Fixing Jon

[manwhohaseverything]

He needs something like Warworld Saga. Some big space adventure with completely different setting and different cast of characters. Away from Clark and Damian (because at this point Jon is defined by him being Clark's son and Damian's best friend) and especially away from Jay, because he sucks.

A warworld with jon feeling like a gladiator with fire would be something i would totally buy...
"Slave state your name!!"
"My name is Superman"

[Primal Slayer]

Not exploring Jons life as 'Jon', the teenager. Navigating high school in the city while also trying to be a hero and live up to his fathers name....HUGE mistake and its an area where DC really fails nowadays. They don't let their characters be "human" and are just superheroing 99.9% of the time.

Let him be weaker than Clark and deal with the criminals that arent out of this world.

[Will Evans]

I hate to say it, but kill Jay.
Then let Jon become the emo Superman/boy.
You could get some good stories from that.

[king81992]

Killing off characters to make another 'emo' is such a bad idea. Emo Kon didn't work and Emo Jon won't work either.

[Journey]

Clark was superboy as well. nobody had a problem with that.He doesn't "discover" himself or whatever that means.He just needs a different shtick than his dad.A superman that isn't about saving the world or being thy lord and savior would perfectly encapsulate the difference between jon and clark.Clark is about "fix"ing and "perfect"ing the world, with him standing as the ideal or moral standard.Jon is about discovering some ancient ninja rune that tirns people into apple pie or something...He can also be far more local when it comes to helping people,than clark and far more personal..A friendly neighborhood champion..aka superman of metropolis.Giving another name does nothing to what's fundamentally been the problem with the character.Which is zero personality,lack of a better Direction and motivation for the character than same old hum drum savior "man of speeches" shtick his dad does.

I feel like you’re being very obtuse to what I’m tryna say we’re saying basically the same thing but you’re not understanding & no point in beating a dead horse.

[Journey]

I hate to say it, but kill Jay.
Then let Jon become the emo Superman/boy.
You could get some good stories from that.

I think if we’re gonna do away with Jay, Jon should just realize he hasn’t had a chance to really live he doesn’t want to be tied down to one person at the age of 17 & have him just cheat on him which would also give the character some flaws like an actual human being & probably even make local news again but DC doesn’t understand a modern audience enough to give us a messy Queer Superboy.

[TaliaJoy]

Reveal that Teen Jon is a result of the Time Trapper's manipulations to destroy the timeline. Have Teen Jon realize this...and save his kid self from Earth 3. Have a massive showdown between the Time Trapper and the Super Family...that ends in Teen Jon embracing his full power and defeating the Trapper. He then ascends to a higher plane of existence leaving Kid Jon with his parents.

This was pretty reasonable and I can imagine something like this happening, but then you threw in that "Poochie died on the way back to his home planet" with the last sentence, lol.

I really do think the way forward is to make teen Jon somehow not the real Jon, and bring the kid Jon back alongside him, but teen Jon should be kept in the story, and accepted by Superman and Lois as their son. I don't think they'd "get rid of him" after they've invested a lot into him, and a literal age-down is not an option now that he has a teen boyfriend. It would just be too awkward. Plus, even if kid Jon is bi too, his relationships will be very un-serious due to his age, so I think DC wants to keep teen Jon for representation reasons.

Though, I personally don't think bringing back kid Jon is absolutely essential. It's OK if they just want to make teen Jon a better character, I guess. But I think kid Jon's fanbase is bigger, so it might make sense to bring him back.

[Gaelforce]

A few deletions this morning...

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Keep to the topic, folks, not the poster.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Indeed, Jon's trauma has been poorly dealt with. What should be a defining character trait is barely touched upon.

I support this opinion. I liked the idea of a timeskip but wish it was better handled. Jon coming back completely different like Boruto did in two blue vortex would've been dope.

I'm hoping the Gunn DCEU handles Jon and his timeskip better than the comics.

Beyond that Jon felt like a dull version of Clark so giving him more unique plots like being bonded to Etrigam for a spell would be nice.

[out of control]

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.

[Celgress]

I like the Time Trapper angle.

Ah, it could work. It would certainly be more interesting than JonxJay and Jon's general status quo but that is mostly down to Jay, IMHO.

[Celgress]

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.

Yeah, because of this factor I don't think de-aging Jon would work nor is it necessary to "fix him" as I've outlined in previous thread posts.

[magha_regulus]

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.

I feel you on that.

[Ascended]

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.

[manwhohaseverything]

I feel like you’re being very obtuse to what I’m tryna say we’re saying basically the same thing but you’re not understanding & no point in beating a dead horse.

I am saying keep the title lose the shtick.You are saying loose both..we are saying different things.I think a different supes would be great change in pace..

Thinking about it,using concept and story to attract people wouldn't be a bad idea.something pike The great Spiral starring Superman of metropolis or The bulleteers and superman of metropolis. .Something like max fliescher cartoons did...