John & Martha Kent, Bible Scholars

The graphic novel Superman: For Earth, from 1991, sees the Man of Steel taking on environmental threats of all kinds. In a brief scene back in his hometown of Smallville, Clark and his parents lament the loss of farmland in their community, as it keeps being "gobbled up" to make room for apartments. Pa Kent wonders how these people will be fed, and then quotes one of the famous bits of Genesis 1:28.

"Be fruitful and multiply," he says, before offering some commentary about people using their common sense on that front. Ma Kent adds the next clause of the verse.

"And replenish the Earth," adding her own two cents that people have forgotten that part.

The quote is from the King James Version, and it's reasonable that this is the version of the Bible that the Kents would have heard growing up in church in the Midwest of the 1950s.

Their analysis is an interesting take, one appropriate for a farm family, for people close to the land. The next clause, "and subdue it," is an additional pro-farming concept. And the verse was certainly appropriate for the theme of the work, commenting on overpopulation and poor stewardship of the Earth.

Give the Kents credit (and writer Roger Stern). They did a better job handling their Bible quote than Fox Mulder did with his.