The history of superhero TV shows on The CW started and ended with Superman. The very first, just as the network was born from the ashes of UPN and the WB, was “Smallville,” which set a standard for telling superhero origin stories on TV without big budgets or blockbuster-level visual effects, and went on to become a Guinness World Record holder.
23 years later, The CW said goodbye to what will likely be the network’s very last superhero TV show in “Superman & Lois.” Rather than being another origin story, however, this series was a bold and exciting new take that began 20 years after Clark Kent had first suited up as the Man of Steel, battled foes like Lex Luthor, married Lois Lane, and become a father to twin boys. Rather than examining the start of Superman’s career, the show explored Clark Kent’s life as a middle-aged superhero all the way through to his final years.
The result was an incredible series that stood out from other DC shows on The CW. “Superman & Lois” struck a healthy balance between its superheroics and family drama, making the side characters and larger community around the Man of Steel feel fleshed-out and important. Even in the visual department, the show’s 2.2:1 widescreen aspect ratio made it feel more like a movie than the network’s other offerings.
With James Gunn now rebooting Superman on the big screen as part of his new DC Universe (a franchise that will prioritize synergy above all else), it’s as good a time as any to look back at what might end up being the last standalone Superman TV show in a good while and rank the best seasons of “Superman & Lois.”
4. Season 2
The second season of “Superman & Lois” had some great things going for it. For one, it introduced Bizarro and his upside-down world. On the character drama side of things, the story of the Cushing/Cortez/Lang family is riveting and poignant, with the storyline about Lana and Kyle’s relationship falling apart being handled with nuance and care for all parties involved. It’s rare for a superhero show to make the non-superpowered stuff be as exciting as, well, the superpowered action, but this season showed it could be done. Likewise, season 2 had Tal-Rho, Clark’s biological brother, become a Hannibal-esque friendly villain, and he’s absolutely delightful to watch.
Unfortunately, the balance of drama and superheroics isn’t as well handled this season as in others. The overarching narrative feels rather scattershot as well, with the season’s different subplots being mostly unconnected until the very end in contrived ways. The whole story with Ally the cult leader never properly feels cooked either, as she is neither interesting enough as a character nor disquieting enough as a cult leader.
3. Season 1
The opening scene of “Superman & Lois” alone should be studied as one of the single best superhero short films ever made. In a matter of minutes, this sequence manages to recount Superman’s familiar origin story while also making it clear this is a different take on the character. It’s thrilling enough getting to watch Tyler Hoechlin’s Man of Steel recreate the cover of Superman’s very first appearance in Action Comics #1 by lifting up a car, complete with his charmingly outdated costume from 1938. However, the moment that really sells it is when a kid compliments his super-suit and Clark enthusiastically (and proudly) proclaims, “My mom made it for me!” with a big silly smile on his face. It’s Hoechlin’s relentless sincerity that allows this scene to really capture the heartwarming, endearing, and relentless optimism of the series’ source material.
Though it takes a little while for the show to find its footing (especially with Lois’ story), it is a testament to the series’ writing, the production, and especially the acting that “Superman & Lois” works as well as it does from the get-go and sells this version of Superman so well. This is not a brooding, gritty Man of Steel narrative, even if it’s painfully obvious from the start that his role as a symbol of Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow has cost Superman dearly and he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. Rather, this is a story about a Superman who’s extremely polite, has learned every language on the planet just so he could better understand the people he protects, is vehemently against white supremacists, and protects immigrants.
Most importantly, the first season shows that “Superman & Lois” truly nails the essence of Clark Kent as just a genuinely good guy, and the fact that Lois falls for him rather than Superman makes it that much more refreshing. Season 1’s subplot about Lois battling giant conglomerates that acquire newspapers simply to run them into the ground is also exciting, as is its big General Zod twist (which is different enough to avoid feeling derivative or tired).
2. Season 3
The third season of “Superman & Lois” ramps up the personal drama by featuring a bold and powerful storyline where Lois is diagnosed with breast cancer. This is the season where Bitsie Tulloch really gets to shine as Lois Lane, spectacularly portraying the harrowing emotional journey that the character goes through and making this a moving story about what chemotherapy does not only to someone’s body but also to their spirit. Seeing not only her but also Clark, an otherwise invulnerable superbeing, having to go through this together is heartbreaking and a highlight of the entire series.
The other side of the season deals with the resurgence of Intergang and Metropolis gangster Bruno Manheim, and how he and his wife Peia become friends with Clark and Lois. It is through Manheim that the series asks some big and crucial questions about the role Superman plays in society. Manheim, a Black man, claims to be doing what has to be done for the less fortunate people of Metropolis, arguing that Superman has been ignoring people’s everyday problems because dealing with that is far less flashy than battling inter-dimensional invasions and alien attacks. As Manheim puts it, Superman is always reacting to trouble rather than trying to fix the day-to-day issues that regular folks have to deal with on Earth.
Couple all that with Lois’ cancer storyline, and “Superman & Lois” season 3 finds Superman at his most human. Here, the character’s primary conflict has less to do with supervillains and more to do with the stuff that comes with simply being a person, be it social injustice, disease, or one’s own inability to do enough to change the world.
1. Season 4
“Superman & Lois” really went out with a bang. Despite having fewer episodes and a smaller cast, season 4 delivered one of the best Superman stories of all time. It also featured plenty of firsts for the character in live-action. For one, we finally got a comics-accurate Doomsday, complete with a phenomenal adaptation of “The Death of Superman” that knew not to focus on whether Superman would return to life, but on the how and the heavy sacrifices that lead to his return, and how life is never the same for him after.
Even before that, though, there was the moment when Superman revealed his secret identity to the world, another first in live-action and a perfect encapsulation of this take on the character (as well as the superhero genre’s larger themes about secret identities and the cost they have on superheroes). Since the start of the show, it had been painfully obvious that Clark Kent lost a lot due to having to keep his powers secret, and that he’d sacrificed countless relationships for the sake of it. That includes his friendship with Jimmy Olsen, who is phenomenally portrayed here by Douglas Smith.
Moreover, having fewer episodes meant “Superman & Lois” season 4 had to be more focused with the time it spent on its non-Superman characters, leading to some moving and emotional moments of closure for everyone from Kyle and Chrissy to John Henry Irons and Natalie. Meanwhile, on the villain front, season 4 had Michael Cudlitz deliver a tremendously terrifying take on Lex Luthor, one who’s less of a ruthless, fancy CEO and more of a gruff biker who will beat you to death with his bare fists. Rather than having an obsession with Superman, this time Lex’s vendetta is against Lois for her reporting sending him to jail, which leads to a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse between Lex and the Kents.
But what truly makes this the best season of the show, and one fo the best Superman stories ever (regardless of medium), is that “Superman & Lois” went ahead and did the unthinkable: have Clark Kent actually lose his powers and become mortal. This, in turn, led to a perfect finale, bringing this specific Superman story to a definitive end while also encapsulating everything that makes the character great in the first place.
