Superman: son of Kal-El

[Vordan]

They couldn’t even keep Damian dead for a year, and the readers HATED him, and I’m sure plenty of DC creators did too considering Damian makes Bruce look old and he pushed Tim out the door which I’m sure made Tim fanboys like Tynion mad. Jon isn’t going anywhere outside of another hard reboot, and that’s not happening any time soon.

Damien was no where near hated when Morrison killed him.Not even close. People were pissed Damian died. He was brought back due to fan demand. I have no idea where you get the idea Damian didn’t have fans. Preposterous.

I didn’t say he didn’t have fans, but Damian also had a substantial hatedom. It declined over time, but the Tim fandom never gave up their resentment over him “stealing” Robin. Damian has, similar to Jason, become a very popular character over time but at the start he was disliked intensely. It’s not that different from how a lot of people hate Jon’s current status quo, DC is clearly hoping that Taylor will repeat what happened with Damian with Jon.

Some months ago Taylor teased that he had two DC ongoings, one that he was approached for and one he had asked. After Nightwing was announced he confirmed he had been approached for it, which means he had asked for Jon’s book. Taylor might’ve deleted the tweet so take with a grain of salt, but it’s such a specific detail I’m sure I remembered it right.

Superlad can correct me on the shortlist since he’s the one I got the info from, but Sean Lewis said in his Future State interview that DC’s editor was looking between an old fan-favorite writer, a popular writer, and an unknown writer for Jon’s book. Lewis said he was the unknown choice. The others are speculation. Bendis was going to be on the book per Bleeding Cool I believe, and Superlad speculated that Fraction could’ve been the other option.

Ah yes I remember that too. So Lewis, Taylor, and Fraction was likely the third choice considering he said he was having discussions with DC about future books. Probably ended up passing on account of how strict editorial was going to be with 5G.

[kryptonian]

I didn’t say he didn’t have fans, but Damian also had a substantial hatedom. It declined over time, but the Tim fandom never gave up their resentment over him “stealing” Robin. Damian has, similar to Jason, become a very popular character over time but at the start he was disliked intensely. It’s not that different from how a lot of people hate Jon’s current status quo, DC is clearly hoping that Taylor will repeat what happened with Damian with Jon.

Ah yes I remember that too. So Lewis, Taylor, and Fraction was likely the third choice considering he said he was having discussions with DC about future books. Probably ended up passing on account of how strict editorial was going to be with 5G.

He won’t

He is literally doubling down on why people dislike the current status quo for Jon...its almost feels like a middle finger to kid Jon fans

Whereas in his Nightwing run...he basically went out of his way to please fans who loathed the direction dick Grayson went under Didio


If he really wanted to repeat what happened to Damian with Jon...he would end his run with de-aging him


Instead he is doubling down on what fans dislike about the character


Another thing...Damian is part of the holy Batman brand that seems to always have everything go right for that franchise

Whereas the Superman franchise is known to squander and destroy its interesting ideas like new krypton


It’s guaranteed that DC makes a stupid decision with Superman 9/10 times

[Blue22]

He won’t

He is literally doubling down on why people dislike the current status quo for Jon...its almost feels like a middle finger to kid Jon fans

Whereas in his Nightwing run...he basically went out of his way to please fans who loathed the direction dick Grayson went under Didio


If he really wanted to repeat what happened to Damian with Jon...he would end his run with de-aging him


Instead he is doubling down on what fans dislike about the character


Another thing...Damian is part of the holy Batman brand that seems to always have everything go right for that franchise

Whereas the Superman franchise is known to squander and destroy its interesting ideas like new krypton


It’s guaranteed that DC makes a stupid decision with Superman 9/10 times

To be fair, if what PKJ said is true, what's going on with Jon is a DC decision. One that he and Taylor have no say in. Even if they wanted to, they can't de-age him. Obviously that's not enough to completely deter Taylor from writing for the character (which is a totally valid stance for him to take) so he's just trying to make the best out of this situation. I don't hold any ill will towards Taylor for this status quo if he really can't do anything about it.

The way I see it, it's a lemonade out of lemons deal. He can't bring the real Jon back so he'll write the best fake Jon that he can. A valiant effort, and one that actually has won over some fans of the real Jon. Unfortunately, it's just not a flavor of lemonade that I'm interested in.

[manwhohaseverything]

I think the superman ip and superman the concept/the character is more important than jon or clark..So,they are shaking things up..small victories at a time.

I don't like jon because of the characters age.The books were fun,wierd and over the top..

[OopsIdiditagain]

Figured I should re-read some of FS including the backups which I skipped before, but it turns out there’s a wealth of revealing world-building here. Andrej Trojan stood out to me the most so most of the notes are on him:

- Trojan wants to get rid of human suffering through eliminating organic life and evolving them technologically. He’s cast aside his flesh body for cyborg vessels, and even calls himself The Transcendent Man at one point. His ego reminds me of Lex, but with an aggressively post-humanist philosophy. He hates people and would make them slaves of Brainiac.

- Trojan lives up to his name, and can wear a skin suit to appear like other people such as Apollo. His body can also self-destruct. It’s possible that Trojan is the cyborg who destroys the Kent farm. Jon would be able to see through Trojan’s facade in a heartbeat, but what about the unsuspecting kindly Kents?

- Back to FS, Trojan manufactures nirodhium from the slags of Warworld using a space-time collider. Nirodhium affects Superman negatively but is also the key to upgrading human life, with hints it has a variety of other properties as well. This could be a way to connect the Warworld and Metropolis stories together in an Action/SoKE crossover that PKJ mentioned would happen at some point.



- Now that I think about it, the radiation from the breach in The Golden Age appears to have the same properties as nirodhium—deadly to pure Kryptonians, but doesn’t affect half-Kryptonians.

- Metropolis University has a cybernetics lab funded by Trojan

- Mary Capshaw or “Honest Mary” is a terrorist whose goal is to free humanity and have them face an honest world. Her whole schtick is about “truth” and “honesty”. She sent a bomb to MU’s Trojan-funded Cybernetics Lab, which sounds similar the solicits of SoKE #2 where Jon goes to college but a deadly attack forces him out of the shadows. My theory is that she’s a radical member of the Truth organization.



- She blew up the Daily Planet in FS as well. That doesn’t mean it’ll happen in main continuity, but between this and the Kent farm and the secret identity, blowing up sacred Superman canon could lead to a very interesting SoKE run indeed. That makes me really excited.

Would love to know other people’s thoughts on this. I’ll add more when I read the other FS Superman books.

They sound like interesting villains to me. Honest Mary sounds like a conspiracy theorist that went off the deep end.

[OopsIdiditagain]

I mean I don't even think its just comics at this point, look at TV as well. Lois & Superman is doing well as a show and it stars the introduction of not just one but two teenage sons of superman, one of which has powers, not just on cable but they put it on HBO MAX as well. Which by the way, was created because a crisis aged up his and lois' baby. Some people might already be getting used to the idea of Superman having a teenage son with powers

Btw who is the comic equivalent of Jordan?

[Vordan]

Btw who is the comic equivalent of Jordan?

There isn’t one. There are Jordan Kents who exist in other comics, such as the Pre-Crisis Superman’s son from WHTTMOT? by Alan Moore, but Jon is the only child of Superman that exists in canon right now. CW Jon and Jordan draw on different traits of comic Jon.

[Quinlan58]

There isn’t one. There are Jordan Kents who exist in other comics, such as the Pre-Crisis Superman’s son from WHTTMOT? by Alan Moore, but Jon is the only child of Superman that exists in canon right now. CW Jon and Jordan draw on different traits of comic Jon.

That was Jonathan. Jordan Ellis was Clark's pseudonym.

[Vordan]

That was Jonathan. Jordan Ellis was Clark's pseudonym.

Ah you are correct. I actually went looking and there was a “Jor” in the Silver Age, but never a “Jordan Kent” son of Superman in comics.

[kryptonian]

If they made Jon a heartthrob with pieces of Jordan’s anxious personality and keep him in college and make him gay


Teen Jon would be infinitely sustainable, especially if you give him a memorable Nightwing persona of his own

Perhaps Sol Invictus...an Apollo inspired superhero

With Damian taking the moniker of the Arkham Knight, red X, or Arkham X

A cross between the Arkham Knight and the red X personas

[Vordan]

So we have three major Supermen in live action media: Hoechlin as Clark Kent on the CW, a black Clark Kent with Abrams/Coates, and a Val-Zod HBO Max series. We also have an Injustuce animated movie coming. On one hand, God help me, this means Taylor is already having a massive role in shaping Superman in the public eye. So perhaps that means Superlad is right and they’re already looking at this upcoming series as a source for adaption considering they’re drawing on Injustice and Earth 2. But I’m also wondering if this means Superlad is wrong, if they’re adapting takes on Clark Kent everywhere else, and Val for HBO Max, and Jon in the CW is powerless, where and when could they still be looking at this as an opportunity to adapt Jon Kent Superman? Just something I’m mulling over as we approach Taylor’s first issue.

[Quinlan58]

There'll be a Jon Kent Superman movie before 2034. Once it does exist, it will obviously take a lot of inspiration from Taylor's run because Taylor is establishing the foundations for what Jon Kent as Superman means. But I don't think such a movie is coming in the near future.

[kryptonian]

Copium addicts pinning their hopes on Val-Zod somehow allowing for DC to erase Jon are in for a rude awakening

[garazza]

Y'all thinking about movies? Damn, the first issue isn't even out yet.

[Vordan]

There'll be a Jon Kent Superman movie before 2034. Once it does exist, it will obviously take a lot of inspiration from Taylor's run because Taylor is establishing the foundations for what Jon Kent as Superman means. But I don't think such a movie is coming in the near future.

I’m not sure about that, why go with Jon (assuming of course that Jon would be played by a white actor since he is white in the comics) over Clark again?

Copium addicts pinning their hopes on Val-Zod somehow allowing for DC to erase Jon are in for a rude awakening

…what? Literally nobody is suggesting they’ll erase Jon to replace him with Val, there isn’t even a Val on E0 and the New 52 E2 got erased. We don’t even know if he exists in the comics anymore, although I’m sure they’ll bring him back if MBJ’s project actually happens.

Y'all thinking about movies? Damn, the first issue isn't even out yet.

Comics don’t really matter as there own thing anymore, they exist as fuel to make movies and games and other media where the real money is. Hell 5G, the whole reason Jon was aged up in the first place, was meant with an eye towards adaption from the very start. And Tom Taylor is the Golden Boy right now, I mean Jesus he’s becoming the new Geoff Johns with how quickly his stuff is getting adapted. It definitely bears keeping in mind imo.