[1] In most versions of Superman's origin story, Jonathan and Martha find Kal-El as an infant after he crash-lands on Earth following the destruction of his home planet, Krypton.

[3] In post-Crisis continuity, they both remain alive even after Clark becomes an adult, being supporting characters until Jonathan's death during an attack by the supervillain Brainiac.

Her full name is given as Martha Hudson Clark Kent in answer to a letter writer's query in Superman v1 #148 (Oct 1961).

After he and Martha find the toddler Kal-El in his rocket, they take him to the Smallville Orphanage and later formally adopt him, naming him "Clark".

Around the time Clark starts school, the Kents sell their farm, and the family moves into Smallville, where they open a general store.

In Superman #161 (May 1963), the story "The Last Days of Ma and Pa Kent" was released explaining how they died after exposure to the "Plague Disease" after Jonathan found a buried pirate chest on a Caribbean island while he and Martha were on vacation there.

(Action Comics #500 recounts that the serum eventually wore off just before Clark's high school graduation, and the Kents gradually reverted to their true ages and elderly appearances.)

After Superboy assists a group of interplanetary farmers from an alien world,[10] they repay him by granting Jonathan's subconscious desire to see Clark in the future as Superman.

Using their advanced technology, they place an artificially aged Jonathan years into the future, warping reality to make it appear that he had never died, and had maintained contact with his son all along.

[11] After comics writer John Byrne rewrote Superman's origin in the 1986 The Man of Steel limited series, one of the changes he made was keeping Jonathan and Martha Kent alive into Clark's adulthood.

[12] In this version of events, after a Kryptonian "birthing matrix" lands on Earth, Jonathan and Martha find a newborn infant inside.

Taking the infant in just before a major snowstorm strikes (that buried Smallville in snow for a number of months and cut off outsiders' access to the Kent family farm), the couple decides to pass the infant off as their own natural child, naming him "Clark", exploiting Martha's past miscarriages to justify their decision to keep their 'latest pregnancy' a secret.

In the Man of Steel mini-series and afterwards, the Kents remain farmers through Clark's adult years, although a storyline[volume & issue needed] features them having opened a general store in Smallville.

After Supergirl revealed that part of her life to the Kents, Jonathan visited the Danvers to help Linda's father Fred adapt to their mutual daughter's unconventional status.

[16] Although now shown wearing glasses, Jonathan has a full head of blond hair, and Martha has long red tresses.

[citation needed] After the "Infinite Crisis" storyline, Superman's continuity was revised yet again from the Birthright origin, as briefly summarized in Action Comics #850.

They are initially still depicted with younger appearances and the Schneider and O'Toole likenesses; however, this eventually gives way to older, more traditionally generic, gray-haired representations.

When Clark feels different from native Earth children, Martha relates with a story of her own family coming to terms in America, having emigrated from Germany long ago.

In this version, the Kents are both shown to already have graying hair when they find the baby Kal-El, but are still drawn to be considerably younger, more in-tune to their Birthright counterparts; as the miniseries progresses into Clark's adulthood and debut as Superman, they visibly age and their appearances come to match those in The Man of Steel.

Together, the two of them light the cornfield on fire, and Krypto temporarily severs Lois' connection to the Black Lantern Ring, allowing for Martha to survive.

[citation needed] In Doomsday Clock, it is revealed that Doctor Manhattan caused The New 52 reboot and facilitated the Kents' deaths.

Young Ultraman decides to blend into society until he is ready to conquer the planet, and forces Jonathan and Martha to act as his parents.

In the prequel to the video game Injustice: Gods Among Us, the President of the United States hires Mirror Master and a team of commandos to kidnap Jonathan and Martha to use them as bargaining chips in an attempt to end Superman's enforced peacekeeping.

Superman and the Justice League successfully rescue them and Clark places them in the Fortress of Solitude to protect them after the government burned down Kent farm.

In the prequel to the game's sequel, the Kents still live in the Fortress of Solitude knowing they would be persecuted for their son's actions if they returned to Smallville.