Although it has been well-established that Superboy can willingly travel through time, in Adventure Comics #187 (February 1953), Superboy is accidentally snatched into the 25th century and must spend some time there until the next “fortuitous planetary conjunction”.
While in the 25th century, he learns that records of the 20th century have been wiped out by an atomic explosion. He tries to explain what he did with his superpowers back in the 20th century that was so amazing, preventing crimes and the like… though there is no apparent crime in the 25th century and the citizens cannot seem to understand the concept:
The citizens of the 25th century then go on a shaming spree, showing Clark how their inventions can do anything his powers can do. Apparently basic understanding is not the only thing that 25th century citizens have lost – they also appear to be mentally handicapped. Airplanes have existed for my entire life yet if someone appeared that could fly without the aid of a device, I would be amazed.
Oh but then of course this arrogant society is suddenly threatened by a “cloud of poisonous matter” that “poisoned every food and chemical on the planet!” meaning everyone on Earth will starve to death. Oh and why not “every other planet” too just to make it harder for Superboy to solve this crisis by flying to some other planet.
Sooo Clark goes down and retrieves some seeds from a time capsule buried deep within the planet. What does he do? Why he bakes a ginormous loaf of bread to feed the planet!
Clark then travels back to his own time, letting the rest of the planets starve to death, I guess.
P.S. Why does every futuristic story from the 1950s depict everyone with bared legs?