Jonathan Samuel Kent

Jonathan Samuel "Jon" Kent is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Dan Jurgens, the character first appeared in Convergence: Superman #2 (July 2015). He is the son of Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane and is the latest character in the DC Universe to assume the Superboy persona.

Publication history

The character, Jonathan Samuel Kent, was created by Dan Jurgens and first appeared in DC Comics' Convergence event in the miniseries Convergence: Superman #2 (July 2015).^[1] Jonathan is the biological firstborn son of pre-Flashpoint Superman and Lois Lane and is half Kryptonian/Human. He was named by his parents in honor of both of his grandfathers (Jonathan Kent and Sam Lane). On the character, Dan Jurgens said: "The way I describe him is that he looks like Clark but has Lois' spitfire attitude and inquisitiveness."^[2] Jurgens also explains that: "Lots of people might expect Jon to be something like his dad’s younger self, but it would be a bit of a mistake. His parents are not Jonathan and Martha Kent. It’s Lois and Clark. They’re different people with different ways of parenting."^[3]

Following Convergence, he appeared in the eight-issue comic book series Superman: Lois and Clark, which is set nine years after the Convergence event.^[4] In the 2016 DC Rebirth, Jon appears with his parents in Action Comics and Superman, when his father became the new Superman in DC Comics.^[5][6] He debuts as Superboy in Superman vol. 4 #2 (Sept. 2016).^[7] Jonathan's Superboy outfit (design by Jorge Jimenez) consist of red sneakers, blue jeans, zippered jacket with the "S-shield" and cape attached to the back.^[8]

He co-stars with Damian Wayne in the comic book series, Super Sons, as Superboy and Robin. The duo first met in the Superman story arc "In the Name of the Father". The two-part story was described as a prologue to the Super Sons series.^[9]

Fictional character biography

Convergence

In the 2015 DC Comics' Convergence storyline, Brainiac gains access to Vanishing Point, which allows him to gain the ability to look back into the histories of the DC Universe. He collects cities and inhabitants from various timelines that have ended, trapping them in domes on a planet outside of time and space.^[10] When the Flashpoint resets the DC continuity, Superman and Lois Lane from the post-Infinite Crisis and pre-Flashpoint continuity have been trapped on the planet Telos in their world's Gotham City, with the city having been transported there by Brainiac and sealed under a large dome. The couple are trapped in the city for almost nine months, and as Superman's powers are suppressed during this time, he and Lois are able to conceive a child.^[11] During the event, Superman manages to get Lois out of danger and into safety, after she has been kidnapped by a mentally unstable Flashpoint Superman, and helps her with the birth of their son Jonathan. At the end of the Convergence arc, Superman, Lois, and Jonathan travel across time and dimensions along with the Pre-Crisis versions of Supergirl and the Flash, and the Zero Hour version of Parallax, where they are able to prevent the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths and save the original Multiverse.^[12] Afterward, with their own world no longer existing, Brainiac offers to send Superman, Lois, and Jonathan to a universe of their choosing. They choose the New 52's Earth-0, the main DC universe.

Superman: Lois and Clark

In the series Superman: Lois and Clark, after Convergence, the Kent family arrive during the beginning of the New 52. Superman and his family live in secrecy in the New 52 universe for 9 years. Moving to California and adopting new identities, taking the surname "White" (a tribute to Perry White) and keeping a low profile, they stay out of the lives of this world's superheroes, with Lois becoming an anonymous author, while Superman continues his superhero duty quietly behind the scenes.^[13] Jon grows up in a normal life with his parents and is unaware of their real identities and secret activities. At age 9, he begins noticing contradictions in his parents' stories and begins to suspect that his parents are more than they claim. He is eventually shown starting to develop superpowers of his own, similar to those of his father Superman.^[14] After he and his mother were kidnapped and almost killed by Intergang, his parents finally reveal their true origin to him.^[15]

DC Rebirth

DC Comics relaunched its entire line of comic books series with DC Rebirth in June 2016. In Rebirth, DC once again re-established the pre-Flashpoint Superman as the Superman in DC Comics, along with his wife, Lois Lane, and their son Jonathan Kent.^[16]

In the "Son of Superman" story arc, the Kent family relocate from California to a farm in Hamilton County. At the farm, Jon tries to save the family cat from a hawk but accidentally kills both animals. Clark decides to take Jon on a mission. Arriving in the Arctic together, with his father's encouragement, Jon successfully helps Superman rescue a submarine attacked by a giant octopus. Afterward, father and son have a long conversation about superhero responsibilities and that soon Jon will have to embrace the superhero mantle himself.^[17] Back at home, Jon falls off a tree and becomes unconscious. Clark and Lois decide to take him to the Fortress of Solitude. At the Fortress, the Kent family is met by the Eradicator, who informs Superman that he is one of a series of robots created by General Zod to seek out and arrest Kryptonian criminals; extract their life force and transfer them to a Phantom Zone projector, where they will await trial with their bodies placed in cryo-chambers. The Eradicator witnessed the destruction of Krypton. Part of his protocol is finding Kryptonian survivors, he eventually found Superman in the Earth solar system, including his son. The Eradicator tells Superman he can rebuild Krypton, but because his son is half human, his human genome will have to be eradicated for Krypton to stay true and pure. He attempts to ingest Jon, Superman fights the Eradicator.^[18] After some reassurance from his mother (that he has the best of both worlds and has the ability to do great things), Jon joins his father in the fight against the Eradicator. With the combined forces of Superman and son, the Eradicator's outer shell is shattered, releasing the Kryptonian souls he has captured and causing a massive explosion in the Fortress. Superman and his family are teleported into a bar in Metropolis. The Kryptonian spirits decide to help Superman and allow themselves to be reabsorbed by the Eradicator, while Superman puts Lois and Jon inside a fully equipped submersible and escapes with his family to Batman's secret Batcave on the Moon.^[19] The Eradicator soon arrives in the Batcave and continues his battle with Superman. During the battle, the Eradicator absorbs Superman and begins to search for Jon in the cave. Lois finds and puts on Batman's Hellbat armor and battles the Eradicator with Jon joining the fight.^[20] Superman eventually escapes the Eradicator. The entire Kent family fight the Eradicator, who is finally destroyed. Later, after returning to the family farm, Clark gives Jon a pair of glasses and a hat as Jon's new civilian disguise. He takes Jon to the Watchtower and officially introduces him as Superboy to the Justice League.^[21]

While working on his school project in the Fortress of Solitude, Jon's science experiment goes haywire and transports him, Superman, and Krypto to Dinosaur Island. They find the remains of the group that came before, the Losers, and the sole survivor, Captain William Storm. Superman helps Storm give the Losers a proper burial and carves a new wooden leg for him, and Storm assists the trio in battle. Jon finds the transporter cube during the fight which teleports him, Superman, and Krypto back to the Fortress. Storm chooses to stay behind to make sure no monsters followed them and saying that he is "already home."^[22]

In the two-part story "In the Name of the Father", when Christmas break starts, Jon explores the Dead Man's Swamp. He encounters Maya Ducard and Goliath (sent by Damian Wayne to spy on Superboy) and is taken to Gotham City sedated and restricted by Damian, who distrusts him. Batman finds them and orders Damian to release Superboy before an enraged Superman arrives. After a brief confrontation, Batman takes them to the Batcave and runs a diagnosis on Jon's DNA for further analysis. Jon tries to befriend Damian but Damian taunts him for incinerating the family cat, instigating a fight between them that destroys the genetics lab. Batman and Superman send them to a mountain boot camp where Jon and Damian have to face several tests and challenges. After some initial conflict, the duo eventually learns to work together.^[23]

Superman Reborn

Jon's origins are retconned in the "Superman Reborn" story arc. Jon is kidnapped by Mr. Mxyzptlk and taken to the Fifth Dimension. As Superman and Lois race to his rescue, Jon encounters the spirits of the deceased New 52 versions of Superman and Lois, and begs them to help. Taking their power in his hands, Jon attacks Mxyzptlk, and accidentally transforms his parents into their New 52 counterparts.^[24] Though they no longer remember him, Jon manages to get them to remember who they truly are and their love for each other. The two versions of Superman and Lois merge, forming a new, complete version of Superman and Lois and rewriting the DC Universe's history to accommodate their existence.^[25]

In this altered timeline, Clark and Lois conceived Jon shortly after they got married after "The Death of Superman". Lois ran afoul of a ring of arms smugglers who blew up the Kents' apartment in an attempt on her life. Fearing for Lois's life, the couple left Metropolis, and Lois gave birth to Jon in the Fortress of Solitude, with Wonder Woman assisting in the delivery. Clark and Lois then took sabbaticals from the Daily Planet and moved to California to raise Jon. They eventually moved to Hamilton County and went back to work at the Daily Planet.^[26]

Powers and abilities

Jonathan first developed superpowers at age 9. One of the first powers he had was super hearing.^[27] Other powers (invulnerability and superhuman strength) began to manifest when both he and his mother were put in danger. He has also been shown to have heat vision.^[28] In Superman vol. 4 #3, it's revealed that because of Jon's unique human and Kryptonian genomes, his powers are still developing and adapting, resulting in a lack of consistency in his invulnerability, which means sometimes he is vulnerable to injury and can still get hurt even if all of his other Kryptonian powers are active. He is shown to have developed X-ray vision in Trinity vol. 2 #1, freezing breath in Superman vol. 4 #10, super speed and vision in Action Comics #966, super breath in Super Sons #4, and flight in Superman vol. 4 #25. Due to Jonathan's young age, his powers and control often fluctuate with his emotions.

Other versions

• In the two-part story, Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? which told the final story of the Silver Age Superman. After his last battle, Superman removed his powers using gold kryptonite, he settled down and married Lois Lane and lived an anonymous normal life under the alias, Jordan Elliot. He and Lois had a son named Jonathan, who inherited his father's superpowers.
• In the Elseworlds comic book series, Son of Superman, Jon Kent is a 15-year-old teenage boy who never knew his father Clark Kent or that he was the superhero, Superman, as his father disappeared before he was born. When a solar storm's radiation triggered his Kryptonian powers, he learned the truth about his father from his mother Lois Lane. Jon became the new Superman. Jon successfully rescued his father who was being held a prisoner in a secret facility. Superman reunites with his family. When it's revealed that Lex Luthor was responsible for Superman's capture, Jon teams up with his father to stop Lex. After a prolonged battle, Lex is defeated. Superman decides to temporarily retire from being a superhero and focus more on his family. This leaves Jon to be the first of a new generation of superheroes.
• In the New 52 Batman Beyond book, Jon is the Superman of the future, who was put into captivity for study by Brother Eye with the rest of the future Justice League. It's unknown what happened to his father. Jon's costume and role are the same as his father's from his appearance in the Batman Beyond animated series, though Jon is younger than his father was in the cartoon.

See also

• Chris Kent
• Jon Lane Kent

References

External links

• Jonathan Samuel Kent at Comic Book Database
• Jonathan Samuel Kent at DC Database