Martha Kent Superman: Who She Is and Who Plays Her

Martha Kent is the adoptive mother of Clark Kent, the human identity of Superman, and the wife of Jonathan Kent. In Superman (1978), directed by Richard Donner, Jonathan and Martha find the infant Kal-El after his ship lands near Smallville, Kansas, and they raise him as Clark. She is the human half of his upbringing, set against the Kryptonian parents who sent him away.

Is Martha Kent Superman's mom? She is his adoptive mother, while his birth mother is Lara (credited as Lara Lor-Van in Man of Steel (2013)), played by Susannah York in Superman (1978), Ayelet Zurer in Man of Steel (2013) and Angela Sarafyan in Superman (2025). Clark calls the Kents his parents, and the films treat them that way.

Three actresses have played Martha across five films, and the credits are not uniform. Superman (1978) lists Phyllis Thaxter as Ma Kent, the name used alongside Glenn Ford as Pa Kent. Superman Returns (2006), directed by Bryan Singer, casts Eva Marie Saint as Martha Kent. Man of Steel (2013), directed by Zack Snyder, casts Diane Lane, who then plays the role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017).

If you are looking for Martha Kent in the 2013 film, that is Man of Steel (2013), and the 2006 version is Superman Returns. Man of Steel (2013) and Superman Returns (2006) both appear in superman movies in order.

Martha Kent's role changes in every film: she is a quiet origin-story parent in Superman (1978), a homecoming in Superman Returns, a secret-keeping mother in Man of Steel (2013), a hostage in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and a family anchor in Justice League. The common thread is a mother who anchors Clark to his human side whenever Kryptonian expectations pull the other way.

In Superman (1978), Martha and Jonathan raise the boy they found, and Jonathan dies of a heart attack before Clark is called to the Arctic by the green crystal from his ship. That loss pushes Clark toward the Fortress of Solitude and twelve years of training under the hologram of Jor-El.

In Superman Returns, Superman has been away for five years searching for the remains of Krypton. When he comes back to Earth, his first stop is his adoptive mother's farm, before Metropolis and the Daily Planet. Eva Marie Saint plays Martha as the fixed point he returns to.

In Man of Steel (2013), Diane Lane plays Martha during the years when Clark struggles to hide his growing powers in Kansas.

In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Lex Luthor kidnaps Martha and Lois Lane and demands that Superman kill Batman to save his mother. In Justice League, after the team brings Superman back to life, he returns confused and fights the heroes at first. His family connections, including Lois and Martha, help bring him back to himself.

Superman (2025), directed by James Gunn, has no Martha Kent credit. Jonathan Kent tells a recovering Superman at the Kent farm that his own choices define who he is, and at the end the robots at the Fortress comfort him with footage of his childhood with his human parents.

Martha Kent's closest relationships are with her adopted son Clark Kent and her husband Jonathan Kent, with Lois Lane and Lex Luthor entering through Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Jonathan is played by Glenn Ford as Pa Kent in Superman (1978) and by Kevin Costner in Man of Steel (2013). In both films the Kents are the people who teach Clark how to live among humans while he is still working out what he can do.

Her link to Jonathan shapes the tone of each version. Superman (1978) removes Jonathan early with a heart attack, which leaves Clark with a grief that the later Jor-El training sequence has to answer. Man of Steel (2013) keeps Jonathan on screen while Clark is young, and his advice about secrecy is the lesson Clark carries into adulthood.

Her relationship with Lois Lane is clearest in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. Luthor, played by Jesse Eisenberg, takes the two women together as leverage, and the later film names Lois and Martha together as the family connections that help Superman recover himself.

The contrast with Jor-El and Lara (credited as Lara Lor-Van in Man of Steel (2013)) matters too. They send their son away to save him, while the Kents make the day to day choices that raise him. In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice there is a second mirror: Bruce Wayne's late mother is also named Martha, played by Lauren Cohan, and that shared name changes the fight between Batman and Superman.

Martha Kent survives every Superman film she appears in, and none of them shows her death. The one moment her life is in danger is in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where Luthor holds her hostage.

In Superman (1978), Jonathan dies of a heart attack and the film moves on to Clark in the Arctic without following Martha. Superman Returns has Superman come home to his adoptive mother's farm after five years away. In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Batman stops fighting when Superman begs him to save Martha, and he goes to rescue her. In Justice League she is among those who help bring Superman back to himself, and that is her last appearance.

For readers searching Martha Kent's death, her last credited role is Diane Lane in Justice League (2017), and Superman (2025) has no Martha Kent credit.

Martha Kent's best moment is the hostage scene in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where Superman begging Batman to save Martha stops the fight. It works, in my opinion, because it turns a mother's name into the thing that breaks a fight. Batman hears the name Martha, the name of his own late mother, and stops. The entire confrontation turns on that single word.

Second is the farm homecoming in Superman Returns. Eva Marie Saint gets only a short stretch in Superman Returns, yet the farm homecoming after five years away says more about who Clark is than the spectacle around it.

Third, and the quietest, is Justice League, where Martha is named among the family connections that help a confused, resurrected Superman come back to himself. Set beside the Superman (2025) ending, where footage of his childhood with his human parents comforts him, it shows the same idea from the other direction: the Kents are what Superman falls back on. I read that as the role Martha plays best.