According to the New York Times and IGN, Jonathan Kent, the son of Superman who recently took over for his dad, is bisexual. He and Jay Nakamua will share a kiss in an issue of Superman: Son of Kal-El being published next month.
“The idea of replacing Clark Kent with another straight white savior felt like a missed opportunity,” writer Tom Taylor told the New York Times. He said that a “new Superman had to have new fights — real world problems — that he could stand up to as one of the most powerful people in the world.”
Jon Kent took over the mantle of Superman from his dad earlier this year, as the elder Superman heads into space for a storyline outlined in the pages of Future State — where we also saw that the younger Kent was still Superman in the future.
“It is a pretty big deal doing it with Jon Kent as Superman,” artist John Timms told IGN. “As we have seen Jon grow up in front of our eyes, it will be interesting to see him not only trying to find himself as a person but a global super hero in the complex atmosphere of modern life. On the other hand, I hope this kind of thing will not be seen as a big deal in the future. You could visualize how it could pan in the future when the most powerful man in the world is part of the LGBT community. So many things are on the horizon and beyond.”
Nakamura, meanwhile, was introduced in August in the pages of Superman: Son of Kal-El — both as a reporter friend to Jon and a huge fan of Lois Lane. So you can see the parallels already to his dad’s story.
“I’ve always said everyone needs heroes and they deserve to see themselves in their heroes,” Taylor told the NYT. “For so many people having the strongest superhero in comics come out is incredibly powerful.”
Update: The headline and lead paragraph have been updated to reflect that Jonathan Kent is bisexual. DC also released a press release today on the reveal. The art shown above of Jon and Jay is from Superman: Son of Kal-El #5, which comes out Nov. 9.
“We couldn’t be prouder to tell this important story from Tom Taylor and John Timms,” said DC Chief Creative Officer and Publisher Jim Lee in the release. “We talk a lot about the power of the DC Multiverse in our storytelling and this is another incredible example. We can have Jon Kent exploring his identity in the comics as well as Jon Kent learning the secrets of his family on TV on Superman & Lois. They coexist in their own worlds and times, and our fans get to enjoy both simultaneously.”
Here are the covers and variants for that issue, by Timms, Travis Moore and Tamra Bonvillain, and Inhyuk Lee:
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