United States Department of Defense (UE-43)

The United States Department of Defense (DOD) is a federal executive department which protects the United States of America.

Cold War
During the Cold War, the DOD worked on competing with the Soviet Union.

Man of Steel
When Superman began his crusade to protect the people of Earth, he attracted the attention of the DOD and Lois Lane, who was in a relationship with him, created a connection between the department with her father, General Sam Lane. Throughout the later decade, Lane and Superman worked side-by-side against dangerous threats all across the world.

The Stranger
In fall 2020, the DOD investigated multiple incidents regarding nuclear facilities being attacked. Thanks to Superman, they were able to neutralize the extreme heat and the possible meltdown, saving the lives of countless individuals at Elison Nuclear Power Plant. However, before they could apprehend the attacker, he attacked the DOD Facility for more Kryptonite against Superman. Superman once again thwarted his attack, only to realize that the real attacker was not there and it was merely a remote-controlled warsuit. Unbeknownst to Superman, the attacker gave Lane a keychain labelled 7734.

7734
Behind Superman's back, Sam Lane took the keychain's label as an inspiration and began Project 7734, a research project on creating Kryptonite weapons in case of Superman going rogue. The project soon backfired when Lieutenant Reno Rosetti was possessed by a Kryptonian under Morgan Edge's eradication. An arrested John Henry Irons was then forcibly brought to the 7734 laboratory and defended a depowered Superman from Rosetti by killing the later with a Kryptonite spear. Irons soon turned to attack Superman before being convinced not to by Lois Lane.

Moving into Smallville
After Edge's Subjekts ambushed the Kent House and Lane protected his family, he ordered the DOD to set a temporary camp in Smallville while Superman search for methods to reverse the eradication. Using the DOD's resources, they were able to locate Dabney Donovan and asked for his assistance in restoring the affected individuals' minds. Unfortunately, Donovan did not have a full understanding of the Eradicator until Lara Lor-Van borrowed Lana Lang Cushing's body to work on reversing the machine's effects. With Superman overloading the Eradicator, he was able to restore the Subjekts' minds before being weakened and crashing into the Fortress of Solitude.

Tal-Rho and Leslie Larr soon found Superman and eradicated him, forcing Zod's mind into him. With the Kryptonian abilities of Jordan Kent, the DOD was able to locate Superman and sent John Henry Irons on restoring his mind.

The Eradicator
While Lane was unaware, Tal-Rho slowly eradicated multiple soldiers in the DOD and absorbed the Eradicator into himself. The DOD persisted in Smallville until they are able to apprehend Rho. However, soon after they locked him in a Kryptonite cage, he gained full control of his newly gained powers and escaped, beginning his invasion against humanity. Mere hours later, the DOD attempted to defend Smallville from the Subjekts with the help of Superman and Steel, who removed Tal-Rho's abilities and incarcerated him. Shortly after the victory, Sam Lane decided to step down as the leader of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Current Employees

 * General Sam Lane
 * Bishop 6
 * Robins
 * Antony
 * Lopez
 * Johnson
 * Scheer
 * Knopes
 * Foss

Former Employees

 * General Kilgore
 * Robert McNamara
 * USSOCOM Colonel Jacob Kane
 * First Class Specialist John Henry Irons
 * Sergeant Kristen Kramer
 * Lieutenant Reno Rosetti
 * Lieutenant Jason Trask

Child Agencies

 * DARPA
 * United States Air Force
 * Strategic Air Command
 * United States Army
 * United States Navy
 * USSOCOM
 * Defense Threat Reduction Agency

Current Allies

 * Superman (Kal-El)
 * Steel (John Henry Irons)
 * A.R.G.U.S.
 * John Diggle
 * Lois Lane

Former Enemies

 * The Stranger/Captain Luthor (John Henry Irons)
 * The Eradicator/Morgan Edge (Tal-Rho)
 * Leslie Larr
 * Subjekts