Jon Kent

[Source]

"*I always felt it was Jon Kent wearing the cape... but let's face it... Jon Kent is Superman, and right now... Superman needs help.*"
―Jon Kent[src]
**Jon Kent** (also known as **Superboy** as well as **Superman**), was a super-powered Kryptonian-Human hybrid vigilante and farmer who served the Young Justice as well as a founding member of the Justice League.

## Biography

### Early life

Jon Kent was born on June 19, 1981 in New York to the popular Human reporter, Lois Lane, and the Kryptonian superhero, Clark Kent, better known as Superman. His parents broke up by the time he was four, and Jon grew up oblivious of his parents' past, while living a relatively normal life in split time between his mother and father. However, with his father acting as a secret super-hero and his mother's attitude around his father, he was always suspicious of their sometimes awkward behavior. This suspicion came to a head in c. 1988 when he and his mother were kidnapped by Intergang which led to the discovery that Jon had inherited superpowers from his Kryptonian father. After later being rescued by his father, Jon was told the truth about his origins.

Jon later discovered he had other superpowers, including heat vision when he accidentally killed his cat. He also once cracked the kitchen table in half and occasionally put holes in the walls during tantrums. Clark would give Jon a hat and glasses to help form Jon's secret identity. He would later travel with his father to the Justice Society Headquarters and Superman introduced Jon to Batman and Wonder Woman as Superboy, making him a part of the Justice Society. Clark would soon re-introduce his cousin Kara to Jon. The young Superboy bombarded his second cousin with questions about Krypton. After going to the State Fair in Hamilton with his family, Superman brought Jon to the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic in order to help him finish his science project for school. Jon had decided on making a flying saucer. However, due to an unforeseen malfunction by the device, Jon, his father and Krypto were transported to Dinosaur Island. There, they encountered the only survivor of the Losers, Captain William Storm. Storm agreed to help them find the device that brought them to the island. However, during a battle with the mutated denizens of the area, the device activated and Storm stayed behind to prevent the beasts from following Superman and his son to the outside world.

### Moving to Smallville

By 1994, his parents had now married and planned to move to his father's old home in Smallville, Pennsylvania. A year later, Jon's father became paralyzed after a battle royal in New York City with the monster, Doomsday, while his mother held him in her arms at the foot of the Daily Planet building in its aftermath. Jon himself was injured as well, suffering severe head trauma that led to strong amnesia and had no memories of his extraterrestrial origins nor his father's superhero past. With the world now believing Superman to be dead, Jon left with his parents to Smallville to live a "quiet life" on the farm. Because of his serious head injuries, he struggled to re-learn things for some time and was forced to be held back a year in school. Jon formed a friendship with his schoolmate, Jakeem Williams. He also was friends with Greg Arkin, Simon Valentine and Abigail Fine. Jon met his cousin Chloe Tompkins in ninth grade and the two grew inseparably close. They later worked on the high school newspaper, the *Smallville Torch* together. Jon's duties were minimal, such as writing the lunch menu and other small articles, but his parents were nevertheless proud of him for following in their footsteps.

Though he still remained unaware as to why, Jon was considerably stronger than other children his age. Indeed, in an attempt to protect Williams from a bully, he once threw the other classmate through a door. Lois and Clark decided not to tell their son the truth about his origins, and instead, taught Jon that his abilities were "gifts", but also that he should never tell anyone else about them. When Jon had to read an essay at school in front of the entire class, parents and teachers, he was very scared but Clark convinced him to believe in himself and in what he had written, and gave three key phrases to get it right : "Find your center, stand your ground and speak your piece." By the time he was fifteen, he knew began to question his strange powers. His parents told him that he was born this way, but still refrained from telling him of his alien origins.

After graduating from high school, Jon remained at home to run the farm with the help of family friend Lana Lang during his parents frequent travels for his mother's book tours. In Autumn of 2001, Jon was accidentally hit by Lex Luthor Jr.'s car, causing them to fall into a river. He was unharmed and swam to the bottom of the river to save Lex Jr. from drowning. Although Jon told Lex Jr. that the car did not hit him, rather he saw his car fall and jumped in to save him, Lex Jr. always had his suspicions. Lex Jr. tried to reward Jon with a new truck, but Clark refused it for him. Jon would go on to meet many metahumans throughout the rest of the year: those who used their abilities to keep themselves alive and achieve their vengeful goals, such as Sean Kelvin and Tina Greer, and those that would seem to be cursed with their gifts and use them to help others, such as the blind, precognitive Cassandra Carver, the persuasive hermit Kyle Tippet, and the young telepath Ryan James.

### Marking his own territory

Controversially, Jon sometimes considered the possibility of a romantic relationship with his cousin Chloe, but felt it was wrong and didn't want to lose her as a friend. When Chloe was kidnapped, Jon saved her, and faced with the possibility that he could have lost her forever, he decided to go with her to Chloe's college dance. They almost kissed, but the news of tornadoes in the area interrupted their evening together and he left her to rescue civilians. Jon was among the hundreds of volunteers who helped restore Smallville after the devastating tornadoes. He urgently searched for his missing father while at the same time trying to sort out his feelings for Chloe. Trying to mask her hurt from being left at the dance, Chloe convinced Jon that she had decided that they should just forget about what had almost happened at the college campus and he believed her. Jon tempararily struggled to control his heat vision, triggered by hormones connected to his sex drive. He was briefly jailed as a suspected arsonist after Desirée Atkins claimed he had set fire to her car. He started a fire in the holding cell and when Sheriff Ethan opened the cell door, he escaped, only to later receive a lecture from the sheriff and cleared of all charges once Desirée was arrested for the attempted murder of her husband, Lex Jr.

Defying his parents, Jon revealed his powers to Jakeem. At first, Williams was angry with Kent for not trusting him and stopped speaking to him. However, Williams was kidnapped by Dr. Silas Stone, who threatened to kill him unless he revealed Kent's secret. Jon came to Jakeem's rescue and the two worked together to escape Dr. Stone. Understanding the responsibility and danger of knowing Jon's secret, Jakeem forgave his friend for keeping it from him. Jon soon discovered the Kawatche Caves, where he met Kyla Willowbrook, a college student doing research in them. Jon and Kyla had an instant connection and grew very close. For the first time in his adult life, he felt like everything fit and like they were destined to be together. The caves contained a series of elaborate drawings and symbols, along with a depression in the wall shaped exactly like his key and, according to Kyla, depicted the legend of Naman, which Jon believed contained clues to his origins. After Kyla's death, Jon convinced Lex Jr. to preserve the caves. Lex Jr. hired Dr. Frederick Walden to do research on the caves and their strange markings, while giving Jon unlimited access to the caves.

Jon later bought a ring that had red meteor rock in it, discovering the drug-like effects it had on him. He became rebellious and somewhat dangerous. Soon, Jakeem and Chloe got infected with a parasite from the cave, which caused wild and impulsive behavior and Jon joined in on the fun. They all eventually returned to normal. Jon began to have dreams of putting the key in the hole in the cave wall and decided to do it, against his parents' wishes. When he did, he learned how to read the alien language and translated it for his parents. Beyond his control, Jon burned the symbol for "hope" into the side of the barn with his heat vision. After his father saw the symbol, Jon confronted his parents, demanding answers. Clark finally decided to tell his son the whole truth. He learned from his father of their shared alien origins, that his home planet was called Krypton, and their past as Superman and Superboy. His father also revealed how he became paralyzed, why he hated the Luthor family, Jon's amnesia, and explained why he didn't tell him the truth sooner.

Confused and feeling immense sorrow over being lied to for so many years, Kent stole a red kryptonite class ring from Chloe's desk, stole a motorcycle, and ran away to New York City under the influence of red kryptonite. Three months later, still under the influence of red kryptonite and living in New York City, Jon went under the alias of "Conner." He used his powers to steal money often after stopping other criminals from stealing it first. One such encounter was with the villain Sidearm when he was attempting to steal money from an ATM. "Superman" loved the limelight and attention from beautiful women, but was blinded by naiveté. His reckless heroics led to the death of a Daily Planet helicopter pilot. This eventually led to him getting involved with the unscrupulous crime lord, Morgan Edge, who hired him to break into LexCorp. While informally agreeing to Edge's proposal, the young Superboy went back on his word, seduced into an exclusive contract with Rex Leech, effectively persuaded upon meeting his teenage daughter Roxy. He also became enamoured with reporter Tana Moon, who he granted an exclusive off screen interview for WGBS, a station ironically under the direction of Edge. The crime lord arranged for Superboy to go into Suicide Slum where he would face off against Edge's hired assassin known as Stinger to attack his Superman on live television. Kent not only defeated Stinger but also managed to apprehend a gangster named Steel Hand, and encountered Nightwing who gave the cocky kid some friendly advice. He returned to his apartment in the city, where Tana visited him, informing him that she quit her job and was leaving town for good. After the visit, Kent decided to pack up his things, officially leaving New York City behind.

However, shortly after his homecoming, Edge tracked him down and demanded that he return Lex Luthor's package, which contained a vial of Superboy's blood. Edge learned of Jon's weakness to kryptonite and nearly sold him to Lex, but Jon escaped. Soon after, Chloe offered Jon a job at the *Smallville Ledger*, which he accepted. After a running battle with Sidearm near the farm, Superboy learned that Tana Moon had moved to Smallville and had also begun working at the *Smallville Ledger*. Jon wanted her to stay and then told her the truth about himself. Because he was helping Tana with her's, Jon forgot to write an article for the *Ledger* and he and Chloe got into a fight about it. He subsequently quit the newspaper. Tana decided to throw him a birthday party and made him a birthday cake. During the party they shared their first kiss. However, knowing how close Chloe was to Jon, the next day, it was Tana who put a hold on their relationship, because she was concerned that it would ruin all three of their relationships. Jon convinced her that it was worth the risk and Tana was persuaded, but only if Jon promised to tell Chloe. Jon was unable to before Chloe figured it out herself and she confronted him and broke off their friendship completely. As a result, he and Tana decided it best to remain only friends. He later learned of Chloe's deal with Lex Sr. and they did not speak to each other for a time. They came to a tentative agreement that Chloe might not understand everything about him, but he would tell her when he was ready. When Jon and Tana were hypnotized into trying to kill Chloe, Jon felt guilty, so he forgave Chloe for making a bad decision in a moment of weakness and their friendship was repaired.

In an attempt to save Lex Jr's life, Jon revealed his powers to him by taking the hit of a car. Lex Jr. was sentenced to Belle Reve and Jon began to question the consequences that could lead from Lex Jr. knowing his secret. However, Lex Sr. had Lex Jr's mind erased of the past seven weeks, and Jon's secret remained safe. Kent later ran into Roxy Leech who had finally tracked him down. Jon soon discovered that Roxy was a metahuman with the power to teleport anywhere she wanted while in a crashing elevator. Their shared secrets brought them together and they began dating. However, Roxy became completely obsessed with Superboy, inserting herself into every aspect of his life. She attempted to kill Tana so she could have Jon all to herself, but he saved Tana just in time.

Jon was stabbed in the stomach by Jeremiah Holdsclaw with the Starblade, an ancient Kawatche artifact made of a mysterious metal. He almost bled to death, but his father helped heal him and Jon survived. Under the guise of concern for his son, Lex Sr. asked Jon to intervene when Lex Jr. began using an experimental treatment at the Summerholt Institute to recover lost memories, which involved submersion into a tank filled with a liquid kryptonite solution. When Jon went to rescue Lex Sr., he was weakened by the solution, allowing Dr. Lawrence Garner to overpower him and place him inside the tank. Jon went into seizures and almost died, but Lex Jr. arrived just in time to save him.

Thanks to his injuries, Clark's heart began to have problems. When Dr. Scanlan recommended surgery to repair the arterial blockage in his heart, Clark was reluctant until Jon told him how important he was to him. He helped take care of his father after he and his mother returned home to the farm while Clark recovered. Jon also met Cassie, a beautiful girl who claimed to be of the same race and the daughter of Zeus. Cassie enticed him to fulfill his destiny and recreate their people with her. Meanwhile, after Lex Sr. tried to extract information about Jon from Clark, Jon accused his father of betraying him. In the midst of their arguement, Clark collapsed to the ground and fell unconscious in Jon's arms. After bringing his Clark to the hospital, Jon began to blame himself for the condition of his father. Sadly, Clark soon fell into a coma and died. A large funeral was prepared for his father with many Justice Society members in attendance such as Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince as well as others like Pete Ross. Jon confessed to both his mother and Tana that he felt responsible because of their disagreement, but they both reassured him that it was not his fault.

Tana announced that she was moving to Paris on a job shortly after the funeral and broke up with Jon. Still curious as to what his father's meeting with Lex Sr. was about, Jon decided to speak with him in his jail cell where he was being held. The businessman told Jon about Lex Jr.'s secret room, which contained the evidence of Lex Jr. investigating his secrets. Jon declared that since Lex Jr. had not stopped researching him, their friendship was over. However, he kept his promise to testify against Lex Sr. Reeling from all the recent goodbyes and revelations, Jon decided to go with Cassie. As Jon prepared to go into a portal in the cave wall with Cassie, Lana arrived and tried to stop him from leaving, claiming that Cassie was just trying to lure him in. Jon began to doubt the true intentions of the Greek god and defiantly resisted to go into the portal. Zeus then burned the sign of his ancestors on Jon's chest as a warning of any future disobedience and hit Lana with a bolt of lightning, threatening to kill her if Jon refused him. Despite Lana's pleas, Jon entered the light and disappeared.

### Training with Zeus and return to Smallville

"*My faith in human kindness is not what it used to be.*"
―Jon Kent[src]
After three months of training and "reeducation" with Zeus, Jon reappeared just outside Smallville in a cornfield with little recollection of his life. He was found by Donna Troy, who took him to the hospital in a city near. Troy started to explain who she was and why she was in Smallville, but Jon was apathetic and kept trying to leave. After wandering off and exiting the hospital, his scar from Zeus started to burn. Doubled over in pain, Jon ducked into a phone booth and unbuttoned his shirt. Momentarily, he decided to call his mother but Lana Lang answered the phone instead. Jon didn't say anything, but Lana knew it was Jon, and plead with him to come back to the farm. His scar started to burn again as he heard Zeus's voice in his head, and Jon collapsed into unconsciousness. He awakened on a bed back inside a hospital room with Lana and Donna. Lang took him back to the Kent Farm, hoping that he would return to normal. Jon insisted that it was his destiny to collect the Stones of Power in order to stop the coming apocalyptic danger, and was summoned by Zeus to attain the first one: the Crystal of Fire, which was recovered by Lex in Egypt. He flew away, took the stone from Lex, and put it in an altar in the Kawatche Caves. Lana contacted Lois, who had been looking for her son, to let her know that Jon had returned but was not himself. Lois, Lana and Donna resolved to work together to free Jon from Zeus' control. Lois gave Lana a piece of black kryptonite and used it to separate Jon from Zeus' influence. Back to normal, Jon began to investigate Chloe's murder with Donna's help. They discovered that Chloe was indeed alive and saved her from a metahuman assassin.

Jon befriended Thaddeus Thawne, a boy that also had super-speed and used it to pickpocket and steal. Jon learned that Lex had a manuscript with a hidden map to another Stone of Power. Thawne stole the map to sell it, putting both of their lives in danger. However, Jon's influence made Thawne decide to give it back and left Smallville, promising to try to live a more moral life. Roxy Leech returned to Smallville and she and Jon rekindled their relationship. However, in an effort to convince him to run away with her, she gave Jon a red kryptonite necklace and the two ran away to Las Vegas to get married. On their wedding night, Roxy released Jon from the effects of the red kryptonite. His reasonable thinking restored, Jon was very angry at her for "drugging" him and broke up with her. Roxy apologized profusely and was even shot trying to protect him and later got back together. After Roxy stole the Whiz Wagon from Cadmus Labs to participate in a death-defying race for a huge prize, she killed by another metahuman and Cadmus worker. Consumed with rage, Superboy almost killed her murderer until Donna Troy was able to reach out to him and halt the assault. Unbeknownst to him, Roxy exposed Jon's powers to Chloe.

Later, Jon and Chloe visited Lex in the hospital after he and Dr. Otis Ford were injured conducting an experiment on kryptonite. Lex told Jon that he'd take them to the lab and show him what he was doing. At the LexCorp lab, Lex showed Jon and Chloe around and explained that he had been conducting experiments with plants, trying to get them to grow in the most harsh environments. Lex then opened a locker containing kryptonite samples and Jon excused himself, blaming the apple for his nausea attack. Lex, however, took notice of Jon's reaction to the kryptonite. Moments later, a large block of concrete from the damaged lab dropped on top of Jon and Chloe. Jon protected Chloe from the falling debris and brought her to the house, while Lex secretly watched. That evening, Jon went to the Luthor Mansion after receiving an urgent message from his friend. Lex showed him a samurai sword and how it was forged on Mount Fuji and used by the Katai warriors and could cut through anything. He told of a legend that the strongest of the Katai warriors turned upon the others, who all fell at his hand; finally, with nothing to lose, the last of the Katai used the legendary sword and cleaved him in two, discovering that he wasn't even human. Lex suddenly swong the sword at Jon, who instinctively blocked it with his forearm. The blade shattered, leaving Jon speechless as Lex accused him of not trusting him. Jon tried to explain but Lex angrily declared that he would dedicate his life to exposing Jon's secret.

A few days later, Jon, who had just gotten of the phone with Chloe explaining that he believed Lex was having another psychotic break, encountered Lex at the farm. The former friend attempted to coerce Jon into joining forces so that they could find the Stones of Power together. Jon declined and gripped his throat, but Lex put on his father's kryptonite ring and told Jon that he knew his weakness. Luthor also revealed to have been holding his brother, Alexei, who had recently went missing, in the wine cellar of the Luthor mansion. Lana Lang and Donald White soon arrived and Lex shot White in the leg as he departed. The next day, the coming of a meteor shower was announced and Jon once again came under the influence of Zeus who told him that he must reunite the Stones of Power immediately. Immediately after, Jon went to Lex to force him to give up his manuscript and also released Alexei from the wine cellar. Through his words and actions, Lex realized that Jon was acting differently. After refusing to give up the manuscript, Jon started to choke the life out of him until Lex managed to subdue him with his father's kryptonite ring once again and Jon fled. As the meteors began to bombard Smallville and other parts of the country, Jon managed to find the other two Stones of Power and reunited them to form the Crystal of Knowledge. After grabbing the crystal, he was teleported near the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic Circle.

## Personality and traits

"*There's a shadow inside all of us. But that doesn't mean you need to embrace it. You decide who you really are.*"
―Jon Kent[src]

## Relationships

### Family

#### Clark Kent

"*You won't find the answers by looking to the stars. It's a journey you'll have to take by looking inside yourself. You must write your own destiny...*"
―Clark Kent's advice to his son[src]

#### Chloe Tompkins

"*I'd die before I'd betray you.*"
―Chloe Tompkins to Jon Kent[src]

### Romances

"*Never fails... every time I start talking to a girl.*"
―Jon Kent[src]

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

**Solar Energy Absorption**: Because of his hybrid human/Kryptonian genetic structure under the effects of a sun, Jon Kent possessed the same potential powers as an average Kryptonian. However, according to Batman's research, Jon's abilities had the potential to exceed that of his father's due to his Human/Kryptonian hybrid cells.

**Superhuman Strength**: Superboy possessed a truly extraordinary strength level. It was perhaps impossible of being precisely measured but it certainly was well within the range of being able to press or lift millions of tons.
**Invulnerability**: Superboy's body was virtually invulnerable to all forms of mundane and ordinary harm. Because he was half Kryptonian, in the beginning, his invulnerability was inconsistent, as he got a scraped knee and a concussion. Much like his speed and strength, Jon's durability capacity increased gradually as he got older.
**Healing Factor**: In the extreme event that Superboy was harmed, he had been shown to have the ability to heal almost instantaneously from any wound, assuming that the process was not impeded from some outside factor i.e. Kryptonite. Direct sunlight greatly amplified the capacity of this ability.
**Superhuman Longevity**: Superboy like all other Kryptonians, weren't immortal, they just aged at a far slower pace.
**Superhuman Stamina**: He had the ability to maintain continuous physical activity for an undefined period. Although not unlimited, Superboy's stamina was indeed considerable. His resilience in the face of perils that could potentially annihilate planets, galaxies, universes, and even him was tremendous.
**Flight**: Jon's ability to defy Earth's gravity took time to develop.
**Superhuman Speed**: Jon could move and or react at superhuman speeds that far exceeded the speed of the sound barrier both on land and underwater. He first demonstrated the ability to run faster than adults as a child, first displaying signs of enhanced speed as a toddler. As a growing adolescent, Jon could run or move extremely fast, and would often be seen using this ability to rescue people in very tight situations, surprising even his father who did not expect him to have that ability at such a young age. At first, Jon could travel around to places in minutes, and as such, his movements could be perceived by his family and friends but not by those who were ignorant to his abilities. Later on, as he harnessed this ability and through years of practice, Superboy became too fast for anyone to follow and or detect.
**Superhuman Hearing**: Superboy could detect indirect whispers, frequencies, pitches, and other volumes of sound from vast distances. As an adult, Jon could multitask and use super-hearing and super-speed and hear conversations while moving.
**Super Vision**: Superboy had the ability to see things too small for the human eye to normally see.
* **X-Ray Vision**: Jon possessed the ability to see through solid objects.

* **Telescopic Vision**: Superboy was able to see objects from great distances.

* **Microscopic Vision**: The ability to see extremely small objects and images down to the sub atomic level.

**Heat Vision**: Jon could emit extreme pulses of heat and fire beams from his eyes. His heat vision was powerful enough to singe even his father's skin and cause considerable collateral damage to his surroundings. He was shown to have some degree of fine-control as he was able to use it to heat-weld a cape to his jacket. Over time and training, he learned to develop and control his sexual urges and therefore his heat vision. He was able to fully master this ability.
**Super Breath**: Superman could create hurricane force winds by blowing, and also exhale supercooled gas to freeze a target. He could also breathe in large amounts of air to dispel clouds of gas by exhaling it.
### Abilities

* **Master Combatant**: He had been trained in Kryptonian combat set forth by Jor-El and both Wildcat and Batman in advanced martial arts techniques.

* **Leadership**: Superman proved many times over his ability to command respect and inspire others with his charisma, ardor, and idealism. He often served as the primus inter pares of the Justice Society.

* **Multilingualism**: He spoke several languages, such as English, Kryptonian, Hindi, French, Japanese and was able to understand Russian, Greek and Norse.

### Weaknesses

* **Magic**:

* **Kryptonite**: Since the destruction of Krypton, its remains (rendered radioactive by the explosion) have been spreading throughout the universe as Kryptonite, a crystalline substance whose specific radiation was lethal to Kryptonians. The most common form of Kryptonite was Green Kryptonite, and its effect were directly poisonous.

* **Lead**: Superman could not see through lead with his vision powers.

## Appearances

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