This article contains spoilers for Future State: Superman of Metropolis #2 by Brandon Easton, Sean Lewis, Valentine De Landro, Cully Hamner, Michael Avon Oeming, and John Timms.
Superman's son Jonathan Kent has a dark destiny in DC's Future State initiative. DC's Future State is one of the boldest moves in the comic book publisher's history, with almost the entire line replaced by a number of new books exploring a dystopian future. This has seen several key heroes replaced by other champions, with Yara Flor taking over as a new Wonder Woman, and Superman's son Jonathan Kent standing as the defender of Metropolis.
Future State: Superman of Metropolis #2 sees Jonathan Kent stand in his father's shadow - literally. He is up against an enemy named Braincells, essentially the next evolution of Superman's old nemesis Brainiac. The entity has used its advanced technology to probe the timestream, and it summons an army of Superman clones based on different iterations of the Man of Steel. This is Jonathan Kent's ultimate challenge, as he must do his best to defeat multiple versions of Superman himself.
But Braincells' most ominous comment is one Jonathan Kent doesn't even notice. "Funny thing," he says, "I looked throughout the past and the future... and there were all these Clarks and no Jonathans... What do you think that means, hm?"
It's not difficult to see why Braincells couldn't detect past versions of Jon Kent, because his past is tied to past Multiversal stories. But the most disturbing aspect of this is the implication Jonathan has no future either. Braincells is attempting to intimidate the new Superman, to make him believe he will die in this battle and fail in his attempt to defend Metropolis. But there's no reason to assume he isn't telling the truth, and that Jonathan Kent's time as Superman will be a short one, coming to an abrupt end.
DC's Future State is essentially a mystery story like nothing we've seen in comics before; the various comics are giving us clues to the future of the DC Universe, but they are avoiding making it too easy to put the pieces together. When this two-month event is over, the normal publishing line will be resumed, and no doubt the heroes of Earth will attempt to avert this timeline. It seems Clark Kent will find himself fighting to rewrite the destiny of his son Jonathan, the short-lived Superman of Metropolis.