“Conner Kent”
Welcome to the Column where we talk about the rise of Conner Kent in recent months.
Conner Kent, your favorite or second favorite superboy is back, baby and better than ever.
Who is Conner Kent?
After the Death of Superman at the hands of Doomsday, we had Conner emerge as one of the new Supermen. Eventually much to his chagrin, he was stuck with the name “Superboy”.
As Superboy, he was eventually taken by Superman into his family, given the name “Conner Kent” and lived in Smallville with the Kents. He also founded the Young Justice team with Tim Drake aka Robin, Cassie Sandsmark aka Wonder Girl and Bart Allen aka Impulse / Kid Flash. After the team disbanded, the four of them joined Teen Titans and were together for a jolly while.
Then during Infinite Crisis, Conner sacrificed himself to save the world dying in front of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Cassie Sandsmark and Tim Drake.
Eventually as most comic characters do, he returned in Final Crisis. He stopped Superboy Prime, returned to Smallville with a new appreciation. He re-joined the Teen Titans and they were together again, the core four, until… the Flashpoint hit.
In the New 52, we had a guy going by Kon (short for Kon-el perhaps) who called himself Superboy despite never knowing Superman, he was eventually killed off and forgotten. Anything about the New 52 Teen Titans is best left forgotten.
The Disappearance
The OG Conner gone, the trash New 52 version forgotten, and the Young Justice TV show stopped due to an early cancellation, Conner was gone in every way.
The Returns
After 5 years of no TV appearances and 7 years of no comic book appearances, Conner Kent has suddenly become a hot property.
The Teases
In Injustice 2, Conner returned and took on the mantle of Superman and did a good job before the series ended.
Detective Comics and Super Sons of Tomorrow brought back an alternate future version of Conner Kent to the present and promptly forgot about him.
The Returns
Now we have a bevy of 4 versions of Conner Kent in 2 months.
In December 2018, the Titans TV finale introduces a new version of Conner who has just broken out of Cadmus and rescues Krypto. Will he be seen in Titans Season 2? I am quite apprehensive as this means another Conner Kent will be having Dick Grayson as a friend and not Tim Drake or Bart or Cassie, but nevertheless excited.
Then we have Conner Kent returning with the much-awaited Young Justice season 3 TV animated series, his biggest screen presence so far. That season debuted on the DC Universe streaming service on January 4, 2019.
The original Conner Kent of the comics also finally returns in the new Young Justice comic. This ends a long wait of having a Conner back in the books. He is also returning with his OG jacket look which should be fun to read.
We also have Conner playing a starring role replaying his original role as one of the Supermen stand-ins in the Reign of the Supermen DVD / Blue-Ray movie that was available online on January 13, 2019 and hit stores on January 29, 2019.
Looking forward to each one of these versions.
After a long while, it is a good time to be a Conner Kent fan.
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