Do you want Jon to bea de-aged

[Artemisfanboy]

This is my first time posting outside the wonder woman boards. I'm generally more of a lurker but I felt I had to get some of my thoughts on this of my chest. I also didn't see a poll asking this, so, Do you want Jon to be de-aged from his current seventeen form, and if so how do you think it should be done?

I'm 100% for de-aging him. I like the dynamic he had with Damian in Supersons, I can't see anyway to salvage or maintain it with Jon being significatly older than Damian. 13 and 17 is just too much of difference. There's also serious future long term storytelling issues with Jon being permanently aged up.

Honestly, how can Lois and Clark possibly, realistically and logically explain the permanment disappearance of their ten year old child to their friends , co-workers, and quite possibly, Child Protective Services? Are they going to claim he died? How are future writers suppose to handle the fact the everyone not part of the Superhero comunity thinks that Lois and Clark lost their ten year old son? If Lois reveals that Superman fathered Jon, how are they suppose to handle the fact that their friends will think Lois cheated on Clark and how will they the fact to public Superman had an affair with a married woman? If they reveal the whole deal with Clark's secret ID, you know they're going to have to put that genie back into the bottle eventually, which takes us back to square one. Are they going to erase people's knowledge that Jon existed as Clark's ten year old son with his secret Id? This whole thing reeks of snowballing into a massive continuity tumor. I feel like I'm putting a lot more thought into this than anybody at DC actually has. Ten year olds don't just disappear and when they do it's a big deal. The only way I can see to avoid that is to get Jon de-aged asap, preferably before Lois and Clark start having to lie or come clean on their secrets to a lot of people.

[Kon93]

Yes yes yes.keep the older one,but being back the boy lol.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Yes, this was a stupid idea, that’s literally never worked with other characters (Bart, Chris) done at a stupid time (right when teen Conner comes back) and the execution of this stupid idea has been stupid (Lois and Clark abandon their only child in space with an unhinged murderer.) This needs to be reversed.

[MeGrimlock420]

10 was fine with me, still had some story with him at 10 yrs old. I wanted to him in the Robin suit. If they were going age him up, it should have age 13, same as Damian. Easier to explain.

[Yoda]

I’m undecided.

The idea of an older Jon is kinda growing on me the more I think about it. I kind of like the idea of a spin-off Jon Kent “Lost in Space” book that fills in his missing 7 years. I think it is a good concept for a book and could really explore the Superman mythos through Jon.

That said, Bendis’ execution of everything has been half assed at best. His ideas could have worked but the execution has been terrible.

There is a way they can address Jon’s being Superman’s son with Lois without making them cheaters or making the Lois & Clark Kent marriage a sham. Lois and Clark split up in the pre-crisis triangle era before they were married. Lois broke off the engagement and left the country for a while. When she returned they reconciled and were married almost immediately afterward. She could have conceived Jon during that break and not realized it until after. Clark and Lois decide they will raise him, Superman wanting him to have as normal of a childhood as he did agrees. Clark’s his stepfather essentially. Everyone looks good. It even explains Superman’s continued closeness with Lois Lane and why he always looks out for her. She’s the mother of his child.

I hope that’s the direction they go outside of some other shenanigans that turn Lois and Superman into cheaters and Clark into a sad sack again.

Additionally, why bother setting up a new status quo for the marriage now if you’re just going to blow it up in 6 months for a status that would require no shift whatsoever. You don’t need a new normal to make this story work if the endgame is separating them publicly.

[Jackalope89]

If he had been about 12-13 when he came back, and about the same age as Damian, I would have been more okay with it. Not happy, exactly, but it would have been more tolerable.

Slapping 7 years onto him, bringing back Connor at nearly the same age, making both Lois and Clark look like stupid, awful parents (don't get me started on this "new" status quo with them), and effectively killing Super Sons, killed my interest in anything Superman (comics) going forward. Aside from Adventures of Super Sons, but that takes place before this crap.

Right now my only hope is Young Justice animated series, and basically praying Weisman ignores what Bendis did with Jon.

[MeGrimlock420]

I’m undecided.

The idea of an older Jon is kinda growing on me the more I think about it. I kind of like the idea of a spin-off Jon Kent “Lost in Space” book that fills in his missing 7 years. I think it is a good concept for a book and could really explore the Superman mythos through Jon.

That said, Bendis’ execution of everything has been half assed at best. His ideas could have worked but the execution has been terrible.

There is a way they can address Jon’s being Superman’s son with Lois without making them cheaters or making the Lois & Clark Kent marriage a sham. Lois and Clark split up in the pre-crisis triangle era before they were married. Lois broke off the engagement and left the country for a while. When she returned they reconciled and were married almost immediately afterward. She could have conceived Jon during that break and not realized it until after. Clark and Lois decide they will raise him, Superman wanting him to have as normal of a childhood as he did agrees. Clark’s his stepfather essentially. Everyone looks good. It even explains Superman’s continued closeness with Lois Lane and why he always looks out for her. She’s the mother of his child.

I hope that’s the direction they go outside of some other shenanigans that turn Lois and Superman into cheaters and Clark into a sad sack again.

Additionally, why bother setting up a new status quo for the marriage now if you’re just going to blow it up in 6 months for a status that would require no shift whatsoever. You don’t need a new normal to make this story work if the endgame is separating them publicly.

To me, that's kind of dick move on Lois and Clark to sell out their own kid just to save Clark's identity. Since their the ones who left him in space with his insane grandfather.

[Yoda]

To me, that's kind of dick move on Lois and Clark to sell out their own kid just to save Clark's identity. Since their the ones who left him in space with his insane grandfather.

I mean, yeah, but what is the other option besides ringing up Mxy? They aren’t getting rid of Clark Kent anytime soon again. And Bendis has stressed how important Clark’s choice to be a reporter is to him.

Cheating is the only way to address it otherwise. The sham thing doesn’t work because Lois and Clark were engaged and together for a long time before Jon was born.

It also fits into the Fake News narrative he’s talked about. You have the media twisting a narrative that’s not true. Granted their response would be equally untrue but I can’t see Bendis making a statement against gossip mongering by telling a story where they essentially got it right.

Jon may not even want a secret identity anymore. He’s been living without one for half his life now.

[Flashback]

Undecided

Jon just came back, we don't know how older Jon is going to act from now on, to soon for me to know if I will hate this new direction.

[MeGrimlock420]

I mean, yeah, but what is the other option besides ringing up Mxy? They aren’t getting rid of Clark Kent anytime soon again. Jon Lang not even want a secret identity anymore. He’s been living without one for half his life now.

Dr. Manhattan?

[Superlad93]

I picked undecided. It's been literally not even an issue of him being older. I need to get to know the character past just his concept to decide, but I'm quite open to the idea of liking him the way he is.

I dug the absolute hell out of him when he was 10. He shot up to one of my favorite characters at DC quite quickly. But ya know I wanna like the character for being the character rather than the concpet or role of the small rambunctious child of the Superman family, if that makes any sense. Like, I'm not out here thinking of Kara as "the girl" of the Superman family, and all the cool girl things she brings with her. No. I think of her singularly as Kara no matter what happens to her. She was in her 20s pre-flashpoint, and a teen now, but it's still very much just me interested in Kara rather than any so called "role" or concept she filled.

And like Yoda said, there's also the whole idea of getting some kind of format to explore Jon's lost several years in space. That's legitimate lore all his own in the same way that Kenan, Steel, Kara, and Conner have lore all their own, and it's ripe with possibility, and that possibility has me quite interested, so we'll see and hope for the best.

[Yoda]

Dr. Manhattan?

I’m of the opinion that this whole run is taking place after Doomsday Clock.

[Jon Clark]

To be honest, he was introduced with 10 years of backstory we never saw so adding another 7 years is not much worse. I'd rather he had been introduced as a newborn and aged on panel forward with a sliding timeline. He'd age faster than the adults (If Clark is 30-ish now he might be a year older when Jon celebrates five birthdays. Over time you could adjust his age to match Damian the same way- infant Jon now, toddler Jon when Damian turns fourteen, school aged Jon when Damian turns fifteen and by the time both are in the Teen Titans there is maybe a year difference in Damian's favor from then on.

But since that didn't happen I can live with this stupid jump in age.


As for how it impacts Lois & Clark- well tell them a partial truth. Some nutjob took Jon. Let the cops find evidence of anything else- especially when guys like batman are there to fudge evidence. The currently 17-ish Superboy can just have a public ID like Kon had and not bother being Jon Kent anymore. He's Superman's son with no known mom (people can speculate about Diana, Power Girl or even pre-marriage Lois) but any interaction with Lois or non-Super Clark is only done in private. Hell, losing their son might even be used to cover why the couple took a break from living together for a bit.

[Ascended]

I'm undecided.

Nothing about this move grabs me with anything but apprehension. I liked Jon as he was (even though I've bitched about Clark's Rockwellian parenthood skills), and I'm not sure why Bendis thinks this is a good idea long-term (if that's even his plan, if that plan doesn't get changed by someone). I share all the complaints people are making; Conner's back, there's plenty of 16-17 year old heroes already, this'll mess with the Damian dynamic, blah blah blah. I fear those things too.

But I think the ideas Bendis is playing with, the idea of lost time with your family, is viable and I think the concept of Clark missing whole years of Jon's life is appropriately "real life filtered through a Super lens" and that's a mentality and approach I like in my Superman. So I'm cool with the broad thematics. And although I'm a few months behind, I've mostly enjoyed what Bendis has been doing, and the best parts of Bendis' run have often revolved around Clark's reaction to his supporting cast. Bendis has won the benefit of doubt with me, despite my concerns.

I'll see how it goes and withhold judgement until the story is done.

[Sam]

I'm hoping 17 year old Jon will go back in time and save 10 year old Jon from Jor-El, thereby negating his own timeline. That way, Bendis gets to have his fun with 17-year-old Jon, while returning 10-year-old Jon, as he was, back unscathed.

Age jumps just generally suck. This is no exception.