Last fall was rough for fans of Henry Cavill’s Superman, because after his cameo in Black Adam and a tease we’d be seeing more of him in the DC Extended Universe, it was announced that the actor’s time as the Man of Steel was coming to an end in favor of James Gunn rebooting the character with 2025’s Superman: Legacy. Still, with four full film appearances under his belt (counting both versions of Justice League), Cavill had a solid run as Superman and built up an appropriately-sized fanbase. However, lately I’ve been thinking about how another live-action take on the Superman mythology that doesn’t get nearly as much love as it deserves.
In 2021, five years after Tyler Hoechlin made his first appearance as Superman on Supergirl, and three years after Elizabeth Tulloch debuted as Lois Lane during the “Elseworlds” crossover, Superman & Lois premiered on The CW, and it recently began its third season. And yet, even with so much positive reception surrounding the series two years later, I’m dismayed by the amount of chatter I see for it; there should be a lot more! So if you’ll sit with me a bit, here are a few reasons why Superman & Lois should be talked about more as one of the best DC TV shows out there.
It Boasts Top-Notch Superhero Action
Although it’s great to finally live in an age where superhero action can finally be effectively shown in a live-action setting, it goes without saying that the production value for such shows can never reach the level of a blockbuster superhero movie. And yet, I never find myself thinking of such limitations when watching Superman & Lois. Sure, some episodes are more action-heavy than others, but whether we’re watching Clark go toe-to-toe with an adversary like Bizarro Superman or simply watching his son Jordan learn how to fly, it never feels like we’re seeing cheap visual effects on display. Hats off to the show’s stunt and VFX teams for churning out such quality work from week to week.
It’s A Compelling Family Drama
As great as well-visualized TV action can be, it takes more than that to hook me into a show. Fortunately, Superman & Lois also stands out as a compelling family drama. There’s a reason there are two people in the title; Lois Lane is just as integral as Clark is, particularly through her investigative reporting. What’s equally as important is these two are parenting are parenting twin boys who are dealing with their own issues, and while I won’t spoil anything here, Season 3’s second episode threw an especially heartbreaking wrench into these four characters’ lives. We also get interesting stories from what’s going on with the Lang/Cushing family, as well as with Wolé Parks’ John Henry Irons (a.k.a. Steel) and his daughter Natalie, played by Tayler Buck.
The Main Cast Is Extremely Talented
A show won’t succeed if the actors aren’t good at their job, and Superman & Lois isn’t suffering from a shortage of talent. Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch excel at playing Clark Kent and Lois Lane as a married couple, and I’ll go so far as to say that they have better chemistry together than the pairing of Henry Cavill and Amy Adams. Alex Garfin’s Jordan Kent and Michael Bishop’s Jonathan Kent (who was previously played by Jordan Elsass), along with the other actors playing teenagers on the show, do an amazing job of playing high schoolers in a way that doesn’t come off as stereotypical, and the other adult actors, including Sofia Hasmik’s Chrissy Beppo (who has a different dynamic with Hoechlin this season) and Dylan Walsh’s Sam Lane, are just as engaging bringing their characters to life.
The Villains Are Stellar
Although Superman has long had an impressive lineup of villains to battle on a frequent basis, Superman & Lois has made some unconventional choices with the antagonists it uses, and they’ve all been amazing. In Season 1, the man we initially knew as billionaire Morgan Edge turned out to be Kal-El’s half-brother Tal-Rho, and towards the end of the season, he briefly became The Eradicator. Then in Season 2, a menace many fans initially suspected to be Doomsday turned out be Bizarro Superman, but even then, he was taken off the board relatively quickly, and it was original character Ally Allston and her Bizarro self who were the true threats. Now we’re in Season 3, and not only has Chad L. Coleman’s Bruno Mannheim proven how intimidating he can be, we also have female version of Onomatopoeia by his side wreaking havoc. Superman & Lois has been on a stellar streak with its villains, and I’m even more excited to see Michael Cudlitz as Lex Luthor later this season.
The Standalone Nature Works To Its Benefit
As someone who’s been following the Arrowverse for the entirety of its existence, I’ll admit that I was taken aback when it was revealed in the Superman & Lois Season 2 finale that the show takes place on a different Earth, meaning that we’re not following along with same versions of Clark and Lois who were deposited into Earth-Prime after the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover. But as I’ve thought more about it, this was the right move for the series. Even ignoring how the Arrowverse is a shadow of what it once was, it would’ve been daunting for some to get deeply invested in a show that was so heavily tied to this DC brand, particularly Supergirl. With Superman & Lois, there’s no need to catch up on any of these past shows. Just start with Episode 1 and you’re good to go, and you also never need to concern yourself about why Kara Zor-El doesn’t swoops in to help her cousin since she doesn’t exist in this universe.
New episodes of Superman & Lois air Tuesdays at 8 pm ET on The CW, and since we’re early into Season 3, there’s still some time to watch those first few episodes on the network’s website if you missed them. If you made it this far and haven’t watched any of the DC series, the first two seasons can be streamed with an HBO Max subscription. If you’d rather now turn your attention to other small screen entertainment currently available, peruse the 2023 TV schedule.
