Superman totally ripped-off II Kings 2:11

Comicdom has forgotten that when baby Kal-El was originally enroute to Earth he took a detour through a space warp to another universe, where the only power he had was Super-Poor Fashion Sense.

In this world Kal-El (named Sonn by his adoptive parents) radiated an energy that made people smart. From the effects of the radiation the tribes evolved from a cavemen-level existence to a futuristic Krypton-like society in about 8 years. In fact they got so smart that they decided to hunt Sonn down and kill him, thanks to the machinations of his jealous sister, who was earlier zapped by a monster, who turned people evil by looking at them.

Right. Because people are inherently good.

She was always bad news, but getting spot-lighted by the evil-inducing ray kind of sealed the deal.

Eventually, his own child, Vol, located Sonn as he was aged and near death. Regressed to the age of an infant, Sonn was sent back into space to complete his journey to Earth.

That's how I felt when I read this

The ironic twist was that when the baby was sent back into space it removed the influence of the evolution radiation, so the people regressed quickly. Now instead of being evil and smart they are evil and stupid. I can't decide which is more dangerous. But I doubt these people lived until the Crisis erased them. A futuristic city populated by ape-like humans probably blew itself up the first time one of them noticed a shiny button at the fusion plant and pressed it.

DC continues the Superman-As-Messiah theme

Sometimes, I gotta wonder why I like the Silver Age so much, but not all issues can be winners. Mercifully, much like when Superman discovered his parents floating in space in suspended animation, and having to leave them there because of a plague they carried, this story was never referenced again.