Jonathan Kent Question

[Mattashell]

Most of us know that Superman's Earth father died when Clark was a young man in Superman: The Movie (1978). He never died in any other version of the Superman legend that I know of. Does anyone know if the silver age or any other Jonathan Kent died when Clark was a young man? Why did they write his death into the movie?

[Zoddman]

In the original golden age version of Superman, both Jonathan and Martha Kent died. In the silver age, we finally got introduced to Kal El's foster parents through the monthly Superboy comic. When John Byrne rebooted Supes after crisis on infinite Earths, Byrne decided to keep Clark's parents alive to his full maturity, and their still alive today,(Continuity-wise.)