Over the years, Clark's guilt over Chloe's death waned but loss was to be a constant in his life. Months before Clark's high school graduation, Jonathan Kent died of complications from an early heart attack. The doctors had said that stress had been the trigger for his heart attack. Jonathan and Martha had been locked in a bitter war with Lex Luthor over the lands the Kents owned. Jonathan had mortgaged his lands to Lionel Luthor in exchange for Clark's phony birth certificate and important paperwork. Lionel died two years after the tornado of 2001 and Lex, Lionel's only heir, took control of LuthorCorp which he renamed LexCorp. Soon thereafter, Lex tried nicely to persuade Martha and Jonathan Kent to just sell him the land but Jonathan declined the offer and held steadfast because he didn't want to trust another Luthor. Lex had tried every approach imaginable but nothing convinced Jonathan to give up the lands that he had inherited from his father. Time and age finally caught up with Jonathan and coupled with the stress of defending his home proved to be too much for Jonathan to bear. Jonathan succumbed to higher power, leaving behind a devastated wife and child.

                        Clark had wanted to stay in Smallville to help his mother fight Lex's advances after graduating from Smallville High but Martha had other plans for her only son. Martha told Clark Jonathan had saved up quite a bit of money for him to go to college and Clark felt a familiar guilt because the money that his father had set aside could have helped to ease their financial burdens. Clark headed to Metropolis after graduation because he needed to escape the memories of all the loved ones that he had lost even with his superpowers; Clark had been unable to save them. Clark also wanted to fulfill his father's dying wish for his only son to go to college so that maybe he would not have to work that hard. Clark majored in journalism; he was paying respects to his fallen reporter friend, Chloe Sullivan, at Metropolis University.

                        On the home front, Martha had lost the ongoing battle with Lex Luthor over the lands that she and Jonathan had nurtured with love. Just after Clark graduated from Metropolis U, Martha Clark Kent died of a severely broken heart. This is when Clark and Lex's relationship became estranged because Clark blamed Lex for the untimely deaths of both his parents.

                        Soon after graduating from college, Clark took an intern job at The Daily Planet, a job that Chloe would have died for. This is where Clark met Lois Lane, a reporter on the rise. His reasons for falling in love with Lois were deeply rooted in his past; he still yearned for those that he loved but had lost.