Superman is in the best place he’s been in years. 2025’s Superman did a fantastic job of bringing him back into the cultural eye and DC Comics was ready for all of the attention, publishing amazing Superman comics and making him integral to DC All-In. Since 2021’s blockbuster “Warworld Saga”, Superman and Action Comics have been two of the best superhero books on the shelves, something that has continued into the present day. The Superman corner of DC has been a major project for the publisher over the last decade; the Man of Steel had been greatly damaged by the New 52, so DC did something that no one ever expected them to do to fix the problem – give Superman and Lois Lane a son, Jon Kent. Jon was introduced in the Convergence crossover, in a story that just seemed like a love letter to post-Crisis Superman and not the blueprint for the future, but he would eventually become the center of a new Kent family push.
Fans loved the idea of Lois and Clark with a child, and that led DC to making them the main line Kent family in 2016’s successful DC Rebirth reboot. Jon became one of the most beloved parts of this new status quo, something that was compounded by the book SuperSons, putting Jon and Damian Wayne together to fight evil. Young Jon was a favorite of mid ’10s DC fans, with readers expecting many years of stories with the preteen Kryptonian/human hybrid. However, Brian Michael Bendis coming to DC to write Superman would change all of that. Jon was made into a teenager in the early phase of the run, and nothing has been the same. Fans have been outraged ever since, but I think it’s time to admit something that no one wants to – DC was right to age up Jon Kent.
Superman had long been the father of the DC superhero community, so giving him a son was the perfect idea. Jon Kent was everything you’d expect the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane to be – a kind-hearted kid who was smart and curious enough to get himself into trouble. It was awesome getting to see the Kent family take down the Eradicator in Superman (Vol. 4) #1-5 as a unit and we got more great adventures with the Kents teaching their son the ropes of being a responsible superpowered individual. Teaming him with Damian in SuperSons was the perfect next step, letting readers see him not only use the lessons he had learned from his parents but also learn new stuff from Damian.
There was a time in 2017 and 2018 when SuperSons was one of the most beloved books on the stands and fans were looking forward to a long run of these two characters working together. Fans loved the stories with Jon and Clark working together, loved seeing him and Damian get into insane hijinks, and loved the way he interacted with the rest of the DC Universe. They wanted more of that, which is why aging him up caused such an uproar. The publisher was basically 10 out of 10 with the young hero and completely changing the direction wasn’t something that a lot of fans wanted.
At first, it made sense; Jon was played as an edgy teen character, held prisoner for years by Ultraman on Earth-3, and was nothing like the young hero readers had fallen in love. Those early months of Jon’s return were honestly pretty rough; I didn’t hate aging him up, but I wasn’t happy with what they were doing in lieu of SuperSons. However, Bendis did a good job of building the character up as his run went on, showing him get over the traumas of his recent past. He wasn’t exactly the character he had been, but he was developing. This would lead to his biggest promotion yet, when he became Superman after Kal-El left the Earth in “Warworld Saga”.
Jon only spent about a year as Superman without his father around, coming out as bisexual, and helming his own solo series. While it wasn’t the most amazing time in the character’s existence, it proved to be exactly the step he needed. Jon showed that he was ready to be Superman on his own if he had to be, that everything he had learned from his parents in the first ten years of his life had paid off. One of the best examples of this is the underrated Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, where Jon did his best to step into his father’s boots and help save the multiverse. He ended up playing a crucial role in the event, showing that the next generation was ready for the ball.
Since then, Jon has taken something of a backseat. He’s most recently been made into the star of the Dan Slott-written Superman Unlimited, helming the book as Tomorrow Man during “Reign of the Superboys”, which saw what appeared to be a young him showing up, a story that excited fans who wanted young Jon back. Of course, there was more to it than met the eye and it was yet another example of why Jon is so awesome. Slott does a fantastic job with the character, introducing him into the book as a reporter for The Daily Planet in Smallville. Slott was able to make him into the perfect mixture of Lois and Clark – a smart, respectful, yet tenacious reporter who doesn’t stop until he gets the story and is willing to bend the rules. It’s everything that we could have wanted the character to be when we were picturing how he would turn out.
Losing SuperSons Jon was a blow, there’s no doubt about it. The book was awesome and it was taking Jon and Damian in some cool directions. However, if you were ever a fan of Jon, you should be happy with the character regardless of whether he was aged up or not. He’s developed into an amazing hero, one who has truly earned the Superman name. The Superman family has hit a new level and honestly, this aged up Jon makes it better than it would have been if he was younger. He’s become a key part of the DC superhero community, all because DC made an unpopular decision with him.
The 2010s were an amazing time for young characters. Marvel introduced us to Kamala Khan, Miles Morales, and Sam Alexander, while DC gave us Jon Kent. Jon was the perfect next step for Superman as a character, showing him as an actual parent for the first time. It led to new stories for the Man of Steel, as well as a whole new young character to mold. Like everyone else back in the day, I loved SuperSons, so its surprise cancellation was a blow. Within a year, Jon was completely different, sparking a fire storm in the DC fandom (not to be confused with a Firestorm).
Since then, complaints about Jon Kent has been something that Superman fans just have to live with. Most of the time, it’s honestly bad actors mad that he came out as bisexual and are easy to ignore. However, that doesn’t mean that there is no reason to be mad about him being aged up; it’s just time to let it go. SuperSons Jon Kent was great, but current Superman Jon Kent is way better. Young Jon would have been fun, but all we would have gotten were stereotypical young hero stories for what could have been decades (look at Franklin Richards; he was a toddler since before I was born and I’m no spring chicken). Aging him up allowed the character to be taken in new directions, with those directions changing the overall narrative of the DC Multiverse. Young Jon was great, but older Jon is where it’s at.
