Superman & Lois is the new superhero TV drama series based on the DC Comics character and the latest from CW. The series is a spin-off of the Supergirl TV series that is set to end with its sixth season in 2021. We are no fans of the DC CW universe so suffice to say that our expectations for Superman & Lois were low. And in that respect, the pilot episode did not disappoint. It was very poor.
Now, Superman is by now, a boring character. Unlike Batman, there’s nothing remotely inherently interesting in Superman, as he is overpowered and without flaws. Zack Snyder’s presentation of Superman in Man of Steel onwards was a refreshing deconstructive take, delving into the dichotomy between Superman’s alien god-like abilities and his human upbringing.
Superman & Lois, does the opposite and tries to make the conflict about Superman as an ordinary person. In this premise, Superman & Lois are married and in their forties, with teenage twin sons viz. Jonathan and Jordan. Clark Kent (Superman’s alter ego) has been fired from the Daily Planet and the family returns to Smallville to bury Kent’s mother Martha.
In this setup, Superman is revealed to be an absentee father, unable to connect with his younger son Jordan who suffers from anxiety issues, and a contrast to Jonathan, who seems to be the perfect All-American teenager. What the series has attempted to do is to insert Superman into a very normal human existence, which is of course, ridiculous.
The other problem with the Superman mythos has always been his secret identity. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, secret identities simply do not exist as most of the time, that concept makes no sense. Which is why when Tony Stark admitted to being Iron Man at the end of the first MCU movie, that signalled a new paradigm which has served Marvel Studios well to this day.
How in the world is it possible not to tell that Superman and Clark Kent are one and the same person? Even his own sons do not know that their father is Superman? C’mon, that is silly. See our problem? There is no suspension of disbelief when it comes to this tenuous premise. In fact, there is a hilarious moment where Kent reveals his true identity by taking off his spectacles (!) A truly bizarre moment.
So no, we will not be following the progress of Superman & Lois as once more CW demonstrates that it has no idea how to handle superheroes seriously. Of course, that has not stopped CW from actually being successful with these pathetic adaptations. Which says everything you need to know about the CW audience. All well and good. We would rather spend our time watching the Marvel Cinematic Universe unfold on Disney+.
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