Hoo Boy. Jonathan Kent's history in the comics is a mess.
If you thought what Darkseid's been through the last few years was complicated, then you aren't ready for Jonathan Kent's history.
Buckle up buckaroos! We're going for a ride!
Okay, first it's important to know that Flashpoint, in which Barry Allen the Flash tries to "change history" by saving his mother that the Reverse Flash went back in time to kill, reset DC continuity, resulting in the New 52. This was a attempt to simplify and revert everyone back to their younger days, in a attempt to get new readers. You all see how that worked out below...
Why am I bringing that up? Well, it's later revealed that Dr Manhattan from the Watchmen used this Crisis-Event in order to remove 10 years of history, "hope", and "connections" from the heroes of the DC universe, as a experiment to what would happen. And "repairing" the timeline due to SO MANY Crisis-Events in the past which was slowly breaking down reality so that the evil creator of the Multiverse, Perpetua, could return...but that's another story.
BUT, it turns out that a copy of that pre-Flashpoint universe survived and was abducted by the "true" multiversal Brainiac that collects realities and timelines in bottles instead of planets. During the Convergence event, it's revealed that ONE of these world contains a still-married Superman and Lois Lane, who are about to have a baby. They are able to escape from this "bottle" reality into the "main" New 52 universe. Jonathan is born.
At this point, there are now 2 different Supermen running around. The younger New 52 Superman and the older pre-Flashpoint Superman. The Older Superman has been working in secret, making sure to hide his existence from the New 52 Superman, and Jonathan is able to grow up normally for about 9 years. The New 52 Superman ends up losing his powers and dying. It's during this time hiding that Jonathan starts showing that he has superpowers.
The two Supermen (or...one Superman and the "spirit" of the other) are eventually merged into a single Superman (and timeline) during a fight with Mister Mxylpyx. Jonathan is mostly unaffected by this, but his Convergence origins are retconned into just being born on THIS Earth.
Eventually...(get ready for this one)...his grandfather Jor-El, who is still alive after being saved from Krypton's destruction by Dr Manhattan, becomes the supervillain Mister Oz and manipulates his son Superman, trying to make him and his family leave Earth since he no longer believes humanity is worth saving. After being defeated, Jor-El asks for Lois and Clark to let him take Jonathan on a tour throughout the universe to educate him. Jonathan gets sucked into a black hole into Earth-3, the opposite reality where all the heroes are villains, and spends 7 years there before getting saved and sent home. Jonathan is now older. Jor-El is eventually sent back to Krypton in the past to die.
Later, Jonathan helps to broker peace between warring alien worlds, and unknowingly helps create the United Planets in the future. The Legion Of Super-Heroes (version...6 at his point, I think?) goes back in time in order to witness this historic event for themselves. They then recruit Jonathan Kent to join them in the 31st Century, but he eventually returns to the present day again.
Superman decides to go into outer space to try and stop Mongul and free his slaves, while he's slowly dying due to radiation poisoning. He has Jonathan take over his duties of protecting Earth, making Jonathan the new Superman.
So...I guess it depends on when you want to say he got aged up. I think he only gained his recent age after being stranded on Earth-3.
His first appearance is technically Convergence Superman 2 (July 2015) I'd say his first "real" appearance was Superman: Lois and Clark 1 (December 2015) when he was about 9 years old. He got aged up in Superman v5 7 (January 2019). He returns from the Legion future in Action Comics 1022 (August 2020). And is officially Superman in Superman Son of Kal-El 1 (September 2021),
Why am I bringing that up? Well, it's later revealed that Dr Manhattan from the Watchmen used this Crisis-Event in order to remove 10 years of history, "hope", and "connections" from the heroes of the DC universe, as a experiment to what would happen. And "repairing" the timeline due to SO MANY Crisis-Events in the past which was slowly breaking down reality so that the evil creator of the Multiverse, Perpetua, could return...but that's another story.
BUT, it turns out that a copy of that pre-Flashpoint universe survived and was abducted by the "true" multiversal Brainiac that collects realities and timelines in bottles instead of planets. During the Convergence event, it's revealed that ONE of these world contains a still-married Superman and Lois Lane, who are about to have a baby. They are able to escape from this "bottle" reality into the "main" New 52 universe. Jonathan is born.
At this point, there are now 2 different Supermen running around. The younger New 52 Superman and the older pre-Flashpoint Superman. The Older Superman has been working in secret, making sure to hide his existence from the New 52 Superman, and Jonathan is able to grow up normally for about 9 years. The New 52 Superman ends up losing his powers and dying. It's during this time hiding that Jonathan starts showing that he has superpowers.
The two Supermen (or...one Superman and the "spirit" of the other) are eventually merged into a single Superman (and timeline) during a fight with Mister Mxylpyx. Jonathan is mostly unaffected by this, but his Convergence origins are retconned into just being born on THIS Earth.
Eventually...(get ready for this one)...his grandfather Jor-El, who is still alive after being saved from Krypton's destruction by Dr Manhattan, becomes the supervillain Mister Oz and manipulates his son Superman, trying to make him and his family leave Earth since he no longer believes humanity is worth saving. After being defeated, Jor-El asks for Lois and Clark to let him take Jonathan on a tour throughout the universe to educate him. Jonathan gets sucked into a black hole into Earth-3, the opposite reality where all the heroes are villains, and spends 7 years there before getting saved and sent home. Jonathan is now older. Jor-El is eventually sent back to Krypton in the past to die.
Later, Jonathan helps to broker peace between warring alien worlds, and unknowingly helps create the United Planets in the future. The Legion Of Super-Heroes (version...6 at his point, I think?) goes back in time in order to witness this historic event for themselves. They then recruit Jonathan Kent to join them in the 31st Century, but he eventually returns to the present day again.
Superman decides to go into outer space to try and stop Mongul and free his slaves, while he's slowly dying due to radiation poisoning. He has Jonathan take over his duties of protecting Earth, making Jonathan the new Superman.
So...I guess it depends on when you want to say he got aged up. I think he only gained his recent age after being stranded on Earth-3.
His first appearance is technically Convergence Superman 2 (July 2015) I'd say his first "real" appearance was Superman: Lois and Clark 1 (December 2015) when he was about 9 years old. He got aged up in Superman v5 7 (January 2019). He returns from the Legion future in Action Comics 1022 (August 2020). And is officially Superman in Superman Son of Kal-El 1 (September 2021),
He WAS 17 as of 2019. And according to a recent interview, he's still 17 during Superman Son of Kal-El.
Jonathan Kent, Superboy, is Now 17 Years Old...
As seen in a preview of Superman #7, published tomorrow, Jonathan Kent has returned to Earth from his trip away with his revived-by-Manhattan-transfer
bleedingcool.com
Superman Writer Knows "Some Fans Are Upset" Over Superboy Age Change
Tom Taylor knows fans are upset over Superboy.
screenrant.com
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