Smallville/Characters/Kents

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Clark Kent/Kal-El/The Blur/Superman (Tom Welling)

The main character of the show, we all know his Backstory -- he was rocketed to Earth as a baby from the planet Krypton just before it was destroyed in an Earthshattering Kaboom and found by Jonathan and Martha Kent after his spaceship crash-landed in Smallville during a meteor shower that devastated much of the town.

In the show's early seasons, Clark spent most of his time fighting meteor freaks, hopelessly pining for Lana Lang, wishing he were normal and befriending his future Arch Enemy, Lex Luthor. From Season 8 onwards, he began working at the Daily Planet alongside Lois Lane (with whom he began to have feelings for) and taking steps towards embracing his destiny as Superman, finally doing so in the Grand Finale.

For his Earth-2 counterpart, Clark Luthor/Ultraman, see Earth-2.

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• Acrophobic Bird: Until the Grand Finale.
• Alliterative Name: Possibly the originator of the trope, as Clark Kent/Superman was the first Comic Book Superhero, and possibly started the trend of Comic Book and Sci Fi characters having alliterative names.
• Back from the Dead: More than twice.
• Badass: He's Superman. What did you expect?
  • Badass Longcoat: In Season 9.
    • Come Season 10's "Shield", however, he returns to his red-and-blue threads.
  • Took a Level in Badass
• Bash Brothers: With Oliver in later seasons.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Clark is a calm, friendly guy, but do not threaten the people he cares about.
• Bishonen
• The Cape (trope): Picks up traits of it as time goes by. He's definitely there by the finale.
• Chick Magnet: Humorously, he usually either seems innocently unaware of it or,when he does realize that a girl is attracted to him, he gets extremely shy and bashful.
• The Chosen One: Repeatedly stated by Jor-El, who knew that Clark would gain powers on Earth and, since With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, he would need to use those powers to help people.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome
• Cool Loser
• Combat Pragmatist: Clark's usual strategy seems to be "clock you from behind at 500 miles an hour."
  • And he's willing to use weapons, especially when Brought Down to Normal.
• Doom Magnet: Meteor freaks, Corrupt Corporate Executives, Wicked Witches, alien invaders -- if it can attack Clark, it has.
• Mr. Fanservice
• Farm Boy
• Friend to All Children: Clark gets along better with children than he does with his peers. He's very understanding of them and becomes a bit of a big brother to some. The kids he's helped include but not limited to: Ryan James, a meteor infected telepath who was the first person to learn his secret, Bart Allen, a speedster delinquent and founding member of Smallville's Justice League, Evan Gallegher a rapidly aging boy who saw Clark as a father figure, Maddie Van Horn a glass manipulator who opened up to Clark after years of silence and trauma and Conner Kent, the half kryptonian half human clone of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. This also extended to Alexander, a child persona of Lex's innocence who Clark had tried to save. Whoa to anyone stupid enough to hurt kids in front of Clark.
• Friend to All Living Things: He also extends his friendship to animals. Especially his pet dog Shelby. Even after rejecting his human side he takes the time to feed his dog.

• Flying Brick: The original.
• Foil: To Lex Luthor.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: As Kal.
  • In Season 10, he dons a red leather jacket, complete with a stylized House of El symbol on the front.
• Heroic Neutral: In the early seasons.
  • Neutral No Longer: Season 8 onwards.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation
• Hollywood Nerd
• Honor Before Reason
• Hurting Hero
• Hypocrite: He expects everyone else to be completely honest with him about everything, but builds his relationships around lies and deceit insisting on keeping his "secret" even among his closest friends.
  • That's probably why he's so touchy about lies: he knows people keep secrets and that somebody can be deceiving you even when it doesn't seem like it - he does so himself.
  • Though in fairness many other characters and the show itself calls him on it a lot.
• I Just Want to Be Normal
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: This is depicted as being intrinsic to his very being. Lionel, who once switched bodies with him and Lx-15, who shares some of his DNA, end up pulling a Face Heel Turn in part because of this.
  • Weaponised against Darkseid.
• It's All My Fault
• The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: It repeatedly sabotages his relationship with Lana at the very least.
• The Messiah
• Messianic Archetype
• Never Gets Drunk: Unless the alcohol is magically enchanted, Clark cannot get smashed.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Is guilty of this numerous times.
  • In the Season 2 finale, he uses a kryptonite key to destroy his spaceship so he can get rid of Jor-El, but ends up causing an explosion that causes Martha to miscarry her unborn child.
  • In Season 4, he, through inaction, causes another meteor shower to bombard Smallville.
  • In the Season 5 finale, he stabs Brainiac with a Kryptonian knife, opening a portal for General Zod to escape from the Phantom Zone and possess Lex.
  • In the Season 6 finale, he tries using a Kryptonian crystal against the last Phantom Zone prisoner who instead clones Clark and becomes Bizarro.
  • And finally, in Season 10, his use of the Book of Rao to send away Zod and the Kandorians allowed Darkseid to come to Earth.
• The Paragon: According to Doctor Fate in Season 9's "Absolute Justice" two-parter.
• Stealth Hi Bye: The number of times that someone has been speaking to Clark and then turned around to find him gone would make a good drinking game. It's practically a Running Gag.
  • Must have learned it from Batman.
• Technical Pacifist: Murder is wrong! Smacking someone over the head from behind, however, is not.
• The Dreaded: At least how he appears in Lex's eyes. His clone Lx-15 firmly believed Clark wanted to kill him.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: He comes dangerously close to killing the guy who killed Alicia Baker and Lx-3, but pulls back at the last moment. Nonetheless, Clark believes there is always a better option than murder, and calls out the likes of Green Arrow and the Justice League whenever they cross the line.
  • Notably, Clark does not apply this rule to machines. But then again, this is Brainiac we're talking about. Not even Lex went to the levels Brainiac went to. And the bastard's got a From a Single Cell thing going on, as well, so it ain't like it's ever been permanent.
• Unwanted False Faith: Repeatedly has to tell Tess (among others) to "Stop Worshipping Me!!"
• Unwitting Pawn: On occasion. He's getting better about it, though.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Lois, in Seasons 4 through 7. Converts to UST as of Season 8.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist
• Would Hit a Girl: Given the sheer number of female villains, he'd be an idiot not to.

Jonathan Kent (John Schneider)

Clark's adoptive human father. In Season 5, he ran for the Kansas State Senate and won... only to die of a heart attack a short while later following a confrontation with Lionel Luthor (and as a consequence of Clark altering history to save Lana, who had been killed in a car accident). He returns in Season 10 to give Clark some guidance, and shows up yet again in the Grand Finale to give Clark his Superman costume.

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• Aesop Amnesia
• Badass Normal: At his best, he can go toe-to-toe with Lionel and survive anything the Freak of the Week can throw at him.
• Doomed by Canon: Jonathan is an interesting case as the original comics, movies and television shows had him die. Later comic books and the show Lois and Clark allowed him to live. However, Smallville returns to the original canon by having Jonathan die which granted was not due to old age, but rather trauma from being possessed by Jor-El and finally dying during a confrontation with Lionel Luthor.
• Foil: To Lionel Luthor.
• Former Teen Rebel
• Go Out with a Smile
• Happily Married: To Martha.
• Hard Head: How many times has Mr. Kent been knocked out now?
• Hot Dad
• Jerkass: Was this at times, usually toward Lex in the early seasons.
• Killed Off for Real
• Knight Templar Parent
• Muggle Foster Parent
• Papa Wolf: If you mess with Clark, Jonathan will come for you. With a shotgun.
• Properly Paranoid: Jonathan can come off as a paranoid Knight Templar Parent, but you know what? He was right about Alicia. He was right about Brainiac. He was right about what Lex would do if he ever found out Clark's secret. Pick a person that Clark trusted and who then betrayed him; chances are, Jonathan predicted it.
• Secret Keeper
• So Proud of You
• Spirit Advisor
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: He invokes this on Clark, even though he has come close to breaking that trope, on a few occasions. Most notable being when he fought Lionel Luthor over Clark's secret. While he didn't kill him, the stress of it caused his own heart attack. It comes in handy later on when Clark realizes Jonathan's Ghost in "Oracle" was none other than Braniac. Lionel himself pointed out, that the last thing Jonathan would want from Clark was to have him kill, even if it's his enemies.

Martha Kent (Annette O'Toole)

Clark's adoptive human mother. In Season 5, Martha took over Jonathan's Senate seat after his death and moved to Washington, D.C. at the end of Season 6. Returns in Seasons 9 and 10.

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• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Her relationship with Lionel. Not that it ever goes anywhere.
• Chess Motifs: Season 9's "Hostage".
• Convenient Miscarriage: At the end of Season 2.
• Happily Married: To Jonathan.
• Hot Mom
• Knight Templar Parent: In Season 9's "Hostage".
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: The Red Queen. She even dresses all in red.
• Mama Bear
• Muggle Foster Parent
• Parental Substitute / Team Mom: Martha acts this way around Clark's friends, allies and fellow superheros. The most well known examples being with Chloe, Lois, Bart Allen, Maddie Van Horn and Ryan James.
• Put on a Bus
  • The Bus Came Back
• Secret Keeper
• Took a Level in Badass

Kara Kent/Kara Zor-El

See Kryptonians

Conner Kent (Lucas Gabreel)

"I know who I am."

Formerly the Lex clone known alternately as Lx-15 and "Alexander", he developed serious amnesia following his failure to kill Clark and re-capture by Tess. This was accompanied by the manifestation of Kryptonian abilities; Tess eventually discovered that he contained DNA from not only Lex, but Clark as well, and left him with Clark for training. After finding out that Clark and Tess were hiding half of his heritage from him, Conner felt betrayed and went to Earth-2 Lionel. Lionel, of course, put a Red Kryptonite ring on him, making him temporarily evil.

Clark was able to destroy the ring, and Conner was immediately guilty for his actions (which included nearly killing Lois and stealing). Lionel came in and weakened them both with Kryptonite, then dragged Conner away, intending to convince Conner to join him. Conner, however, defied him, declaring that he knew who he was, before using his heat vision to destroy the Kryptonite, saving Clark while Lionel made his escape. Afterward, Clark forgives him for his actions, since he wasn't himself. Conner surprises Clark, revealing that he is wearing a black t-shirt with the "S" symbol on it, telling Clark that he wants to follow in his footsteps.

For his pre-amnesia personality of "Alexander," please see LuthorCorp.

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• Cloning Blues: When he found out that not only was he half-Clark, but half-Lex. He's over it now.
• Composite Character: Of Alexander Luthor Jr. and Conner Kent.
• Flying Brick: Has demonstrated Nigh Invulnerability, Super Strength, Super Speed, Heat Vision, Super Senses and other Kryptonian abilities.
• Genius Bruiser: His quick reactions make it quite obvious that he has maintained Lex/Alexander's intellect.
• Heel Face Revolving Door: First he was a Cheerful Child as Alexander. Then he became an Enfante Terrible demanding to be called "Lex". Then he pulled a Heel Face Turn after he lost his memory and became Conner. Then his Super-Powered Evil Side kicked in due to Red K. As of the end of "Scion", however, he appears to have settled on "Face".
• Here We Go Again: At the end of "Scion", Clark reveals that he has enrolled him in high school, starting next school year. Conner will be attending Smallville High. Unlike Clark, however, he's most likely going to be a lot more accepting of his destiny as Superboy.
• Parental Issues: Throughout most of "Scion", but resolved by the end.
• Put on a Bus: Thankfully, subverted. He's living on the Kent Farm indefinitely.
• Superhero: On his way to being Superboy.
• Super-Powered Evil Side: On Red K, the "Lex" side of his personality is very much dominant. He more or less reverts to being "Alexander".