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We are going back to Smallville and the very first episode of Superman & Lois creates a beaming hope for the future of the series!
Superman has a history on television both in animation and in live-action. Whether you are from the days of old of the 1950s George Reeves Superman show, Superman the Animated series, or Smallville series. Superman has always shined his brightest when on the live-action medium. Any writer can tell you that writing about such a character usually there is a challenge but if executed right he shines beautifully as the blue boys= scout we know and love. This new storyline which loosely stems from the most recent comics but with a new uncharted frontier has Superman and Lois in a position where there are raising twin boys and moving back to Smallville. Tyler Hoechlin has returned as the iconic character Clark Kent as well as Elizebeth Tulloch reprising her role as Lois Lane.
This design is from Max Fleischer's animated Superman series from 1941-1943
The show starts off with the story we have all been familiar with for 80 years highlighting Superman's coming to Earth as a baby, his first hero appearance with costume reference from Fleischer's Superman series, career, romance, and becoming a father all within 270 seconds of storytelling. Bringing us to the point where we are with the current Zack Snyder's Man of Steel vibe.
Tyler Hoechlin does a great job as Superman sitting right in between Christopher Reeves and Henry Cavill. By far this was the smartest decision. Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane has won me over as the aggressive go-getter report as I know and love. The twins are a different but very balanced dynamic. Granted in the Rebirth comics we were introduced to Jon Kent that became a young hero by 10 and went on his own adventures with Damien Wayne, Jonathan, and Jordan Kent does make this new story a bit more interesting. Jonathan is the more confident and outgoing brother while Jordan, the new character, is more introverted and being treated for mental illness, plus he is the one with the developing Kryptonian powers. But hopefully along the way I hope that Jonathan gets his powers too because it wouldn't make sense genetically. It's going to be interesting to see how this family story plays out especially with Clark and Jordan who seems to feel more distant from his father than Jonathan does even more so that Clark himself is still trying to figure out how to balance being father and hero to the world.
Clark and Lois have been keeping Clark's hero career a secret from the boys and thankfully that secret does stay hidden for long. Clark and Lois do reveal to the boy that he is Superman and that does create tension but when you keep a secret that big of course it's going to come with complications especially with family. Granted the relationship between the brothers is more friends than enemies this series is going to test the relationships of brotherhood, parenthood, also Lois and Clark. Lois and Clark have a relatively uncomplicated relationship though but they still manage to be partners in the end and she understands that the world does need Superman. I do expect that since Clark will be going off as Superman there is going to be a distance with his family that will create more tension especially for Jordan who right now needs his father as a mentor the most during this new uncharted territory he is in feeling more like an alien than usual.
The Stranger seemed to be the new villain of the series at first until it is later revealed to be none other than Lex Luther but with a twist. This Luther is from another Earth and is known to us as Captain Luthor. I speculate this could be Alexander Luthor Jr from Earth-3 where Superman was the villain, but again this is just speculation and we would have to wait and see how this unfolds as we learn more about why he is targetting Superman on this Earth. We can assume that his world was destroyed during Crisis on Infinite Earths. Mind you if this is Alexander Luthor Jr this would be another DC original red-haired character that has been race-swapped.
I will conclude with this, Superman & Lois strays away from the typical CW troops and gives its own refreshing uncharted story that has left me wanting to know more about this unfamiliar journey for Superman while also having an improvement on quality in the action scenes that displayed Superman power. The show also feels almost like it had some Snyder inspiration. Now as long as the writers stay true to telling a story first and not fall short like the other CW shows then this has the hope to probably be one of the best CW series.
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