The original pitch for a Superboy character was originally made by Jerry Siegel (without Joe Shuster) in November 1938. The idea was turned down by Detective Comics, Inc., and the publisher again rejected a second, more detailed pitch by Siegel two years later. After the appeal of kid superheroes had been demonstrated by the success of Robin, the Boy Wonder and similar characters, Detective Comics reversed itself in late 1944 and started publishing a Superboy feature, in an effort to expand the Superman franchise by presenting a version of the character to whom younger readers could easily relate. Superboy first appeared in More Fun Comics #101 (1944, with a 1945 cover date). Though Joe Shuster supplied the art, the Superboy feature was published without the input or approval of Jerry Siegel, who was serving in World War II. This fact increased an already-growing rift between the publisher and Siegel and Shuster.

In early 1946, Superboy moved to Adventure Comics, where he debuted (issue #103) as the lead feature for the anthology comic, and he remained the lead for over 200 issues. Superboy received his own series, Superboy, in 1949, where again he was the lead feature for nearly 200 issues. Stories in both comics treat Superboy as essentially a junior version of Superman. To that end, he wears the Superman costume and his alter ego Clark Kent wears glasses as a disguise for his civilian identity. Superboy is the superhero of Clark's hometown, Smallville, where he grows up under the guidance of Ma and Pa Kent; has two close friends, Lana Lang and Pete Ross, in both identities, and a pet superdog, Krypto; befriends and then battles a teenage Lex Luthor; and joins the 30th-century Legion of Super-Heroes.

The popular Legion feature, a spin-off from Superboy, eventually bumped the Superboy feature from both Adventure Comics (in the 1960s) and, after the Legion left Adventure, from Superboy itself (issues #197-198, 1973). In both cases, Superboy continued to appear in the comic series as a Legion member. When Superboy left the Legion in 1980, he got a second series called The New Adventures of Superboy, which ran for 54 issues until 1984. A four-issue miniseries called Superman: The Secret Years (1985) tells the story of how Superboy became Superman during his junior year of college.

Shortly after the miniseries was published, Superboy's career was discarded from Superman's continuity after the 1985-1986 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths and writer John Byrne's 1986 revamp of Superman's origin, The Man of Steel. Twenty years later, following the Infinite Crisis limited series, some elements of Superboy's history were restored to the story of Superman's youth.