After four successful seasons, Superman & Lois has finally come to an end. Debuting on The CW in February 2021, the series followed Clark Kent/Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and wife Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) as they raise their twin sons, Jonathan (Jordan Elsass in Season 1 and 2, and then Michael Bishop from Season 3 to 4) and Jordan (Alex Garfin), in Smallville while the boys both learn their dad is Superman and that they, too, might have powers. Ahead of Season 4, it was confirmed it would be their final season, so Superman & Lois got to do what no other Superman adaptation got to do: give the hero’s story a proper ending.
Following the finale, showrunners Todd Helbing and Brent Fletcher broke down the ambitious ending to Deadline and their decision to give the character a true farewell. “In the history of Superman, he is in a lot of ways immortal, right? He’s gonna live forever. He’s gonna outlive Lois. He’s gonna outlive his boys. But in this version, with what happened to him, he wasn’t going to do that anymore. So it just felt like, instead of having more questions for the audience about, ‘Oh, I wonder what he was like when he was old,’ it’s like, let’s just show it to them. We’ve never seen that. I think it’s really moving in a way that’s unexpected. Those are the best kind of endings,” said Helbing.
He continued by talking about the pressure to deliver this ending and do right by the characters and fans:
“It’s Superman and Lois Lane and Lex Luthor. They’re these iconic characters, and so that inherently has some pressure. You don’t want to be the version of the property that messed it up. To have the opportunity to be one of the only shows to actually conclude in the way that we want to, there was the pressure to stick the landing and do something different. But there’s that pressure, and then you just sort of have to acknowledge it and then just do your job. So we always just approach it like, let’s just tell the most human, hopeful, realistic version of the story and let the chips fall where they may.”
How ‘Superman & Lois’ Gave the Hero a Proper Ending
“We were told at one point that we were the only live-action show that really got to conclude his story. So we felt that was a real opportunity. For us, there’s so many questions that you have about what it’s like to live that kind of life,” explained Fletcher. He continued, adding that they used the iconic “Death of Superman” as a jumping off point, but then flipped the script, making his “death” not a violent battle with Doomsday, but instead a calming farewell.
Per Fletcher:
“We were doing
Death of Superman
. That’s what we were going to sell to the audience. But it’s actually a mislead, because the death of Superman doesn’t happen until the end of episode 10, and we felt like it was to show that that was a life well-lived. What are the auspices of a life well-lived? It’s hope, joy, family and good all these things that he is. It was a hard thing to compact, but we felt that that montage could give a little window into that and give a little inspiration. We’re all mortal, and maybe there’s a beauty to our mortality that even Superman faces. So we thought it was kind of a neat thing. It was something that we were excited about, and so we followed that muse.”
The Superman & Lois finale shows Clark Kent not only retiring as Superman, but growing old with his wife Lois Lane, because he gained a human heart earlier in the season. Lois dies years later due to her cancer returning, and Clark lives out the rest of his days on the farm in Smallville with a dog named Krypto. Clark eventually dies from old age, but is reunited with Lois in the afterlife. Meanwhile, his sons Jonathan and Jordan become the new protectors of Earth following their father’s retirement and eventual passing.
Unlike the comic versions of Superman — which show him living for centuries after Lois Lane, or in storylines like All-Star Superman or “The Death of Superman,” which see him die at a relatively young age with Lois Lane left to mourn — Superman & Lois gives the greatest couple in comics a truly happy ending where they can grow old together. Even death cannot keep them apart.
Related ‘Superman & Lois’ Showrunners Wanted Another Major DC Villain to Appear Before Finale
The final season of ‘Superman & Lois’ featured Lex Luthor and Doomsday, mind you.
Superman & Lois marks the first time a live-action Superman adaptation has been able to give the hero a proper ending. Smallville did finish its run by completing its main storyline, but that ending was just the beginning of Superman’s story. Meanwhile, series like The Adventures of Superman, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and Superman: The Animated Series all concluded on abrupt notes.
No live-action Superman movie or series — from Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh, or Henry Cavill — was able to give their Man of Steel a proper ending. To that end, Superman & Lois is unique in that respect, and stands as one of the best versions of Superman to ever grace the screen. James Gunn’s Superman now has a tough act to follow.
Release Date February 23, 2021
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