Fixing Jon

[TheKryptonMan]

Hard to believe that Jon has been around for about 10 years .
Jon needs to be different from his father , different powers , different costume , and hopefully younger too . Same age as Damian .
Maybe Jor-El can come back and change Jon again , lol . Why not ? It's comics ...

[walk]

I really liked the kid Jon and Supersons, but both of them are no more to have lgbt represantation in Superman. So be it... If lgbt community want represantantation in Superman, if this is important for them, they can have it. I am a big Oscar Wilde fan and i know how gay people suffered back in the day and they still suffer especially in some parts of the world, just because of their sexual preferences... I hope lgbt representation in Superman helps.

Speaking as a gay man myself I'd almost say that reason to have him be a kid again. This notion that queerness is inherently an adult topic and shouldn't be discussed in regards to adolescents seems antiquated considering most of us realise were "different" at a similar young age. If a 10 year old Jon can have a mutual crush with his friend Kathy why would that same dynamic suddenly be inappropriate if it was with another boy?

I'm just glad animation moving forward in that regard with a lot shows like Owl House, The Loud House, 12 Forever, Kipo, The Proud Family, Big Mouth...etc helping normalise the idea that queer kids exist and shouldn't be demonised or really even treated as that big a deal.

[TaliaJoy]

Honestly? Jon can be and has been a lot of fun but I don't even know where to start with 'fixing' the issues he's got. And I'm not trying to dump on the character of his fans here, it's just the truth (as I see it). Personally I don't support the idea of Clark having kids at all, especially biological ones, and I'd be fine if Jon disappeared...but even though I think it's a mistake for the larger franchise Jon has enough value to justify keeping him around. DC just hasn't done a great job using him. There have been issues with how Jon fits into his surroundings from the start, and DC's solution was to ignore it or brush over it, and that can work for a little while but it prevents a lot of nuance and depth from forming, and sooner or later that'll catch up with ya.

He was a retcon bomb, dropped in a semi-deboot relaunch and has never really fit the rest of canon (insofar as we've had a 'canon' at all). Despite being around for several years almost nothing has been established. Did he spend a lot of time with his grandparents? Or Kara? Perry? Jimmy? I don't know if Clark's son and best friend have actually even shared a panel? He's had no impact on the rest of Clark's supporting cast, no dynamic with them, he might as well not exist. I feel like we've had a line or two of dialogue here and there that mention things, but just one-off comments, not actual characterization.

What's his role/purpose? At first he was the Shonen style, modernized update on Silver Age Superboy/Clark. Which isn't really a 'purpose' and is more of a 'tone' but it was enough to help make Super Sons a respectable mid-tier seller and Jon could get by on just being an adorable, excitable kid. Now he's.....what? Just another cape wearing his privledge on his sleeve. Taylor pushed the idea of making him something of an activist superhero, someone who would go after the root problems. That never happened. Jon is just another Super, but with extra emphasis put on his sexuality and boring ass boyfriend.

Jon's a square peg who, despite being fun at times, never fit the round hole of the Superverse, and fixing that probably requires making a bunch of smaller adjustments.

He needs a personal relationship with the supporting cast and people he should've known his whole life, like the Kents and Jimmy and Sam Lane. He needs a supporting cast of his own beyond a love interest and Damian, friends from school or whoever. Maybe bring back Kathy and the aliens of Hampton town? Same for rogues. Lor Zod could be fun as a Jon foe and there's a few other faces he could probably lay claim to, but he needs some original threats and they need to be used enough for things to become personal and interesting. And a purpose and goal/mission to put him at odds with these villains. Jay turning into a villain is pedestrian but it could be fun too; he's the superhuman activist prince of a technologically advanced nation. Give him 'one bad day' and he could be Jon's Doctor Doom. But write Jay out completely, revamp him, or turn him into a bad guy, Jon's love interest needs a lot of TLC. Jay's been so boring I'd almost welcome the painfully obvious and awful idea of Jon and Tim dating, that at least would generate some fun tension with Damian, which would be more than what Jay offers.

And if Jon must be de-aged (I don't think he needs to be, but I'm not really against it either), don't reboot doing it. Just have, I dunno, Doctor Malpractice hit him with a devolution ray that turns him back into a 12-13 year old. Trying to undo the last several years of content is a mistake that causes more problems and ripples than it solves, and you're not gonna get a good story out of it no matter how you spin it (just too convoluted, with too convenient an end result), so just get it over with fast and dirty and move on; Jon's back to his 'kid' age, and you can treat his time as a young adult like just another weird phase that happens to costumed people, like when Iron Man was randomly a teen for a while, then got better.

Pretty much everything you've said makes sense to me. I still struggle to accept Jon being literally de-aged considering his relationship with Jay, but if Jay died, it would probably be fine. Maybe it would even be sort of OK if Jay turned evil.

[garazza]

Speaking as a gay man myself I'd almost say that reason to have him be a kid again. This notion that queerness is inherently an adult topic and shouldn't be discussed in regards to adolescents seems antiquated considering most of us realise were "different" at a similar young age. If a 10 year old Jon can have a mutual crush with his friend Kathy why would that same dynamic suddenly be inappropriate if it was with another boy?

I'm just glad animation moving forward in that regard with a lot shows like Owl House, The Loud House, 12 Forever, Kipo, The Proud Family, Big Mouth...etc helping normalise the idea that queer kids exist and shouldn't be demonised or really even treated as that big a deal.

It's so refreshing to see another gay guy beat the exact same drum I've been beating all these years. Makes me feel less insane knowing at least someone else is seeing things the way I have.

My signature isn't just for show, it links to an article published in 2016, the year Superman Rebirth started, advocating for making Jon Kent queer. Queer representation in kids media was only really gaining its footing in the years prior and it's only exploded since (but queer representation still has a very long way to go, don't get me wrong, we should never stop pushing for more or better or settling for scraps of rep).

My personal favorite examples (aside from The Owl House as you already mentioned) are The Hollow, Craig of the Creek, and Luca. De-aging Jon would be a huuuuuuuge boon for queer representation. The eventual Battle of the Super Sons sequel would be the perfect place to put this into practice and show everyone beyond a shadow of a doubt just how much good making Jon in the comics a kid again and the same age as Damian would be.

[walk]

It's so refreshing to see another gay guy beat the exact same drum I've been beating all these years. Makes me feel less insane knowing at least someone else is seeing things the way I have.

My signature isn't just for show, it links to an article published in 2016, the year Superman Rebirth started, advocating for making Jon Kent queer. Queer representation in kids media was only really gaining its footing in the years prior and it's only exploded since (but queer representation still has a very long way to go, don't get me wrong, we should never stop pushing for more or better or settling for scraps of rep).

My personal favorite examples (aside from The Owl House as you already mentioned) are The Hollow, Craig of the Creek, and Luca. De-aging Jon would be a huuuuuuuge boon for queer representation. The eventual Battle of the Super Sons sequel would be the perfect place to put this into practice and show everyone beyond a shadow of a doubt just how much good making Jon in the comics a kid again and the same age as Damian would be.

Thing was when they announced Jon's coming out I legitimately tried giving his older self a chance as I felt it was more important to support the representation, even went back and bought all previous SOKE issues I'd missed and while not an outright bad book it's unfortunately not a very interesting one either with Jon himself under Taylor feeling painfully derivative of his dad to point where there are issues were you could probably replace any text mention of "Jon" with "Clark" and not notice a difference.

I don't know if Jon was necessarily a more deeper character as kid but he was certainly more fun to read.

Also I really don't see why anyone that hung up about Jay (Jon will still be bi with or without him) he doesn't need to die, turn evil or even be improved he can just fade away like all the other forgettable civilian love interests we've seen over the years, he's certainly not popular enough that anyone going to kick up much of a fuss, hell that Chase guy seemed more popular after just one issue.

[Adekis]

I like adult Jon more than I liked kid Jon. By a lot, too. And I don't even really care for adult Jon, I just like him more than kid Jon.

I'd just as soon scrub the whole project, but that's not really how it works. Can't put the genie back in the bottle.

I say, just make Jon more distinct from his Dad, and stop claiming that noble and heroic traits, which he shares with Kal, are part of what sets him apart from his Dad.

[Alan2099]

To me the whole thing felt like somebody took an idea that should have stayed an imaginary story or elseworlds and slapped it down in the main DC universe without every trying to make it actually fit.

[manwhohaseverything]

I like adult Jon more than I liked kid Jon. By a lot, too. And I don't even really care for adult Jon, I just like him more than kid Jon.

I'd just as soon scrub the whole project, but that's not really how it works. Can't put the genie back in the bottle.

I say, just make Jon more distinct from his Dad, and stop claiming that noble and heroic traits, which he shares with Kal, are part of what sets him apart from his Dad.

If the traits and title aren't being used others can use it.Let's face it,clark ain't about punching and action.Jon can go back to that..Superman fans think of cool as kwel.something kwel#superninjajediman.

Damian or heck!doc savage training jon would have been cool.#jontheactionhero

[Zero Hunter]

Going off the Time Trapper angle. Have him "time lock" Jon so his default time period is the 31st century. Give him to Legion full time with him only being able to travel back in time very briefly every so often so he is essentially stuck in the future full time. It could be the Trapper way of hurting Superman by forever taking his child away.

[Thor-Ul]

Going off the Time Trapper angle. Have him "time lock" Jon so his default time period is the 31st century. Give him to Legion full time with him only being able to travel back in time very briefly every so often so he is essentially stuck in the future full time. It could be the Trapper way of hurting Superman by forever taking his child away.

No, thank you. The Legion first need to fix their own mess before, to accept the burden of another franchise.

[magha_regulus]

Speaking as a gay man myself I'd almost say that reason to have him be a kid again. This notion that queerness is inherently an adult topic and shouldn't be discussed in regards to adolescents seems antiquated considering most of us realise were "different" at a similar young age. If a 10 year old Jon can have a mutual crush with his friend Kathy why would that same dynamic suddenly be inappropriate if it was with another boy?

I'm just glad animation moving forward in that regard with a lot shows like Owl House, The Loud House, 12 Forever, Kipo, The Proud Family, Big Mouth...etc helping normalise the idea that queer kids exist and shouldn't be demonised or really even treated as that big a deal.

Excellent point. I wish the more of the authors saw it that way, but in time they will.

[DABellWrites]

Move him away from being Superman. Clark is Superman, he's not going anywhere. Jon is just cosplaying.

[Primal Slayer]

Why does Jon say "Great Rao"

what you know about Rao? You're from Kansas.

[Journey]

Why does Jon say "Great Rao"

what you know about Rao? You're from Kansas.

Benefit of the doubt he picked up some **** from Jor-El, in actuality just more of the writers not being able to give him anything to differentiate him from Clark.

[TaliaJoy]

Move him away from being Superman. Clark is Superman, he's not going anywhere. Jon is just cosplaying.

Yeah; idk what superhero name to give him, though. We already have a Superboy, and while it seems normal nowadays, I am not a fan of multiple active heroes with the same hero name (except for Lanterns).

Why does Jon say "Great Rao"

what you know about Rao? You're from Kansas.

I dunno why Clark says it either...it's just a "cute" Silver Age reference.

Benefit of the doubt he picked up some **** from Jor-El, in actuality just more of the writers not being able to give him anything to differentiate him from Clark.

That would actually be cool. That reminds me of an alternative fixing Jon idea I had: do a "light retcon" (well, not THAT light) and make it so the time in the volcano with Ultraman was way, way shorter (like maybe as short as a few days, a month at most) and for the most part he actually had a great time in space with his grandpa. You could even make a miniseries about it. I know retcons understandably piss people off, but idk, I think it might be worth it, since they refuse to treat his Earth-3 imprisonment/torture with the importance it should have anyway, and it's more kid Jon content (even if it's not exactly what kid Jon fans probably want).

Another idea I had to improve Jon (which could be combined with the above) would just have him do a lot of self-reflection and realize he needs to make some changes in his life and outlook. For example, he could learn that trying to comfort Injustice Superman didn't work and that he continued to be a tyrant, and he would realize that his obsession with peacefulness and not punching people is a bit misguided, or at least should not be prioritized over actually saving the world. (For the record, I'm not anti-pacificism or against pacifistic characters in general, but I don't think it works well in Jon's case, and doesn't seem like a great direction for the character.)