Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Superman | Tagged: dan mora, Jonathan Kent, Joshua Williamson, mark waid, martha kent, Reign Of The Superboys, superboy prime

Superboy-Prime Gives Martha and Jonathan Kent a Big Mark Waid Spoiler in Superman #37. So, you know, Spoilers….

Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers, spoilers.  No really. That’s the thing about Superboy-Prime, the Superboy from a parallel world very much like our own, who has read all the DC Comics. He often knows what’s coming, next, or what has happened in the past, in intricate detail, across many timelines and reboots. He knows everyone who wrote them too. And seems quite happy to motormouth it when actually meeting the characters.

Superboy Prime Gives Martha And Jonathan Kent A Big Mark Waid SpoilerSuperman #37,

Now, three years ago, Mark Waid told John Siuntres’ Word Balloon podcast that he preferred the version of Superman in which Clark Kent’s adoptive Martha and Jonathan Kent are… what’s the word? “Dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead dead dead dead. Nothing, I would undo because they’ve been alive for forty years, and what are you gonna do? It just makes Clark feel less like an adult to me. That he can fly home every weekend and have Huckleberry pie with his parents and talk about the problems. And yes, I understand there are a lot of families like that, but it just makes me feel like he’s less than an adult. Also, heroes are defined by tragedy. It’s a tragedy that he loses his parents, because they’re just some things that Superman cannot do, which is an important lesson for that character to learn. They did it beautifully in the movie; they’ve done it beautifully in the comics. I totally get it and I…. dead dead, dead dead.”

Superboy Prime Gives Martha And Jonathan Kent A Big Mark Waid SpoilerMartha And Jonathan Kent

Originally in the comics, the Kents died soon after Clark Kent’s high school graduation. The 1986 Crisis reboot saw John Byrne change the ages of characters to have them still alive, if elderly, when Clark Kent became Superman, until Jonathan Kent’s death in 2008. Then in 2022, with the New 52 reboot, they were both killed by a drunk driver, leaving Clark Kent to grow up without them. Then, in 2019, for the DC Rebirth reboot. Doomsday Clock reveals that Doctor Manhattan caused the New 52 reboot and facilitated the Kents’ deaths. Reversing Manhattan’s actions brings the Kents back to Superman.

And now, in the upcoming Superman #37, by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora, in which Superboy-Prime has taken on a job at the Metropolis version of Midtown Comics, which also hangs out with Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville, he lets the cat out of the bag. From an upcoming preview of the comic…

Superboy Prime Gives Martha And Jonathan Kent A Big Mark Waid SpoilerSuperman #37, by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora

It’s not entirely the smallest of small talk, is it? Especially considering what it implies. But just in case, they didn’t grt the implications…

Superboy Prime Gives Martha And Jonathan Kent A Big Mark Waid SpoilerSuperman #37, by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora

It is true, Mark Waid. But this is taking the usual Superboy Prime meta a step further… Superman #37 by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora is published in a couple of weeks, and change.

SUPERMAN #37
(W) Joshua Williamson (A/CA) Dan Mora
REIGN OF THE SUPERBOYS HEATS UP! Superboy Prime gets a new real-life job with a new secret identity while he protects Metropolis from dangerous threats! But there is a whole DC Comics universe out there for him to explore, and the fanboy in him wants to see it all… Too bad there are heroes who don’t trust him and think he should be locked up!
$4.99 4/22/2026

 

 

 

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!


Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!