John Schneider as Jonathan Kent
Jonathan Kent was portrayed by John Schneider on the television series,
Smallville. Jonathan and his wife Martha, did not have any children until that one fateful day when a series of meteors hit the humble town of Smallville. Among the debris, Jonathan and Martha found a young boy, who they named Clark. Not knowing much about the mysterious origin of Clark, Jonathan and Martha decided to adopt Clark and raised him like he was any other child in town.
Jonathan was a hard-working and loving family man who did anything for the sake of protecting his family, especially Clark. When Clark began to discover his powers, he immediately set out to ward off any danger that may befall his son, and tried hard to keep Clark’s real identity a secret. His desire to keep Clark out of harm’s way also got him in trouble with many ruthless and curious outsiders, and was once even pushed to almost kill a man after the man threatened to expose Clark’s extraordinary abilities.
Despite being one of the well-liked residents of Smallville, Jonathan had one great enemy, and his name was Lionel Luthor. On the day of the meteor shower, Jonathan and Martha were driving back to their home with the young Clark when they saw Lionel waving at them from the side of the road. Lionel’s son, Lex, had been caught in the middle of the meteor shower, and as a result, had his entire head of hair burned off. Jonathan took Lex to the hospital, and in an act of gratitude, Lionel told Jonathan to approach him if he needed anything. After some time, Jonathan asked Lionel to help him fabricate Clark’s adoption papers, and when Lionel brought the papers to the Kent farm, Lionel blackmailed Jonathan into letting him build his LutherCorp. Plant in Smallville.
From that point on, Jonathan waged a personal war with Lionel, which led him to disapprove Clark’s friendship with Lex. He was also disappointed when Martha started working as Lionel’s personal assistant, but was able to gain some measure of victory when he won the senatorial race against Lex. Unfortunately, following his win, Jonathan died from a heart attack after Lionel told him that he knew about Clark’s powers.
(Photo courtesy of Kharen Hill)