Previous Post "Knowing now that his super-powers were not responsible for his parents' deaths . . . ." "I don't know, it sounds like if he'd never crafed a boat for them with his super-powers and taken them to the island they'd still be alive. So it was still his powers that killed them. Just sayin'." THAT'S A BIT of a reach. Yes, Superboy built the pleasure cruiser for his parents, but he didn't take them to the island where they found Pegleg Morgan's chest, and thus became infected with the Caribbean fever plague. The Kents travelled to that island on their own. If John buys his parents a brand new car, and on the next week-end, Mom and Dad take it out for a drive, and then by sheer chance, hit a slick of oil in the roadway, lose control, and crash into a tree, killing them both, is John (and his healthy bank account) responsible for their deaths? Not really. There's no way something like that could possibly be foreseen. The same thing with Superboy building his parents a pleasure cruiser. If instead, Clark had simply saved his money and bought it for them, would he be responsible? I think not, and I don't think there's a difference. Commander Benson

> "Knowing now that his super-powers were not responsible for his parents' deaths . . . ."
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> "I don't know, it sounds like if he'd never crafed a boat for them with his super-powers and taken them to the island they'd still be alive. So it was still his powers that killed them. Just sayin'."
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> THAT'S A BIT of a reach. Yes, Superboy built the pleasure cruiser for his parents, but he didn't take them to the island where they found Pegleg Morgan's chest, and thus became infected with the Caribbean fever plague. The Kents travelled to that island on their own.
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> If John buys his parents a brand new car, and on the next week-end, Mom and Dad take it out for a drive, and then by sheer chance, hit a slick of oil in the roadway, lose control, and crash into a tree, killing them both, is John (and his healthy bank account) responsible for their deaths? Not really. There's no way something like that could possibly be foreseen.
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> The same thing with Superboy building his parents a pleasure cruiser. If instead, Clark had simply saved his money and bought it for them, would he be responsible? I think not, and I don't think there's a difference.

Obviously, I don't think it was his fault any way you slice it. Just because he used his super-powers to take them through time, it's not his fault they contracted a disease (especially with the last-minute revelation that that's not what caused it in the first place). I think it was irrational for Superboy to blame himself, but the point is, he blamed the powers since the trip (through time) was made possible by his powers. Wouldn't it make as much sense (i.e. none, but to an irrational mind) to blame his powers for enabling the trip overseas?