The problem with Superman, most writers discover, is that he’s just too powerful. Unlike human-scaled heroes like Batman and Spider-Man, there are few opponents that can challenge the Man of Steel, and secret-identity hijinks can only go so far. Eventually, storytellers realize the best stories are ones where the conflict isn’t between Superman and a bad guy, but between Superman and Clark Kent. Reconciling the thoroughly decent and very human Clark with the power and responsibility of his god-like alter ego lies at the heart of Superman & Lois, a CW show now available on HBOMax.
In this iteration of Superman, he’s married to Lois Lane and they’re raising twin teenage boys, Jonathan and Jordan. The boys are very different—Jonathan is a jock, Jordan has emotional issues—and a central point of tension is whether he’s available for his family. It’s clear the show will be as much about Clark’s parenting as his world-saving.
I confess the last time I checked in on the Superman comics, about a decade ago, he had an adopted son named Christopher, but this premise works, too. The legend of Superman is so potent that the particular details aren’t all that important so long as the main beats of the characters are there. But this shows gets a lot of the details right, too. Lois (played by Elizabeth Tulloch) is tough, sexy, and whip smart, Lana Lang is still stuck in Smallville, and media mogul Morgan Edge looms as a real-world bad guy. The writers know the source material, and the show succeeds in part because they trust our familiarity with these characters and their world. It’s confident enough to be subtle.
Perhaps most importantly, the show gets Superman, right. As a hero, he’s immensely powerful, but measured. As a dad, he’s visibly struggling. As a reporter, he’s recently unemployed. Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman isn’t as muscled as Henry Cavill’s and his Clark Kent isn’t as awkward as Christopher Reeve’s, but he manages to make both sides of the character convincing. It helps that he resembles Superman as drawn by longtime comic artist Gary Frank: soulful and pensive.
I’ve only seen the pilot, so the show may deteriorate, but it seems unlikely. Even its weaker moments—when the story follows the moody teenage boys doing moody teenage things—are thankfully brief. Tipping too much in that direction risks turning Superman & Lois into Riverdale with kryptonite, but so far it’s balanced with enough action and humor to offset any emo sulkiness.
After watching a few dreary episodes of The Flash and Arrow, I pretty much wrote off the CW’s foray into DC comics. Too much talk, too little respect for the comics that created them. But early on, Superman & Lois seems to get it all right.
Percival Henry: The Fantastic Four and more 