Jonathan Kent

Species: Human

Appearances: S1 - S5; S8: Odyssey (flashback), Eternal (flashback); S10: Lazarus, Finale

Family: parents, Hiram and Jessica Kent; widow, Martha Kent; adoptive son, Clark Kent; father-in-law, William Clark; daughter-in-law, Lois Lane

Bio: Born and raised in Smallville, Kansas, Jonathan Kent had spent his entire life on his family's farm. While attending Smallville High, he'd played tailback for the school's football team, as well as briefly dated local girl Nell Potter. After high school, he'd attended a finance course at Metropolis University, where he'd met and fallen in love with Martha Clark, whom he'd later married. In 1989, he and Martha had been heading home from a trip into town, when a meteor shower had struck, upending their truck. They were then approached by a three-year-old boy, whom they had later taken home and named Clark. Twelve years later, Jonathan had revealed to Clark his alien origins, showing him the spacecraft Clark had arrived in. In 2003, after Clark had run away to Metropolis, Jonathan had struck a deal with Clark's biological father, Jor-El, that had granted Jonathan temporary abilities that would enable him to bring Clark home. While successful, Jonathan had eventually developed heart problems as a result of taking on those abilities. Nearly a year later, Jor-El had tried to reclaim Clark as part of his deal with Jonathan, but when both Clark and Jonathan had tried to resist, Jor-El had put Jonathan into a coma and taken Clark to a pocket dimension of space, reprogramming him as Kal-El of Krypton. Three months later, Kal-El had returned to Smallville to fulfill his destiny as The Last Son of Krypton, only to be returned to normal by Martha using a piece of black kryptonite. As a result, Jonathan had awoken from his coma. Then, in 2005, Jonathan had decided to run for Kansas State Senator against Lex Luthor, hiring Lois Lane as his campaign manager. In the end, he'd won the election, but had suffered a fatal heart attack that same night. In 2010, his spirit had appeared to Clark, encouraging his son to become Earth's savior and warning him of a dark force that had come to Earth. Then, in 2011, Jonathan's spirit had once again appeared at Clark's wedding to Lois Lane, and later in Clark's Fortress of Solitude, holding the suit Clark had been meant to wear as Superman and telling his son to "Always hold on to Smallville."

Portrayed By: John Schneider


Jonathan Kent (Earth-2)
S10: Kent
John Schneider