How many times did Jonathan Kent die?

[SuperTommyMan]

I'm a big superman fan, but for a while I been wondering where Jonathan Kent first died?

I first saw him die in the Superman movie (Christopher Reeves) and I naturally assumed it was from the comics but he's still alive?

THEN there was Smallville. and THEN he died like 6 months to a year ago in the actual comic?

So if he doesn't die in the comic, why does every other superman related story has him die?
How many times has he died? and is this some Golden age crap that was rebooted?

(I started reading a little before the death of superman so golden age and silver age is out of my knowledge)

[WorstThingUS]

In the original, both Kents were pretty much in the ground on page two. In the Silver Age they adopted him older, drank some alien fountain of youth potion (no, I'm not kidding), but eventually returned to their natural ages and died right as he reached adulthood. Ma Kent went first, Clark was with Jonathan when he died and he left Smallville soon afterwards. On the TV show in the 50's, again, Jonathan Kent died first and Martha lived to see him off to the world. You know the movie (Martha dies offscreen and it's mentioned in number three) and after the Byrne reboot kept them alive, the Lois & Clark show reflected it. Smallville killed him first again (and the show pretty much died with him, because that's always Clark's ascension from boy to man) and now Geoff Johns has followed suit which I think is a mistake because it really doesn't bring anything to the table. Having him around did. All it did was result in another "Superman holding a body" cover.

[BYC]

All-Stars Superman's Jonathan Kent also died. I vaguely remember he had to die in order for Clark to really go out into the world and achieve the great things that are to come.

[Crisis]

i'm pretty much betting jonathan comes back to life...if hippolyta can come back so can he.

[WorstThingUS]

i'm pretty much betting jonathan comes back to life...if hippolyta can come back so can he.

Yeah, but Jonathan was a regular human who died of regular heart attack. Hippolyta was a divinely created superhuman who died fighting an alien invasion. In all his history, when he's died, he's stayed dead. But there was this two part story from pre-crisis where aliens allow him to see what Clark will be like as an adult (unfortunately it was part of a painfully stupid story about a hippie who gets part of that alien power and bans everyone over 30 from Metropolis). It's interesting how Jonathan calmly accepts he won't be alive to see his son as a man:

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/action-comics/507-1.jpghttp://www.coverbrowser.com/image/action-comics/508-1.jpg

[Walter West]

I remember the one where Superman comes in all beat up because some bad guy was able to use either hypnosis or unnatural persuasion to get Superman to punch himself in the face a bunch of times. I didn't remember the issue number though. 507-508. Thanks for the memories, guys! :smile:

[Mat001]

Hippolyta was brought back becauses Granny Goodness was able to, thanks to Darkseid. No one knows about Jonathan who isn't one of Clark's allies or is dead themselves. So there isn't a rush to bring him back that way. He could come back down the line, but odds are that he's worm food for a long time.

[protonik]

If I recall correctly they weren't Jonathan and Martha on the Reeves series but that is besides the point. :)

[Angelo2113]

Like Batman's parents, no matter what...it seems that Johnathan Kent is always destined to die.

[Trademark]

Pa Kent died for the first time way back in Superman #1. He was technically already dead during Action Comics #1, but Superman's origin with the Kents wasn't fleshed out until Superman #1. He was dead for the entire Pre-Crisis Superman continuity and was brought back to life when Superman continuity was rebooted during Crisis.

[Munkiman]

In the original, both Kents were pretty much in the ground on page two. In the Silver Age they adopted him older, drank some alien fountain of youth potion (no, I'm not kidding), but eventually returned to their natural ages and died right as he reached adulthood. Ma Kent went first, Clark was with Jonathan when he died and he left Smallville soon afterwards. On the TV show in the 50's, again, Jonathan Kent died first and Martha lived to see him off to the world. You know the movie (Martha dies offscreen and it's mentioned in number three) and after the Byrne reboot kept them alive, the Lois & Clark show reflected it. Smallville killed him first again (and the show pretty much died with him, because that's always Clark's ascension from boy to man) and now Geoff Johns has followed suit which I think is a mistake because it really doesn't bring anything to the table. Having him around did. All it did was result in another "Superman holding a body" cover.
The most recent Pa Kent death came at a great time, though, with New Krypton. I can't exactly describe it, but there's something interesting about Superman losing his human father at the same time as he's reunited with his Kryptonian aunt and uncle - I recall early in the storyline, when Zor-El comments on what a great man Kal has grown up into, and when Superman says he learned from his father, Zor-El says, "Yes, the recordings of Jor-El. You were fortunate." And Superman just says something like, "No, that's not what I- Yes. I was fortunate." It was just a pretty great moment, because both of Superman's fathers are dead and he sort of has to think about which one was really his father, the one that sired him and saved him from Krypton's destruction or the one that raised him.