Superman & Lois Would Benefit From a More Global Perspective




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In the final episodes of Superman & Lois Season 2, the entire planet faces potential annihilation when Ally Allston tries to merge Earth and Bizarro World into a single entity. This is an international existential crisis on two worlds. Despite this, Lois Lane and Chrissy Beppo struggle with whether or not they should share this information with the people of Smallville — not the people of the world, just the people of Smallville. Since Smallville’s Schuster Mines house the portal connecting the two planets, the town does hold a unique position within the crisis, but it isn’t in any greater danger than anywhere else. The whole world could be coming to an end, and everyone forgets the existence of anyone outside Smallville.

Smallville is Superman & Lois‘s primary setting, so filtering events through its population’s perspective makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is ignoring the rest of the world while doing so. Presumably, people and their Bizarro doppelgängers are shifting between universes all over and creating global panic, but for some reason, Lois, Chrissy and General Sam Lane — who works for the United States Department of Defense — are only concerned with the citizens of a single municipality. This oversight is a common problem in superhero stories: writers too often conceive of a hero’s primary base of operations as a universe unto itself.

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The Smallville Gazette is local paper — but it’s a local paper that Lois Lane, the world’s most famous reporter, co-owns. If it were to report on an impending apocalypse, other outlets would surely pick up the story and spread the news far and wide. Because of this, as nice as it seems in the moment, Lois and Chrissy consulting Smallville mayor Lana Lang about sounding the alarm is absurd. They should work with larger news organizations to inform as many people as possible. The writers could have made that happen with a few lines of dialogue and chose not to… suggesting a need for the series and its writers to broaden their storytelling parameters.

In fairness to Superman & Lois, the series has done a better job of depicting its titular hero as an international figure than many previous superhero series. Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman has saved a North Korean submarine, stopped an avalanche in Russia and caught pieces of a collapsing bridge in China. He even told Lt. General Anderson that he couldn’t pledge his loyalty to the United States because he had already pledged it to the world. Unlike the other heroes on The CW, Superman & Lois‘s Man of Steel doesn’t limit his activities based on geography.

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Yet because of Superman’s intentionally global approach to superheroics, the provincial limitations of Lois, Chrissy, the Smallville Gazette and the DOD feel especially egregious. Lois is an established, award-winning reporter who has probably lived through a number of world-endangering events and seen their international ramifications. Two years in Smallville should not have blinded her to the billions of people who would wind up just as dead outside the town if Superman fails to save the day.

Smallville provides the writers of Superman & Lois with a rich vein of compelling narrative opportunities, from the Lane-Kent family’s adjustment to small town life to the exploration of Clark’s roots and beyond. However, the things that make Smallville special become meaningless outside the context of a larger world. Superman is Earth’s greatest hero and Lois Lane is Earth’s greatest reporter. Limiting their perspectives to a single town makes these larger than life characters and the stakes of the problems they face feel small. Lois and Clark may live in Smallville, but they belong to the world. If the writers can remember that, Superman & Lois will really soar.

Superman & Lois Season 3 premieres on The CW in 2023.

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