Martha Kent (SV)

**Martha Kent** (née **Clark**) is the widow of Jonathan Kent, adoptive mother of Clark Kent, as well as the U.S. Senator for the state of Kansas. She's also known as the **Red Queen**.

Martha is the daughter of William Clark. Her father, a lawyer, William mistakenly believed she was forced into a rural life by Jonathan, but she proved many times that she found her chosen path extremely fulfilling. Having a family was something she wanted very much, although she and Jonathan were unable to conceive. During a meteor shower she and Jonathan came across baby Kal-El and his ship. She took Clark's arrival as a gift or an act of fate and without hesitating, convinced Jonathan that they should raise him. She chose her maiden name for their son's first name. Together, she and Jonathan raised Clark Kent to be respectful, selfless, hard working and have a strong moral fiber.

After Jonathan's death, Martha took his position in the Kansas State Senate and focused her energy on her new job. In addition, her and Lionel Luthor's shared background and ideals formed into a close friendship. She served for over a year until the death of Senator Ed Burke. Martha took Burke's U.S. Senate position and moved to Washington, DC, to fulfill her duties.

She has currently taken the alias of the Red Queen to protect her son Clark from the government agency called Checkmate. She returned to Smallville for a short time with her new boyfriend, Perry White. As the Red Queen, she forced Maxwell Lord to get the Book of Rao's location from Tess Mercer and has forged an alliance with Clark's guardian angel, the Martian Manhunter. After going back to Washington D.C., she sent Clark a present.

## Early life

Martha grew up in Metropolis and met Jonathan Kent while they both attended a finance class at Metropolis University. She made up an excuse to talk to him, asking him for some notes, even though she was the note-taker for the class. When she asked how he knew that she would give them back, Jonathan told her that he believed in the goodness of people and Martha told herself that she hoped he married her.

When Jonathan asked William Clark for permission to marry his daughter, William stated that he wanted more for Martha than to marry a poor farmer. Jonathan impulsively and angrily hit William and the two remained estranged until Jonathan's death. After they adopted Clark, Martha and Jonathan decided together not to tell her father Clark's secret. Because of this, Martha's relationship with her parents remains strained and distant. Before she married Jonathan, she had an unspecified career in business, but when she and Jonathan got married against her father's wishes, she moved to Smallville with Jonathan. Jonathan and Martha managed the Kent Farm together growing organic produce. Jonathan and Martha tried to have children, but were faced with infertility. The day of the meteor shower in October 1989, Jonathan and Martha had gone to Nell's flower shop to buy tulips. They were returning home when the meteor shower began to rain down on Smallville and they were caught in a dangerous situation of trying to dodge being hit by pieces of the meteors when their truck flipped over and landed upside-down. Fortunately, they were unharmed. Before they crawled out of the truck, a naked little boy, who appeared to be about the age of 2 or 3 years old, approached them and squatted down to look at them. While they looked at him with shocked expressions, he smiled. They climbed out of the overturned truck and Jonathan grabbed the blue blanket they'd always carried along with them and wrapped the little boy in it. He picked the little boy up and placed him in Martha's outstretched arms. Not far away from where they had landed, they also found a small spaceship, which had apparently fallen with the meteor shower. Without hesitation, especially on Martha's part, they decided to take the boy home with them and Jonathan hid the little spaceship in the back of a nearby truck. On their way home, they came across Lionel Luthor, who asked them for their help, because his son Lex, was unconscious and laying in a cornfield, having been injured in the meteor shower. Jonathan helped by carrying young Lex to their truck and offering to give Lionel and his son a ride to the hospital before he and Martha went home. When they returned home, Jonathan hide the ship in the farm's storm cellar. When Sheriff Ethan visited the Kent Farm, he saw and inquired about the little boy knowing beforehand that the Kents had no children. Put on the spot, Martha lied and claimed that they had just adopted him. Martha and Jonathan then needed to quickly make the story true and enlisted the help of Lionel Luthor, a billionaire with infinite resources, to falsify adoption papers. Lionel drew up the papers but, in exchange, required that Jonathan go to Bill Ross, the father of Pete Ross, and convince him to sell the Ross Creamed Corn Factory to Lionel. Martha named the boy Clark, which is Martha's maiden name.

## On the Show

### Season One

Like any parent, Martha Kent was shown from the start to have high expectations for her extraordinary son. However, she also proved to be Clark's more easy-going parent and often deferred difficult decisions to Jonathan. She let him decide if Clark could join the football team or keep a new truck, an extravagant gift given to Clark by Lex Luthor. She also let Jonathan be the one to tell Clark about his true origins. When Clark joined the football team against Jonathan's wishes, Martha tried to play peacekeeper. When Clark suddenly developed X-Ray vision he first saved Martha from being run over by Tina Greer, then he and Martha helped solve a bank robbery Tina committed as well.

Clark often asked his mother for advice when dealing with his long-standing crush on Lana Lang. Initially, Martha knew that Lana was happy in her relationship with Whitney Fordman and advised Clark to proceed cautiously if he did not want his feelings hurt. However, Martha also recognized that Clark really only had two close friends, Pete Ross and Chloe Sullivan, so she often helped him cultivate a friendship with Lana.

As Clark grew closer to Lex Luthor, Jonathan was quick to judge Lex, but Martha was willing to try to see the young man in a different light than his ruthless father Lionel. She trusted Clark to decide for himself if Lex was trustworthy. Martha and Jonathan also sometimes had differing opinions on the best way to successfully run the Kent Farm. Plagued with long-standing financial difficulties, Martha sought innovative ways to raise income. She was willing to hear what Lex Luthor had to say when he proposed to invest in some area farms and modernize them to make them more profitable and invited them to discuss his prospects. She convinced Jonathan to go, but Jonathan chose to take out a bank loan instead.

Martha was the unwitting target of Harry Volk after meteor rocks made him mysteriously age backwards. Because Clark, Chloe, and Pete got too close to catching Volk, he approached Martha on the farm to kill her. She was able to outrun him but he prevented her from leaving by slashing her tires and cutting the phone line. Martha hid in a grain silo and got away by burying herself and Volk in grain. Clark and Jonathan arrived just in time to save her and capture Volk.

On their anniversary that year, Martha admitted to Jonathan that she sometimes misses living in the city, but doesn't regret moving to Smallville. Shortly after, Clark got involved with Sam Phelan who tried to blackmail him into stealing for him. He even got Jonathan arrested by planting a body in their barn. While Clark reacted with anger and frustration, Martha remained calm and level-headed until Jonathan's name was clear. Similarly, when Bob Rickman hypnotized Jonathan into selling the farm, Martha was angry but got things worked out. She was more concerned to learn that Clark was shot multiple times, but remained relatively bullet-proof. When Clark's powers were transferred to Eric Summers due to lightning, she and Jonathan tried to help him adjust. Clark was concerned that his parents would see him differently but they reassured him. Eric was dangerously violent, but Martha assured Clark that she has never been afraid of him.

Martha and Jonathan let Chloe interview them for a school biography project about Clark. They told her that they used the Metropolis United Charity to arrange the adoption. When Jonathan fell ill due to the Nicodemus flower, Lex promised Martha that he would do everything he could to find a cure. Martha accidentally hit Ryan James with her car and took him to the hospital. When the doctor disclosed that Ryan was possibly abused, she agreed that it would be best for him to stay with the Kents until a relative could be found. She was pleased to see Clark and Ryan bond and wondered if they should have adopted a sibling for Clark as well. Martha tried to mediate between Clark and Jonathan when they got into a fight about Clark's friendship with Lex.

Clark continued to seek relationship advice from Martha when he wondered if he should develop his friendship with Chloe into something more. Martha advised him to ask Chloe to the Spring Formal if he was indeed considering being more than friends with her. When tornadoes hit the town that spring, Martha and Jonathan took refuge in their storm cellar where they were shocked to see the ship had been activated. It blasted a beam of light in the cellar, which was videotaped by Roger Nixon. Martha was horrified when Jonathan left the safety of the shelter in the middle of the storm to chase after Nixon.

### Season Two

Unharmed during the disastrous tornado storm, Martha volunteered at the Talon for the storm's victims, even as she worried over Jonathan and Clark's fates. When Clark resurfaced unharmed, she told him Jonathan was missing but tried to reassure him that it was not his fault. While helping out at the disaster relief, Martha remarked to Lana that the storm reminded her of the first meteor shower.

At the same time Clark developed heat vision, he was also at odds with Lex over Desirée Atkins and Martha stood up for her son, reminding him that Clark has been a good friend to Lex. Shortly after, Clark asked if he should tell Pete Ross his secret and Martha advised that Pete might not want the burden. When Clark told Pete anyway, Martha and Jonathan welcomed Pete with their family's biggest secret.

Clark provided another parenting obstacle when he was exposed to red kryptonite for the first time and inexplicably displayed rebellious and rude behavior. Martha and Jonathan were initially at a loss until they discovered the cause of the change. On a chance visit to the Luthor Mansion, Martha encountered Lionel Luthor, struggling with his new blindness. Lionel was so taken with Martha's personality, he offered her a job as his personal assistant. Martha admitted to Jonathan that she was very interested in the job.

Martha asked her father William Clark to help the farm's longstanding financial difficulties, but instead he arrived for an unexpected visit, Martha revealed that after a tumultuous relationship, she cut ties with him after she adopted Clark, believing that their history of disagreement would not stand the burden of Clark's secret. She found the key in Lionel's vault and hides it in the house, not even telling Clark or Jonathan about it.

She later quit her job after learning that he had a file on Clark in his office and her job caused to much conflict with her and Jonathan, another reason why she also quit that job working for Lionel. She and Lionel are kidnapped by an Insurgence team.

While finding hiding places for the key, Martha came in contact with spores containing the same materials as meteor rock and it almost killed her. However, the key was found and placed back into the Ship, as its light healed Martha and cured her illness.

When Clark destroyed the ship, the energy pulse caused Jonathan and Martha's truck to roll and she subsequently miscarried the baby. She was still in the hospital when, out of guilt, Clark dosed himself with red kryptonite and ran away. She spent the summer answering his silent phone calls, pleading for him to return home.

### Season Three

When Clark called her from Metropolis but didn't say anything Martha knew it was Clark and begs him to come home.

Clark met Jordan, who possessed abilities. Martha was the first one he talked to about his destiny, Martha then assured Clark that he has to concentrate on the lives he saves. Martha and Jonathan both thought that Clark's relationship with Alicia Baker was going to end badly. Later on we find out Martha and Jonathan made a promise to let Clark go when he is ready.

When Chloe got exposed to truth gas and everybody had no choice but to tell the truth. Martha's truth was about Jonathan: she admitted she was so scared that Jonathan was so angry and depressed over his ill health and she worried he might not be the same again. Martha is upset that Jonathan made a deal and didn't tell her. Later we see Martha running outside and seeing a Kryptonian symbol burned into the fields.

### Season Four

Martha saw Clark in the Smallville Hospital while reading to a comatose Jonathan. She took Clark home and showed him places to bring back his memory. However, he was "reprogrammed" by Jor-El and returned as Kal-El, with no knowledge of Clark's life and intent on fulfilling his destiny to reunite the Stones of Power. Martha was astonished when, out in the barnyard, Kal-El simply flew away. Martha contacted Virgil Swann, who sent his associate, Bridgette Crosby, along with a fragment of black kryptonite. When Martha exposed Kal-El to the fragment, Clark was able to overpower Kal-El and return to his normal self. Simultaneously, Jonathan awoke from his coma.

When Lionel switched bodies with Clark. Martha was shocked by the way Clark dressed and by his behavior and Clark/Lionel gave Martha a hug. Martha visits Lionel/Clark in prison and tells him she already knows that Lionel is in Clark's body. Martha along with Jonathan trick Lionel as Clark to go to the Cave so Clark can go back to his body and Lionel back in his.

Martha decided to run the Talon because by her working at the Talon it kept her mind off Jonathan's health: later on Martha hired Lois Lane as a waitress to work at the Talon. After Lois got kicked out of school Martha and the other Kents decide to let Lois live with them.

Jonathan and Martha were forced to leave Smallville because of another meteor shower heading for Smallville. Before they could leave, however, they were taken hostage by Jason Teague, who threatened to kill Martha unless Jonathan told him where Clark hid the Crystal of Knowledge However, Jonathan managed to attack him by surprise, but then a meteorite hit the Kents' house, partially destroying it. After the meteor shower, a disheveled Jonathan & Lois frantically search through the rubble for Martha. They find her unconscious, & take her to the hospital. Immediately after regaining consciousness, she asks Jonathan about Clark.

### Season Five

Martha, Jonathan, & Clark are reunited at the partially destroyed Kent Farm and Clark happily informs his parents that his abilities are gone & eager to begin living a nomal human life. Martha voices her concern about Clark's newfound vulnerabilities & will help Clark adjust to life without his powers.

Martha was stricken with a Kryptonian disease that was suspected to be the work of Jor-El. She had sores and bruise-like markings over sections of her body and only green kryptonite could abate the pain. She was later saved when Clark realized that Professor Fine was responsible for the disease and with Brainiac's/Fine's destruction, the disease was irradicated from her body.

On election day, Clark tells his parents that he plans to propose to Lana & reveal his secret to her. Martha once again expresses her concern while having to accept the fact that Clark is a grown man that can make his own decisions. At Jonathan's senate victory party Martha & Jonathan happily congratulate the newly engaged couple. A few minutes later, Lionel Luthor calls Jonathan to congratulate him on his win and to arrange a meeting to talk with him in his barn. During the confrontation with Lionel Luthor, Jonathan became enraged because he believed Lionel was a threat to Clark. Jonathan punched Lionel and tossed him to the ground. The intensity of the incident was too much for Jonathan's heart, so he walked out of the barn and died of heart failure in his family's arms soon after as Clark and Martha arrived home the same night. Clark and Martha were both devastated, but helped each other through their shared grief. Martha was offered Jonathan's Senate position and Clark encouraged her to accept it.

After Jonathan's death, Martha began receiving increasingly frequent visits from Lionel Luthor, who appeared to harbor an attraction to her for years. However, Martha never gave any indication that the attraction was mutual. Shortly after taking the Senate seat, she began receiving threats of blackmail, in the form of a DVD containing a video of Clark saving Lana Lang during a powerful explosion and surviving unharmed. Lionel, who had contributed to Jonathan's Senate campaign, promised to take care of it. Clark then learned that Lionel had figured out his secret. When Clark confronted him concerning his knowledge, Lionel admitted that he cares too much for Martha to expose Clark.

Martha and Clark took in a little girl, Maddie, after her foster mother was killed.

Clark told Martha that Lionel knew his secret. She set out to confront him, but inadvertently became a pawn in a tormentor's game and ended up fighting for her life.

On his birthday, Martha, Lois and Chloe surprised Clark with a party. The next day, he told Martha that he saw Jonathan's spirit in the cemetery, telling him to kill Lionel. Later that day, Martha saw Jonathan's spirit sitting in a chair, telling her that it was Lionel that caused his death. However, it turned out that Jonathan was really a Brainiac duplicate in disguise as Jonathan. Lionel had later come to clear the air, to confess what happened on the day of Jonathan's death and found Martha in the barn embracing one of Jonathan's old jackets. He told her that he knew about Clark's secret, but that Jonathan became very angry and would not allow him to explain. She stood staring at him in silence and in sorrow as he left.

Martha and Lois were beginning their trip to Washington D.C. for a conference, but their plane ride was canceled. Lionel was able to allow them to use the LuthorCorp jet. On the plane ride, Lois was discussing Martha's possible feelings for Lionel. However, the pilot of the plane turned out to be Brainiac who turned off the passenger section's air supply while he flew them to the arctic north instead. They collapsed from oxygen deprivation as he vanished and allowed the plane to crash-land in the snow.

### Season Six

After Martha and Lois' plane crashed near the Fortress of Solitude, Martha drags an unconscious Lois Lane to the Fortress and has her first conversation with Jor-El and that's when Jor-El told Martha how to kill Zod, Jor-El also told Martha to her surprise that he was grateful to her for raising his son. He then sent her back, with Lois, to Smallville.

When Clark developed his new power, super breath, he had sneezed for the first time ever while out working in the barn, after which Martha took his temperature, but then realized that he didn't have a fever and had, in fact, never been ill while growing up. Martha then thought he must have caught something in the Phantom Zone while being without his powers.

While attending a fund raiser, the Green Arrow stole a diamond necklace off Martha's neck, which was on loan to her from Lionel Luthor. She hosted a Thanksgiving dinner at her house. Lionel had accidentally admitted his feelings for Martha and then apologized for having embarrassed her by saying so. However, Martha admitted to him that she really valued their friendship and would appreciate his companionship at her proposed gathering.

When Clark was attacked in his barn by a psychic mind and body snatching phantom who had escaped from the Phantom Zone, it invaded his mind and created an alternate reality where he tried to convince Clark that he suffered from Paranoid Schizophrenia. In that false reality, Martha is married to Lionel Luthor. When Clark escapes the sanitarium and finds Martha living at the Luthor mansion, she tells Clark that Lionel has provided for him to be able to get the best medical help and really wants to help him through his problems with believing that he has super powers. Martha tries to convince him that he is sick and needs help. She called for Luthor security guards to retrieve him and return him to the mental hospital, but begged them not to hurt him in the process.

Clark, infected with red kryptonite in his system from a lipstick Lois was wearing when she kissed him, which also included a 'love potion', crashed Lex's and Lana's engagement part along with Lois. He found Martha in attendance and insulted his mother by accusing her of wanting to be a Luthor only a year after the death of his dad. However, Martha rebuffed him by calmly telling him that he was not himself recognizing that he must've come into contact with the red Kryptonite. She later had to subdue him with green Kryptonite where he was attacking Lex in their barn after having kidnapped Lana from the party. The next day, Martha had a heart-to-heart talk with her son about him admitting to having suppressed anger and finding a way to better deal with his emotions.

After Lana had married Lex and Clark had entered a secret Fight Club involving the meteor infected and another super-powered being who had escaped from the Phantom Zone, Martha had to encourage and console Clark yet again. He had accidentally killed the 'Zoner' and she tried to help him understand that it was his 'humanity' that made him feel regret over the creature's death because of his upbringing and knowing the difference between right and wrong. She told him that he should always embrace his humanity and reassured him that if he hadn't acted as he did, maybe both he and Lois would've been killed.

Martha was asked to acquire secret military information about a soldier named Wes Keenan by Lois. When Sen. Burke's murder left his U.S. Senate seat vacant, Martha was recommended to be sworn in as his replacement. If she accepted, it would mean that she would have to move to Washington, DC. On the day of her departure, she tried to make Clark understand that just because she was leaving, he did not have to stay and manage the farm and that she always knew that his Destiny would lead him to other places: but Clark felt it was his duty and obligation to stay on the farm that had been in their family for over a hundred years. So, he and Martha embraced each other and expressed their love for each other and as she walked away from him, she looked back at him one more time as she stood in the open doorway and then departed.

### Season Seven

After moving to Washington, DC, Martha kept in contact with Lionel Luthor. She was, however, forbidden to attend his funeral when Lex ordered it to be a closed ceremony.

Martha was still living in Smallville in an alternate universe revealed by Jor-El. Jonathan was still alive and they had a son that they also called Clark. However, when Clark went to visit them at the Farm he discovered that they were on a cruise to celebrate his dad's birthday.

### Season Eight

Clark saw Martha in his dying dream sequence after being shot with an arrow through the heart by a mind-controlled Oliver Queen.

When Clark revealed his secret to the Earth, Clark received a phone call from Martha telling him that she was being made to step down as Senator. Clark was able to reverse time and prevent this from ever happening.

### Season Nine

When Clark gained the power of persuasion from gemstone kryptonite, Lois got affected by its magic and started preparing her marriage to Clark and called Martha to tell her the news. They discussed wedding dresses and Martha was happy for Lois to wear her old one. After the effects were reversed, Clark and Lois informed everyone of their cancellation. While Clark and Martha were talking on the phone, she asked him to tell Lois that she could borrow "it" again when she is ready.

During this period, Martha assumed the identity of the **Red Queen** and works to protect Clark, acting primarily against Checkmate. She consistently left behind a red queen chess piece as a calling card, in opposition to Amanda Waller's white queen.

When she came back to the Kent Farm with her new boyfriend Perry White she started to try and get closer to Clark again. When Clark, Lois, Martha and Perry were having dinner, Lois and Perry left. Her and Clark were torn. Later, she (as the Red Queen) had Lois and Perry meet her on a rooftop, but she managed to escape. When Clark (as The Blur) came and ripped the door off, she used Kryptonite on him to get him away. She also hijacked the Watchtower and made sure no one (not even Chloe) could get to the files on Clark.

As part of her attempts to counter Checkmate, she has Martian Manhunter destroy the Kandorian's DNA. She then meets with Maxwell Lord, to have him get into Tess Mercer's head to find information on the Book of Rao. She then follows Tess Mercer to the Luthor Mansion. She takes the Book from Tess and warns her to be careful which side she chooses in the coming apocalypse.

Before heading back to the U.S Senate, Martha was confronted by Clark about being the Red Queen. She then gives the Book of Rao to Clark and explained the significance of it and the Kryptonians.

Martha leaves behind a gift for Clark should he chose to stay on Earth. The package contains a new costume with The House of El family crest emblem. Clark also discovers that after Lionel's death, Martha inherited his Kryptonian library.

### Season Ten

In response to the destruction of Zod's solar tower and the public revelation that Oliver Queen is Green Arrow, the United States Senate introduced a bill that would require all heroes, referred to as vigilantes, to register with the United States government. General Sam Lane, who is the lead military adviser on the legislation, spoke of Martha as his main opposition in the Senate. The bill ultimately passed.

When General Lane had Clark's background investigated by the Pentagon, the Pentagon was unable to find anything suspicious about him, leading the general to suggest that Martha helped keep Clark's government record clean.

Martha went to speak at the rally in Metropolis, only to end up being shot by Alexander. Martha was later visited by Clark and Chloe. Martha went to confront Lionel and Alexander. However, Alexander overheard the conversation that Lionel still sacrificed Lex for Clark in his universe and knocked Martha out then preceded to set the mansion on fire. Clark managed to save Martha from the burning Luthor Mansion.

Martha was one of the spectators at the Kent Farm to watch the VRA being repealed. Clark later talks to Martha about he wonders how he can stand up to the values that his parents taught him if he is hiding behind a disguise, but Martha assures him that his father would be proud of him.

Clark sent Conner to Washington D.C. to visit Martha, while she sent Clark and Lois an early wedding present: the deed to the Kent Farm.

Months later, Martha returned to the Farm to attend Clark and Lois' wedding. As she stood in the empty living room, Clark arrived home. She became upset with Clark, stating that she never intended for Clark to sell the farm when she sent him the deed. Martha tells Clark that she never let go of the farm or Jonathan. She also told Clark that you should never have to let go of the past to move on but Clark says they should and then leaves.

At the ceremony, Martha was walked down the aisle by Jeff Hage and took her seat at the front, unknowing that Jonathan's spirit was right there next to her.

When Apokolips began to near the Earth, Martha went back to the farm with Clark, Lois, Chloe and Oliver to try and figure out what was happening. When Clark went out to the barn, Martha followed him. She explained to him that Clark was her and Jonathan's miracle and now the world needed that miracle too. She than embraced Clark, unknowing that Jonathan was also there with them. As Clark sped off to the save the planet, Martha watched him go through the loft window, with Jonathan standing by her side and gazed upon Apokolips getting closer and closer to Earth.

## Alternate Realities

### Season Seven

In an alternate universe where Clark never arrived on Earth, Martha and a very much alive Jonathan, still lived on the farm. They had an adopted son, who they have also called "Clark Kent."

### Season Ten (Earth-2)

Not much is known about this Martha except she separated from Jonathan after he became obsessed with the Meteor Shower and revenge on the Queens and the Luthors. Jonathan was later shown ringing the buzzer to Martha's apartment.

## Relationships

* Martha and Jonathan
* Clark and Martha
* Lionel and Martha
* Lois and Martha
* Lionel, Martha and Jonathan