How would you bring Conner Kent back?

[Atomic Man]

The origin from the original introduction would stand. After the Doomsday battle Cadmus created a Superman clone to fill the gap. Human tissue was used to stabilize the process so it didn't produce a Bizarro. The process was interrupted resulting in a teen-clone. All (or at least most) of the stories up to Sins-of-Youth happened.

Then Ox comes into the picture and things get hazy. The real Kon is pulled from reality and replaced by a series of replacements. First Match (with a failed version being that Bizarro Match), a version from Earth 247, Jon Lane. After seeing that none of that worked Kon's whole history was masked like Wally's was prior to Rebirth. No one remembers a Superboy between Clark's youth and Jon's recent debut.

Then Kon returns.

What human tissue would you want to see used in this new origin, assuming it's not Luthor's? Lots of possibilities for interesting stories there...

[Sacred Knight]

Superlad and I have gone the rounds on this one, lol, but I still like my theory of reigniting the clone sickness angle, in a sense. Being that, at some point Jon falls ill because of his unique genetic code. All science, Human, Kryptonian and otherwise, fail him, until after Conner makes a triumphant return to continuity, where on top of his return heralding the Super family being complete again, its also discovered that his own unique genetic code, from both being a clone and surviving the original clone sickness, turns out being the treatment for Jon's own ailment. In effect, Conner's blood then saves Jon's life.

Of course, I came up with this theory over a year ago, when I genuinely thought seeds were planted for a "Jon is sick" storyline much earlier (it turned out to be the Jon/Kathy connection). With time passing, not to mention me hoping that Conner's return is much sooner than later, specific details of the theory, like Conner not coming back till after Jon fell ill, would need amending.

[devil leonx]

Superlad and I have gone the rounds on this one, lol, but I still like my theory of reigniting the clone sickness angle, in a sense. Being that, at some point Jon falls ill because of his unique genetic code. All science, Human, Kryptonian and otherwise, fail him, until after Conner makes a triumphant return to continuity, where on top of his return heralding the Super family being complete again, its also discovered that his own unique genetic code, from both being a clone and surviving the original clone sickness, turns out being the treatment for Jon's own ailment. In effect, Conner's blood then saves Jon's life.

Of course, I came up with this theory over a year ago, when I genuinely thought seeds were planted for a "Jon is sick" storyline much earlier (it turned out to be the Jon/Kathy connection). With time passing, not to mention me hoping that Conner's return is much sooner than later, specific details of the theory, like Conner not coming back till after Jon fell ill, would need amending.

Thats a pretty cool idea ! I miss Connor , Rebirth was supposed to set things right but its still missing a someone to me as important as Wally West or even more so which is Superboy.

[Ascended]

Like many others here, I expect Conner to return before Rebirth ends. My personal theory is that when things look grimmest for our heroes and all seems lost, Tim Drake will escape Oz's prison (or be set free, still hard to tell where Oz will land in all this) and find his friends Conner, Bart, and maybe Cassie. They'll charge into the fray and turn the tide of battle.

Arriving with thunder and glory like they do will not only win the battle but jog everyone's memories, and another piece of the missing decade will fall back into place, putting the heroes one step closer to winning the war for their continuity.

Given the approach of Rebirth thus far, I expect the vast majority of Conner's history to remain intact, from Reign of the Supermen to Infinite Crisis. And odds are they'll acknowledge the New52 versions as temporal anomalies, or they might try to squeeze them into the space between Conner's death and his return.

[godisawesome]

Like many others here, I expect Conner to return before Rebirth ends. My personal theory is that when things look grimmest for our heroes and all seems lost, Tim Drake will escape Oz's prison (or be set free, still hard to tell where Oz will land in all this) and find his friends Conner, Bart, and maybe Cassie. They'll charge into the fray and turn the tide of battle.

Arriving with thunder and glory like they do will not only win the battle but jog everyone's memories, and another piece of the missing decade will fall back into place, putting the heroes one step closer to winning the war for their continuity.

Given the approach of Rebirth thus far, I expect the vast majority of Conner's history to remain intact, from Reign of the Supermen to Infinite Crisis. And odds are they'll acknowledge the New52 versions as temporal anomalies, or they might try to squeeze them into the space between Conner's death and his return.

Tim's disappearance leading to the YJ crew's re-entrance is a favorite theory of mine, though I'd modify it a bit: the upcoming issue of TEC where Tom returns implies he has to choose between escaping or helping out the people next to him.

Soooo.... I'd go with the idea Tim has a chance to escape undetected, but sees Kon and Bart locked up (only those two for right now because they both disappeared from the New 52 and had *massively* changed backgrounds). He winds up deciding to free them, and a Wally-spark makes them regain their memories. Unfortunately, they're now discovered in their escape, and are going to be hunted by Oz's minions.

So, this reformed Young Justice can't make contact with their mentors yet, because Oz's guys are following and, in my version, erasing the memories of those who encounter them. So, for Kon, he's kind of in weird amalgamated state; he's got the mostly mellow attitude of Pre-Flashpoint Kon, the power set and "cool" nature of 90's Kon, but also some anger like Young Justice Kon, in part from having his memories messed with. Tim and Bart are likewise amalgamated.

[Sacred Knight]

Like many others here, I expect Conner to return before Rebirth ends. My personal theory is that when things look grimmest for our heroes and all seems lost, Tim Drake will escape Oz's prison (or be set free, still hard to tell where Oz will land in all this) and find his friends Conner, Bart, and maybe Cassie. They'll charge into the fray and turn the tide of battle.

Arriving with thunder and glory like they do will not only win the battle but jog everyone's memories, and another piece of the missing decade will fall back into place, putting the heroes one step closer to winning the war for their continuity.

Given the approach of Rebirth thus far, I expect the vast majority of Conner's history to remain intact, from Reign of the Supermen to Infinite Crisis. And odds are they'll acknowledge the New52 versions as temporal anomalies, or they might try to squeeze them into the space between Conner's death and his return.

Agreed. Personally this is what I'm expecting for Doomsday Clock. That's when I personally see the returns officially taking place, outside of Tim of course who we know 'Tec is getting back to in September. Batman and Flash were the major players in the Button. Now Superman is the major player in DS. Superman, Batman, Flash. Hmm. Kon-El, Tim Drake, Bart Allen. It just makes too much sense. Bruce and Barry showing up in Doomsday Clock to aid Superman, but the three combined heroes still facing a bind, then the three Young Justice founders and said heroes' protoges returning to lend a hand is vintage Geoff Johns.

[DragonPiece]

I'm just gonna say a hard "no" to this. Just bring back Conner as he was before the New 52 screwed him up.

It reads as dumb as when I imagined it lol, don't know what I was thinking writing this.

[Sacred Knight]

Though, he was screwed up before the New 52. He was a little better after his resurrection, but people seem to forget that Johns screwed him up first, many years before the New 52. New 52 tried to fix it and just ran into its own problems for trying to be too cute.

[Last Son of Krypton]

I liked the new52 Kon-El before they messed up everything to turn him into the clone of Superman, Lois and Jon Lane Kent. WTF they were even thinking?

Btw, I'm currently in the mindset that we'll don't see Kon for a long long time.

[Jon Clark]

What human tissue would you want to see used in this new origin, assuming it's not Luthor's? Lots of possibilities for interesting stories there...

I'd actually consider Luthor as a possible donor, even if I wasn't fond of that revelation being made after the question had long been settled. My take would be that both Westfield and Luthor had plans in place for their DNA to be the human part. What isn't known (at least when Kon returns) is whether Lex succeeded in having his agent replace Westfield's DNA or if Westfield prevented that somehow. If DC is willing to go there I'd even use Black Zero's killing of Westfield to have it where originally Westfield was the donor but when he was retroactively erased from existence the DNA defaulted to being Luthor's. That might be too convoluted though.

[godisawesome]

I liked the new52 Kon-El before they messed up everything to turn him into the clone of Superman, Lois and Jon Lane Kent. WTF they were even thinking?

Btw, I'm currently in the mindset that we'll don't see Kon for a long long time.

That. They were literally thinking that. WTF. What the Fifty Two.

I'm convinced the convuluted, Stryfe-like origin for New 52 Superboy was literally the result of editorial telling Lobdell to come up with something crazy or came up with it themselves. Originally, it was clear that Lex was supposed to be one of his donors (issue #1's reference to the strange dichotomy of wholesome Americana and latent sociopathy duking it out in his unconscious mind) and literally the previous issue ended with Mister Mind running into a Lex Luthor program in Conner's brain. And then BAM! Lobdell interrupts someone else's run on a book featuring Superboy (it won't be the first time) to introduce some cockamamie insanity involving Harvest and time travel, seemingly off editorial's hatred of good storytelling and love of gimmicks. And before you know it, Superboy's replaced by the evil original, and more utter insanity happens, and before you know it, the book's cancelled with the best people can say about the ending being that the guys given the last bit took the complicated mess and gave it apparently the best possible ending.

Frankly, everything that happened to the New 52 Superboy is an embarrassment for DC Editorial. They kept trying to repackage the character, and di it so often that when they finally kicked him to limbo, they only did it after it became public that he was getting a new costume and symbol, then did it in the worst way possible, again interrupting another writers run to make Lobdell do something insane. And hilariously enough, even though I despise Lobdell's work by and large, he did seem to have some genuine ideas and plans for Superboy, and didn't write him badly until editorial started frothing at the mouth.

[Sacred Knight]

There was definitely some sort of interference in the direction, that's for sure, because the early issues clearly hinted that Lex was still a donor. The only thing that looked to be changed about his origins at that early stage were, of course, who engineered him, and the fact that instead of just Superman and Luthor, he was to have a third donor. What ended up happening was an obvious about-face, and when something like that happens, the most likely source of the change is editorial mandate.

To be honest I have a conspiracy theory now that, if Oz turns out to be an adult Jon, that a "Mysterious character with worldly influence who'd turn out to be a future version of Superman's son" idea was something Johns has had for a long time, and perhaps the reason they shoehorned the idea of Jon Lane Kent into the Superboy mythos was because at the time the rough idea was that it would be this version of Superman's son that was to turn out to be the character that would eventually be crafted into Mr. Oz when he was eventually introduced then revealed. In retrospect, they were really gung-ho about trying to fit a son of Superman into the New 52, which was always odd because it ran so counter to the decision to make him single again, so I've wondered for a while now if the Mr. Oz direction was the culmination of early New 52 ideas, and which is why that all of a sudden, finally, Jurgens' pitch for an in-continuity child for Superman was finally accepted.

[Ascended]

I dont think there's any doubt at all that Luthor will be one of Conner's donors (if/when Conner returns).

That's been Conner's origin for over a decade. It's the origin they used in Smallville and Young Justice. And it was Johns, the current Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics, who came up with that retcon.

The only way we'll get anything different is if Johns is overruled by someone at WB. And since the Lex origin has worked so well in larger media, why would they want to cut that out in favor of some random Cadmus guy no one outside of hardcore 90's era Super-fans has even heard of?

[Wri-El]

If you were writing the Superman title how would you bring Kon back into the fold?

Would you keep Jon around?

Also doesn't the current Superman remember Conner? He's form the pre-flashpoint universe right?

Not quite. This isn’t the pre-Flashpoint only, but a mix of pre-Flashpoint and other timelines like the New 52.
And this Zod, Rebirth Zod is definitely different. He's more from the New 52 version, than the previous ones.
Look at Cyborg Superman! He shouldn't have needed the Oblivion Stone to become Cyborg Superman, but he needed it all the same.

If Chris is ever to return, it will be either in a timeline conflict, maybe a one shot, or only when Rebirth ends.

But Chris position will have to change.
I'd honestly like to see him in another position. Like if Zod was also from the house of El, and Chris was also Kal-El cousin.
Or he could be a erased timeline refugee that Clark takes in.

One thing is certain.
As long as Jon is around we're not gonna see either Chris or Connor.

[Sacred Knight]

I dont think there's any doubt at all that Luthor will be one of Conner's donors (if/when Conner returns).

That's been Conner's origin for over a decade. It's the origin they used in Smallville and Young Justice. And it was Johns, the current Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics, who came up with that retcon.

The only way we'll get anything different is if Johns is overruled by someone at WB. And since the Lex origin has worked so well in larger media, why would they want to cut that out in favor of some random Cadmus guy no one outside of hardcore 90's era Super-fans has even heard of?

Oh half Lex will surely stick. Its not my ideal, but I know its here to stay and its not the worst of Johns' changes so that alone I could live with. Where Johns majorly screwed up was using the Lex angle to drastically change Conner's personality, make his powers virtually mimic Superman, and in essence basically make him into a mini-Clark that was so bad, not just necessarily making him part Lex's clone. If him being part Lex isn't used an excuse to make him emo, if his powers are once again truly telekinetically based without him "growing into" more normal Kryptonian powers (there's absolutely no reason for this; the power set made Conner unique, its completely ass-backward thinking that he needs to be just like Clark in every way), then he'll be fine. His costume not sucking would be a nice gift, as well.