Superman featured Clark’s Earth parents, Jonathan and Martha. In many of the previous versions, Jonathan dies before Martha (Superman: The Movie, Superman Returns, Man of Steel, Smallville) or both have passed (Superman and Lois), or are happily married (Lois & Clark). In Superman, the Kents are simply good people; having raised a baby on their own, who made a life as hardworking farmers. What values did the Kents raise Clark with and what are your thoughts on why growing up in Smallville helped make him the man/hero that he became.
Michael A. Burstein: The Kents raised Clark with what I tend to think of as a simple utilitarian morality: do good, and do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. I far prefer the Kents’ attitude in this movie than their attitude in Man of Steel, where Jonathan Kent seems much more concerned with Clark protecting his secret rather than protecting others.
Peter Briggs: I didn’t care for this movie’s version of the Kents. I get what Gunn’s going for, but I didn’t like them. But then, I thought Jonathan was jerk in Snyder’s version, too.
James Ryan: Again, the film has among other duties the task of reassuring people that this is a new Superman, and that the one tied to the old regime is nowhere about. As we’re in a time with way more Lex Luthors in real life than we can tax into poverty, having someone as a moral compass with a very simple straight line towards north is not only refreshing, but essential.
Alex Grand: The Kents’ unassuming nature and unconditional love for their son mirror’s Superman’s feelings toward humanity. The more of one, then more of the other. Thank Krypton for that!
Will McGuire: My favorite thing about this version of the Kents is that when they call Clark after his first fight with The Hammer of Boravia, they couch it as, “congratulations on your front page story” and all the concern for him after losing a fight for the first time is unspoken and the film trusts you to pick up on it.
Traditionally the Kents have been this very physically idealized perfect American rural couple that has a piece of pie for Clark and always have the right thing to say in a moral dilemma. I like that they feel like actual farmers, actual people who live a long way from the big city. It makes the “Smallville” jibes Clark takes in Metropolis have a little more bite because he really feels like he’s from the boonies. It also makes his adoption of their simple sincerity feel a little more rebellious, since they’re not quite so perfect and pretty.
Robert Greenberger: I can’t tell what values were instilled in him, based on his interactions with his parents. Instead, those values are on display with everything he does. To me, the Kent’s were horribly miscast. Neither said farmer to me and Ma’s inability to use a cellphone is a decade or more out of date. That one exchange with Pa redeemed the sequence.
Jerry Ordway: I know that Gunn was a fan of the Byrne era, so I think that’s why we get both Kents alive. They are Clark’s “fortress of solitude” a place he can return to and be nurtured and reminded of who raised him. He seeks their love, more than advice. I liked the scenes of the Kents in the film. I don’t think Gunn was trying to make a political statement, but was showing that a family farm is different today than what it was perceived as in the 70’s. This is like a farm where they sell their wares at a local market, not producing potatoes for McDonald’s fries.
Lenny Schwartz: Again, this is something new for the film series. It works wonderfully and it is a great callback to the Byrne run…and it made it interesting. They were integral to the plot too and the last shot of the film. Bravo.
Vito Delsante: I didn’t mind their presence or how they were portrayed, but they didn’t “look” like the Kents to me. I can’t describe it; it’s like a blindspot where I have to force myself to accept these two actors in the roles. And that’s not a slight on them, but more my own hangups.
Thomas Lakeman: Ma and Pa Kent lost me with the accents. More like Ma and Pa Kettle. Some people think they sound too southern to be from Kansas, but I’m from Alabama and I promise you no southerner sounds like that. I hate to say this, but it may be the one valid point Dean Cain has against the movie. I like a Jonathan Kent who’s not ashamed to cry, but they played it too cornpone. Give me Glenn Ford any day.
Honestly, the 1978 movie is the only time the Kents have made sense. Ford’s Kent doesn’t say, “I’m proud of you.” He doesn’t have to. What he says is, “You are here for a reason, and it’s not to score touchdowns.” Probably the best moral lesson the Kents taught Clark is when not to use his powers. If only Bruce and Diana could have gotten that kind of home training.
Andre Bennett: These were definitely a different Jonathan and Martha than we’ve seen before — though Pruitt Taylor Vince isn’t terribly far from Lois and Clark’s Eddie Jones — but I got accustomed to them. No offense to Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, but I like that these Kents look like a couple from the heartland, rather than the idealized version of it.
Todd Sokolove: I was surprised by this take on the Kents, honestly. It comes off stereotypical at first, but everything in this film is played a bit larger than life. Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell rise above that first impression though. Both bring humor and heart to the Smallville scenes.
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