The Super-Sons first appeared together in World's Finest Comics #154. Batman's imaginary son was seen first in Batman #131, Batman #145, and Batman #163. The Super-Sons, Superman Jr. and Batman Jr., were college-aged versions of their superhero fathers. Their mothers are never referred to by name, nor are their faces ever shown, though Superman's wife is dark-haired and Batman's wife is a redhead. The Super-Sons look almost exactly like their fathers and wear identical costumes. The characters spoke with a slightly exaggerated version of the slang popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They regard each other as brothers since both understand the pressures involved in being the son of a living legend. Like his father, Batman Jr. has no superhuman powers and relies on athletic prowess and gadgets. Superman Jr., who is only half-Kryptonian, has powers levels of only half that of Superman, Sr. Although the very first Super-Sons appearance stated that these were actual stories in the lives of Superman and Batman, the final story in World's Finest #263, "Final Secret of the Super-Sons", written by Dennis O'Neil, revealed that the Sons had never really existed — they were merely computer simulations of what might have been, created by Superman and Batman on the Man of Steel's computer in his Fortress of Solitude. They later inspired the characters Joel Kent and Bruce Wayne Jr. in the three comic book series. It was thought that the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series had erased Superman Jr. and Batman Jr. from DC continuity, but this assumption was later shown to be incorrect. A Super-Sons story by Bob Haney was published in the comic special Elseworlds 80-Page Giant. In "Elseworlds" tales, "heroes are taken from their usual settings and put into strange times and places -- some that have existed, and others that can't, couldn't or shouldn't exist." Eventually, the Super-Sons reality would be named Earth-216 and designated a Hypertime reality unaffected by the Crisis. The Earth-154 variant of the Super-Sons appear briefly during the Infinite Crisis limited series, during which time Alexander Luthor, Jr. of Earth-Three warps reality in an attempt to restore the multiverse. Their planet and countless other Earths later contract into a single "New Earth". In the limited series 52, it is revealed that 52 identical parallel universes were created. During his subsequent attempt to consume the multiverse, the worm-like villain Mister Mind altered each of the parallel worlds, creating distinct histories for each. According to DC Nation #89, one of those worlds is Earth-16, home of the Super-Sons. In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, the Super-Sons reside on Earth-16 as members of the Just—the sons and daughters of the classic JLA, who have inherited a crimeless, utopian universe, and so live as idle celebrities.
The Super-Sons stories
The titles of the individual 'Parts' of the stories are presented here as they were in the comic books. In other words, that of Part Two of Little Town With a Big Secret was actually shown in quotation marks, and the number of The Angel With a Dirty Name Part 3 was in numerical form rather than being spelled out as were the previous two parts. These variations have thus been reflected below, and are not mistakes. Unlike the other stories, Saga of the Super Sons and Final Secret of the Super Sons were not divided into parts. It should also be pointed out that 'Super Sons' was spelled both on the story titles and on the cover of DC Comics' trade-paperback collection without a hyphen, as here. In World's Finest, the title of the series as given on the stories themselves tended to vary from issue to issue, i.e. Superman and Batman, Superman, Batman and their Super-Sons etc. These variations have been mentioned where they occur. Cry Not For my Forsaken Son bore only its story title and no series title was given at all.
Collected edition
In December 2007, DC Comics published a trade-paperback collection of the series entitled Superman/Batman: Saga of the Super Sons. It collects the stories from: World's Finest #215-216, 221-222, 224, 228, 230, 231, 233, 238, 242, and 263; and Elseworlds 80-Page Giant #1. The story in World's Finest #263 is written by Dennis O'Neil, all the others by Bob Haney.
Super Sons (2017)
In 2016, DC Comics announced a new version of the Super Sons to appear in 2017. The two central characters are Damian Wayne, son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, and Jonathan Kent, son of Superman and Lois Lane. The former is thirteen years of age in this version, while the latter is ten years old. The advance releases describe them as "best frenemies forever" who will save the world together, "if they don't kill each other first." The series was launched in February 2017 and ended in May 2018 with 16 issues and 1 annual. An alternate version of the Super Sons, named the Bizarro Boyz, appeared in the four-part story "Boyzarro Re-Death." Robzarro was a member of the Bizarro Boyz, along with Boyzarro. Both the team name and character names were influenced by fans on social media. Adventures of the Super Sons, a 12-issue miniseries serves as a continuation of the Super Sons series, with Peter J. Tomasi as the writer and art by Carlo Barberi and Art Thibert. The first issue was released in August 2018.
Collected editions
DC Zoom
The Super Sons, Jon Kent and Damian "Ian" Wayne, are featured in a three-part graphic novel series by author Ridley Pearson and artist Ile Gonzalez. The first book, Super Sons: The Polarshield Project, was released on April 2, 2019. Book two, Super Sons: The Foxglove Mission was released on November 5, 2019. The third book Super Sons: Escape to Landis will be released in 2020.
In other media
A reimagining of the "Super Sons" will appear in the upcoming CW television series Superman & Lois, in which Lois and Clark's teenage sons, Jonathan Kent and Jordan Kent, will be played by Jordan Elsass and Alexander Garfin.
