Jonathan Kent, also known as Pa Kent, is a fictional character published by DC Comics. He is the foster father of Superman, and the husband of Martha Kent (also known as "Ma Kent"). Jonathan lives with his wife Martha in the small town of Smallville, USA. Jonathan is usually portrayed agewise as either late middle age or elderly.
In all versions of Superman's origin story, Jonathan and Martha Kent were the first to come across the rocket that brought the infant Kal-El to Earth, with their adopting him shortly thereafter, deciding to rename him Clark Kent---"Clark" having been Martha's maiden name.
Jonathan is usually portrayed as a strong and caring father figure, with both himself and Martha responsible for helping to instill within their adopted son Clark Kent his strong sense of morals, as well as having been the ones to encourage Clark to use his powers for the betterment of humanity.
Before the 1985-1986 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, Jonathan Kent (and his wife) died after Clark graduated from high school; in the current comics continuity, Jonathan Kent is still alive when Clark is an adult.
History
Original Version
While a "passing motorist" was described as having found the infant Kal-El (or "Kal-L" as the earliest comics stated his Kryptonian name) in Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1 in 1938, Superman #1 in 1939 is the first story to introduce Superman's adoptive parents to the mythos. Pa Kent's first name remained in flux during the 1940s, however; a 1942 Superman novel named Pa "Eben Kent," while the first extensive retelling of Superman's origins in Superman #53 in 1948 named Pa "John Kent." In 1951, however, Pa Kent's name was definitively given as being "Jonathan Kent," and has been as such ever since.
Later stories, after the early 1960s introduction of DC's multiverse system, declared that the earliest versions of Pa was named "John Kent" and lived on the world of "Earth-Two" (home of the Golden Age DC superheroes), while the more familiar Jonathan Kent lived on the mainstream world of "Earth-One" (home of the Silver Age DC superheroes).
Jonathan made few appearances in Superman stories until the introduction of the Superboy comic in 1949. In this series, Pa Kent made a lasting mark, being a regular supporting character of the teenaged superhero.
It is the Superboy stories that fleshed out Jonathan's backstory. There, it is revealed that Jonathan, a former race car driver, was a farmer on a farm just outside of Smallville. After he and Martha found the toddler Kal-El in his rocket, they took him to the Smallville Orphanage and, several days later, formally adopted him. Renaming him "Clark," Jonathan and Martha took him back to their farm to raise him; there, they soon discovered that Clark possessed a fantastic array of superpowers (gained, as Jonathan learned years later, from exposure to Earth's yellow sun and its lower gravity).
Around the time Clark started school, Jonathan sold the Kents' farm, and the family moved into Smallville where Jonathan opened a general store. During Clark's early grade school years, Jonathan also assisted in training young Clark in the use of his superpowers to the best of his knowledge (including helping him learn how to fly properly), while urging him to keep the use of his powers a secret. At the age of eight, Clark began a superhero career as Superboy, with Jonathan helping him to come up with a means of making Superboy and Clark appear to be different people, by helping to develop Clark's secret identity as a mild-mannered, reserved individual. Jonathan continued to assist his adopted son on various adventures as Superboy over the years.
Late in the original run of the New Adventures of Superboy comic (which was published from 1980 through 1984), a storyline emerged where Jonathan Kent was approached by others in Smallville to run for the city council, as a means of preventing Smallville from having its first shopping mall built, which would have spelled potential ruin for Smallville's locally owned businesses, including the Kent General Store. As it turned out, the owner of the land where the mall would've been built (who was also a member of the city council) apparently had criminal reasons as a motive. While this storyline remained unresolved (with the abrupt cancellation of the Superboy comic), it was presumed that both Jonathan and Superboy helped to bring the council member to justice (and halted the mall construction project as a result).
After Clark graduated from high school, Jonathan and Martha took a vacation to the Caribbean Islands, where they contracted a fatal and rare tropical disease after handling materials from a pirate's treasure chest they had exhumed; despite Superboy's best efforts, Martha passed away, with Jonathan dying soon thereafter. Before passing on, Jonathan reminded Clark that he must always use his powers for the benefit of humanity. After Jonathan's passing, Clark mourned his parents' loss, before eventually moving to Metropolis to attend college.
Modern Version
After comics writer John Byrne rewrote Superman's origin in his 1986 Man of Steel miniseries, one of the key changes he made was in keeping Jonathan and Martha Kent alive into Clark's adulthood. Jonathan still had a similar role as in the earlier stories, however, of instilling within Clark the morals needed to become a strong figure.
In this version of events, after Kal-El's "birthing matrix" landed on Earth, Jonathan and Martha found a newborn-aged infant inside. Taking the infant in just before a major snowstorm struck (that buried Smallville in snow for some number of months and cut off outsiders' access to the Kent family farm), the couple decided to pass the infant off as their own natural child, naming him "Clark."
Clark's powers slowly developed over time in this version, with all of his powers fully emerging once he reached his late teen years. After Clark's high school graduation, Jonathan told Clark about his extraterrestrial origins, after which Clark soon left Smallville to explore the outside world. After Clark moved to Metropolis, Jonathan had a hand in helping Clark create a superhero identity as Superman.
Another change in this version was that Jonathan remained a farmer through Clark's adult years, though a recent comic storyline featured Jonathan having opened a general store in Smallville.
Jonathan's post-Crisis history was more fully fleshed out in the late 1980s miniseries The World of Smallville , with his ancestors' history revealed more fully in the 1990s miniseries The Kents .
Kent Family History
In the current Superman continuity, it was revealed that the Kent family in the 19th century were noted abolitionists who assisted the personnel of the Underground Railroad, like Harriet Tubman. The family moved to the territory of Kansas to promote the cause of creating a free state by running a newspaper for the region.
Unfortunately, the family patriarch was murdered by Border Ruffians who wanted to silence him. Furthermore, the sons, Nathaniel and Jeb, argued and had a parting of the ways so deep about slavery that they found themselves on opposing sides of the American Civil War with Jeb fighting with the notorious Confederate guerrilla unit lead by William Quantrill. Nathaniel fought for the North and married a half-Native American woman who gave him a special traditional spiritual symbol that was apparently a forerunner and inspiration for Superman's chest symbol.
After the war, Nathaniel became a sheriff in Smallville, while Jeb became the the leader of a group of bandits. Eventually, Jeb discovered he had a son out of wedlock years ago, and allowed him to join his gang. Unfortunately, his son turned out to be a murderous sociopath and Jeb approached his estranged brother to arrange a trap to stop his son.
Unfortunately in springing the trap, the son mortally wounded his father before being killed himself and Jeb fully reconciled with Nate before dying. Nate remained in Smallville and there the Kents have stayed for generations, including Jonathan and Martha Kent, Superman's adoptive parents.
Other media
Jonathan appeared in the pilot for the 1950s Adventures of Superman television series.
Jonathan also appeared in the Superboy segments of the 1966 New Adventures of Superman cartoon.
Pa Kent made occasional appearances in the 1990s cartoon Superman: The Animated Series.
On the 2000s television series Smallville, Jonathan is played by John Schneider.
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