A Thing About Jon that keeps getting hammered in, over and over, is that he's not really his own person. He always belongs to somebody else.
In most comics, that someone is Clark, his father. He's Clark's Son first and Jon second. Hell, its even in the title of his solo: Superman, Son of Kal El.
In Supersons, its Damian. He's largely treated by the narrative as Robin's Sidekick, being under Damian's wing. This, notably, is also not because of any decision Jon made, but rather because Damian at the start of the series decides it is so:
Even Lois, on occasion, leans into this jon-as-object mindset.
And of course. Well. The most obvious example.
His literal first words in the presence of Jon are "he's mine!"
And this is only hammered in later, in Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent:
To most narratives, Jon is not his own person. This, largely, is something Jon himself seems to be aware of. He's unable to escape the shadow of the people who made him what he is. Constantly, he is viewed by others through the lens of how they view others around him. He accepts this, and takes it in stride. He doesn't complain, or attempt to assert his own personhood.
And I feel this model of relationship really influences Jon's general clinginess with Jay. If he can't be his own person, if he has to belong to someone, he's gonna choose to belong to someone he knows is good.
The thing I find particularly compelling about this is that Jay definitely doesn't see it this way. You can really tell Jay sees Jon as his own person outside of the mantle and seeks to guide, not push. From their very first proper conversation, and later on as well, you can see Jay has no interest in making Jon do anything he doesn't want to do- he presents information, and then lets Jon make choices around it.
In Jon's acceptance of a sterile, static existence of forever belonging to someone else, he found someone who instead seeks to inspire him to be his own person.
(This is a great time to mention, if you pay close attention, Jay is the first person to directly call Jon Superman in Son of Kal El.)
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