Answers To Your Questions
From time to time, I get asked various
questions about Superman and the various
incarnations he's taken on over the
years. Sometimes they can be
easily answered with only a yes, no, or
a few words. Other times, it takes
an entire afternoon of explanation (and
I'm still not certain the person
understood). Either way, this
being the case, a couple weeks ago, I
decided to open the floor up to you, the
readers, to ask any Superman-related
question you would like to know the
answer to. And, you didn't
disappoint me. Your questions
showed that not only are you paying
attention to "Smallville" the show; but
you're paying attention to these
articles and other sources. So,
without any further delay, let's get to
the questions!
Question 1: (Movies/Comics) Did Clark
ever return to Smallville after he
started working at the Daily Planet? If
not, why? If so, how many
times/occasions did he visit his mom?
Comics
Prior to the reboot
of the the Superman franchise in 1986,
Clark's involvement with Smallville
pretty much ended once he left there.
He still owned the house his parents
owned when they died; but it wasn't
mentioned very often. It is known
that he would annually return to
Smallville to honor his adoptive parents
but beyond that, there were very few
stories which actually took place in
Smallville.
After the reboot,
things were a little different.
Writer, artist, and fan-favorite, John
Byrne, who was given the responsibility
to recreate Superman, decided early on
that the idea of the Kents dying was not
necessary to the updated legend.
In fact, he felt that keeping the Kents
around would provide Clark the basis for
the direction he wanted the character to
take. Byrne wanted his Superman to
be more grounded in his humanity and not
his alien heritage. He wanted
Superman to be the secret identity that
Clark took to get things done instead of
Clark Kent being the person Superman was
during his downtime. I know that's
hard to understand but it was a
significant change in the character.
Clark Kent became a more dynamic
character than before. As far as
Byrne was concerned, his Superman would
be aware that he was an alien; but it
was his roots in Smallville and the
United States that made his who was: a
defender of truth, justice, and the
AMERICAN way. For this reason,
many of the references to Krypton which
had been used, like his exclamation
"Great Rao!"
(Rao was
the name of Krypton's deity),
were done away
with.
This being the
case, Clark returns to Smallville and
has contact with his adoptive parents
all the time. Like any adult who
respects his parents, he seeks out their
advice in situations that arise in his
life including his decision to marry
Lois Lane. Smallville has become
Clark's retreat from his hectic life in
Metropolis, a place to recharge his
batteries, and let his hair down.
Not to mention, it's the only place he
can get a slice of Martha's famous
rhubarb pie!
Movies
In "Superman: The
Movie", we see Clark leave Smallville
shortly after his father passes away.
We can assume he still has contact with
his mother after he arrives in
Metropolis when, after being hired at
the Daily Planet, he asks Perry White to
have half his paycheck sent to his
mother each week. No other mention
of Smallville is made after that.
In "Superman III",
Clark leaves Metropolis to attend his
High School Reunion in Smallville.
At the reunion, Clark meets Lana Lang
(portrayed by Annette O'Toole) and we
discover she is now divorced and mother
of little Ricky. Many say that the
best scenes of this movie are when Clark
and Lana are on-screen. By the end
of the film, Lana and her son have moved
from Smallville to Metropolis where she
has taken a position at the Daily Planet
as Perry White's secretary.
Interestingly, there was no mention of
Clark's mother or any visits to his
home.
Question 2: (All
Media) What can you tell me about the
different versions of Clark's parents?
Comics
As mentioned above,
prior to 1986, the Kents (both Jonathan
and Martha) passed away from a
mysterious disease they contracted while
vacationing in the tropics. Clark
saw his inability to save his parents as
one of his greatest failures.
However, there was more to the story
than that. When we are first
introduced to them, the Kents were just
a simple mid-western couple who adopted
Clark from an orphanage. It was
only after that got his home did they
discover his amazing powers.
Originally, their names were John and
Mary Kent. Their names were
changed to Jonathan and Martha as the
adventures of Superboy began to be
chronicled.
The Kents were a
farming family. Jonathan was a
World War II veteran.
Jonathan and Martha
sold their farm about the time their son
began his career as Superboy. They
moved into Smallville and opened a
general store. In a sub-basement
of their home, Superboy constructed a
secret headquarters for his
crime-fighting career. A secret
door hidden far away from the house hid
Superboy's many comings and goings.
When they found
Clark, they decided to take him to an
orphanage until they could legally adopt
him. When they did, they used
Martha's maiden name, Clark, as their
son's first name.
After 1986, all
that changed. Since the new
history now stated that Clark's powers
didn't manifest until his late teen
years, his career as Superboy went away.
Also, the Kents remain on a farm, even
though Jonathan suffered a heart attack
shortly after Clark "died" at the hands
of Doomsday.
In the new history,
shortly after the Kents found their son,
a snow storm hit the area and kept them
in their home for nearly five months.
They decided they would simply say that
Martha gave birth to Clark during this
time.
The Kents remain an
integral part of Clark's life to this
day. It is assumed they will one
day die; but, to date, the writers have
not chosen to do so.
Movies
In one of the first
motion picture adventures of Superman,
"Superman vs. The Mole Men", Clark's
parents are seen in a brief retelling of
his origins. Interestingly, in
keeping with the comics at that time,
they had passed away; but the names on
the gravestones were Eben and Mary Kent.
In "Superman: The
Movie", Jonathan Kent passes away after
suffering a heart attack. Martha
remained on the farm and, as stated
above, receives half of Clark's paycheck
from the Daily Planet each week.
Television
Jonathan and Martha
were portrayed as a part of Clark's
adult life for the first time in "Lois
and Clark: The New Adventures of
Superman". In fact, their
portrayal on L&C was so close to the way
they were in the comics, the comic
characters took on some of the traits of
the on-screen counterparts.
The Kents also
appeared in a few episodes of "Superman:
The Animated Series" voiced by Mike
Farrell and Shelly Fabares.
Jonathan and Martha
appear in "Smallville" portrayed by John
Schneider and Annette O'Toole
respectively.
Other Media
Depending on the current continuity in
the comics pretty well dictated whether
Jonathan and Martha were around and in
what capacity. Radio didn't really
dwell on them that much as was the case
with the comics at the time. Any
novels were definitely dependant on the
comics. Although it should be
noted that in many novels you truly get
a sense of what it was like for the
Kents to raise a child with the amazing
powers that Clark had growing.
It's fairly obvious from watching their
portrayal on "Smallville" that both
actors are taking their cues from these
early histories.
Question 3: (All
Media) What can you tell me about Lois'
parents?
Comics
Prior to 1986, there were very few
appearances by Lois' parents, Sam and
Ella. On the web, there is only
one reference which goes back to their
introduction in 1959. In that
story, Superman rescues Lois' father
when his tractor goes out of control and
is about to topple over a cliff.
In this story, it's established that the
Lanes are, like Clark's parents,
farmers.
After 1986, Lois' parents were given
whole new identities. Sam is now
one of the military's most decorated
generals and Ellen suffers from an
on-going illness. Sam never really
had much to do with his oldest daughter,
making it no secret that he desired a
son. Lois overcompensated by
becoming a black belt in karate and even
training with the Metropolis SCU (a
special division of the Metropolis
police especially trained to deal with
super-powered villains). When Lex
Luthor is elected president of the
United States, he makes a move which was
designed to enrage Lois for her years of
spurning his advances; he names Sam as
his Secretary of Defense.
Recently, when an intergalactic menace
threatened Earth, Sam died in an effort
to save Lois.
Television
In "Lois and Clark...", Sam and Ellen
took on a whole new persona. Now
they were divorced and Sam was a leading
scientist in sports medicine. Both
made their first appearances in separate
episodes; but were later reunited in a
two-part episode where Lois and Clark
finally marry. Sam appears in the
last episode, as well, when Lois and
Clark receive the bad news that they
cannot conceive a child.
In the upcoming season of "Smallville",
rumors say that not only will Lois
appear but her father, Sam, will as
well. In keeping with comics
continuity, Sam will be a military
general over a base just outside of
Smallville. Ellen is said to have
died when Lois was six years old from
lung cancer.
Question 4: (All
Media) What can you tell me about Lex
Luthor's father, Lionel?
Lionel Luthor, for
being the wonderfully evil character as
he is on "Smallville", is not based on
Lex's father from the comic books, or
any other media for that matter.
In fact, Lex's father from the comics
was NOTHING like Lionel. Jules
Luthor (his given name prior to 1986)
was a simple man who moved his family
from New York in an attempt to keep his
son from falling in with a "bad
element". When Lex began his
criminal career (again, prior to 1986),
it was in response to the betrayal he
felt when his best friend Superboy
ruined an experiment that would have
made Lex famous. Jules still had
another child to look out for so, while
Lex was in a juvenile corrections
facility, he moved his family away from
Smallville and changed their names so
Lex would not be able to find them.
The Luthors died a few years later in a
car accident.
When Lex was
changed from evil super-genius to evil
super-business-man in the 1986 reboot of
the Superman franchise, he was no longer
part of Superman's Smallville heritage
growing up instead in Metropolis'
Suicide Slum district. The only
thing known about his parents was that
they perished in a auto accident shortly
after 13 year old Lex took out a rather
large insurance policy on them.
Lex used the money from the "accident"
to start building his empire.
Conclusion
Well, there you
have it. I tried to answer all the
question you posed in one form or
another. I hope I accomplished
that. If not, let me know. I
will also plan to do another one of
these again in the not too distant
future, so keep posting your questions.
