It’s Ma Turn: Neva Howell to Play Martha Kent in 'Superman'
NOW DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME?
It was only a matter of time. After yesterday’s report that Pruitt Taylor Vince was cast as Jonathan “Pa” Kent in the new DC Universe’s Superman that the casting his wife and Clark’s adoptive mother Martha would not be far behind with its own reveal. In fact The Wrap had this exclusive as well, that Neva Howell would be taking on the role.
Neva Howell is Tennessee-based actress whose recent credits include Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Long Haul, Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky, and My Fellow Americans. As stated, Smallville, Kansas natives Martha and Jonathan found Clark in his Kryptonian spaceship following his arrival on Earth. Sometimes on a clear night, and on a certain occasion an afternoon meteor shower where Clark isn’t so quite a baby. An overwhelming majority of the time, Martha lives well into Clark’s adulthood. In the Smallville continuity, where she’s played by Annette O’Toole, Martha assumes Jonathan’s Senate seat and leaves the farm to Clark. In Superman & Lois, she, played by Michele Scarabelli, lives to see her grandsons Jordan and Jonathan grow into being teenagers, however it’s her fatal stroke that jumpstarts the series. It’s learned after that she had a reverse mortgage on the farm to help her neighbors, and build a college fund for the twins, and so Clark and Lois buy the farm and move back to it. She is often the seamstress of Clark’s first Superman suit, at first handcrafting it from the blankets Clark first landed with. Both Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (where she was played by K. Callan) and Superman & Lois use the “Thanks, my mom made it for me” line from Superman For All Seasons #1.
In the original 1978 film, Martha’s played by Phyllis Thaxter, but she might be one of the factors that makes Superman Returns a fork from Superman II, as by III she’s implied to have died, leading Clark to sell the farm in the next film. However in Returns, she’s alive and played by Eva Marie Saint. In the DCEU, she was played by Diane Lane, while in the DC Animated Universe she was voiced by Shelley Fabares.
James Gunn is not only directing Superman but writing and likely executive producing due to his being the DC Studios co-CEO, and the architect of the new DC Universe. Martha’s loving boy will be played by David Corenswet, at least as an adult, alongside Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Wendell Pierce as Perry White, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner Green Lantern, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho aka Rex Mason, María Gabriela De Faría as Angela Spica, The Engineer, and a clique of villains with Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, Terence Rosemore as Otis, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher. The DC Studios film, the first in the “Gods & Monsters” chapter, is set for release on July 11, 2025.
Source: The Wrap