Superman: son of Kal-El

[Morgoth]

It seems like second issue sold very well on Comixology and Amazon, higher than Action Comics for the second time in a row.

[Journey]

It seems like second issue sold very well on Comixology and Amazon, higher than Action Comics for the second time in a row.

Thats nice they need a new artist.

[Vathlonian]

It has risen to number #2 from its previous position on #7 yesterday

Under a Darth Vader comic run that is critically acclaimed by Star Wars fans(Darth Vader has the best comics in the Star Wars comic line)

[Superlad93]

I have no idea how you got me arguing against Jon/Jay when I was rooting for them at the start. What sorcery is this?!

Well, I honestly don't know, but even if Jay weren't Jon's Magneto/Lex, he'd then still be at least a love interest if the rumors/reports are true, so he'd be a pretty sizable aspect of Jon's story regardless.

I mean, I really can’t tell anymore man. DC has cleared the board to take some big swings with Jon lately. Maybe Clark Kent and black Superman is enough for WB on the mainstream movie side and they have different media ideas for Jon. Or maybe they expect the cultural landscape to be different 10 years from now because of demographic trends and DC making Jon queer is what Jim Lee called “future-proofing”. Better to have Jon come out now when he’s still relatively new and not cause the same backlash Tim had. Not to mention this would also open the Supermythos to new avenues of storytelling that you can’t do with Clark, and all that stuff is exciting to me.

Okay, so this may sound some type of way, but just know that it's me thinking along the lines of DC trying to use these next gen kids in greater media AND make sure they're checking off the representation box.

So, you know how all of the Chines posters for Black Panther had it so Black Panther himself never took off his mask? Well, I don't think it's just a funny little coincidence that Jace's Batman has a full face mask. We know full well why Black Panther was never unmasked on those Chines posters, and it seems like DC has taken that into account created their next gen Batman. You effectively check of the representation box while also being able to sell the poster to places like China. So here comes the super problematic part: I think Jon's gonna be bi or pan as a version of his "full face mask" if you will. You get the diversity, and just as when a bigoted audience will roll their eyes when they see Jace unmasked, they'll roll their eyes when they see Jon kiss Jay on screen. But with that they'll also have the moment where the mask comes on and it's just a faceless Batman doing cool sh!t, and similarly they'll have Jon eventually getting with a woman.

With Bendis confirming that his Legion is not only still in continuity but that it's also coming back and he's actively working on it, that likely means Mon-El is still Jon's 6x great grandson. And while obviously gay couples can have bio kids, I foresee DC taking the (I genuinely apologize for how this belittles these two sexual orientations. It's not even remotely my personal view of it) "safe" way and making him bi or pan and implying that he'll end up with a woman that with give birth to the third generation of Superman. It's a "safety net" if you will.

But the nature of Jon's Superman makes this less doom and gloom than it seems even though this is pretty f%&ked up to think about. Jon's never going to get married in our lifetime, and he's never going to have kids that we'll follow. Effectively he's the Silver Age Superman where you know he'll end up with "someone", but it's not specified who in most stories. This means that he can have a deep and real love with whatever dude or whatever woman and we all know it's not "endgame". Dick Grayson has been jumping from "endgame" to "endgame" for decades now do to the open ended nature of this youthful design. So take some comfort in that.

Lmao he’s already more powerful than his dad, does he really need more power?

Hey, don't look at me, take it up with Taylor and PKJ. PKJ said that Jon will be getting even more powerful overtimes and that'll change the power structure of the DCU, and Taylor has yet to really make good on the hype of Jon's power that he built up in the first issue, so you know that's coming down the ways.

The 18th birthday just feels like such an obvious point to set that shift into greater power.

[Superlad93]

I have to say one thing, this whole theory of Jenny being Jay, I, as a woman, think it's very problematic
, and I hope Dc doesn't do that, ... But Jay being Jon's Lex would be a very good thing ,And I hope Jay is a charismatic character

I totally agree with you. It's very problematic, and I so unlikely that I don't even know why I thought of it. All evidence seems to indicate that Jenny will be not only a woman, but also very likely a woman of color if/when we get her in the book.

Oh I think Jay's going to be very charismatic (or at least indented to be). The way that he address his viewers and calls out those in power on his show, The Truth, has embers of a charismatic and strong leader. He also doesn't show any signs of getting flustered while talking to Jon aka Superman, so there's a sense of confidence to him.

Jon and Jay feel like they're going to butt heads on matters fairly soon after the first arc.

[Vordan]

With Bendis confirming that his Legion is not only still in continuity but that it's also coming back and he's actively working on it, that likely means Mon-El is still Jon's 6x great grandson. And while obviously gay couples can have bio kids, I foresee DC taking the (I genuinely apologize for how this belittles these two sexual orientations. It's not even remotely my personal view of it) "safe" way and making him bi or pan and implying that he'll end up with a woman that with give birth to the third generation of Superman. It's a "safety net" if you will.

Also House of El having Ronan and Rowan being descended from Jon (and I think Brandon Kent as well?). Don’t know if they were planning to make him queer at the time, I suspect they weren’t if they are now, Jon was clearly meant to be into women in Future State given he and Irma were still a couple in FS: LoSH.

Given the CW also has their “Jon” being straight, I think he will ultimately be bi or pan as well since there’s probably considerations that must be made to how synergy will all work out. We know that’s a big part of all the comics DC makes these days.

But the nature of Jon's Superman makes this less doom and gloom than it seems even though this is pretty f%&ked up to think about. Jon's never going to get married in our lifetime, and he's never going to have kids that we'll follow. Effectively he's the Silver Age Superman where you know he'll end up with "someone", but it's not specified who in most stories. This means that he can have a deep and real love with whatever dude or whatever woman and we all know it's not "endgame". Dick Grayson has been jumping from "endgame" to "endgame" for decades now do to the open ended nature of this youthful design. So take some comfort in that.
.

Jon should never get married. Ever. To anyone. Let him have an endless rotation of love interests be they women or men or other, there will assuredly be fan favorites Jon returns to, but never any he actually ends up with in canon. That will allow the soap opera aspect to fuel his fandom, and that kind of relationship drama is something he can have that Clark can’t. I can easily see an appeal to Jon with how he doesn’t have a love interest he’s “going” to end up with the way Clark and Lois were portrayed.

[Myskin]

Double post.

[Myskin]

I honestly think that some of you guys are seeing too much into this stuff.
IMHO Jon being queer is more similar to Tim Drake coming out as bi, or Alan Scott coming out as a (closeted) homosexual, than anything else. That is, DC's effort at pretending to show some diversity without taking many risks. They take the least relevant (albeit historically venerable) Green Lantern and they completely change what had been his orientation for decades without having to take into account what it really implies for his personal history. They take the least relevant Robin (well, least relevant TODAY) and they make him bi, which in comic books - as someone else has said in a previous post - is basically the cheat code for diversity, because they can still depict him as having straight relationships (including the past ones) AND present him as a member of the LGBTQ community. Jon is in a slightly different position, because today he is more popular than both Alan Scott and Tim Drake. But look at how many abrupt (and not particularly believable) changes he underwent in his short life so far, including the physical ones. He's more of a plot device than a fully fleshed character. He clearly showed an interest in women in other issues, but making him romantically into men too wouldn't be less contradictory than his growth spurt inside a volcano or him becoming more relevant than Superman at founding the Legion of Superheroes because he said the right thing at the right moment. IMHO these corporate decisions are more aimed at having good PR rather than showing a genuine interest, or promoting a real, honest support for diversity. Well-developed, coherent LGBTQ characters like Rucka's Batwoman were very rare before the current DC era and they are still very rare.

And if you think that any part of this decision is tied to DC trying not to offend China with a future adaptation of SuperJon, well, I think that you are definitely off the beam. Even without taking into account that China is more complex and contradictory a country than any reasoning on a comic book forum could tell (implying that Chinese audience is bigoted in its entirety is no different than saying that America is a country of burger-eating, obese warmongers), any Superman adaptation with Jon at helm which could be of vague interest to Chinese audience is a long way off. A VERY long way off. As in, let's see whether Jon Kent is still around in comic books in 3 years before checking whether portraying him as bi in a big-budget movie could offend any potential audience. Provided that there are no serious copyright issues regarding the character of Superman, any potential adaptation in the immediate future will focus on Clark Kent - maybe a black one, or in a period piece, but it will be about Clark. IMHO the best you can hope for Jon is having him as a supporting character in a TV series or maybe - if you are really, REALLY lucky - as the main character in a HBO Max medium-budget movie, which I doubt could be important enough to cause any shock.

[Vordan]

Wouldn’t be so sure of that. Jim Lee has said that a lot of their recent stories have been made with an eye towards adaption, we saw how quickly Yara was almost turned into a CW show. The new Trinity of Jon, Jace, and Yara all smack of being made with an eye towards adaption, and Jon in particular probably has the best shot of the three. The black Clark Coates movie is apparently an Elseworld and I’m willing to be that MBJ’s HBO Max series is as well. WB is attempting to rebuild their mainline DCEU universe, but they clearly don’t believe in Henry Cavill’s Superman. They seem to be planning to replace him with Supergirl, whether she will be a Clark daughter or Kara isn’t clear yet, but her suit design clearly takes a lot of cues from Jon’s.

Ultimately though I think WB is going to want a Superman, and Jon is the easiest choice to take over from Cavill Clark. He’s a way to soft reboot the franchise down the line after the Coates take that won’t upset too many people since “the son of Clark and Lois takes over for his dad” is something the CW show is already building awareness of.

Plus Taylor is the golden boy, they’re already adapting his stuff with Injustice, if SSOKE continues to do well who’s to say they wouldn’t adapt this?

[Yoda]

Namoi is newer than Jon and already has a show. Adaptation is all they are looking at now. It's not really surprising given the entire yearly market for comic book store sales is the equivalent of a single bomb movie.

Plus, Marvel is already moving onto it's legacy characters, WB will of course try to capitalize on that.

[Vathlonian]

Wouldn’t be so sure of that. Jim Lee has said that a lot of their recent stories have been made with an eye towards adaption, we saw how quickly Yara was almost turned into a CW show. The new Trinity of Jon, Jace, and Yara all smack of being made with an eye towards adaption, and Jon in particular probably has the best shot of the three. The black Clark Coates movie is apparently an Elseworld and I’m willing to be that MBJ’s HBO Max series is as well. WB is attempting to rebuild their mainline DCEU universe, but they clearly don’t believe in Henry Cavill’s Superman. They seem to be planning to replace him with Supergirl, whether she will be a Clark daughter or Kara isn’t clear yet, but her suit design clearly takes a lot of cues from Jon’s.

Ultimately though I think WB is going to want a Superman, and Jon is the easiest choice to take over from Cavill Clark. He’s a way to soft reboot the franchise down the line after the Coates take that won’t upset too many people since “the son of Clark and Lois takes over for his dad” is something the CW show is already building awareness of.

Plus Taylor is the golden boy, they’re already adapting his stuff with Injustice, if SSOKE continues to do well who’s to say they wouldn’t adapt this?

Jon is certainly the most marketable of the three

[Myskin]

Plus Taylor is the golden boy, they’re already adapting his stuff with Injustice, if SSOKE continues to do well who’s to say they wouldn’t adapt this?

Because Injustice was supported by the videogame, which was quite popular. I am not 100% sure that Taylor could really be considered DC's golden boy. He's popular, but as far as I know it's not that his Suicide Squad book had stellar sales.

As for the other rumors, we'll wait and see, but I am not 100% sure that we should take everything for granted. Most of the upcoming movies on HBO Max don't look like particularly high-profile works, they sound like medium-budget spinoffs of financially unsuccessful projects which wouldn't stand a chance in theaters, but may find a decent success on WB's streaming channel. However, whatever they are doing with Superman in terms of big-budget, high-profile experiment (and provided they are actually doing something), it will be on par with Reeves' Batman. I really don't think that that they would take the risk of wasting a golden opportunity with a derivative character like Jon if "THE" Superman, the one the world (not just US) knows and recognize is mild-mannered journalist Clark Kent. Heck, apparently not even Harley Quinn is able to sell an entire movie and she is a way older character than Jon, with a solid fanbase. Jon wasn't even a superhero until 3 years ago.

[Vathlonian]

Because Injustice was supported by the videogame, which was quite popular. I am not 100% sure that Taylor could really be considered DC's golden boy. He's popular, but as far as I know it's not that his Suicide Squad book had stellar sales.

As for the other rumors, we'll wait and see, but I am not 100% sure that we should take everything for granted. Most of the upcoming movies on HBO Max don't look like particularly high-profile works, they sound like medium-budget spinoffs of financially unsuccessful projects which wouldn't stand a chance in theaters, but may find a decent success on WB's streaming channel. However, whatever they are doing with Superman in terms of big-budget, high-profile experiment (and provided they are actually doing something), it will be on par with Reeves' Batman. I really don't think that that they would take the risk of wasting a golden opportunity with a derivative character like Jon if "THE" Superman, the one the world (not just US) knows and recognize is mild-mannered journalist Clark Kent. Heck, apparently not even Harley Quinn is able to sell an entire movie and she is a way older character than Jon, with a solid fanbase. Jon wasn't even a superhero until 3 years ago.

The issue is that WB doesn’t have faith in Clark as a character yet can’t seem to want to burn the bridge with him

A Rebirth type Superman movie or a film that has Superman’s son with Clark still there seems to match with this mindset

[Vordan]

The issue is that WB doesn’t have faith in Clark as a character yet can’t seem to want to burn the bridge with him

A Rebirth type Superman movie or a film that has Superman’s son with Clark still there seems to match with this mindset

Won’t be Rebirth. Cavill isn’t coming back and they’re already doing the “Clark raising his son(s) with Lois” over on the CW. Any hypothetical Jon movie would have Clark either dead (easy way to write around Cavill) or absent.

[Superlad93]

Also House of El having Ronan and Rowan being descended from Jon (and I think Brandon Kent as well?). Don’t know if they were planning to make him queer at the time, I suspect they weren’t if they are now, Jon was clearly meant to be into women in Future State given he and Irma were still a couple in FS: LoSH.

Given the CW also has their “Jon” being straight, I think he will ultimately be bi or pan as well since there’s probably considerations that must be made to how synergy will all work out. We know that’s a big part of all the comics DC makes these days.

I imagine the relative recentness of this is why the reports/rumors say they're still deciding on what to label him. They have to consider outside media's plans and what they're already written as recently as last year.

Jon should never get married. Ever. To anyone. Let him have an endless rotation of love interests be they women or men or other, there will assuredly be fan favorites Jon returns to, but never any he actually ends up with in canon. That will allow the soap opera aspect to fuel his fandom, and that kind of relationship drama is something he can have that Clark can’t. I can easily see an appeal to Jon with how he doesn’t have a love interest he’s “going” to end up with the way Clark and Lois were portrayed.

The ideal would be for him to be like Dick Grayson in that you have sections of fans that say "Jon and Jay forever", others that say "Jon and Jenny or nothing", and fans that'll maybe even go "hey remember Saturn Girl".