Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Season 3 of Superman & Lois.By now, Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsie Tulloch have cemented themselves as the legendary titular characters of Superman & Lois. In the show’s third season, the two have grown into the roles that many other actors have portrayed in live-action. While they’ve kept the same spirit and essence of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, they’ve also managed to portray these roles in the contemporary world — and not by appealing to the dark and brooding versions that are often associated with modernizing classic characters. Also impressive is how the show is able to bring Superman and his super adventures onto the television. But as impressive as Superman, his villains, and the special effects action are in the show, seeing Clark Kent take a more active role in his human persona rather than his superhero one emphasizes the show’s strengths, differentiating itself from other Superman adaptations.
Clark Kent Is the World’s Greatest Dad
Part of the appeal of Superman & Lois is its unique focus on Clark Kent and Lois Lane as parents to twin boys. Before the series, we only really got a hint at their parental roles — at least in a live-action adaptation — in Superman Returns. However, in the 2006 film, Clark (Brandon Routh) and Lois (Kate Bosworth) aren’t even together. Instead, Lois has been raising their son with Richard White (James Marsden) while Superman has been away in search of Krypton’s last remnants. The revelation that her son Jason is actually part Kryptonian comes towards the end of the film when he throws a piano at a henchman about to hurt his mother, showcasing his super strength. While this storyline was a twist in the Superman mythos, especially as a spiritual sequel to Christopher Reeve's Superman, Returns would not get to explore this storyline in a theatrical sequel. Instead, in the 2019 CW Arrowverse crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths, a weathered Superman, played once again by Brandon Routh, merely alludes to his son Jason.
Simultaneously, Crisis on Infinite Earths also served as the launching pad for Superman & Lois. In Supergirl, Lois and Clark had a child in Argo City, a piece of Krypton that managed to survive the planet’s destruction. However, during the Crisis crossover, Lois and Clark’s lives were dramatically changed. As a result of the multiversal reset by Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), and the rest of the CW’s superheroes, Lois and Clark not only have a child but twin boys. While the later seasons of Superman & Lois have separated the show from the Arrowverse, we can thank Crisis on Infinite Earths for Jon and Jordan Kent. While grounding a superhero show around Lois and Clark as parents might have been a risk, this new perspective on the characters was well worth it. Between Christopher Reeve, Tom Welling in Smallville, and Henry Cavill in Man of Steel, we’ve seen enough of Kal-El’s superhero origins.
The latest live-action Superman, Tyler Hoechlin, perfectly captures the clumsy and awkward personality of Clark Kent while imbuing him with the maturity of a father of teenage boys. In this iteration, not only has Clark lived without his foster father Jonathan Kent for so many years, but he has also recently lost his foster mother Martha Kent. Without his own parents around, Clark has to rely on himself and his relationship with Lois for guidance in raising two teenage boys. And he does it well. In the first two seasons, Clark is a volunteer coach for his sons’ football team, and his quirkiness comes through whenever he’s struggling to carry a water cooler or cheering on his sons from the sidelines. In Season 3 Episode 4, we also get a more hardened Clark Kent when he confronts another parent at a diner — a miserly man who threatened Lois and the boys. “If you ever threaten my family again,” Clark threatens back, “I’ll come for you and my wife will expose who you really are and you’ll go away for a really long time.” He does all this without the red and blue suit on. He is Clark Kent as a dad.
Clark Kent May Not Be Lois Lane, But He’s Still a Great Reporter
While one of the surprise perks of Superman & Lois is the impressive special effects and stunt pieces we get from Superman, Kal-El’s alter ego deserves more attention. Although Lois Lane is the more well-known and acclaimed journalist, particularly as a Pulitzer Award Winning reporter, Clark Kent is more than just an alibi for his extraordinary acts of heroism. Sure, his everyman persona lends itself to staying close to the high-stakes action whenever Superman is needed. But just like his role as a father to Jordan (Alex Garfin) and Jonathan Kent (Michael Bishop), his job as a reporter makes Superman all the more human.
Some of the best parts of Superman & Lois’s first season were the flashbacks to how Lois and Clark met at the Daily Planet. Not only did they show Lois’s drive as a reporter, but they also showcased the great chemistry between Tulloch and Hoechlin. However, by Season 3, both Lois and Clark have left the Daily Planet and life in Metropolis behind. Although Lois is still an active reporter alongside Chrissy Beppo (Sofia Hasmik) at the Smallville Gazette, Clark has taken a step back from journalism — understandably so, he is Superman after all. But seeing Clark in the workplace alongside Lois is a dynamic that has been quintessential to their relationship and it is an aspect that is surely missing in the latest season.
There are small moments where Clark does step back into his shoes as a reporter. In this season, Lois has been diagnosed with cancer. Although she is determined to pursue the story of the arms dealer Bruno Mannheim (Chad L. Coleman), her illness is beginning to take its toll. In Episode 7, Clark pays a visit to Mannheim — not as Superman, but as a reporter. He confronts Mannheim head-on about the strange deaths and experiments of superpowered individuals, yet Mannheim refuses to admit to his crimes. Instead, he argues such experiments are for the greater good of cancer patients just like Lois Lane. It is then that Clark makes the connection between Mannheim’s nefarious motivations and his wife Peia, who is a cancer patient in the same hospital as Lois. Clark pursues the story behind Mannheim without the intimidation of a red and blue suit or superpowers, but by simply having a conversation from one person to another and by ultimately appealing to Mannheim’s humanity.
Overall, Superman & Lois has been a refreshing show in a superhero-saturated era of entertainment. The series has differentiated itself from the rest, especially its Arrowverse counterparts, by focusing less on multiversal threats and more on its theme of family and relationships. By further bringing Clark Kent into the spotlight, Superman & Lois Season 3 can strengthen the qualities that make this show so great. Through Clark Kent, Superman becomes all the more relatable instead of some Kryptonian god. As a father and as a reporter, Clark Kent gives everyone a heroic example to look up to.