Will Jonathan Kent be bisexual on Superman & Lois? (Probably not)

Last year, Clark Kent’s son Jonathan Kent — who’s currently serving as Earth’s Superman while Clark is away on a mission, at least in this version of the DC continuity — came out as bisexual in the pages of Superman: Son of Kal-El #5; he even got a boyfriend. And for a minute, people couldn’t stop talking about it; it became one of those little lightning rod moments pop up every now and then, the ones that get people on both sides of the culture wars revving their engines.

This story had some particular interest because Jonathan Kent, as it happens, technically has a live-action analog on TV right now: actor Jordan Elsass plays a young Jonathan on The CW show Superman & Lois, about the title characters raising their twin sons in Smallville. So…does that mean than TV Jonathan is also bisexual?

Showrunner Todd Helbing recently addressed that question when talking to TVLine. “We’re certainly not opposed to exploring it,” he said. “But the way our character was set up, it feels like the comic book story and what we’re doing are two separate stories.”

"I don’t think that we will, but we’re certainly not opposed to it."

So basically, while he’s “not opposed” to the idea of Jonathan Kent being bisexual on TV…he won’t be. That’s what I got from that. Elsass himself said something similar to ComicBook.com last year:

"That is the comic version of the character. This character is a different Earth, it’s a different version. There’s always that possibility, but it’s looking like Jonathan Kent this version is most likely straight. We don’t even know if he has powers at this point."

It’s true that the Superman & Lois version of Jonathan is different from the comics version; for instance, on TV, it’s Jonathan’s brother Jordan who inherited their dad’s powers, not Jonathan.

Then again, Helbing and company are free to pick and choose what they want to take from comics canon and what they don’t. They could have Jonathan explore his sexuality if they wanted to, but it doesn’t sound like they do.

Tessa Thompson talks about playing Valkyrie in the MCU

Marvel is a little ahead of DC when it comes to queer representation onscreen; for instance, Tessa Thompson appears in the Thor movies as Valkyrie, the first LGBTQIA+ character in the MCU. But even then, Marvel isn’t going to deeply explore that side of her life, especially not when a same sex kiss got Eternals banned in some countries.

“Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of time invested in love stories in Marvel movies in general,” Thompson told TheWrap. “I think that will be a little different on the new Thor, which is exciting. And getting to play a character that historically is not written for somebody that looks like me, all of that felt exciting.”

"We talk so much about representation and obviously, in terms of the LGBTQIA community, there’s still so much work to be done. But if you look at the comics in the canon, there are so many queer characters! It’s hard because [director Taika Waititi] and I would’ve even liked to go further, but in the context of the movies, there’s only so much we can do."

New episodes of Superman & Lois air on Tuesdays on The CW. Thor: Love and Thunder, the next Thor movie, is due out on July 8 of this year.

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h/t Out Magazine