Jonathan Kent

Jonathan Kent, also known as Pa Kent, is a fictional character published by DC Comics. He is the adoptive father of Superman, and the husband of Martha Kent (also known as "Ma Kent"). Jonathan lives with his wife Martha in the small town of Smallville, USA. Jonathan is usually portrayed agewise as either late middle age or elderly.

In all versions of Superman's origin story, Jonathan and Martha Kent were the first to come across the rocket that brought the infant Kal-El to Earth, with their adopting him shortly thereafter, deciding to rename him Clark Kent---"Clark" having been Martha's maiden name.

Jonathan is usually portrayed as a strong and caring father figure, with both himself and Martha responsible for helping to instill within their adopted son Clark Kent his strong sense of morals, as well as having been the ones to encourage Clark to use his powers for the betterment of humanity.

Before writer John Byrne's 1986 reboot of the Superman series, Jonathan Kent (and his wife) died shortly after Clark's high school graduation; in the current comics' continuity, Jonathan Kent is still alive when Clark is an adult.

History

Golden and Silver Age versions

While a "passing motorist" was described as having found the infant Kal-El (or "Kal-L" as the earliest comics stated his Kryptonian name) in Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1 in 1938, Superman #1 in 1939 is the first story to introduce Superman's adoptive parents to the mythos. Pa Kent's first name remained in flux during the 1940s, however; a 1942 Superman novel named Pa "Eben Kent" (this name was also used in the Adventures of Superman television series) while the first extensive retelling of Superman's origins in Superman #53 in 1948 named Pa "John Kent." In 1951, however, Pa Kent's name was definitively given as being "Jonathan Kent," and has been as such ever since.

Later stories, after the early 1960s introduction of DC's multiverse system, declared that the earliest versions of Pa was named "John Kent" and lived on the world of "Earth-Two" (home of the Golden Age DC superheroes), while the more familiar Jonathan Kent lived on the mainstream world of "Earth-One" (home of the Silver Age DC superheroes).

Jonathan made few appearances in Superman stories until the introduction of the Superboy comic in 1949. In this series, Pa Kent made a lasting mark, being a regular supporting character of the teenaged superhero.

It is the Superboy stories that fleshed out Jonathan's backstory. There, it is revealed that Jonathan, a former race car driver, was a farmer on a farm just outside of Smallville. After he and Martha found the toddler Kal-El in his rocket, they took him to the Smallville Orphanage and, several days later, formally adopted him. Renaming him "Clark," Jonathan and Martha took him back to their farm to raise him; there, they soon discovered that Clark possessed a fantastic array of superpowers (gained, as Jonathan learned years later, from exposure to Earth's yellow sun and its lower gravity).

Around the time Clark started school, Jonathan sold the Kents' farm, and the family moved into Smallville where Jonathan opened a general store. During Clark's early grade school years, Jonathan also assisted in training young Clark in the use of his superpowers to the best of his knowledge (including helping him learn how to fly properly), while urging him to keep the use of his powers a secret. At the age of eight, Clark began a superhero career as Superboy, with Jonathan helping him to come up with a means of making Superboy and Clark appear to be different people, by helping to develop Clark's secret identity as a mild-mannered, reserved individual. Jonathan continued to assist his adopted son on various adventures as Superboy over the years.

In Superboy (volume 1) #145 (March 1968), Jonathan and Martha Kent were rejuvenated physically into appearing younger, due to the influence of an alien serum. After this, Jonathan and Martha were drawn by artists as late middle-aged (versus elderly) in appearance until Superman's 1986 origin reboot.

Late in the run of the New Adventures of Superboy comic (which was published from 1980 through 1984), a storyline emerged where Jonathan Kent was approached by others in Smallville to run for the city council, as a means of preventing Smallville from having its first shopping mall built, which would have spelled potential ruin for Smallville's locally owned businesses, including the Kent General Store. As it turned out, the owner of the land where the mall would've been built (who was also a member of the city council) apparently had criminal reasons as a motive. While this storyline remained unresolved (with the abrupt cancellation of the Superboy comic), it was presumed that both Jonathan and Superboy helped to bring the council member to justice (and halted the mall construction project as a result).

After Clark graduated from high school, Jonathan and Martha took a vacation to the Caribbean Islands, where they contracted a fatal and rare tropical disease after handling materials from a pirate's treasure chest they had exhumed; despite Superboy's best efforts, Martha died, with Jonathan dying soon thereafter. Before passing on, Jonathan reminded Clark that he must always use his powers for the benefit of humanity. After Jonathan's passing, Clark mourned his parents' loss, before eventually moving to Metropolis to attend college.

Modern Age versions

The Man of Steel

After comics writer John Byrne rewrote Superman's origin in his 1986 The Man of Steel miniseries, one of the key changes he made was in keeping Jonathan and Martha Kent alive into Clark's adulthood. Jonathan still had a similar role as in the earlier stories, however, of instilling within Clark the morals needed to become a strong figure.

In this version of events, after Kal-El's "birthing matrix" landed on Earth, Jonathan and Martha found a newborn-aged infant inside. Taking the infant in just before a major snowstorm struck (that buried Smallville in snow for some number of months and cut off outsiders' access to the Kent family farm), the couple decided to pass the infant off as their own natural child, naming him "Clark."

Clark's powers slowly developed over time in this version, with all of his powers fully emerging once he reached his late teen years. After Clark's high school graduation, Jonathan told Clark about his extraterrestrial origins, after which Clark soon left Smallville to explore the outside world. After Clark moved to Metropolis, Jonathan had a hand in helping Clark create a superhero identity as Superman.

Another change in this version was that Jonathan remained a farmer through Clark's adult years, though a recent comic storyline featured Jonathan having opened a general store in Smallville.

Jonathan's post-Crisis history was more fully fleshed out in the late 1980s miniseries The World of Smallville, with his ancestors' history revealed more fully in the 1990s miniseries The Kents.

Birthright

Jonathan's character was notably altered in 2003 when Mark Waid penned the limited series Birthright, which revised Superman's origins yet again and represents the current official canon, despite not being widely advertised at the time as a definitivley canonical reboot.^*

In this latest version, Jonathan is portrayed as having a somewhat different personality, or at least a more strained relationship with his son, and is depicted as far younger at the time of Clark adopting his Superman identity than in past portrayals, appearing here to be scarcely middle-aged.

Jonathan's new appearance was clearly tailored to more closely resemble a slightly older version of actor John Schneider who portrays the character in the Smallville television series (indeed, many of the continuity changes in Birthright were designed to bring the comic book mythos closer to the Smallville version.). Although now shown wearing glasses, his full head of blonde hair is still present (as are his wife's long red tresses) in current depictions set an undefined number of years after the events of Birthright, suggesting that this version of the couple are still far from being elderly in the present day.

One of the major themes/subplots of Birthright was a rift between Jonathan and Clark. Although not unprecedented (the immediately post-Crisis Jonathan was very critical of Clark "showing off" by playing football with normal human peers, and the Smallville Jonathan is often at loggerheads with Clark, cheifly by being over-protective of his son's secret), this strain in their relationship had never prevously been aggravated to such an extent that father and son are barely speaking at the opening of the series. In this version Jonathan has conflicting feelings regarding Clark's power and emerging decision to use it for the benefit of humanity. Whistfully thinking of happier times in Clark's childhood, this new version of Jonathan seemed to feel that he had lost the affections of his newly-adult son, partly due to Clark's far greater fascination with his Kryptonian origins than the earlier post-Crisis version (who largely rejected them). Unlike most previous incarnations of Jonathan Kent, the "post-Birthright" Johathan was not particularly encouraging or instrumental in the formation of Clark's Superman identity or mission, although over the course of the series father and son are eventually reconciled.

Whether the reality-shattering events of Infinite Crisis will alter this version of Jonathan Kent any further is as yet unkown.

Kent family history

In the current Superman continuity, it was revealed that the Kent family in the 19th century were noted abolitionists who assisted the personnel of the Underground Railroad, like Harriet Tubman. The family moved to Kansas Territory to promote the cause of creating a free state by running a newspaper for the region.

Unfortunately, the family patriarch was murdered by Border Ruffians who wanted to silence him. Furthermore, the sons, Nathaniel and Jeb, argued and had a parting of the ways so deep about slavery that they found themselves on opposing sides of the American Civil War with Jeb fighting with the notorious Confederate guerrilla unit lead by William Quantrill and Nathaniel fighting for the North and marrying a half-Native American woman who gave him a special traditional spiritual symbol that was apparently a forerunner and inspiration for Superman's chest symbol.

After the war, Nathaniel became a sheriff in Smallville, while Jeb became the leader of a group of bandits. Eventually, Jeb discovered he had a son out of wedlock years ago, and allowed him to join his gang. Unfortunately, his son turned out to be a murderous sociopath and Jeb approached his estranged brother to arrange a trap to stop his son.

Unfortunately in springing the trap, the son mortally wounded his father before being killed himself and Jeb had just enough time to fully reconcile with Nate before dying. Nate remained in Smallville and there the Kents have stayed for generations, including Jonathan and Martha Kent, Superman's adoptive parents.

Other media

Ed Cassidy played Pa Kent in the 1948 Superman movie serial (as Ethan Kent).

Tom Fadden played Pa Kent in the pilot for the 1950s The Adventures of Superman television series (as Eben Kent).

Jonathan also appeared in the Superboy segments of the 1966 New Adventures of Superman cartoon.

Glenn Ford portrayed Jonathan in 1978's The Movie. In the movie, the character died of a heart attack on the farm as young Clark approached manhood. This version continued through the remaining Superman films, including 2006's Superman Returns.

Stuart Whitman played Jonathan on the 1980s television series Superboy.

On the 1988 Ruby-Spears produced Superman animated series, Alan Oppenheimer provided Jonathan's voice.

On the 1990s television series The New Adventures of Superman, Jonathan was played by Eddie Jones. Consistent with the post-Crisis comics' version of his story, the character was still alive and active in the grown Clark's life.

Pa Kent made occasional appearances in the animated DC universe from The Animated Series on up through Justice League. He was voiced by Mike Farrell.

On the 2000s television series Smallville, Jonathan was played by John Schneider. He died of a heart attack in the series' 100th episode, shortly after beating Lex Luthor in a race for State Senate. This heart attack was precipitated by a confrontation with Lionel Luthor, who told him that he knew of Clark's secret. He would return to Clark during a near death experience and tell him of Lionel Luthor's knowledge of his secret.

Trivia

The October 31, 1998 episode of The Animated Series, titled "New Kids in Town", was set in Smallville prior to Clark becoming Superman. At one point, Martha Kent pulls Jonathan away from Clark and Lana Lang so that they may have a private conversation. Her excuse was that The Dukes of Hazzard was on television. This is a complete coincidence that predates Dukes actor Schneider's playing the role three years later.
The early comics state that Jonathan Kent was a race car driver before Clark came. John Schneider played this role in The Dukes of Hazzard, where Bo and Luke were stock car racers during thier brief absence and replacement with Coy and Vance.

External links

A pre-Crisis biography on Ma and Pa Kent
Supermanica: Jonathan & Martha Kent Supermanica entry on the pre-Crisis Jonathan & Martha Kent