Ma and Pa Kent

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Martha Clark Kent and Jonathan Kent

Jonathan and Martha Kent.
From New Adventures of Superboy #1 (January 1980). Art by Kurt Schaffenberger
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Superman (volume 1) #1 (Summer 1939)
Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
In story information
Full name Martha Clark-Kent and Jonathan Kent
Supporting character of Superman

Martha Clark Kent and Jonathan Kent, also known as Ma and Pa Kent, are fictional characters published by DC Comics. The Kents are the adoptive parents of Superman. They live in the small town of Smallville, USA. The couple is usually portrayed age-wise as either late middle age or elderly.

In most versions of Superman's origin story, Jonathan and Martha were the first to come across the rocket that brought the infant Kal-El to Earth, with their adopting him shortly thereafter, renaming him Clark Kent---"Clark" being Martha's maiden name.

The Kents are usually portrayed as caring parents who instill within Clark a strong sense of morals, and they encourage Clark to use his powers for the betterment of humanity. Martha is also the one who creates Clark's superhero costume.

In DC Comics continuity before John Byrne's 1986 reboot of the Superman series, Martha and Jonathan Kent died shortly after Clark's high school graduation; in the current comics' continuity, they are both still alive when Clark becomes an adult and remain important supporting characters to this day.

Contents

[edit] Fictional characters biography

[edit] Golden and Silver Age versions

Although a "passing motorist" is described as having found the infant Kal-L in the character's first appearance in 1938's Action Comics #1, 1939's Superman #1 introduces Superman's adoptive parents to the mythos, with "Mary Kent" being the only parent given a name. The Kents' first names vary in stories from the 1940s. A 1942 Superman novel, The Adventures of Superman by George Lowther, [1] gave the names "Eben and Sarah Kent", which were also used in the Adventures of Superman television series, but the first extensive retelling of Superman's origin in 1948's Superman #53 names them "John and Mary Kent." Pa Kent is first named Jonathan in Adventure Comics #149 (1950). Ma Kent is first named Marthe in Superboy #12 (1951) and Martha in subsequent appearances.

Later stories,[2] after the early 1960s introduction of DC's Multiverse system, declare that the early version of the Kents are named "John and Mary Kent" and live on the world of "Earth-Two", home of the Golden Age DC superheroes, while the more modern Jonathan and Martha Kent live on the world of "Earth-One", home of the Silver Age DC superheroes.

Martha and Jonathan Kent, as they appear in comics from the 1970s and 1980s. From New Adventures of Superboy #1 (January 1980). Art by Kurt Schaffenberger.
Martha and Jonathan Kent, as they appear in comics from the 1970s and 1980s. From New Adventures of Superboy #1 (January 1980). Art by Kurt Schaffenberger.

The Kents made few appearances in Superman stories until the introduction of the Superboy comic book series in 1949. In this series, they are regular supporting characters of the teenaged superhero. The Superboy stories establish the Kents' backstory. Jonathan, a former race car driver,[3] is a farmer on a farm just outside of Smallville. After he and Martha find the toddler Kal-El in his rocket, they take him to the Smallville Orphanage and later formally adopt him, naming him "Clark." They soon discover that Clark possesses a fantastic array of superpowers. Around the time Clark starts school, the Kents sell their farm, and the family moves into Smallville, where they open a general store.[4] During Clark's early grade school years, Jonathan trains young Clark in the use of his superpowers to the best of his knowledge while urging him to keep the use of his powers a secret. At the age of eight,[5] Clark begins a superhero career as Superboy. Martha creates Superboy's costume out of the blankets inside the rocket that brought him to Earth, and Jonathan helps him to create a means of making Superboy and Clark appear to be different people by developing Clark's secret identity as a mild-mannered, reserved individual. The Kents assist their adopted son on many adventures as Superboy.

In Superboy volume 1 #145 (March 1968), Jonathan and Martha are rejuvenated physically and appear younger due to the influence of an alien serum. After this, Jonathan and Martha were drawn by artists as late middle-aged — as opposed to elderly — in appearance until Superman's 1986 reboot. After Clark graduates from high school, Jonathan and Martha take a vacation to the Caribbean Islands, where they contract a fatal and rare tropical disease after handling materials from a pirate's treasure chest they had exhumed; despite Superboy's best efforts, Martha dies, with Jonathan dying soon thereafter. Before dying, Jonathan reminds Clark that he must always use his powers for the benefit of humanity. Clark mourns his parents and moves to Metropolis to attend college.

[edit] Modern Age versions

[edit] The Man of Steel

Martha Kent, Superman, and Jonathan Kent. Art by Jim Lee.
Martha Kent, Superman, and Jonathan Kent. Art by Jim Lee.

After comics writer John Byrne rewrote Superman's origin in the 1986 The Man of Steel limited series, one of the changes he made was keeping Jonathan and Martha Kent alive into Clark's adulthood. The Kents have the same role as in the earlier stories, instilling within Clark the morals needed to become a strong and heroic figure. A Legion of Superheroes/Superman team-up that was written to explain why the Legion still exists even without Superboy confirms that Post-Crisis Jonathan and Martha Kent are younger than their Pre-Crisis counterparts, explaining in part why they live on in Clark's adult life.

In this version of events, after a Kryptonian "birthing matrix" lands on Earth, Jonathan and Martha find a newborn infant inside. Taking the infant in just before a major snowstorm strikes (that buried Smallville in snow for a number of months and cut off outsiders' access to the Kent family farm), the couple decides to pass the infant off as their own natural child, naming him "Clark." Clark's powers slowly develop, with his powers fully emerging once he reaches his late teens. After Clark's high school graduation, the Kents tell Clark about his extraterrestrial origins, and Clark leaves Smallville to explore the outside world. After Clark moves to Metropolis, Jonathan and Martha help Clark to create a superhero identity.

In the Man of Steel version, the Kents remain farmers through Clark's adult years, although a storyline[issue # needed] features them having opened a general store in Smallville. Although Jonathan is still alive in the comics, he suffers a heart attack after The Death of Superman storyline, [6] and he meets Clark in the afterlife and encourages him to return to life with him. The Kents' post-Crisis history is more fully fleshed out in the late 1980s limited series The World of Smallville, with Jonathan's ancestors' history more fully explored in the 1990s limited series The Kents.

[edit] Birthright

The Kents are again altered in 2003's Superman: Birthright limited series by Mark Waid, which again revises Superman's origins.[1] Jonathan is portrayed as having a more strained relationship with his son, and he and Martha are depicted as far younger at the time of Clark adopting his Superman identity than in past portrayals, appearing here to be scarcely middle-aged.

The younger, modern version of the Kents as depicted in Superman: Birthright.
The younger, modern version of the Kents as depicted in Superman: Birthright.

The Kents' appearances were altered to resemble slightly older versions of actor John Schneider and actress Annette O'Toole, who portray the Kents in the Smallville television series.[7] Although now shown wearing glasses, Jonathan has a full head of blonde hair, and Martha has long red tresses. This younger portrayal of the Kents has persisted in the regular DC Universe since Birthright was published; it has not been explained, but is thought to be one of many consequences of the events of Infinite Crisis.

One of the major subplots of Birthright is a rift between Jonathan and Clark. Although not unprecedented (the post-Crisis Jonathan was critical of Clark for "showing off" by playing football with his human peers, and the Smallville Jonathan is often in disagreement with Clark over the protection of his son's secret), the strain in their relationship is such that the father and son are barely speaking to each other at the opening of the series. Jonathan has conflicting feelings regarding Clark's powers and his decision to use it for the benefit of humanity; he seems to feel that he has lost the affections of his newly-adult son, partly due to Clark's fascination with his Kryptonian origins. Unlike most previous incarnations of Jonathan Kent, the Birthright Jonathan is not particularly encouraging or instrumental in the formation of Clark's Superman identity or mission, although over the course of the series, father and son are eventually reconciled.

In Birthright, Martha is sassier and more at odds with her husband over how Clark should live than in previous comic incarnations. Because Jonathan has little to do with the creation of the Superman identity, Martha plays a more prominent role in this regard. She is also far more technologically savvy than ever before, communicating with Clark via encrypted e-mail as he travels around the world.

[edit] Post-Action #850

Since the events of Infinite Crisis, Superman's continuity has been revised yet again from the Birthright origin, as briefly summarised in Action Comics #850. Although various aspects of his past are clearly retconned from the Birthright version, there is little to specifically indicate that the Kents themselves have been substantially changed. They are still depicted with younger appearances and the Schneider and O'Toole likenesses.

[edit] In other media

Glenn Ford as Jonathan Kent with Phyllis Thaxter as Martha in Superman (1978).
Glenn Ford as Jonathan Kent with Phyllis Thaxter as Martha in Superman (1978).

[edit] Smallville

In the 2000s television show Smallville, Annette O'Toole and John Schneider play Martha and Jonathan Kent respectively. They were, at first, depicted as just Clark's parents, raising him and helping him cope with his powers, but soon became more fleshed out as they share a history with Lionel Luthor, whom Jonathan greatly despised since he had to convince Pete Ross' uncles to "sell" their cream corn factory in exchange for having Luthor forge Clark's adoption paperwork. Martha began to develop feelings for Lionel as she worked for him, leading to some tensions in their marriage. Martha and Jonathan also almost had a child when Martha was cured by Clark's spaceship, but she miscarried after one of Smallville's various apocalypses, leading Clark to run away, although he later came back.

They stayed a strong couple up until Jonathan defeated Lex Luthor in the race to become a Kansas state senator. Jonathan then met with Lionel, who told him he knew Clark's secret, and Jonathan had a heart attack and died after attacking Luthor. Martha took over his role as a senator, but grew close to Lionel. Later, Martha's role on the show slowly shrinks, until the Season 6 finale "Phantom", when she becomes the United States Junior Senator from Kansas, effectively leaving the show.

The Kents in the series are portrayed as largely moral, always reacting strongly when it appears that their son is engaged in selfish activities or uses of his powers. In the fourth season episode "Unsafe", Jonathan is heartbroken when he finds out that Clark had rushed into a marriage with his erstwhile girlfriend Alicia Baker, and Martha is particularly outraged despite Clark being under the influence of Red Kryptonite and therefore not entirely responsible for his actions. Nevertheless, they are the good, caring, loving parents in contrast to Lex Luthor's cruel, distant and manipulative father for much of the early series, although Jonathan's major personality flaw is his bad temper, which has sometimes led to severe consequences (e.g. Jonathan lashing out at Clark in the season two finale, blaming him for the accident that he and Martha were caught in, played a major part in Clark's decision to leave Smallville). Jonathan also appears to be something of a speciest, believing in strongly that such virtues like compassion are synonymous with the human race (as seen through his rhetoric of being 'human' and one's 'humanity') unlike with non-human races and is quick to conclude that Kryptonians are an 'evil' race. He thinks that his son only escaped this apparent evil nature because he was raised with human values. Martha is, in these ways, the opposite of her husband, being far more temperate and less inclined to conclude that all Kryptonians are evil just because they've seen "the actions of a few." It seems that Jonathan's beliefs about humanity had been successfully installed in his adopted son, which although gives him a positive view of humanity has also led to a self-loathing of not being human and perhaps a too quick a jump to the conclusion that his native race are evil.

As well as compassion and a sense of responsibility, the Kents have also tried to teach their son about free will, such as in the aforementioned second season finale "Exodus" when Jonathan assures Clark that he makes his own destiny.

[edit] References in Pop Culture

  • In Hercules, a Disney animated film, the Kents role in the Superman mythos is recognizably integrated into the myth of Hercules, with Alcmene and her husband, Amphitryon, finding a "super strong" infant Hercules by the side of the road, adopting the child as their own, and helping him to find his way in the world.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lowther, George (1942). The Adventures of Superman. Random House. ISBN 1557092281. 
  2. ^  Cary Bates (w),  Curt Swan (p,i). "Superman Takes a Wife!" Action Comics  #484 (June 1978)  DC Comics
  3. ^ Superboy #196 (Sep. 1973)
  4. ^ Superboy #78 (Jan. 1960)
  5. ^ The New Adventures of Superboy #1 (Jan. 1980)
  6. ^  Simonson, Louise (w),  Bogdanove, Jon (p),  Janke, Dennis (i).  Superman: The Man of Steel  #21 (March 1993)  DC Comics (22)
  7. ^ Singh, Arune, Comic Book Resources - Super-Stars (Part 1): Mark Waid's "Birthright," The Official Origin, <http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=3385>. Retrieved on 25 December 2007 

[edit] External links

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