Lar Gand was born on Daxam in the 20th century. He was a seeker who studied forbidden lore. Lar discovered the fate of Krypton and tracked down the rocket sent right before the planet exploded. He ended up in Smallville (without memories) and met Clark Kent who thought that they may be brothers (since Lar had spoken something about Krypton and Jor-El, and has displayed powers similar to Clark). Thinking him kin, Clark offered Lar to fashion a temporary name for himself, Mon-El ("Mon" for Monday, the day he came to Earth, "El" for Clark's real name, Kal-El).