I noticed how Jonathan continuously gave Clark really bad advice which instilled fear in him instead of providing his son with the confidence he needed to believe in himself and do what he could to help others. Jonathan using fear as a motivator caused Clark to second guess himself and made him feel he had to hide who he was or people would fear or hate him. And not to mention he could be caught by the government and taken away.
The story acknowledged that Jonathan had a belief that his son was destined for greatness but if he constantly instilled fear in his son how was Clark going to find out what he was destined for if he was too afraid of his secret being discovered?
For instance, in the scene after Clark rescued a group of his classmates who were trapped on a sinking school bus, his father pretty much told him that he should not have rescued those kids. Clark asked his father if he should have let a bus full of kids die instead of using his powers and guess what dear old dad had to say. He said "I don't know. Maybe". Why would they write him saying that? Jonathan was so afraid that someone would find out about Clark that he gave out that particularly piece of terrible advice. I get it, he doesn't want anyone to find out about the things his son can do but for him to prefer Clark let kids die so his secret can be safe is horrible.
And I still find the tornado scene to be ridiculous because Jonathan didn't want Clark to rescue him, he just stood there while the tornado engulfed him. He would rather die in a storm instead of letting Clark save him which is something that he could have easily done without anyone seeing. I don't understand how this scene was even written with Clark just standing there not going out to save his father. This was easily one of the most preventable deaths.
The DCEU (DC Extended Universe) version of Jonathan Kent (and to some extent Martha Kent) didn't nurture or guide Clark into being a caring, confident, intelligent and proactive person. Growing up, Clark never got the chance to figure things out for himself and even after his father died he was still being influenced by how he was raised.
Jonathan did a great job of teaching his son to be fearful because Clark was so afraid of building connections he roamed the country going from one dead-end job after another. He didn't have to worry about someone getting to know him or questioning him because those jobs allowed him the opportunity to stay anonymous. Although he had trust issues (thanks to dear old dad), he at least didn't stick with his father's terrible advice of not helping others. Because while working those jobs he wound up helping people such as a waitress that was being harassed by truck drivers to saving workers on an oil rig that caught fire.
However, when the time came for him to save the world against the Kryptonians it gave off the appearance that he was reluctant to do so. It's like he didn't mind doing things on a smaller scale but revealing himself to the world was too much to handle. Thanks to his fearful upbringing, it felt like he was only going in to fight the Kryptonians only because he was forced to.
I don't know if Jonathan Kent was a terrible father or just gave out bad advice but in the end Clark had to eventually decide for himself who he wanted to be. A person of fear or someone who is willing to trust others? But it would have been nice if his parents had been more nurturing and supportive to help him on his way to becoming the superhero he ended up being.
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