Note: This Jonathan Kent shouldn’t be confused with Hyperman also named Jonathan Kent, he is son of Superman and Wonder Woman.
Origin
Jonathan “Jon” Samuel Kent is the one child of Superman (Clark Kent a.k.a. Kal-El) and Lois Lane-Kent. Jon was given birth in space by the New Earth verisons of Lois and Clark but when the Rebirth event came in place, they where the only survivers and was the only people in the galaxy who could remember what happend.
When Jon grew older, his parents Lois and Clark told him he had super-human powers, such as flight, heat vision, super speed and freeze breath. Jon was hiding his powers from the humanity untill the day came and he followed Clark on a successful mission. However when Clark and Jon came home that night, he was told that from now on, he’d be known as the superhero Superboy!
Creation
The New Earth and Prime Earth Jonathan Kent was created by Dan Jurgens and his first appearance was in Convergence: Superman #2.
Character Evolution
Silver Age / Earth-One
In Superman: Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow?, Jonathan makes a brief appearance as part of the last story of the Silver Age Superman. After his last battle, Superman (from the pre-crisis earth-one) removed his powers using gold kryptonite, he settled down and lived a anonymous normal life under the alias Jordan Elliot. He and Lois had a son named Jonathan, who apparently inherited his powers. His name in this universe was Jonathan Elliot, the fake identity of Kal-El.
The New 52 / Prime Earth
In the New 52 continuity, Jon Lane Kent is the son of Superman and Lois Lane in an alternate future. His hybrid physiology was unstable. Jon became ill and died before his fourth birthday. Under these circumstance, the time traveling villain Harvest kidnapped and revived Jon, and trained him to become a Meta-Human killer and eliminate all the super-beings of history. However because of Jon’s disease, Harvest was forced to create a clone, Superboy, not only as a possible replacement, but also to stabilize Jon’s physiology.
Post-Convergence / Prime Earth
In Superman: Lois and Clark, Jonathan Samuel White is born in the Convergence event. He is the son of Superman and Lois Lane, from the pre-Flashpoint DC universe. After Convergence, Superman and Lois Lane avoided the Flashpoint reboot, and managed to survive in DC’s main continuity. Along with their son, Jonathan, the Kent family has assumed the surname White in the post-Flashpoint DC universe, and keep a low profile to avoid any problem. Jonathan Samuel Kent, has recently demonstrated the superhuman ability of invulnerability.
Major Story Arcs
The New 52 / Prime Earth:
Jon takes over Conner as Superboy
Jon is first encountered by the Teen Titans after they were thrown into the future by Johnny Quick, where they find the superhuman population decimated by the son of Superman: Jon Kent, whom Kon-El was cloned from. After a confrontation with the Justice League of this era, led by a grown up Beast Boy, Conner is attacked by Jon while alone.
The confrontation ends with Con grievously wounding Jon, but is then pulled back into the timestream. The League finds Jon unconscious, and in hopes of preventing their present, dresses Jon in a costume like Con’s and sends him with the Titans who are unaware of the switch.
As Jon wakes up, he pretends to be Conner while plotting his next move; realizing that he could end up back in time and prevent himself from becoming the monster he is, he plots to kill all meta-humans, thereby finding a cure for himself. So far, however, his plans have hit a snag of sorts, as Raven has seen through the deception but is currently permitting and subtly aiding his continued venture, as it furthers her own goals for the time being.
Jon eventually ends up in present time. Recruited for the Advanced Ideas Division of S.T.A.R. Labs, Jon accepted the offer of Dr. Grey with the objective of change the future and under the promise of a permanent cure for his condition. But in the company of these people Jon started to understand more about the human condition and developed care for his companions, changing his attitude and doubting Harvest teachings.
When Jon and his team went on a secret lab of NOWHERE they found the preserved body of Jon himself his past self, before being cured. When present Jon and past Jon touched they created a paradox sphere, a pocket universe of an altered reality and summoned the presence of several alternate Superboys, including Kon-El himself.
When they saw under the attack of the illness Jon and his army of mind controlled Superboys’. Jon in a last selfless action, he sacrifice his own existence inside the pocket. Returning Kon-El to the present as the only Superboy and cancelling his own timeline. This leaving the clone as a time paradox existence.
Rebirth
With the Rebirth event, Jonathan “Jon” Kent is now the son of pre-Flashpoint Superman and Lois Lane. This version of him is the current canon one.
Son of Superman
Jon plays a prominent role in the first arc of Superman. Jon asks his father if he’s allowed to build the barn. Clark says he may work provided that he doesn’t use his powers. After he agrees on his father’s terms he leaves him immediately. Jon takes his cat Goldie with him and looses him to a falcon. Unfortunately, this prompted Jon to use his powers. Sadly, this meant that he broke his promise and he feels really sorry about it.
Over the course of time, Superman takes Jon to actual accidents and teaches his son which powers he should use. Meanwhile, Eradicator is on his way to the Kent family. Initially, he goes for Clark first and absorbs him after a huge battle. Jon fights him, but it’s no use. Lois suits up in the Hellbat armor and protects her son. However he does it, the Man of Steel is back as well. The Kent family eventually beat Eradicator, and they go on to beat many other supervillains as well.
The Trip with Mr. Oz
Later on, Mr. Oz offered to take Jon on a trip around space to educate him on the universe. His parents were reluctant to let him go at first but eventually gave in, and Lois accompanied him. Lois ended up returning to Earth, but Jon’s spaceship fell into a black hole. He crash-landed on Earth 3 and was taken prisoner by Ultraman in a volcano.
He was in-prisoned for three years before being saved by Mr. Oz. When he returned to his Earth, he discovered that even though it had been three years for him, it had been three weeks on Earth.
Becoming Superman
With Superman going off to face and off-world threat and Jon believing that he wouldn’t come back due to what he learned in the future, he stepped up to become Superman.
He saved two people with uncontrollable powers – one being Faultline – and the people/things surrounding them and also saved a building of people and animals with the help of his father. Jon, through Robin, was introduced to a group called The Truth which provided the truth that no one else was talking about and befriended the leader, Jay. Jon ended up saving refugees from Gamorra because of The Truth. But then, when Superman left, Faultline was forced to destroy his family home and endanger him and his family. He saved his grandparents and learned that Jay had powers. Jay then convinced him to meet up with Wink and Aerie and they teamed up against Bendix. After talking with his mother, Jon went off to speak to Bendix. However, Bendix caused Jon’s powers to start to overload. All his senses and powers were increased and he suddenly could hear everything, so he raced all around the world to help people. In the end he met up with Jay, who told him that he was overloading/burning out. They shared a kiss before Jon had to leave one more time to help some people out, and agreed to take Bendix down together.
Powers & Abilities
Hybrid Physiology
Jon is first Kryptonian/human hybrid and was actually conceived and born under the yellow sun which seemingly made him even more powerful than his father. He was powerful enough to kill all metas on earth in his dark future. Though his hybrid physiology is also very unstable and can even kill him without proper medication.
- Superhuman Strength
- Superhuman Smell
- Flight
- Self-Sustenance
- Invulnerability
- Superhuman Speed
- Heat Vision
- Ice Breath
- Superhuman Sight
- Agility
- Stamina
Telekinesis
Jon might be one of the most powerful telekinesis users on earth and can use his telekinesis in many advanced ways.
- Force-Field: Jon can also create almost indestructible telekinetic force fields.
- Telekinetic Blast: Jon is capable of shoot powerful TK-blasts.
- Spatial Sense: By touching something Jon is able to scan it and ”see” it.
Telepathy
Jon is at least able to see into others memories.
Power Absorption
Jon can also ”feed” with meta’s energies and become stronger.
Samuel Kent
Kryptonian Abilities
Samuel’s powers are in a constant state of fluctuation due to his hybrid nature, as such his Kryptonian abilities began to manifest themselves in spasm and flares, potentially due to his mixed breeding Batman theorizes that Jonathan Kent could be more powerful than his father:
Energy Absorption – As a half-Kryptonian, Jon’s able to absorb the light and radiation of stars & suns, mainly those of the yellow stellar spectrum. His Kryptonian body is constantly absorbing and storing energy from Earth’s yellow sun, which in turn grants him incredible powers, such as superhuman strength & speed, enhanced senses, impenetrable skin, and even the ability to defy gravity.
- Superhuman Strength
- Superhuman Speed
- Superhuman Sight
- Superhuman Smell
- Superhuman Reflexes
- Superhuman Hearing
- Invulnerability
- Solar Flare
- Heat Vision
- Flight
- Super Breath
- Freeze breath
Personal Data / Characteristics
- Gender: Male
- Eye Color: Blue
- Hair Color: Black
- Skin Color: White
- Place of Birth: Fortress of Solitude
- Citizenship: American
- Race: Human/Kryptonian
- Sexuality: Bisexual
- Relatives: Superman (Father), Lois Lane-Kent (Mother), Sam Lane (Maternal Grandfather), Martha Kent (Adopted Grandmother), Johnathon Kent (Adopted Grandfather), Jor-El (Paternal Grandfather), Lara Lor-Van (Paternal Grandmother), Supergirl (Cousin/Aunt figure), Leo Lane (Uncle), Lucy Lang (Aunt), Kon-El (Adoptive Uncle)
- Pets: Krypto
- Occupation: Student/Super Hero
Other Version
Future State
In Future State, Jon has taken over the mantle of Superman and is a member of the Justice League of America. He has teamed up with Wonder Girl (Yara Flor).
Son of Superman
In Son of Superman, a 15 year old Jonathan “Jon” Kent never knew his father, as he disappeared before Jon was born. And his mother, Lois Lane, never told him that his father was Clark Kent (better known as Superman). However the truth came out when a solar storm’s radiation triggered Kryptonian powers in Jon. Jon was approached by a terrorist group funded by Lana Lang, to find Superman, who she believed was being held prisoner in a secret lab. Jon, now in his newly designed costume and identity of Superboy, is able to successfully free Superman.
Superman and Lois have a tearful reunion, but Jon is not content to suddenly have his father back in his life after 15 years. But when it is revealed that Lex Luthor, the new head of the Justice League of America, was responsible for Superman’s capture, Superboy teams up with his father, along with Batman and Wonder Woman to stop him. However Luthor had decoded Superman’s DNA and was able to give himself Kryptonian powers. After a prolonged battle, Superman and Superboy were able to defeat Lex. Superman, Jon, and Lois finally come together as a family, and Jon is given his father’s original costume to wear as Superboy. Superman decides to temporarily retire from being a superhero to focus on being Clark Kent again, and being a good husband and father. This leaves Jon to be the first of a new generation of heroes.
The New 52 / Prime Earth
Conner Kent aka Superboy is the clone of Jon Lane Kent the son of Superman and Lois Lane-Kent. The time traveling villain Harvest created Conner in hopes to save his son, Jon from his illness that is killing him.
Other Media
Superman & Lois
A version of Jon Kent appears in the CW show Superman & Lois, played by Jordan Elsass. He is one of two twin boys born to Superman and Lois Lane. His brother, Jordan (named after Jor-El), is an original character. Unlike his comic counterpart, he does not have obvious superpowers, and he reached his teen age naturally on Earth. After his father moves their family to Smallville, Jonathan begins to feel resentment towards his father for doing so.