Superboy's origins start with Project: Superman, which is the Superman cloning project originally intended to recreate the Man of Steel. Due to the inability to replicate and stabilize Kryptonian DNA, the clones of Superman degenerate after a short period of time. Upon Superman's death, the project is reinstated in secrecy in conjunction with Lex Luthor and Cadmus Labs to replace the fallen hero. After 12 documented attempts at cloning a Superman, human DNA (secretly that of Project head Paul Westfield, later retconned as being from Lex Luthor) is partially used to stabilize the Kryptonian DNA. The result is Superboy, the first successful clone of Superman.