It can’t be easy being Jon Kent. The son of two of comics’ most iconic characters — Superman and Lois Lane — he’s been a pre-teen superhero, kidnapped to an alternate reality where he grew up imprisoned by an evil version of his own dad, and then mind-controlled and turned against his friends in 2024’s Absolute Power storyline. This April, his story looks set to get another twist when he… gets de-aged back to the way he was back when he was one of the Super-Sons along with Batman’s kid?!? Wait, what is going on exactly?
We’ll have to wait until the release of Superman Unlimited #12 for the answer to that question. For now, all we have to go on are the covers for the April 15 chapter of the ‘Reign of the Superboys’ storyline — for those who don’t remember, Superman is going missing after the events of DC K.O. and multiple Superboys are showing up to take his place — as well as the following description of the issue from DC itself: “Little (super) boy lost! Tomorrow Man has a shocking surprise for Lois Lane. His name is Jon Kent, and he’s just a little boy. The Reign of the Superboys continues! (And, possibly… the reign of a super… monkey?)”
Okay, let’s table the super-monkey for right now. (Could creators Dan Slott and Lucas Meyer, who’re writing and drawing the issue respectively, be bringing back Beppo? Really?) Instead, let’s take a look at the covers for the issue by Taurin Clarke, Karen Darboe, Guillem March and Salvador Larroca below — because that really, really looks like the younger Jon Kent in them, even if he looks a little (okay, a lot) angrier than he used to:
But then, who wouldn’t be mad at going from a young adult back to a little kid? And if this change is for real and permanent, what does that mean about what certainly looked like a Jon Kent appearance in the new Titans line-up moving forward as seen last month…?
All — or at least more — will be revealed when Superman Unlimited #12 hits stands April 15.