didn't like staying in the fortress of solitude all the time but also couldn't live in metropolis with clark.
krypto was so distressed by kon's death that he fled earth for around a year (this issue made me cry in public btw)
he feels very strongly about clones rights to self-determination and bodily autonomy, which has led to him stealing a cloned baby and going on the run from the u.s. government before
he befriended ma and pa kent before he ever knew clark kent was superman (and one time clark came to visit his parents just to find superboy already at the dinner table, stuffing his face with biscuits and gravy)
king shark originated as one of his rogues