Jonathan Samuel Kent

Jonathan Samuel Kent is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the son of Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane and first appeared in Convergence: Superman #2. He is the latest character in the DC Universe to assume the Superboy persona and first appeared as Superboy in Superman vol. 4 #2.

Publication history

The character, Jonathan Samuel "Jon" Kent, was created by writer Dan Jurgens and first appeared in DC Comics' 2015 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 spin-off eight-issue comic book series Superman: Lois and Clark, which is set nine years after the Convergence event.^[4] In the 2016 DC Rebirth, Jonathan appears with his parents in Action Comics and Superman, when his father became the new Superman in DC Comics.^[5][6] He first debut as Superboy in Superman vol. 4 #2 (September 2016).^[7][8] 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.^[9] He will co-star 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".^[10] The two-part story was described as a prologue to the Super Sons series.^[11]

Fictional character biography

Convergence

In the 2015 DC Comics' Convergence storyline, Brainiac gains access to Vanishing Point, which allowed him to gain the ability to look back into the histories of the DC Universe. He collected cities and inhabitants from various timelines that have ended, trapping them in domes on a planet outside of time and space.^[12] When the Flashpoint reset the DC continuity, Superman and Lois Lane from the post-Infinite Crisis and pre-Flashpoint continuity has 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 has been trap in the city for almost nine months, and as Superman's powers had been suppressed during this time, he and Lois were able to conceive a child.^[13] During the event, Superman managed to get Lois out of danger and into safety, after she was kidnapped by a mentally unstable Flashpoint Superman. And helped his wife Lois with the birth of their son Jonathan. At the end of the Convergence arc, Superman, Lois, and Jonathan traveled across time and dimensions along with the Pre-Crisis versions of Supergirl and the Flash, and the Zero Hour version of Parallax, where they were able to prevent the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths and save the original Multiverse.^[14] Afterward, with their own world no longer existed, Brainiac offered to send Superman, Lois, and Jonathan to a universe of their choosing. They chose the New 52's Earth-0, the main DC universe.

Superman: Lois and Clark

In Superman: Lois and Clark, after Convergence, the Kent family arrived during the beginning of the New 52. Superman and his family lived in secrecy for 9 years in the New 52 universe. Moving to California and adopted new identities, taking the surname "White" (a tribute to Perry White) and keeping a low profile, staying 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.^[15] Jonathan grew up in a normal life with his parents and was unaware of their real identities and secret activities. At age 9, he began noticing contradictions in his parents' stories and begins to suspect that his parents are more than they claim. He is eventually shown starting to developing superpowers of his own, similar to those of his father Superman.^[16] After he and his mother was kidnapped and almost killed by Intergang, his parents finally revealed their true origin to him.^[17]

DC Rebirth

DC Comics relaunched its entire line of comic books series with DC Rebirth in June 2016. In Rebirth, DC Comics 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.^[18]

Superman vol. 4

In the "Son of Superman" story arc, Superman, and his family relocated from California to a farm in Hamilton County and starts their new lives as the Smith family. Jonathan promised his parents he will not use his powers without their presence, but while trying to save his cat from a hawk, he used his heat vision and accidentally killed both animals. Jonathan is angry and upset, when Clark realized what happened to the cat, he decides to take Jonathan on a mission with him. Arriving at the Arctic together, Superman tries to rescue a submarine but is attacked by a giant octopus. When Superman notice that the octopus is being controlled by a crystal contraption, he tells Jonathan to destroy the contraption with his heat vision. Jonathan is reluctant at first, but with his father's encouragement he successfully destroyed the machine, freeing the beast who return to the sea. Afterward, father and son have a long conversation about superhero responsibilities and using one's powers responsibly, and soon Jonathan will have to embrace the superhero mantle himself. The duo return home and the entire Kent family have a burial for the cat.

Back at home, Clark and Lois agreed that they must teach Jonathan how to control his superpowers. While taking to his neighbor, Kathy, Jonathan accidentally falls off a tree and become unconscious. Clark and Lois decide to take him to the Fortress of Solitude. At the Fortress, the Kent family is meet by the Eradicator. The Eradicator informs Superman that he is a series of robots created by General Zod to seek out and arrest Kryptonian criminals, extracting their life force and transfer them to a Phantom Zone projector, where they would await trial with their bodies place in cryo-chambers. The Eradicator witness the destruction of Krypton. Part of his protocol is finding Kryptonian survivors, he eventually found Superman in the Earth solar system, including his son Jonathan. 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. The Eradicator attempts to ingest Jonathan, Krypto intervenes and gets swallowed instead, Superman fights the Eradicator.^[19] Lois reassures Jonathan's that he have the best of both worlds (human and Kryptonian) inside him and he has the ability to do great things. After his mother's encouraging words, Jonathan joined the fight with his father against the Eradicator. With the combined forces of both Superman and his 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 Eradicator attempts to reabsorb the escape souls including Jonathan. The Kryptonian spirits decide to help Superman and allowed themselves to be absorbed by the Eradicator, while Superman puts Lois and Jonathan inside a fully equipped submersible and escaped with his family to the Moon.^[20]

Superman takes his family to Batman's secret Batcave on the Moon. The Eradicator soon arrived in the Batcave and continues his battle with Superman. During the battle, the Eradicator absorbed Superman and begins to search for Jonathan in the cave. After finding Batman's Hellbat armor, Lois puts on the Hellbat suit and battles the Eradicator with Jonathan joining the fight.^[21] Superman eventually escaped the Eradicator. Together the entire Kent family fight the Eradicator, who is finally destroyed. Later, after returning to the family farm, Clark gives Jonathan a pair of glasses and a hat as Jonathan's new civilian disguise. Superman then takes him to the Watchtower and officially introduces Jonathan as Superboy to the Justice League.^[22]

While working on a saucer for his school project in the Fortress of Solitude, Jonathon's science experiment goes haywire and transports him, Superman, and Krypto to Dinosaur Island. After fighting off some of the monsters, they find the remains of the group that fought them before, the Losers. They encounter the sole survivor of the group, Captain William Storm, who tells them of the story of the Losers while Superman tells him about the time passed during his absence. After Superman helps Storm give the Losers a proper burial and carves a wooden leg for him, Storm assists the trio by riding his pterodactyl into battle. Jonathon finds the transporter cube during the fight which teleports him, Superman, and Krypto back to the Fortress of Solitude. Storm purposefully stayed behind the make sure none of the monsters followed them and that he was "already home."^[23]

When Christmas break starts, Jonathon explores the Dead Man's Swamp to find a Christmas tree. He is confronted by a number of mechanical animals as well as Maya Ducard aka Nobody with Goliath, who was sent by Damian Wayne aka Robin to spy on Superboy. During the encounter, Jonathon develops his father's ice breath and accidentally causes them to start falling, but they are saved by Goliath. Jonathon wakes up in Gotham sedated and restricted by Damian, who doesn't trust him. Batman finds them and orders Damian to release Superboy before an enraged Superman comes into the area and nearly starts a fight with the Waynes. Jonathon's freeze breath manages to calm both sides down. Batman takes all of them down to the Batcave to run tests on Jonathon's human half. Jonathon tries to bond with Damian by discussing his love of animals, but Damian instigates a fight between them after bringing up what Jonathon did to the cat that is stopped by their fathers.^[24]

Powers and abilities

Jonathan first developed superpowers at age 9. One of the first powers he had was super hearing.^[25] Other powers (invulnerability and superhuman strength) began to manifest when both he and his mother was put in danger, and using his powers he was able to save their lives. In Superman: Lois and Clark #8, Jonathan developed the ability of flight. He has also been shown to have heat vision.^[26] In Superman vol. 4 #3, it's revealed that because of Jonathan'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, super speed in Action Comics vol. 3 #966, and freezing breath in Superman vol. 4 #10. 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.

See also

• Chris Kent
• Jon Lane Kent

References

External links

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