Jonathan Samuel Kent

Publication history

The character, Jonathan Samuel "Jon" Kent, was created by Dan Jurgens and first appeared in DC Comics' Convergence event in the miniseries Convergence: Superman #2 (July 2015). 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." 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."

Following Convergence, he appeared in the eight-issue comic book series Superman: Lois and Clark, which is set nine years after the Convergence event. 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. He first debuts as Superboy in Superman vol. 4 #2 (September 2016). 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. Like his father Superman, he also has a civilian disguise, which includes a pair of glasses and a baseball cap.

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.

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. 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 had been trapped 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. 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. 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 the series 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. Jon 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. After he and his mother were kidnapped and almost killed by Intergang, his parents finally revealed their true origin to him.

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.

In the "Son of Superman" story arc, the Kent family relocated from California to a farm in Hamilton County, Metropolis. At the farm, Jon tries to save the family cat from a hawk but accidentally killed both animals. Clark decides to take Jon on a mission. Arriving at the Arctic together, with his father's encouragement, Jon successfully helps Superman rescuing 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. Back at home, Jon 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 who 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. 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. After some reassurance from his mother (that he have the best of both worlds and has the ability to do great things), Jon joined the fight with his father 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 allowed themselves to be reabsorbed by the Eradicator, while Superman puts Lois and Jon inside a fully equipped submersible and escaped with 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 Jon in the cave. Lois finds and puts on Batman's Hellbat armor and battles the Eradicator with Jon joining the fight. Superman eventually escaped 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. And takes him to the Watchtower and officially introduces Jon as Superboy to the Justice League.

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 into battle. Jon finds the transporter cube during the fight which teleports him, Superman, and Krypto back to the Fortress. Storm choose to stay behind to make sure no monsters followed them and saying that he was "already home."

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 distrust 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 run a diagnosis on Jon's DNA for further analysis. Jon tries to befriend Damian but Damian taunts him for incinerating the family cat, instigates a fight between them and destroying 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.

Powers and abilities

Jonathan first developed superpowers at age 9. One of the first powers he had was super hearing. Other powers (invulnerability and superhuman strength) began to manifest when both he and his mother were put in danger. In Superman: Lois and Clark #8, Jon developed the ability of flight. He has also been shown to have heat vision. 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, super speed in Action Comics #966, and freezing breath in Superman vol. 4 #10. Due to Jon's young age, his powers and control often fluctuate with his emotions.

Other versions