Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
After the meteor shower, Clark reaches the Fortress of Solitude and begins learning from Jor-El, while Chloe confirms that she knows his secret. Jor-El tells Clark to return before sunset, but Clark leaves to help Chloe and fails to keep that promise; Jor-El removes his powers, leaving him human. When Clark is later fatally shot, Jor-El resurrects him through Lionel and restores his abilities, warning that someone he loves must die. At Central Kansas A&M University, Clark meets Professor Milton Fine, who presents himself as an ally and gradually draws him toward the Phantom Zone and General Zod. Lex studies the black Kryptonian ship and grows more suspicious of Clark, while Lana moves toward a relationship with Lex. Jonathan runs for state senator against Lex, bringing the Luthor rivalry into the Kent home and giving Martha a growing role in the campaign.
Clark and Lana briefly begin an honest relationship, and he tells her about his origins and proposes, but her death in a car crash leads him to ask Jor-El to reverse time. Lana survives the reset; Jonathan instead dies after the election, when the strain of his heart condition follows a confrontation with Lionel. Clark grieves and takes on more responsibility at the farm as Lex and Lana grow closer. Fine is revealed as Brainiac, working to free Zod from the Phantom Zone. Brainiac unleashes a computer virus that throws cities into chaos and demands Zod’s release. Told that Lex is the intended vessel, Clark refuses to kill him and attacks Brainiac instead, opening Zod’s portal. Zod possesses Lex and traps Clark in the Phantom Zone, while Brainiac hijacks Martha and Lois’s plane and they collapse without oxygen.