Showrunners reveal a revamped Superboy origin in My Adventures With Superman

Jake Wyatt and Brendan Clogher said this week that *My Adventures With Superman* rebuilt Superboy around a new premise: he is Jonathan Kent from a ruined alternate future, not a straight adaptation of Conner Kent or the standard comics version of Jon Kent. In interviews published July 7 and recirculated July 9, the showrunners said the Season 3 character was designed by combining multiple strands of DC continuity with time-travel influences outside comics. The Adult Swim series revealed in its latest episode that this Superboy is the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, according to ComicBook.com and SuperHeroHype. Those reports said Jon comes from a future devastated by Cyborg Superman and is sent back with a mission tied to Lex Luthor. ### So who is this version of Superboy supposed to be? Jonathan Kent is the name attached to the character in the show, but Wyatt and Clogher said they were not treating him as a one-to-one copy of any single comic-book incarnation. ComicBook.com reported that the writers framed him as an original synthesis built for the series. Brendan Clogher said Jon was “one of the most challenging parts” of the new season because the team was changing so much of “Comic Book Jon.” Clogher said the writers wanted some of the 1990s visual language, while knowing viewers would recognize that the character was not simply the familiar version from the page. ### Why didn’t they just use Conner Kent as-is? Jake Wyatt said the writers pulled from several Superboy traditions rather than one. According to ComicBook.com, Wyatt said the team drew from 1990s Conner Kent, the black-T-shirt *Young Justice* version of Conner, and the more recent fully realized Jon Kent from DC comics. Wyatt said the writers wanted “a Superboy this season who gives problems to every member of the cast.” He said that goal pushed the team to borrow “a lot of parts from different Superboys” while still trying to create an original version for the show. ### Where does the time-travel element come from? ComicBook.com reported that Wyatt linked the character to a broader time-travel tradition, not just DC lore. Wyatt cited *Terminator*’s John Connor and Kyle Reese, along with *Dragon Ball Z*’s Trunks, as direct influences on how this Superboy was conceived. SuperHeroHype’s July 7 write-up said those influences helped shape a version of Superboy built around a future-war backstory. In the show’s version, the destroyed timeline and Jon’s return to the past are central to the character rather than an added twist. ### When did the show start setting this up? Variety reported on May 14 that Season 3’s trailer introduced both Superboy and Cyborg Superman before the season’s June 13 premiere on Adult Swim. The trailer also confirmed Darren Criss as the voice of Superboy, with Jack Quaid returning as Superman and Alice Lee as Lois Lane. Adult Swim’s third season began on June 13 at midnight ET/PT and streams the following day on HBO Max, Variety reported. SuperHeroHype said viewers can now watch the new Superboy arc unfold as the season continues its weekly rollout. ### What comes next in the rollout? Season 3 is continuing weekly on Adult Swim, with next-day streaming on HBO Max, according to Variety and SuperHeroHype. Wyatt and Clogher remain the showrunners, and Darren Criss’s Superboy is now positioned as an ongoing part of the season’s Cyborg Superman storyline.