The son of Superman, Jonathan Kent, has made waves in his short time as the new Man of Steel. But a secret from Krypton's past may put the young hero's entire existence in a brand-new light.
For the majority of his career, Superman was the sole survivor of his home world's destruction, to the point that he was known throughout the universe as the "Last Son of Krypton." But the hero eventually discovered that others from Krypton survived its most devastating event. From his cousin Supergirl to the criminals of the Phantom Zone, it became clear that Superman wasn't the only Kryptonian in the DC Universe. The man would even help the number of Kryptonians grow by helping bring Jon Kent into the world with Lois Lane. Superman's son isn't the first human and Kryptonian hybrid, but he is one of the first brought to life through traditional conception.
But, as it turns out, the fact that Jon exists at all is nothing short of amazing. A brief glimpse into Krypton’s past was shown in Superman Annual #14 by James Robinson and Javier Piña and is narrated by one of Clark’s oldest allies, Mon-El. The hero recounts a new origin of Krypton that reveals the planet had a phase in their history known as the “Great Inquiry,” which sent Kryptonians all across the galaxy to gain the knowledge of other worlds and bring new planets into Krypton's empire. During the mission, Mon-El noted that many Kryptonians fell in love with the natives of the worlds they'd come to conquer and coupling was a common occurrence. But because of the makeup of Kryptonian DNA, interbreeding with other alien species wasn't possible, except for what would eventually become the Daxamite race Mon-El hails from.
Obviously, the existence of Jon Kent proves Kryptonians and humans are just as compatible as Mon-El’s ancestors, but it's still a surprising tidbit. After all, Krypton explored hundreds of other worlds in its Grand Inquiry and clearly had enough data to safely say that their people couldn't have children with other forms of life. And yet, Clark and Lois brought Jon in to the world, meaning the young half Kryptonian is practically a marvel of science.
To be fair, there have been half human/half Kryptonian beings before, namely Conner Kent, who contains the DNA of Superman and Lex Luthor. But Conner was largely the result of cloning, while Jon Kent was the natural offspring of his parents. While the native Daxamites were considered an anomaly for their ability to breed with Kryptonians, Jon is living proof that they weren't the only ones. It may not mean much now with the DC Universe only having a handful of Kryptonians around, but Jon's existence is something his ancestors couldn't have predicted and would have thought impossible. The idea that the current Superman is a literal miracle makes Jon's tenure as a hero all the more special.