Dr. Leo Quintum and his team are exploring the Sun when they are sabotaged by a booby-trapped genetically-enhanced time-bomb clone made by Lex Luthor. Superman stops the clone but in doing so receives an overdose of solar radiation; it has given him increased powers, but at the cost of slowly killing him. Luthor, having orchestrated the death of Superman while under the employment of General Sam Lane (comics), is arrested thanks to Clark Kent's article and sentenced to death. Superman asks Dr. Quintum to keep news of his impending death secret from the public. Wanting to spend as much of his remaining time as possible with Lois Lane, Superman reveals to her that he is Clark Kent, but she initially doubts his revelation because she had been unable to prove Superman's "Kent" identity herself. Superman takes her to the Fortress of Solitude. During this visit, Superman's secretive behavior and her indirect exposure to alien chemicals heightens Lois' paranoia.