TV Discussion: Superman & Lois (CW & HBO MAX) CANCELED! ARROWVERSE IS DONE!
- Thread starter playahaitian
- Start date
And now we know why Black Lightning and Supergirl have been cancelled...
that one fam? I STILL don't get.
Cause they weren't that expensive to begin with both had solid ratings and social media following.
'Superman & Lois' boss and stars on the Stranger's shocking identity, [SPOILER]'s powers
The series premiere of 'Superman & Lois' ended with a major revelation.
Superman & Lois boss and stars on the Stranger's shocking identity,
's powers
By Chancellor Agard
February 23, 2021 at 09:31 PM EST
Warning: This article contains spoilers from the series premiere of Superman & Lois, which aired Tuesday night on the CW.
Captain Who?!
The series premiere of Superman & Lois, starring Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch, ended with a major revelation: Wolé Parks — whose armored villain has hitherto only been referred to as the Stranger — is playing someone named Captain Luthor. In other words, he's somehow connected to Superman's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor, who is played by Jon Cryer in the Arrowverse. But as of right now, it's unclear exactly how.
In a recent interview, EW asked Todd Helbing if the good Captain's first name was even Lex? While the producer declined to answer that question, he shared that viewers should expect to see something very different from Cryer's performance and character.
"What Jon Cryer does on Supergirl is awesome and I think the way they presented this version of Lex Luthor is fantastic, and we wanted to present a villain or an adversary to Superman at the beginning that just felt different and threatening, but could also lead us in ways that you can't necessarily go with like a Jon Cryer version of it," Helbing told EW. "So, all I'll really say is you're really going to get this guy's backstory, where he's from, what he was like, where he comes from, his professional life, his personal life. You're gonna get to know why he's going after Superman. Once you understand his motivation, it's like what Wolé said at TCAs: It's like every villain is the hero of their own story. It's true. Once you start to understand who this guy is and what his motivations are, I think people are going to look at him differently."
CREDIT: THE CW
That being said, Captain Luthor did shed some light on his origins during his brutal brawl with Superman (Hoechlin) in the pilot. "I know everything there is to know about the Last Son of Krypton. Where I come from, let's just say, the two of us have history," Luthor tells Superman in the episode. "My world was destroyed, but somehow I managed to survive. I eventually arrived here and I learned you are here, too."
It sure sounds like Luthor is talking about the events of last year's crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths," which destroyed every planet in the multiverse. When EW asked Helbing if Luthor's presence on Earth-Prime had anything to do with "Crisis," he said, "Yes," with a laugh, and didn't elaborate any further. (Check out EW's recap for our full theory on what's going on with Captain Luthor.)
For his part, Hoechlin — who shared scenes with Cryer in the crossover — is trying to approach the Captain Luthor character with an open mind. "What I've been able to do and what's been most helpful is just to really not acknowledge that existence of saying names and things like that, and to really just look at these characters as their own [thing]," he told EW in an interview earlier this month. "But Wolé's been fantastic. Some of these characters, even though they share the name, for me I've really been able to just do a blank slate with it."
CREDIT: DEAN BUSCHER/THE CW
As if fighting a Kryptonite-wielding bad guy wasn't enough, Clark also had his hands full on the family front. In the pilot, Clark got laid off from the Daily Planet and lost his mother in the span of a few minutes. So Clark, Lois (Tulloch), and their two sons Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) and Jordan (Alexander Garfin) return to Smallville for the funeral; however, the iconic couple decides to move their permanently after they discover that Jordan has inherited their father's powers, which creates new worries for the Kent family going forward.
"A lot of it has to do with [the fact that] Jordan doesn't necessarily have the same powers that his father has," said Tulloch. "Obviously, Jonathan does not have powers and he's sort of the twin that's used to be being the one that's constantly excelling at school, football, or whatever; he's the popular one, he's social. Now, he feels lesser than Jordan because Jordan is the one with these powers. Jordan has his own struggles, which are, 'What are my powers? How do I hone them? Do I just have cast-off remnants of what my dad is? Could I ever live up to being my father?' And that's the main thing."
Helbing is particularly looking forward to seeing how Clark navigates trying to train Jordan while also reckoning with how it might not be as easy as it was when his parents were teaching him how to control his powers.
"What Clark realizes coming out of the pilot is [that] he was raised in this idyllic town where, not that it was easy for his parents to raise a kid who had superpowers, because superpowers hadn't existed when Clark was a kid like they do now, but they could do it sort of off the grid, right?" said Helbing. "Now, all the lessons that Clark learned from Jonathan and Martha Kent, in the retelling of those or trying to teach Jordan these lessons that he learned in the way that he did, it's like any parent who finds themselves out of touch with their kids. How do you teach a new generation something when you were raised a certain way? How do you influence them during a time when they're influenced by an insane amount of information — their phones, the internet?"
Helbing continues, "My mom once told me when I became a parent: The hardest thing about being a parent is the way that other parents are parents. Now it's like that to the nth degree. You don't know who is influencing your kid or what is or where it's coming from. So to have a kid like Jordan have powers, I think presents challenges for them that moving back to Smallville is not necessarily going to fix. But what's really fun is to see Superman teaching these lessons that a lot have seen before in a new way."
Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.
February 23, 2021 at 09:31 PM EST
Warning: This article contains spoilers from the series premiere of Superman & Lois, which aired Tuesday night on the CW.
Captain Who?!
The series premiere of Superman & Lois, starring Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch, ended with a major revelation: Wolé Parks — whose armored villain has hitherto only been referred to as the Stranger — is playing someone named Captain Luthor. In other words, he's somehow connected to Superman's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor, who is played by Jon Cryer in the Arrowverse. But as of right now, it's unclear exactly how.
In a recent interview, EW asked Todd Helbing if the good Captain's first name was even Lex? While the producer declined to answer that question, he shared that viewers should expect to see something very different from Cryer's performance and character.
"What Jon Cryer does on Supergirl is awesome and I think the way they presented this version of Lex Luthor is fantastic, and we wanted to present a villain or an adversary to Superman at the beginning that just felt different and threatening, but could also lead us in ways that you can't necessarily go with like a Jon Cryer version of it," Helbing told EW. "So, all I'll really say is you're really going to get this guy's backstory, where he's from, what he was like, where he comes from, his professional life, his personal life. You're gonna get to know why he's going after Superman. Once you understand his motivation, it's like what Wolé said at TCAs: It's like every villain is the hero of their own story. It's true. Once you start to understand who this guy is and what his motivations are, I think people are going to look at him differently."
CREDIT: THE CW
That being said, Captain Luthor did shed some light on his origins during his brutal brawl with Superman (Hoechlin) in the pilot. "I know everything there is to know about the Last Son of Krypton. Where I come from, let's just say, the two of us have history," Luthor tells Superman in the episode. "My world was destroyed, but somehow I managed to survive. I eventually arrived here and I learned you are here, too."
It sure sounds like Luthor is talking about the events of last year's crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths," which destroyed every planet in the multiverse. When EW asked Helbing if Luthor's presence on Earth-Prime had anything to do with "Crisis," he said, "Yes," with a laugh, and didn't elaborate any further. (Check out EW's recap for our full theory on what's going on with Captain Luthor.)
For his part, Hoechlin — who shared scenes with Cryer in the crossover — is trying to approach the Captain Luthor character with an open mind. "What I've been able to do and what's been most helpful is just to really not acknowledge that existence of saying names and things like that, and to really just look at these characters as their own [thing]," he told EW in an interview earlier this month. "But Wolé's been fantastic. Some of these characters, even though they share the name, for me I've really been able to just do a blank slate with it."
CREDIT: DEAN BUSCHER/THE CW
As if fighting a Kryptonite-wielding bad guy wasn't enough, Clark also had his hands full on the family front. In the pilot, Clark got laid off from the Daily Planet and lost his mother in the span of a few minutes. So Clark, Lois (Tulloch), and their two sons Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) and Jordan (Alexander Garfin) return to Smallville for the funeral; however, the iconic couple decides to move their permanently after they discover that Jordan has inherited their father's powers, which creates new worries for the Kent family going forward.
"A lot of it has to do with [the fact that] Jordan doesn't necessarily have the same powers that his father has," said Tulloch. "Obviously, Jonathan does not have powers and he's sort of the twin that's used to be being the one that's constantly excelling at school, football, or whatever; he's the popular one, he's social. Now, he feels lesser than Jordan because Jordan is the one with these powers. Jordan has his own struggles, which are, 'What are my powers? How do I hone them? Do I just have cast-off remnants of what my dad is? Could I ever live up to being my father?' And that's the main thing."
Helbing is particularly looking forward to seeing how Clark navigates trying to train Jordan while also reckoning with how it might not be as easy as it was when his parents were teaching him how to control his powers.
"What Clark realizes coming out of the pilot is [that] he was raised in this idyllic town where, not that it was easy for his parents to raise a kid who had superpowers, because superpowers hadn't existed when Clark was a kid like they do now, but they could do it sort of off the grid, right?" said Helbing. "Now, all the lessons that Clark learned from Jonathan and Martha Kent, in the retelling of those or trying to teach Jordan these lessons that he learned in the way that he did, it's like any parent who finds themselves out of touch with their kids. How do you teach a new generation something when you were raised a certain way? How do you influence them during a time when they're influenced by an insane amount of information — their phones, the internet?"
Helbing continues, "My mom once told me when I became a parent: The hardest thing about being a parent is the way that other parents are parents. Now it's like that to the nth degree. You don't know who is influencing your kid or what is or where it's coming from. So to have a kid like Jordan have powers, I think presents challenges for them that moving back to Smallville is not necessarily going to fix. But what's really fun is to see Superman teaching these lessons that a lot have seen before in a new way."
Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.
They use those black shows to build the target audience and then...YANK!!!
Insert the show they really want viewers to see by using the same time slot
of the previous black show.
oh yeah Superman doesn't have a 5 o'clock shadow.
He still looks like Derek Hale.
I really enjoyed this. Finally a Superman tv show/movie that doesn’t look like Superman with Chris Reeves. I thought the look of the show was best I’ve seen on a comic book show and the story was original and well done. Only issue I had was those fuckin teenagers. The 1st part of show I hated them and they sucked but honestly by the end I can see potential in them as the story develops. I give it a solid 4/5 and will definitely add to my DVR.
Yeah, it was OK. At least the got down to the point.
We know everytihing now.
Solid start. Love the production value of the show.
Halfway through I remembered that it's a CW show so a large part of the story will involve the teenage sons. Not too enthused about that. The show is shot so well and different from the other shows that it's easy to forget it's part of the same universe. It wasn't til afterwards I realized that this Superman met his Lex Luthor in this universe already, so this multiverse Lex will be interesting.
5 o'clock shadow Superman didn't sit right with me at first, but dude plays a solid Clark Kent. I just hope we get more Superman story than the emo teenage shit.
Halfway through I remembered that it's a CW show so a large part of the story will involve the teenage sons. Not too enthused about that. The show is shot so well and different from the other shows that it's easy to forget it's part of the same universe. It wasn't til afterwards I realized that this Superman met his Lex Luthor in this universe already, so this multiverse Lex will be interesting.
5 o'clock shadow Superman didn't sit right with me at first, but dude plays a solid Clark Kent. I just hope we get more Superman story than the emo teenage shit.
planting my flag in here for later.
I've still got to catch up on Batwoman
I've still got to catch up on Batwoman
I went into it with doubts thinking they were gonna follow what they did with Supergirl, but after seeing the trailers, the show is going a complete 180 from that series and the other CW shows. It looks like this will be the new flagship show for future CW series.
The series pilot started off quickly with a brief recap of Superman/Clarks origin, death of his father (Pa Kent), meeting Lois Lane, their relationship moving toward marriage and the birth of their fraternal twins.
The series plays more deeper and darker than the Dean Cain "Superman/Lois" series from back in the day. Here the series deals more with family, current day socio-economic struggles which gives the series a different depth than the other CW series.
SFX showing Superman using his powers look good compared to the other CW shows and what they did with Supergirl.
The series has introduced a super-villian. No info yet on who he is. He wears a suit of armor like the dudes in the video game "HALO" and has enough power to put Superman in check. He also has green kryptonite at his disposal.
So far one twin has shown powers, the other one it's up in the air. Not sure if one or both of them might be future supervillians in some way. One twin has been dealing with mental illness growing up.
Synopsis
After years of facing supervillains, monsters and alien invaders, the world's most famous superhero, The Man of Steel aka Clark Kent and comic books' famed journalist Lois Lane come face to face with one of their greatest challenges ever -- dealing with being working parents in today's society.
Complicating the already daunting job of raising two boys, Clark and Lois worry about whether their sons, Jonathan and Jordan, could inherit their father's Kryptonian superpowers as they grow older. Returning to Smallville to handle some Kent family business, Clark and Lois are reacquainted with Lana Lang and her Fire Chief husband, Kyle Cushing.
The adults aren't the only ones rediscovering old friendships in Smallville as the Kent sons are reacquainted with Lana and Kyle's rebellious daughter, Sarah. Of course, there's never a dull moment in the life of a superhero, especially with Lois' father, Gen. Samuel Lane looking for Superman to vanquish a villain or save the day at a moment's notice.
The series pilot started off quickly with a brief recap of Superman/Clarks origin, death of his father (Pa Kent), meeting Lois Lane, their relationship moving toward marriage and the birth of their fraternal twins.
The series plays more deeper and darker than the Dean Cain "Superman/Lois" series from back in the day. Here the series deals more with family, current day socio-economic struggles which gives the series a different depth than the other CW series.
SFX showing Superman using his powers look good compared to the other CW shows and what they did with Supergirl.
The series has introduced a super-villian. No info yet on who he is. He wears a suit of armor like the dudes in the video game "HALO" and has enough power to put Superman in check. He also has green kryptonite at his disposal.
So far one twin has shown powers, the other one it's up in the air. Not sure if one or both of them might be future supervillians in some way. One twin has been dealing with mental illness growing up.
Synopsis
After years of facing supervillains, monsters and alien invaders, the world's most famous superhero, The Man of Steel aka Clark Kent and comic books' famed journalist Lois Lane come face to face with one of their greatest challenges ever -- dealing with being working parents in today's society.
Complicating the already daunting job of raising two boys, Clark and Lois worry about whether their sons, Jonathan and Jordan, could inherit their father's Kryptonian superpowers as they grow older. Returning to Smallville to handle some Kent family business, Clark and Lois are reacquainted with Lana Lang and her Fire Chief husband, Kyle Cushing.
The adults aren't the only ones rediscovering old friendships in Smallville as the Kent sons are reacquainted with Lana and Kyle's rebellious daughter, Sarah. Of course, there's never a dull moment in the life of a superhero, especially with Lois' father, Gen. Samuel Lane looking for Superman to vanquish a villain or save the day at a moment's notice.
Yo there is NO f*cking way they can KEEP that up.
I suspect Clark and Lois will seperate and come close to a divorce.
She is getting annoyed that Clark is spending too much time saving the world and not taking care of family.
They showed preview clips of the season, her father is the General overseeing Superman’s actions and he is getting on Lois for keeping Clark away from his duties.
And with Flash setting things up for a Superfriends/Justice League group, you know there is gonna be major drama between Clark and Lois.
Then on top of it, when they introduced Lana Lang, her daughter opened her big mouth about her mother’s social media, putting Clark and Lana on blast about her father getting pissed off and jealous. Its obvious those two still have a spark, and possibly doing the nasty with Clark cheating on Lois and getting busted.
Their relationship is going to get interesting for sure as the season/series goes on.
And the show is getting good reviews from critics.
She is getting annoyed that Clark is spending too much time saving the world and not taking care of family.
They showed preview clips of the season, her father is the General overseeing Superman’s actions and he is getting on Lois for keeping Clark away from his duties.
And with Flash setting things up for a Superfriends/Justice League group, you know there is gonna be major drama between Clark and Lois.
Then on top of it, when they introduced Lana Lang, her daughter opened her big mouth about her mother’s social media, putting Clark and Lana on blast about her father getting pissed off and jealous. Its obvious those two still have a spark, and possibly doing the nasty with Clark cheating on Lois and getting busted.
Their relationship is going to get interesting for sure as the season/series goes on.
And the show is getting good reviews from critics.
Superman & Lois: [SPOILER] Death Homages Christopher Reeve's Original Film
Both Supermen are touched by tragedy.
screenrant.com
Superman & Lois:
Death Homages Christopher Reeve's Original Film
Superman & Lois pays homage to one of the key scenes in Superman: The Movie. Here's how The CW show's version differs from Christopher Reeve's.
BY JOHN ORQUIOLAPUBLISHED 2 DAYS AGO
Warning: SPOILERS for Superman & Lois' Series Premiere
Superman & Lois' series premiere showed the death of Jonathan Kent and it homaged how Superman's adoptive father died in Superman: The Movie starring Christopher Reeve. In Superman & Lois, Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch reprise their roles as Clark Kent and Lois Lane. The CW's series' twist is Lois and Clark are now parents of teenage twin boys, and the Kents move their family to Clark's hometown of Smallville, Kansas.
Like many other films and TV series about Superman in the last 40 years, especially Smallville, Superman & Lois owes a great deal of its iconography to Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie. Released in 1978, Superman: The Movie was the first modern superhero film and it's eternally influential, with Christopher Reeve's seminal performance as the Man of Steel setting the gold standard for every other actor donning the red cape. Naturally, Superman & Lois borrows quite a bit from Donner's film, and the show included a shout-out to the director in the form of his name etched on a blackboard in the Kents' Metropolis apartment. Superman & Lois' sweeping cinematography in Smallville also reflects the grandeur of how the director of photography, Geoffrey Unsworth, shot Superman: The Movie.
Superman & Lois begins with a montage of Clark Kent's life that he narrates, and this includes the tragic death of his human father, Jonathan Kent (Fred Henderson). In Superman & Lois' version, Clark was a teenager and the Kents were walking in Smallville's main street when Jonathan suddenly grips his wrist and collapses. The elder Kent died of a heart attack, and this moment is a deliberate echo of Pa Kent's death scene in Superman: The Movie. In Donner's film, Jonathan (Glenn Ford) counsels his disappointed son about why he shouldn't show off his powers to the kids in high school. "You are here for a reason," Jonathan tells Clark, "[and] it's not to score touchdowns." As Clark runs into the farmhouse, a horrified Jonathan suddenly grips his left wrist, whispers, "Oh no," collapses, and dies of a heart attack.
Jonathan's funeral in Superman & Lois is also similar to Pa Kent's service in Superman: The Movie, with Clark (Dylan Kingwell) at the side of his adoptive mother Martha (Michele Scarabelli). In the film, the funeral is a sad and solemn moment that led to Clark's decision to leave Smallville and pursue his destiny "north", which ultimately led to him creating the Fortress of Solitude, meeting his Kryptonian father Jor-El (Marlon Brando), and becoming Superman.
In Superman & Lois, the drama is even more heightened and operatic; the show stages Pa Kent's funeral in the rain with the emotionally distraught Clark rushing out of the service. Both versions echo Clark's frustration as voiced in Superman: The Movie: "All those things I can do. All those powers. And I couldn't even save him." Jonathan Kent's death in each version teaches Clark an important lesson about his limits, even with Superman's godlike powers, and how he must cope and find meaning after a tragic loss.
Superman & Lois also kills off Martha Kent in its pilot episode, which creates the reason why Lois and Clark decide to relocate to Smallville to raise their family as well as to try to help Clark's hometown, which has fallen on hard times. This is different from Superman: The Movie where Clark sent half of his Daily Planet paycheck home to his Martha (Phyllis Thaxter) until she died offscreen during the sequels. So, both Christopher Reeve and Tyler Hoechlin's Clarks are orphaned as adults. In Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Clark decided not to sell the Kent Farm to a real estate developer after Martha passed away. Superman & Lois moving the Kents back to Smallville is a huge change for the Man of Steel, but it would have made both Jonathan and Martha Kent proud.
BY JOHN ORQUIOLAPUBLISHED 2 DAYS AGO
Warning: SPOILERS for Superman & Lois' Series Premiere
Superman & Lois' series premiere showed the death of Jonathan Kent and it homaged how Superman's adoptive father died in Superman: The Movie starring Christopher Reeve. In Superman & Lois, Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch reprise their roles as Clark Kent and Lois Lane. The CW's series' twist is Lois and Clark are now parents of teenage twin boys, and the Kents move their family to Clark's hometown of Smallville, Kansas.
Like many other films and TV series about Superman in the last 40 years, especially Smallville, Superman & Lois owes a great deal of its iconography to Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie. Released in 1978, Superman: The Movie was the first modern superhero film and it's eternally influential, with Christopher Reeve's seminal performance as the Man of Steel setting the gold standard for every other actor donning the red cape. Naturally, Superman & Lois borrows quite a bit from Donner's film, and the show included a shout-out to the director in the form of his name etched on a blackboard in the Kents' Metropolis apartment. Superman & Lois' sweeping cinematography in Smallville also reflects the grandeur of how the director of photography, Geoffrey Unsworth, shot Superman: The Movie.
Superman & Lois begins with a montage of Clark Kent's life that he narrates, and this includes the tragic death of his human father, Jonathan Kent (Fred Henderson). In Superman & Lois' version, Clark was a teenager and the Kents were walking in Smallville's main street when Jonathan suddenly grips his wrist and collapses. The elder Kent died of a heart attack, and this moment is a deliberate echo of Pa Kent's death scene in Superman: The Movie. In Donner's film, Jonathan (Glenn Ford) counsels his disappointed son about why he shouldn't show off his powers to the kids in high school. "You are here for a reason," Jonathan tells Clark, "[and] it's not to score touchdowns." As Clark runs into the farmhouse, a horrified Jonathan suddenly grips his left wrist, whispers, "Oh no," collapses, and dies of a heart attack.
Jonathan's funeral in Superman & Lois is also similar to Pa Kent's service in Superman: The Movie, with Clark (Dylan Kingwell) at the side of his adoptive mother Martha (Michele Scarabelli). In the film, the funeral is a sad and solemn moment that led to Clark's decision to leave Smallville and pursue his destiny "north", which ultimately led to him creating the Fortress of Solitude, meeting his Kryptonian father Jor-El (Marlon Brando), and becoming Superman.
In Superman & Lois, the drama is even more heightened and operatic; the show stages Pa Kent's funeral in the rain with the emotionally distraught Clark rushing out of the service. Both versions echo Clark's frustration as voiced in Superman: The Movie: "All those things I can do. All those powers. And I couldn't even save him." Jonathan Kent's death in each version teaches Clark an important lesson about his limits, even with Superman's godlike powers, and how he must cope and find meaning after a tragic loss.
Superman & Lois also kills off Martha Kent in its pilot episode, which creates the reason why Lois and Clark decide to relocate to Smallville to raise their family as well as to try to help Clark's hometown, which has fallen on hard times. This is different from Superman: The Movie where Clark sent half of his Daily Planet paycheck home to his Martha (Phyllis Thaxter) until she died offscreen during the sequels. So, both Christopher Reeve and Tyler Hoechlin's Clarks are orphaned as adults. In Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Clark decided not to sell the Kent Farm to a real estate developer after Martha passed away. Superman & Lois moving the Kents back to Smallville is a huge change for the Man of Steel, but it would have made both Jonathan and Martha Kent proud.
DC Universe’s New Supergirl Is ‘Young And The Restless’ Actress Sasha Calle; Will Make Debut In Upcoming ‘Flash’ Film
The Young and the Restless Daytime Emmy nominee Sasha Calle has scored the feature role of DC Universe's new Supergirl.
deadline.com
That was quick 
Superman & Lois: The Mystery of Captain Luthor and 7734
Superman & Lois is already dropping deep comics cuts in episode two. What can we learn about Captain Luthor from DC Comics?
By Jim Dandy|March 2, 2021|
Photo: The CW
This article contains SUPERMAN & LOIS spoilers.
Superman & Lois episode 2 gave us a lot more information on our potential bad guy, and it’s quite a doozy. Superman’s Iron Man-esque foe isn’t Lex Luthor, he’s a Luthor from a parallel Earth, by implication stranded on this one by the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. And while Superman & Lois draws a lot from the comics, is this Captain Luthor like another big multiversal Luthor we know from DC Comics as well? Or is he someone entirely different?
The evidence right now points to someone new. Or at least an amalgamation of a few Luthors. And a Lane.
Is Captain Luthor really Alexander Luthor?
There is no shortage of Lex Luthor variants in the comics. There’s the main DCU Lex, Superman’s top antagonist who periodically turns good, but always reverts to mean (and in Lex’s case, “reverting to mean” means “getting back in his giant purple and green battle suit and being shitty to Clark”). And there are thousands of Luthors from the multiverse who are roughly the same character with slightly different tweaks – Red Son Lex, who fights Superman constantly but becomes mankind’s savior as soon as Superman leaves. There’s Earth One Lex, who’s a lady. There’s Kingdom Come Lex, who’s old. All broadly the same.
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Until you get to Earth 3.
Earth 3, you’ll remember, is Earth 1’s mirror universe – everyone good on Earth Prime is bad, and everyone bad on Earth 1 is good. On this world, Alexander Luthor battles Ultraman, Superwoman, Owlman and the rest of the Crime Syndicate. Alexander is notable for flying around in a suit of power armor, just like the “Captain Luthor” that we’ve met on Superman & Lois.
At least, he was until he died. Comics Earth 3 was annihilated by the antimatter wave unleashed on the multiverse by the Anti-Monitor during Crisis on Infinite Earths. But before that world was destroyed, Luthor, who was a genius on this planet same as everywhere else, put his son in a specially designed rocket and fired him out into what was left of the multiverse.
Top ArticlesREAD MOREDoes the Fall Guys Epic Deal Mean the GameWill Get Cross‑play and Go Free‑to‑play? | Den of Geek
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That boy, Alexander Luthor, Jr., was picked up by the Monitor and Harbinger. Aged up and given powers by his exposure to anti-matter, Junior was critical in defeating the Anti-Monitor.
It’s what he did after the Crisis that makes him an unlikely candidate for Captain Luthor’s analogue. At the end of Crisis, Junior took the Superman of Earth 2; Superboy from Earth Prime; and Lois Lane from Earth 2, wife of that Superman and analogue to Junior’s own mother from Earth 3, and brought them to a paradise dimension to live out their days. And then he lost his mind, turned Superboy Prime into a whiny shitposting fanboy, escaped his paradise, and killed a bunch of people, but the less said about Infinite Crisis the better.
That said, the Arrowverse has certainly not shied away from dark portrayals of its main characters – we got actual Nazi versions of Green Arrow, Flash, and Supergirl, for Nix Uotan’s sake in the Crisis on Earth-X crossover back in 2017. The presence of a Good Lex from a parallel Earth where Superman is evil opens the door to an Arrowverse Crime Syndicate of America with Ultraman, Owlwoman, Gray Canary, Black Arrow, Johnny Quick and I don’t know, Shotgun Nate but Mean, and that’s pretty exciting.
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What is 7734?
The Captain Luthor of Superman & Lois seems to be more of an amalgamation of several versions of the character: the multiversal ties and evil home universe Superman of Alexander, the loathing of Superman typical to all Lexes everywhere, and the military background of…Sam Lane?
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One of the biggest differences in Superman & Lois from the comics, at least in these early episodes, is the presentation of General Sam Lane. Lois’ dad is emphatically not a fan of Superman in the comics. He’s a paranoid, anti-metahuman ass, typically used as a stand in for both the military industrial complex and the constant anti-immigrant bigotry you can find pretty much anywhere in the real world without much effort.
Project 7734 was Sam’s brainchild in the comics. He assembled a team of deep state operatives dedicated to dealing with the Kryptonian threat (which at the time was a lot bigger than just Superman – Kandor had been resized, and the world was practically brimming with Kryptonians). He used special agents, Doomsday, Metallo, Reactron, anything or anyone he could get his hands on to take out Superman, Supergirl, and the rest of the Kryptonian “menace.” And yes, that meant using some Luthor tech, as well.
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Superman & Lois’ Sam was a breath of fresh air: someone with a functional relationship with his son-in-law, who was still a salty bastard, but someone who could step in be a part of his family’s lives. It remains to be seen if that characterization will continue after the revelations at the end of the second episode, but as we learn more about Captain Luthor, it will certainly be interesting to watch these relationships develop.
Superman & Lois is already dropping deep comics cuts in episode two. What can we learn about Captain Luthor from DC Comics?
By Jim Dandy|March 2, 2021|
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Photo: The CW
This article contains SUPERMAN & LOIS spoilers.
Superman & Lois episode 2 gave us a lot more information on our potential bad guy, and it’s quite a doozy. Superman’s Iron Man-esque foe isn’t Lex Luthor, he’s a Luthor from a parallel Earth, by implication stranded on this one by the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. And while Superman & Lois draws a lot from the comics, is this Captain Luthor like another big multiversal Luthor we know from DC Comics as well? Or is he someone entirely different?
The evidence right now points to someone new. Or at least an amalgamation of a few Luthors. And a Lane.
Is Captain Luthor really Alexander Luthor?
There is no shortage of Lex Luthor variants in the comics. There’s the main DCU Lex, Superman’s top antagonist who periodically turns good, but always reverts to mean (and in Lex’s case, “reverting to mean” means “getting back in his giant purple and green battle suit and being shitty to Clark”). And there are thousands of Luthors from the multiverse who are roughly the same character with slightly different tweaks – Red Son Lex, who fights Superman constantly but becomes mankind’s savior as soon as Superman leaves. There’s Earth One Lex, who’s a lady. There’s Kingdom Come Lex, who’s old. All broadly the same.
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Until you get to Earth 3.
Earth 3, you’ll remember, is Earth 1’s mirror universe – everyone good on Earth Prime is bad, and everyone bad on Earth 1 is good. On this world, Alexander Luthor battles Ultraman, Superwoman, Owlman and the rest of the Crime Syndicate. Alexander is notable for flying around in a suit of power armor, just like the “Captain Luthor” that we’ve met on Superman & Lois.
At least, he was until he died. Comics Earth 3 was annihilated by the antimatter wave unleashed on the multiverse by the Anti-Monitor during Crisis on Infinite Earths. But before that world was destroyed, Luthor, who was a genius on this planet same as everywhere else, put his son in a specially designed rocket and fired him out into what was left of the multiverse.
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That boy, Alexander Luthor, Jr., was picked up by the Monitor and Harbinger. Aged up and given powers by his exposure to anti-matter, Junior was critical in defeating the Anti-Monitor.
It’s what he did after the Crisis that makes him an unlikely candidate for Captain Luthor’s analogue. At the end of Crisis, Junior took the Superman of Earth 2; Superboy from Earth Prime; and Lois Lane from Earth 2, wife of that Superman and analogue to Junior’s own mother from Earth 3, and brought them to a paradise dimension to live out their days. And then he lost his mind, turned Superboy Prime into a whiny shitposting fanboy, escaped his paradise, and killed a bunch of people, but the less said about Infinite Crisis the better.
That said, the Arrowverse has certainly not shied away from dark portrayals of its main characters – we got actual Nazi versions of Green Arrow, Flash, and Supergirl, for Nix Uotan’s sake in the Crisis on Earth-X crossover back in 2017. The presence of a Good Lex from a parallel Earth where Superman is evil opens the door to an Arrowverse Crime Syndicate of America with Ultraman, Owlwoman, Gray Canary, Black Arrow, Johnny Quick and I don’t know, Shotgun Nate but Mean, and that’s pretty exciting.
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What is 7734?
The Captain Luthor of Superman & Lois seems to be more of an amalgamation of several versions of the character: the multiversal ties and evil home universe Superman of Alexander, the loathing of Superman typical to all Lexes everywhere, and the military background of…Sam Lane?
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One of the biggest differences in Superman & Lois from the comics, at least in these early episodes, is the presentation of General Sam Lane. Lois’ dad is emphatically not a fan of Superman in the comics. He’s a paranoid, anti-metahuman ass, typically used as a stand in for both the military industrial complex and the constant anti-immigrant bigotry you can find pretty much anywhere in the real world without much effort.
Project 7734 was Sam’s brainchild in the comics. He assembled a team of deep state operatives dedicated to dealing with the Kryptonian threat (which at the time was a lot bigger than just Superman – Kandor had been resized, and the world was practically brimming with Kryptonians). He used special agents, Doomsday, Metallo, Reactron, anything or anyone he could get his hands on to take out Superman, Supergirl, and the rest of the Kryptonian “menace.” And yes, that meant using some Luthor tech, as well.
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Superman & Lois’ Sam was a breath of fresh air: someone with a functional relationship with his son-in-law, who was still a salty bastard, but someone who could step in be a part of his family’s lives. It remains to be seen if that characterization will continue after the revelations at the end of the second episode, but as we learn more about Captain Luthor, it will certainly be interesting to watch these relationships develop.
Superman & Lois star and showrunner discuss Captain Luthor's shocking backstory
Tyler Hoechlin and Todd Helbing weigh in on the latest Luthor twist.
By Chancellor Agard
March 02, 2021 at 10:00 PM EST
Warning: This article contains spoilers from Tuesday's episode of Superman & Lois, "Heritage."
The series premiere of Superman & Lois introduced a compelling mystery: Where did Wolé Parks' the Stranger, a.k.a. Captain Luthor, come from? And this week's episode provided a shocking answer.
In the Arrowverse drama's second episode, the heavily armored villain revealed that he hates Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) because the Kryptonian destroyed his planet. And by his planet, we mean an alternate Earth conquered by an evil version of Superman. An episode-ending flashback depicted a horrific battle scene in which the Last Son of Krypton descended from the sky in his black suit (the same costume Hoechlin wore in the third hour of "Elseworlds") and mowed down Luthor's entire army squad, including that Earth's General Sam Lane (Dylan Walsh), with his heat vision (or an "ocular release of energy," as good Clark would describe it).
"We just wanted to get into slowly starting to peel back the onion of who this guy is and what happened to him, and sort of kickstart his motivation for wanting to take down Superman," Superman & Lois showrunner Todd Helbing tells EW of that shocking flashback. "Coming out of that episode, you know that he needs to stop Superman because Superman on his planet destroyed everything. So it gives him a motivation, I think, that people can understand and latch onto. But it also allows us to show this juxtaposition of Supermen. One of the things I was always drawn to as a kid is people used to say, 'Superman, you can't stop him.' And it's like, 'Yes, you can: With his mind, right?' That's one place where he's vulnerable. So how could this guy go bad on his planet, and is that possible on our possible? How does Captain Luthor fold into that?"
Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane and Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent on 'Superman & Lois'
| CREDIT: DEAN BUSCHER/THE CW
What's interesting about this twist is that Clark's son Jordan (Alexander Garfin) is seen playing Injustice 2, a real video game series set in a version of the DC universe where Superman broke bad. Was that just a harmless Easter egg, or was it a hint at Luthor's origin story and where the show is going?
"There may be some clues in there," Hellbing teases. "It just started out as an Easter egg, I'll say that."
For his part, Hoechlin enjoyed wearing the black Superman suit again, even if there were some challenges getting into it. "It [felt] tighter. Definitely put on a little bit of extra this go around, and that suit has not been altered," Hoechlin says with a chuckle. "In the moment that you see it, it's pretty startling, and I think it'll be cool for the fans to see that. And it was fun to have a little bit of a blast from the past."
Hoechlin is hopes he'll get an opportunity to spend more time portraying this darker version of the character. "It's a fun opportunity to play," he says. "It was one thing to guest-appear and come back periodically. That in and of itself, you get to jump in and play a character for a minute. When you're shooting a show as a regular and you're there all the time, I think any opportunity to do something noticeably different from what you've been doing on a daily basis is always really fun. It keeps it fresh, it keeps it new. So, I was excited to see that's an opportunity there. We'll see how that comes about. But it seems like there will be some fun stuff there, if I had to guess."
The re-introduction of Clark's black suit on Superman & Lois arrives a few short weeks before audiences will get to see Henry Cavill wearing a similar look in Zack Snyder's Justice League, but Helbing isn't too worried about the timing and similarities.
"All those decisions that are made are above my pay grade," he says. "If it injects an interest for Superman, that's cool with me. I watched that and [thought], 'Wow, that looks badass.' I'm totally cool with it. It doesn't really affect what we're doing in anyway. Again, to have an interest in Superman right now in a time where — I know we're talking about dark Superman — people need some hope right now, I think it's all good."
Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.
Tyler Hoechlin and Todd Helbing weigh in on the latest Luthor twist.
By Chancellor Agard
March 02, 2021 at 10:00 PM EST
Warning: This article contains spoilers from Tuesday's episode of Superman & Lois, "Heritage."
The series premiere of Superman & Lois introduced a compelling mystery: Where did Wolé Parks' the Stranger, a.k.a. Captain Luthor, come from? And this week's episode provided a shocking answer.
In the Arrowverse drama's second episode, the heavily armored villain revealed that he hates Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) because the Kryptonian destroyed his planet. And by his planet, we mean an alternate Earth conquered by an evil version of Superman. An episode-ending flashback depicted a horrific battle scene in which the Last Son of Krypton descended from the sky in his black suit (the same costume Hoechlin wore in the third hour of "Elseworlds") and mowed down Luthor's entire army squad, including that Earth's General Sam Lane (Dylan Walsh), with his heat vision (or an "ocular release of energy," as good Clark would describe it).
"We just wanted to get into slowly starting to peel back the onion of who this guy is and what happened to him, and sort of kickstart his motivation for wanting to take down Superman," Superman & Lois showrunner Todd Helbing tells EW of that shocking flashback. "Coming out of that episode, you know that he needs to stop Superman because Superman on his planet destroyed everything. So it gives him a motivation, I think, that people can understand and latch onto. But it also allows us to show this juxtaposition of Supermen. One of the things I was always drawn to as a kid is people used to say, 'Superman, you can't stop him.' And it's like, 'Yes, you can: With his mind, right?' That's one place where he's vulnerable. So how could this guy go bad on his planet, and is that possible on our possible? How does Captain Luthor fold into that?"
Elizabeth Tulloch as Lois Lane and Tyler Hoechlin as Clark Kent on 'Superman & Lois'
| CREDIT: DEAN BUSCHER/THE CW
What's interesting about this twist is that Clark's son Jordan (Alexander Garfin) is seen playing Injustice 2, a real video game series set in a version of the DC universe where Superman broke bad. Was that just a harmless Easter egg, or was it a hint at Luthor's origin story and where the show is going?
"There may be some clues in there," Hellbing teases. "It just started out as an Easter egg, I'll say that."
For his part, Hoechlin enjoyed wearing the black Superman suit again, even if there were some challenges getting into it. "It [felt] tighter. Definitely put on a little bit of extra this go around, and that suit has not been altered," Hoechlin says with a chuckle. "In the moment that you see it, it's pretty startling, and I think it'll be cool for the fans to see that. And it was fun to have a little bit of a blast from the past."
Hoechlin is hopes he'll get an opportunity to spend more time portraying this darker version of the character. "It's a fun opportunity to play," he says. "It was one thing to guest-appear and come back periodically. That in and of itself, you get to jump in and play a character for a minute. When you're shooting a show as a regular and you're there all the time, I think any opportunity to do something noticeably different from what you've been doing on a daily basis is always really fun. It keeps it fresh, it keeps it new. So, I was excited to see that's an opportunity there. We'll see how that comes about. But it seems like there will be some fun stuff there, if I had to guess."
The re-introduction of Clark's black suit on Superman & Lois arrives a few short weeks before audiences will get to see Henry Cavill wearing a similar look in Zack Snyder's Justice League, but Helbing isn't too worried about the timing and similarities.
"All those decisions that are made are above my pay grade," he says. "If it injects an interest for Superman, that's cool with me. I watched that and [thought], 'Wow, that looks badass.' I'm totally cool with it. It doesn't really affect what we're doing in anyway. Again, to have an interest in Superman right now in a time where — I know we're talking about dark Superman — people need some hope right now, I think it's all good."
Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the CW.
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Superman & Lois: Why Captain Luthor Hates the Man of Steel
Superman & Lois' latest episode features a Captain Luthor flashback that reveals why he thinks he must destroy the Man of Steel before it's too late.
BY MEAGAN DAMOREPUBLISHED 1 DAYS AGO
1
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for "Heritage," the latest episode of Superman & Lois.
As it turns out, Captain Luthor has a pretty good reason to dislike Superman. In "Heritage," the latest episode of Superman & Lois, Luthor offered a few more hints about his past, revealing his connections to both General Sam Lane and the Man of Steel himself. A flashback also offered a glimpse of what his version of Superman did to his world.
After he failed to find Kryptonite in Moldovia, Luthor headed to Mongolia in search of more. Clark intercepted him there and demanded to know what his goal is. When Luthor said he wanted Superman gone, Clark asked what he had done to him. "It wasn't just me," Luthor snarled. "You destroyed my whole planet!"
With that, Luthor launched himself at Clark. They grappled together for a few moments, with Luthor matching Clark's every blow. Finally, Clark got the upper hand, only for Luthor to offer him a deadly choice: stop him, or save the people in a city nearby from the bomb in his ship. Clark immediately went to save the people, allowing Luthor to slip away yet again.
The next time he showed up, Luthor appeared at the Department of Defense, where General Sam Lane was headquartered. After tearing through Lane's troops, he cornered the general alone. "You have to stop protecting him," Luthor begged.
"Superman?" Sam shot back, genuinely puzzled.
"Stop calling him that!" Luthor cried. He held out some dogtags and dropped them into Sam's hand. "He's not one of us, Sam. Where I come from, you're like me, and you don't trust him either, because you know what he is capable of. You have to help me save your planet, Sam, before Kal-El becomes --"
But he never got to finish, because Superman answered Sam's distress call at just that very moment. Superman rocketed through the Department of Defense's wall, bodied Luthor and dragged him outside. However, Clark quickly realized Luthor wasn't home; the suit was an empty shell, being piloted from afar. From the safety of a distance, Luthor muttered, "To hell and back, General."
Later, Luthor continued to pursue Kryptonite for his plot to stop Superman once and for all. However, his robotic assistant soon made it clear there was no more Kryptonite left on Earth, which meant he had to proceed without it. "Then I need a new suit," he told it, only for it to reply, "It will take some time to locate the proper material to build one."
"I guess we'll go find what we need," he said, running his thumb over a dogtag identical to the one he gave Sam.
"We have some time," the AI agreed. "It seems this planet's Kal-El is not entirely like the one you've encountered, Captain Luthor."
"No, he isn't like my Kal-El -- not yet," Luthor murmured.
As he reflected on his mission, Luthor flashed back to his own Earth. He dredged up memories of a battlefield, where Sam led the charge against an unseen enemy armed with lasers. Luthor himself fought in the trenches alongside the general, who called for backup amid the chaos: "This is hellfire! 31! Engaging hostile ammo bots!"
Suddenly, the sky crackled with thunder. Luthor's platoon stopped shooting, and the return fire halted. Everyone turned slowly to look up, only to see Superman hovering high above them wearing a scowl and a black suit. He immediately trained his laser vision on the trench, killing the men as they scrambled to get away from the deadly blast.
In the process, Sam threw himself at Luthor, shielding him with his own body and allowing him to escape unharmed. "To hell and back," Lane gasped with his final breaths. Shaken, Luthor took Lane's dog tags, which ironically bore the Superman symbol, and the flashback came to a close.
As revealed by the flashback, Luthor was clearly terrorized by a version of Superman who broke bad. His conversation with Sam seems to indicate the Superman of his world wasn't always bad, and that something within him changed to turn him into the black-suited Superman from this memory. Luthor clearly expects Superman & Lois' Man of Steel to do the same and is working to prevent that form happening. As such, he views himself as the villain of this story, even as he doesn't quite understand the nature of the Arrowverse as he has found it.
With Episode 2 already providing some answers, it probably won't be long before Superman & Lois provides context for this terrible flashback. As it stands, though, it is unclear who Luthor was fighting and why Superman took this evil turn. Further, Luthor's arrival in the Arrowverse remains to be explained, though this is likely due to the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths," which detroyed -- and then remade -- the multiverse.
Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman and George Perez featured a similar version of Lex Luthor. In the comic book event, Alexander Luthor Jr. survived the destruction of Earth-3 when his parents -- Lex Luthor and Lois Lane-Luthor -- sent him away as an infant, just before the anti-matter wave hit. In addition to saving his life, this move also put him in the hands of the Monitor and his adoptive daughter Harbinger, who raised him as a hero. Notably, Crisis on Infinite Earths' Alexander Luthor Jr. came from a world where his father Lex was the only hero to stand against the Crime Syndicate, an evil version of the Justice League.
Superman & Lois stars Tyler Hoechlin, Elizabeth Tulloch, Dylan Walsh, Alex Garfin, Jordan Elsass, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Inde Navarrette and Wolé Parks. The series airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.
Superman & Lois' latest episode features a Captain Luthor flashback that reveals why he thinks he must destroy the Man of Steel before it's too late.
BY MEAGAN DAMOREPUBLISHED 1 DAYS AGO
1
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for "Heritage," the latest episode of Superman & Lois.
As it turns out, Captain Luthor has a pretty good reason to dislike Superman. In "Heritage," the latest episode of Superman & Lois, Luthor offered a few more hints about his past, revealing his connections to both General Sam Lane and the Man of Steel himself. A flashback also offered a glimpse of what his version of Superman did to his world.
After he failed to find Kryptonite in Moldovia, Luthor headed to Mongolia in search of more. Clark intercepted him there and demanded to know what his goal is. When Luthor said he wanted Superman gone, Clark asked what he had done to him. "It wasn't just me," Luthor snarled. "You destroyed my whole planet!"
With that, Luthor launched himself at Clark. They grappled together for a few moments, with Luthor matching Clark's every blow. Finally, Clark got the upper hand, only for Luthor to offer him a deadly choice: stop him, or save the people in a city nearby from the bomb in his ship. Clark immediately went to save the people, allowing Luthor to slip away yet again.
The next time he showed up, Luthor appeared at the Department of Defense, where General Sam Lane was headquartered. After tearing through Lane's troops, he cornered the general alone. "You have to stop protecting him," Luthor begged.
"Superman?" Sam shot back, genuinely puzzled.
"Stop calling him that!" Luthor cried. He held out some dogtags and dropped them into Sam's hand. "He's not one of us, Sam. Where I come from, you're like me, and you don't trust him either, because you know what he is capable of. You have to help me save your planet, Sam, before Kal-El becomes --"
But he never got to finish, because Superman answered Sam's distress call at just that very moment. Superman rocketed through the Department of Defense's wall, bodied Luthor and dragged him outside. However, Clark quickly realized Luthor wasn't home; the suit was an empty shell, being piloted from afar. From the safety of a distance, Luthor muttered, "To hell and back, General."
Later, Luthor continued to pursue Kryptonite for his plot to stop Superman once and for all. However, his robotic assistant soon made it clear there was no more Kryptonite left on Earth, which meant he had to proceed without it. "Then I need a new suit," he told it, only for it to reply, "It will take some time to locate the proper material to build one."
"I guess we'll go find what we need," he said, running his thumb over a dogtag identical to the one he gave Sam.
"We have some time," the AI agreed. "It seems this planet's Kal-El is not entirely like the one you've encountered, Captain Luthor."
"No, he isn't like my Kal-El -- not yet," Luthor murmured.
As he reflected on his mission, Luthor flashed back to his own Earth. He dredged up memories of a battlefield, where Sam led the charge against an unseen enemy armed with lasers. Luthor himself fought in the trenches alongside the general, who called for backup amid the chaos: "This is hellfire! 31! Engaging hostile ammo bots!"
Suddenly, the sky crackled with thunder. Luthor's platoon stopped shooting, and the return fire halted. Everyone turned slowly to look up, only to see Superman hovering high above them wearing a scowl and a black suit. He immediately trained his laser vision on the trench, killing the men as they scrambled to get away from the deadly blast.
In the process, Sam threw himself at Luthor, shielding him with his own body and allowing him to escape unharmed. "To hell and back," Lane gasped with his final breaths. Shaken, Luthor took Lane's dog tags, which ironically bore the Superman symbol, and the flashback came to a close.
As revealed by the flashback, Luthor was clearly terrorized by a version of Superman who broke bad. His conversation with Sam seems to indicate the Superman of his world wasn't always bad, and that something within him changed to turn him into the black-suited Superman from this memory. Luthor clearly expects Superman & Lois' Man of Steel to do the same and is working to prevent that form happening. As such, he views himself as the villain of this story, even as he doesn't quite understand the nature of the Arrowverse as he has found it.
With Episode 2 already providing some answers, it probably won't be long before Superman & Lois provides context for this terrible flashback. As it stands, though, it is unclear who Luthor was fighting and why Superman took this evil turn. Further, Luthor's arrival in the Arrowverse remains to be explained, though this is likely due to the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths," which detroyed -- and then remade -- the multiverse.
Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman and George Perez featured a similar version of Lex Luthor. In the comic book event, Alexander Luthor Jr. survived the destruction of Earth-3 when his parents -- Lex Luthor and Lois Lane-Luthor -- sent him away as an infant, just before the anti-matter wave hit. In addition to saving his life, this move also put him in the hands of the Monitor and his adoptive daughter Harbinger, who raised him as a hero. Notably, Crisis on Infinite Earths' Alexander Luthor Jr. came from a world where his father Lex was the only hero to stand against the Crime Syndicate, an evil version of the Justice League.
Superman & Lois stars Tyler Hoechlin, Elizabeth Tulloch, Dylan Walsh, Alex Garfin, Jordan Elsass, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Inde Navarrette and Wolé Parks. The series airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.
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it seems that crisis was the CW's peak -these shows have been all downhill since
