Welcome in!

Okay, now that I’ve got your attention, I personally don’t subscribe to the theory that Jon Kent after the age-up is not the Jon that we know.  The outcry is usually something along the lines of “Teen Jon is a clone of the original Jon or is Ultraman’s son,” etc.  They then posit that Young Jon is still in his pre-teen form, somewhere on Earth 3.

There are inconsistencies between Teen Jon and Young Jon, to be sure.  These can be mostly attributed to writer inattentiveness.  For example, in the Rebirth era, Young Jon seemed quite comfortable with advanced alien technology (e.g., the Hypercube) in the Fortress of Solitude.  However, in the webcomic, “This Internship is my Kryptonite,” Jon exclaims that he barely knows how to work a cell phone.  Another example would be the age of Jon’s first flight.  In the Rebirth era, Jon starts flying around the age of 10-11.  However, Tom Taylor’s version is that he’s not even 10 for that first flight—before Jon’s powers should have manifested per Jurgens, Tomasi, and other writers.

Young Jon was basically a good kid, but with a mischievous side.  He was good-natured and kind, but had no problem being snarky.  Teen Jon tries to be the optimistic kid that everyone knew him as, but hides a great deal of anguish.  That said, he is remarkably cogent and coherent for someone who has endured long-term imprisonment in another dimension.  Furthermore, with the exception of the AI therapist in “This Internship is my Kryptonite,” there is no indication that Jon has undergone professional therapy for his trauma.  There is nothing explicitly stated in the comics that he attended a facility like “The Sanctuary” for his mental health.

I will say, though, that there is an inconsistency in Jon’s story.  It’s something that Bendis neglected to consider.

In 1996, there was a crossover crisis event, “The Final Night.”  A Sun-Eater, a creature that devours stars, had attached itself to our sun.  The creature totally obscured the sun, with no light or heat reaching the Earth.  In five days, scientists expected that Earth would be a frozen ball of ice.  Of course, that would be shortly before the Sun-Eater would cause the star to go nova, obliterating the now-frozen Earth.

Superman is a living solar battery.  His powers don’t go away as soon as he steps into the shadows.  However, in this story, we do have a defined limit for his storage capacity without any sunlight:  Four days.

Prior to the sun being enveloped by the Sun-Eater, Superman and several other energy-manipulating heroes attempt to distract the creature.  They pool their powers to create a smaller, artificial sun.  It works—briefly.

     A little more than a day after the Sun-Eater starts feeding, Superman is already starting to feel the drain.  In fact, the brief encounter with the Sun-Eater probably drained a good portion of his reserves, so he’s not at 100%.

     Assuming that Superman is conserving his energy, he’s still drained by every use of them.  Fortunately, he has enough left in the tank to keep an eye on Batman:

     (A minor digression:  Teflon-coated bullets are not meant to deform, but to penetrate as they are.  Hollow-point bullets are meant to deform, causing a larger area of damage.  This shows that the great Vandal Savage, for all his age and experience, paid for stupidly designed ammunition.)

     By the end of the third day, Superman is pretty much out of juice.  He can no longer fly on his own, though he doesn’t seem too affected by the cold.

     By the fourth day without sunlight, Superman’s powers are essentially gone.  This is after four days of using up whatever solar reserves he has.    Now, that’s four days from perhaps 50% power to none, assuming that he did try to conserve power whenever he could, and that the Sun-Eater took away half of his reserves.

     “But that’s so old,” you may say.  “That’s probably not even canon now!”

     Fine.  Let’s head to Scott Snyder’s Justice League, circa 2018.  In one story, Superman is trapped in an alternate dimension specifically meant to hold him.  His jailer, the World Forger disguised as an idealized, future version of himself, created this prison.  There is a distant star, but it’s not enough to sustain Superman’s powers:

     Of course, Superman makes one last-ditch effort with everything he has left to reach that distant star.  He almost doesn’t make it.

     What was the point of this?  Well, it’s another example of how, without sunlight, Superman’s powers drain relative to the amount of exertion.  And since this was a last-ditch, all-or-nothing effort, his reserves were pretty much shot—until Bruce lined things up for him.

     “So, what does this have to do with Jon Kent,” you may be asking yourself.  “Why is this important?”

     Well, in Superman:  Son of Kal-El # 9, Jon states that he spent 5 years in a volcano.  We even get a little visual of the flashback:

     This is highly unlikely if we apply logic.  When Jon arrived on Earth 3, he didn’t have enough power to fly out of the volcano.  Directed flight was one of the last powers that he developed, though he could float briefly at the age of 10—with concentration.  Invulnerability, however, was one of the first abilities to manifest (Superman:  Lois and Clark # 6) and is often the last to go as the power reserves are depleted.

     Now, the big question is:  If Jon is in a volcano with no sunlight, how could he last five years?

     Answer:  He can’t.  A volcano is full of heat and poisonous gases.  That would be an ever-present drain on Jon’s power reserves.  And given that Jon was perhaps at 30-40% capacity when he arrived, his invulnerability would not have protected him for a week, maybe two at the outset.  This kept him from getting poisoned by the fumes and burned by the lava.

     “But Kryptonians are naturally tougher than humans!  He’d be okay even without sunlight!”

     No.  Under a red sun or without any yellow solar energy, a Kryptonian is no tougher or stronger than a human.

     “Well…Ultraman was keeping him fed!  Couldn’t that be a factor?”

     No.  This is not the “Superman vs. Meshi” manga where Superman lets out blasts of heat vision if he’s had too much sugar.  In the mainline universe, his powers come from solar energy, not caloric intake.

     “Well…aren’t you taking this too seriously?  I’m sure that the writers will figure something out.”

     Bendis dug Jon into this hole in 2019.  Nobody’s trying to dig him out.  I’m just pointing out the plot hole. I'm a writer. That's what I do. And I wish that someone should have pointed out the big flaw to Bendis when he plotted this whole thing.

Questions? Comments?