First Robin and now Superman too?
Before we get started, we’ll be honest with you that this is a rumor and not a confirmed story. But it’s a rumor being spread by a DC Comics insider, so it’s getting some traction among comic book fans.
There’s some early word going around that DC Comics is considering having Jonathan Kent come out as gay after becoming Superman. The news comes from former DC Comics artist Ethan Van Sciver, according to Cosmic Book News.
Van Sciver shared this potential leak on his YouTube channel ComicArtistsPro Secrets. He started the topic by alleging that DC is looking for a way to get rid of the classic Clark Kent version of Superman. His reasoning being, the claim that DC is tired of having to deal with the families of the character’s creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. But as Bleeding Cool points out, this is not true. Siegel and Shuster will be credited and their estates will be paid whenever any Superman or Superman-derived character is used by DC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up0YE7A_WCk
“I just found out, I got a little bit of a scoop about what DC’s plans are. Nobody knows this, yet. It hasn’t really been announced, except by me. The plan is that… Superman’s book… I guess Clark Kent is going bye-bye,” said Van Sciver. Bleeding Cool and We Got This Covered, two publications that often break similar news such as the openly gay hero in The Eternals or that Birds of Prey villain Black Mask would be queer, backed up this idea.
“DC Comics has had a lot of problems maintaining the trademark for Superman because you know, he’s old. He’s an old character, and the family would desperately like money because their family, their ancestors who created Superman got completely f’d over,” explained Van Sciver, though, again, this part of the news has been refuted. “I mean Superman has made billions and billions and billions of dollars in revenue and those two boys who made up Superman got ‘bupkis,’ they were Jewish, so they got ‘bupkis,’ they got nothing.”
Evan Van Sciver then revealed that not only is DC considering passing over the famous mantle to Clark Kent’s son, but he says they plan to make Kent gay as well.
He then added, “Clark Kent I guess is going bye-bye and they are going to replace him with Jonathan Kent, and then they are going to announce that Jonathan Kent is gay. So Superman is effectively gay, everyone. He is gay.”
Some possible early evidence of this may have come in the form of Jay Nakamura. Tom Taylor, who’s currently making Superman: Son Of Kal-El with John Timms, spoke with Bleeding Cool. Taylor revealed Nakamura will be an influential figure in Jon’s life.
“[Jon] gets one very good friend very early on, by issue three,” said Taylor. “Someone that he can talk to, that can be a confidant like Damian Wayne. And they’re going to have a big role in this.”
Then on August 24th’s Superman; Son Of Kal-El #2, we’re introduced to Jay Nakamura. Not only does Nakamura encourage Jonathan Kent to think and act more politically, but he’s featured on the cover, seen above, caring for a wounded Superman. At the moment, this is not a confirmation of queer representation, but it raises an eyebrow.
But who is Jonathan Kent? Well, he’s a character that already has sparked lots of controversy with DC fans. Jonathan, or Jon, Kent is the biological son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. He was introduced in 2015 in Convergence: Superman #2 and was used to help sell the idea of Clark Kent becoming a family man. In that attempt, DC succeeded. Comic book fans loved Jon Kent and the new Kent family.
It wasn’t long, however, before Jon Kent started crime-fighting alongside his father. On top of that, the comics established a friendship between young Jon Kent and Damien Wayne, aka Bruce Wayne’s biological son and the youngest Robin. The two even had a popular series titled Super Sons.
But in 2018, DC Comics and writer Brian Michael Bendis decided to age up the character. After traveling through space, the character returned as a young man. Once back on Earth, Jon Kent discovered that what was several years for him was only three weeks of time on Earth. Then most recently, the aged-up Superboy has been contemplating creating a new identity for himself, with the help of Damian. Will that new identity perhaps be… Superman?
Keep in mind, this is just a rumor for now and one from a disgruntled former employee. And while some of the story is looking true, it’s a leak about talks within DC offices. The gay revelation does not seem set in stone. But with the recent news of Tim Drake, aka Robin, coming out as bisexual, could DC take the risk of making Superman gay? Not only was the aging-up of Jonathan Kent not received well by DC fans, but the Tim Drake reveal was also divisive. Will DC add more to their recent controversies?
Though seeing as the character is still relatively new, only coming into comics in 2015 and being aged up in 2018, there’s no history to refute the change. The character has never had a romantic relationship before. That, at least, is in support of a possible gay Jon Kent.
In the end, though, we just have to wait and see what happens. What parts of this insider scoop are true? Will the change make it out of DC Comics office discussions and onto the page? Is Jay Nakamura more than a friend? And how will readers react to it? We’ll see in due time.
Note (8/26/2021): This article has been updated to refute the claim that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster will not be paid for the use of Superman and/or Superman-derived characters and to include information from Tom Taylor.
Source: Cosmic Book News, The Mix, Bleeding Cool, We Got This Covered,
“the family would desperately like money”
that’s the only reason they made him bi/gay. nobody cares about fking tolerance or equality, it’s all about money
BS on everything in the article. They just want to appease the woke people in their audience which is what, so small that even Superman can’t see them with microscopic vision but makes so much noise that even Black Canary will have tinnitus?
Can’t wait for when this is retconned out of existence. Until then, they lost another reader. Time to dig up the back issues I guess……
Update: It’s CONFIRMED that Jon Kent is bisexual.
https://instinctmagazine.com/jon-kent-and-new-friend-to-share-a-kiss-in-superman-son-of-kal-el/
Se volvieron “LOCAS” los DC COMICS, NO COMPRO NUNCA MAS UNA HISTORIETA DE ESA CASA EDITORIAL…ADIOS
Awesome! A gay superhero I’m all for it!
But who cares? If the son of Superman is gay, who cares? It’s 2021 and it’s not a thing anymore.
it still matters in the overarching heteronormative narrative who’s gay and who is not. it is STILL very much a thing. it boils down to who gets to wear the mantle of hero and who is sidelined. heroic has never been transferred to lgbtq individuals the same way it is transferred to str8 people by default. even in the world of comics fantasy, being gay is still an anamoly. folks can come from different galaxies and different planets and have miraculous powers, but the world stops spinning on its axis if someone is not presumably hetero.
I agree with Marcell. It still matters. Different planets, different galaxies…I was a young comic book gay way back in the day. To see something like this would have had an impact on me. #RepresentationMatters
Ethan van Scriver is a troll MAGA head who likes to make stuff up and piss people off. Literally no validity to this “rumor”
Go ahead. Do it, DC. ‘Cause I swear on the Bible even AT&T won’t be able to bail you out after this.
A completely stupid, worthless article. Devin even wrote, “Keep in mind, this is just a rumor for now and one from a disgruntled former employee”. Gezz Devin, slow news day huh?🙄
Ethan Van Sciver is only two inches removed from being an incel, with right wing views not at all far from those of people like Margery Taylor Greene (sp?), and opportunist wing-nuts like Ted Cruz and Tommy Tubberville, who toss terms like ‘sjw’ (for social justice warriors, and pro-Trump comment from 2015 onward to today, which hav been screen shot from his social media posts, to allegations that he also made racists, homophobic, and similar comments on there.
Now, for some facts: The family of Jerry Siegel were affirmed to own the rights to the character of Superboy in parts of the court proceedings against DC Comics and it’s then parent company(s), Warner Brothers/Time Warner, it was the character of Superman that was subject to the sale to National (DC Comics) in the 1930s and the “work for hire” provisions of contract law. But Superboy was considered, by the courts, a separate character – whether he’s white, black, gay, straight, a girl, a sex change, an alien, human, a hybrid – it doesn’t matter, they own those rights.
Secondly, while EVS possibly still has a few friends among the hundreds of employees left at DC, you can bet that people who would KNOW what’s going on with Jon Kent or Clark Kent (like Marie Javins or Jamie S. Rich) don’t speak to him, given their views and his persona non grata status at DC.
So it’s stupid and absurd for him to say this. And for anyone to repeat it. Now I know this site can’t be taken seriously as journalist since it’s never a fountain a facts, but it would have taken Devin 5 seconds to look up either facts about EVS or facts about the Siegel family and the character of Superboy. Devin likes to pass himself off as the nerd expert here (and on other sites), so it’s actually stuff he should have known, period.
For shame.
Triggered much, cupcake?
Ah, look, a pepe poster loving EVS fan has come over to a gay site to defend his hero, how cute!!!