The following article contains spoilers from Superman: Son of Kal-El #12, on sale now.
In Superman: Son of Kal-El #12 (Tom Taylor, Cian Tormey, Ruairi Coleman, Scott Hanna, Raul Fernandez, Federico Blee, Matt Herms, Dave Sharpe) Superman's attempts to uncover Henry Bendix's plans led him and his boyfriend, Jay, to interrogate a U.S. senator in public. During Senator Henderson's attempts to lie, he managed to say one truthful thing: that the entire country owes Jonathan and Martha Kent a debt of gratitude for raising Superman with the values he has.
It brings up a good point, now that Superman's true identity is public knowledge, the efforts his family has gone through to raise into the hero he is today are also known. His parents not only deserve recognition from their country, but from the world and universe at large. As many alternate world stories have shown, Superman would be vastly different, and arguably worse, had he not been found and raised by the Kents. They deserve some kind of reward for that, not that they would ever ask for one.
Senator Henderson was right, the Kents are remarkable. There is something about the wealth of kindness and wisdom they possess that managed to help raise a child destined to inherit godlike powers into a humble and kind man willing to use his incredible gifts in service to the people around him. History has shown that a Kal-El not raised by the Kents often suffers as a consequence. Their guidance was what helped Clark become Superman.
The rest of the world knows this now. They have acknowledged what the Kents gave to the world, the entire universe really, yet there has been no public acknowledgement of their deeds. At the very least, this remarkable couple deserves to go down in history as two of the most important people in the early moments of the age of superheroes. The values they instilled in their son became the template for which countless other heroes have and still do use to form their own identities.
So, then why haven't they been honored? The most obvious answer is that they have no wish for awards or accolades. They were a couple who never thought they would have the chance to raise a child of their own, then suddenly, their wish fell out of the sky. Parenting isn't something people do in hopes of a reward, a "thank you" maybe, but it is a responsibility, to raise a child to be better than they were, and hopefully put more good into the world in the process. The Kents have gone above and beyond in this regard.
It may also be possible that the lack of public scrutiny is the reward, but one the Kents may not know about. With the truth of Superman's origins revealed to the world, so to is the fact that the Kents sheltered and raised what is technically an illegal immigrant who could very well have grown up to be a tyrant had he been raised wrong.
Clark also would have been something of colossal value to the various governments of the world had they known about his existence in his formative years. The Kents kept them from getting a powerful tool to serve their interests, but they are also Superman's parents, and that is its own form of protection. So maybe their reward is a life of peace now that the truth is in the open. Honestly, that probably the only thing they would ask for.
