Conner Kent /kon-el appreciation 2021

[Prime]

I agree with Sacred about keeping Conner straight and giving them the dynamic that Conner doesn't swing that way. Also with Vordan about Apollo and Midnighter

[13th Superman]

Conner wasn't and still isn't Superman. You may as well be arguing that Apollo makes a gay Superman moot. It doesn't, and the same goes for Conner.

The fact of the matter is Clark either hasn't done these things or they haven't gone over well because the ingrained idea of Clark and what they expect him to do clashes with it (needs to date a white Lois, more or less defender if the status quo, and now most regularly is a late 30s to late 40s married guy).

The differences between Jon's take on Superman and what people know Clark's Superman as is fairly fundamental when you're remembering the age, college, and non defender of the status quo. Not ground breaking in terms of comics ever, and in some respects not even for Superman, but it certainly is for what people tend to allow with Clark on the regular and that's the point

I get what your saying but this could have been done with Conner or Kara. If you're going to do this with Jon, go big or go home.

[Superlad93]

I get what your saying but this could have been done with Conner or Kara. If you're going to do this with Jon, go big or go home.

No, because neither of them are The Son of Superman. That carries inherent weight to it that's and only overtaken by Clark himself. You couldn't do it with them and have the same heft to it that "and then Clark Kent left Earth in the hands of his only begotten son" has.

[Superlad93]

I think the whole Conner being queer thing is fairly moot upon further inspection.

Bernard isn't really the typical civilization love interest. He has training, can hold his own, and Tim says that fighting with him by his side is the first time he's felt calm in a long time.

Chances are pretty good that Bernard will become Tim's heroic partner as well as his romantic one.

And as I've said elsewhere, it's a logistical nightmare making putting two characters for two different IPs together as a couple ready for adaptation. It's why Superman and Wonder Woman is impractical regardless of if it's Clark or Jon. Characters mainly known for being on teams are a loophole, but even then, with the eye they seem to have for adaptation, it's more or less a passing fling if said characters aren't exclusive to that team and have any sort of other IP obligations.

So chances are they'll leave a romance with Conner or whomever else in the pocket, but focus on Bernard and building him up to be a capable partner to Tim.

[Frontier]

I agree with Sacred about keeping Conner straight and giving them the dynamic that Conner doesn't swing that way. Also with Vordan about Apollo and Midnighter

I guess it might come up at the next Young Justice reunion.

I think the whole Conner being queer thing is fairly moot upon further inspection.

Bernard isn't really the typical civilization love interest. He has training, can hold his own, and Tim says that fighting with him by his side is the first time he's felt calm in a long time.

Chances are pretty good that Bernard will become Tim's heroic partner as well as his romantic one.

And as I've said elsewhere, it's a logistical nightmare making putting two characters for two different IPs together as a couple ready for adaptation. It's why Superman and Wonder Woman is impractical regardless of if it's Clark or Jon. Characters mainly known for being on teams are a loophole, but even then, with the eye they seem to have for adaptation, it's more or less a passing fling if said characters aren't exclusive to that team and have any sort of other IP obligations.

So chances are they'll leave a romance with Conner or whomever else in the pocket, but focus on Bernard and building him up to be a capable partner to Tim.

I guess if Bernard is going to stick around, they might as well make him the male Spoiler to Tim's still Robin.

[Darkspellmaster]

I guess it might come up at the next Young Justice reunion.

I guess if Bernard is going to stick around, they might as well make him the male Spoiler to Tim's still Robin.

Thing is that Bernard is rather suspect. A lot of who he is seems to be very much up in the air right now, but the implications are very similar to how Ten acted towards Terry in Batman Beyond, so I wouldn't doubt they are setting him up to be either the kid of a villain, or a villain himself. Though I'm hoping we're not getting him as a new Spoiler because that would just be annoying as hell.

As for Conner, honestly, they could go the Obsidian and Atom Smasher route and have their be an unrequited situation, but I think that would have fans getting annoyed. This is why I'm still mad they didn't let Chris stick around. You could have easily used him to explore this sort of issue by having him be the one that was queer. I can't see them doing this to Jon any time soon due to him being the face of things, but I don't doubt Taylor would do a good job with it if it was something he wanted to do. For Conner, to me at least, it's a toss up. You could make him bi, but again you would have to explain it well, and avoid the pit falls of just fanservice with Tim.

[witchboy]

Thing is that Bernard is rather suspect. A lot of who he is seems to be very much up in the air right now, but the implications are very similar to how Ten acted towards Terry in Batman Beyond, so I wouldn't doubt they are setting him up to be either the kid of a villain, or a villain himself. Though I'm hoping we're not getting him as a new Spoiler because that would just be annoying as hell.

As for Conner, honestly, they could go the Obsidian and Atom Smasher route and have their be an unrequited situation, but I think that would have fans getting annoyed. This is why I'm still mad they didn't let Chris stick around. You could have easily used him to explore this sort of issue by having him be the one that was queer. I can't see them doing this to Jon any time soon due to him being the face of things, but I don't doubt Taylor would do a good job with it if it was something he wanted to do. For Conner, to me at least, it's a toss up. You could make him bi, but again you would have to explain it well, and avoid the pit falls of just fanservice with Tim.

How much explaining does it take for someone to be bisexual?

[oneveryfineday]

How much explaining does it take for someone to be bisexual?

Yeah, coming out to yourself doesn’t cause some massive shift in personality like you’ve gone to Mordor and back. It can happen in the most mundane of circumstances. You don’t always have to struggle to reconcile past history. I can only speak to my own experience, but my own realization that I was bi happened when I was brushing my teeth and I was like “Ah, well that makes sense now, doesn’t it?” Thought about it a lot afterwards, but internally I didn’t feel changed (though I felt better) and I continued on with my life. It was very much like Tim’s own calm realization. It doesn’t take much more than that to be believable.

[Darkspellmaster]

How much explaining does it take for someone to be bisexual?

It's not the explaining, it's how the writers use the character with it. Like, when Prodigy came out and just randomly Kissed Teddy. He was used to throw tension in with Billy and Teddy, and after that he just sort of started to date Tommy, who was apparently put with him because the writers thought it would be cute. Fair enough, as previously we'd seen them making out at a party in YA, but at the same time you have the Bisexual character being used as a kind of "triangle" aspect for story telling. And Then you have Daken where he uses his abilities to get what he wants and then tosses away the person he's with. I don't even know his last partner only the one he's with right now, who happens to be female. Mystique is supposed to be Bi, and I think in the past she's kissed Wolverine, maybe, been a while since I read X-men, but Destiny is the one they see as her wife. In a lot of cases writers aren't always great at showing off this, and tend to gravitate for just going one way or the other, so at times it feels like writers tend to not fully understand what it means to be bi, and don't really use it in a way to push a strong story. If that makes sense.

My issue with Conner, and Tim, is that they're going to be like Bobby Drake, where writers don't really know what to do with them and then just sort of have them there as the "Cute couple" sort of thing.

Yeah, coming out to yourself doesn’t cause some massive shift in personality like you’ve gone to Mordor and back. It can happen in the most mundane of circumstances. You don’t always have to struggle to reconcile past history. I can only speak to my own experience, but my own realization that I was bi happened when I was brushing my teeth and I was like “Ah, well that makes sense now, doesn’t it?” Thought about it a lot afterwards, but internally I didn’t feel changed (though I felt better) and I continued on with my life. It was very much like Tim’s own calm realization. It doesn’t take much more than that to be believable.

Oh I'm not saying it's not believable, I'm just thinking about how writers tend to not know how to externalize those moments well in some cases. And it can come off as hard to understand. Tim taking it calmly is fine, but for a lot of readers who tend to want the feel of a romance, it's the bombastic that they seem to want. Just for the dramatic feel of it.

[witchboy]

It's not the explaining, it's how the writers use the character with it. Like, when Prodigy came out and just randomly Kissed Teddy. He was used to throw tension in with Billy and Teddy, and after that he just sort of started to date Tommy, who was apparently put with him because the writers thought it would be cute. Fair enough, as previously we'd seen them making out at a party in YA, but at the same time you have the Bisexual character being used as a kind of "triangle" aspect for story telling. And Then you have Daken where he uses his abilities to get what he wants and then tosses away the person he's with. I don't even know his last partner only the one he's with right now, who happens to be female. Mystique is supposed to be Bi, and I think in the past she's kissed Wolverine, maybe, been a while since I read X-men, but Destiny is the one they see as her wife. In a lot of cases writers aren't always great at showing off this, and tend to gravitate for just going one way or the other, so at times it feels like writers tend to not fully understand what it means to be bi, and don't really use it in a way to push a strong story. If that makes sense.

My issue with Conner, and Tim, is that they're going to be like Bobby Drake, where writers don't really know what to do with them and then just sort of have them there as the "Cute couple" sort of thing.



Oh I'm not saying it's not believable, I'm just thinking about how writers tend to not know how to externalize those moments well in some cases. And it can come off as hard to understand. Tim taking it calmly is fine, but for a lot of readers who tend to want the feel of a romance, it's the bombastic that they seem to want. Just for the dramatic feel of it.

Maybe get better writers then?
I have no doubt that there are writers who could write a good relationship - and all the super hero action/drama - like Gail Simone or Steve Orlando for example.

[SuperX]

Kon is about the straightest characters in comics, but good for Tim, ppl have been wondering about him for years.

I see some on here are just pushing things just to marganilize Conner more, just to make sure the golden boy Jon has no competition and can look like the greatest thing ever seen. The ppl who think kon would be cool in a gay relationship but go out of their way to say Jon can't possibly do the same is being obvious.. Again.
Replace kon with Matt price
Send him to earth 3
Depower him
Freeze his age
Same sex relationship
Any others? Same ppl keep pushing this all, why, because they know kon is way cooler than Jon, and has a much deeper fan base than he does. Fear is why you push this, and selfishness is why you would step on another character and fan base to get what you want for your character.

[oneveryfineday]

It's not the explaining, it's how the writers use the character with it. Like, when Prodigy came out and just randomly Kissed Teddy. He was used to throw tension in with Billy and Teddy, and after that he just sort of started to date Tommy, who was apparently put with him because the writers thought it would be cute. Fair enough, as previously we'd seen them making out at a party in YA, but at the same time you have the Bisexual character being used as a kind of "triangle" aspect for story telling. And Then you have Daken where he uses his abilities to get what he wants and then tosses away the person he's with. I don't even know his last partner only the one he's with right now, who happens to be female. Mystique is supposed to be Bi, and I think in the past she's kissed Wolverine, maybe, been a while since I read X-men, but Destiny is the one they see as her wife. In a lot of cases writers aren't always great at showing off this, and tend to gravitate for just going one way or the other, so at times it feels like writers tend to not fully understand what it means to be bi, and don't really use it in a way to push a strong story. If that makes sense.

My issue with Conner, and Tim, is that they're going to be like Bobby Drake, where writers don't really know what to do with them and then just sort of have them there as the "Cute couple" sort of thing.

Bad writing doesn’t invalidate the concept of queer characters though, especially since straight romances get their fair share of dreck. We shouldn’t deny queer characters because they might be written bad. Having queer characters is the first step to having good queer stories.

That being said, I remember seeing a tweet from a creator months back who said the DC Pride book never would’ve happened under old management. Almost as if to confirm that, new management have also said they would focus on representation, and I feel DC has been improving in this regard in 2021. This is not a comprehensive list, but I enjoyed Future State (it’s cool that at least half of the JL members are queer), the DC Pride book, the Harlivy book, and Tim’s story in UL. I’m going to keep buying the books I like to show my support. Good stories can be told.

Oh I'm not saying it's not believable, I'm just thinking about how writers tend to not know how to externalize those moments well in some cases. And it can come off as hard to understand. Tim taking it calmly is fine, but for a lot of readers who tend to want the feel of a romance, it's the bombastic that they seem to want. Just for the dramatic feel of it.

I mean, Tim’s internal dialogue was pretty calm, but the external circumstances did involve him rescuing his love interest from becoming a human sacrifice and fighting off bad guys with him back-to-back. It’s very superhero-y as expected for the genre.

[Superlad93]

Kon is about the straightest characters in comics, but good for Tim, ppl have been wondering about him for years.

I see some on here are just pushing things just to marganilize Conner more, just to make sure the golden boy Jon has no competition and can look like the greatest thing ever seen. The ppl who think kon would be cool in a gay relationship but go out of their way to say Jon can't possibly do the same is being obvious.. Again.
Replace kon with Matt price
Send him to earth 3
Depower him
Freeze his age
Same sex relationship
Any others? Same ppl keep pushing this all, why, because they know kon is way cooler than Jon, and has a much deeper fan base than he does. Fear is why you push this, and selfishness is why you would step on another character and fan base to get what you want for your character.

Lmao

You can just say "boy Superlad seems to hate Conner" if it makes you feel better. I mean, I don't. But if you need a tangible villain to point to who's "pushing" this (as if I of all people have any say lol) then I'm not really going to have a sleepless night over it.

Why I bring any of this up is because I'm reading the room when it comes to what DC seems to be doing, and I'm making guesses about what I realistically think might happen. So if it's come out MULTIPLE times that DC has sidelined Conner in favor of Jon (regardless of whatever media the former has been in), and Jon's star is only rising then I'M not pushing anything. That's just pattern that I see no reason to assume will stop anytime soon.

If I see Matt Price being compared to Conner and shown as a fairly major aspect of the Titans comic (a comic you'd assume Conner would be in given the show) while the real Conner doesn't even seem to have a book then I'M not pushing anything. I'm reading the room.

It's not what I'd personally do, but I don't work at DC so I can only speculate on what THEY will do.

[Vordan]

In less contentious news, Titans S3 seems to be reviewing well so far, seeing a lot of people say it’s better than the previous two seasons.

[SuperX]

Lmao

You can just say "boy Superlad seems to hate Conner" if it makes you feel better. I mean, I don't. But if you need a tangible villain to point to who's "pushing" this (as if I of all people have any say lol) then I'm not really going to have a sleepless night over it.

Why I bring any of this up is because I'm reading the room when it comes to what DC seems to be doing, and I'm making guesses about what I realistically think might happen. So if it's come out MULTIPLE times that DC has sidelined Conner in favor of Jon (regardless of whatever media the former has been in), and Jon's star is only rising then I'M not pushing anything. That's just pattern that I see no reason to assume will stop anytime soon.

If I see Matt Price being compared to Conner and shown as a fairly major aspect of the Titans comic (a comic you'd assume Conner would be in given the show) while the real Conner doesn't even seem to have a book then I'M not pushing anything. I'm reading the room.

It's not what I'd personally do, but I don't work at DC so I can only speculate on what THEY will do.

Oh I was absolutely writing about you, but this place likes to ban ppl for anything, but because you called yourself out, I will admit it's you for sure.

You do more than see where the wind is blowing, you actively piece pieces together and get a enjoyment out of the idea of DC squashing Conner.

I don't even think you dislike Conner, I just think he is expendable to you, when it comes to other "story possibilities" out there