Warning: Contains Spoilers for Superman: Son of Kal-El #13

DC's newest Superman, Clark's son Jonathan Kent, has been called out as guilty of using a poorly aged superhero trope. There have been a large number of tropes in the superhero genre that have stood the test of time, while others have aged terribly. Some of the most notable tropes that are still used today include the secret identity and the tragic accident origin story. These tropes have even held up because of the clever subversions to them done by today's biggest names in comics. However, not every trope has aged very well, and there's one that's been used in the current run of Superman comics that has been rightfully called out.

Superman: Son of Kal-El #13 by Nicole Maines, Tom Taylor and Clayton Henry follows Superman and his boyfriend, Jay Nakamura, as they flee Metropolis after Jay's identity has been discovered. They soon find they're not alone when Dreamer, making her DC Comics debut, waits for them in the Fortress of Solitude. She shows Superman a vision of the future where Professor Bendix takes down the entire Justice League, killing Jon and all of his friends. Fearing for their lives, Superman thanks Dreamer for the information and prepares to take to the skies to prepare. However, it's what he does next that's rightfully mentioned as problematic.

Related: The X-Men Found a Genius Way Around a Problematic Trope

Understandably, Superman wants to protect his boyfriend now that everyone knows who he is. So, he tells Jay to stay in the Fortress of Solitude while he takes off, being left in the care of a robot assistant named Kelex. When Dreamer realizes what he's doing though, she rightfully calls him out by saying "you are kind of damseling him," to which Jay agrees. "Damseling" is a term that derives from the phrase "damsel in distress." In short, it means when a character views a person close to them as someone who is only there to be rescued. It's a severely negative trope that's as old as comics themselves that has been shown through characters like Lois Lane and Mary Jane Watson. In a way, it's a move that sets Jay up not as a person who can fight for himself but rather be someone whose only purpose is to sit and wait to be rescued.

Superman and Damseling

This move by Superman is a confounding one because it's been shown throughout the comics that he not only cares for Jay but also trusts him. The two make a strong team together since the day that Superman officially came out as bisexual. Now that Jay's identity is at risk, Jon is more concerned with protecting and saving him, which breaches the trust they've built up. To Jay, it feels like his boyfriend doesn't believe he can stand up for himself. Superman may have enemies, but Jay wants Jon to respect that he's every bit as capable of fighting and doesn't want to just be a pretty face waiting for him to return and save him from evil's clutches.

Thankfully, Jay does end up convincing Superman why what he was doing was wrong. Not only is Bendix threatening Jon's friends and family, but it's being done at the hand of someone that's harmed Jay's family as well. He even mentions that "It's my people he's enslaved. It's my fight." Still, it's a pretty unfortunate lapse of judgement from Jonathan Kent, who has grown as his own Superman and shown that he has a strong amount of trust for Jay as he takes on the persona Gossamer. Superman is a character who has been seen a symbol for hope as he fights for justice, but taking away something so personal to someone he cares for more than anything is pretty disappointing, even if he was called out.

Next: 10 Comic Book Tropes That Need to End, According To Reddit

Look for Superman: Son of Kal-El #13 in stores now!