Unpopular Superboy/Kon-El Opinion
*(Saw a popular-ish image post about the Superfamily that made me want to start a conversation on this. I donât think the main point in the post was wrong but the tired, old, kinda-sorta illogical opinion(s) that came from it just...rubbed me the wrong way.)
It doesnât actually matter whether or not the reader or writer want Superboy/Kon-El to be called Supermanâs âsonâ or his âbrotherâ because the nature of their relationship (in terms of blood or behavior) is whatâs important. Nothing about said current relationship would automatically change unless a writer changed it.Â
In other words, if someone is treated by you like theyâre your child and itâs hinted that others see them that way too, you best believe that theyâre your child. Seriously. (Remember, for example, Batman and Robin/Nightwingâs non-biological, adoption-based father-son relationship?)
Therefore Kon-Elâs origin doesnât actually matter as much as some people think it does, nor even his biological connection to either or both Superman and Lex Luthor. Neither of these traits on their own have to change anything significantly about any version of Kon/Conner. That means he can be a basically-full-kryptonian with perhaps added abilities, or a limited-powers, possibly flightless character or a power-mimicking and TTK-or-similar-power having character. He can also be genetically related to both Clark and Lex, Clark and some other gene donor(s), Clark alone, or not have any DNA from Clark at all. He can be âpure goodâ or âpure evilâ regardless of where and who his genes come from too!
And this goes for any Superfamily character btw. Yes, I agree that it should be okay for people to be âadoptedâ into the fam. Weâve already seen it happen before, more or less. But thereâs nothing wrong with many or most members being there by blood either. Both can happen at the same time.
Furthering my point on Konâs genes: The problem with them expecting fans to accept his connection to Kal-El as that of âcousinsâ or even âbrothersâ isnât that (as far as Iâm aware) we Superman-is-Superboyâs-father truthers are against the idea of adopted family or Kon having genetic âquirksâ with his powers that lead to him only having some kryptonian abilities, or none at all. The problem is the blatant, mind-boggling dishonesty that the writers and certain fans are engaging in by promoting and accepting this idea, respectively. It literally makes no sense. Not on a genetic basis, age-basis or treatment-basis.
I know ideas are sometimes brought up and then not utilized to their full potential and that this happened when Kon/Connerâs origin was retconned (again?). However, thereâs nothing stopping said ideas from finally being usedâbesides writers themselves. Superboy, in reality, is âlikeâ a son to Superman in more ways than one. If they didnât want many swathes of the fandom to view him as Supermanâs super-progeny, than they shouldnât have written him to be one or âlikeâ one!
Nuance matters people, as does simple scientific and real world logic. Letâs please not lose these in our quest to have entire worlds and the characters of them written to our exact liking. It could, in some cases, literally destroy a characterâs lore, reputation and the character him/herself! The ideal that you want is often much closer to that of others than you think, and easier to achieve, without needing to erase years and years worth of history.