Superman & Loishas done an excellent job with telling some of the most unique stories in theDC Universe, although the recent episodes have recognized an important mystery that I don’t believe will ever be fully addressed in the series.Superman has died onscreen several times, and the most recent iteration of this story took place at the beginning ofSuperman & Lois' final season. The series took a unique path to this story, combining both Bizarro and Doomsday to lead into the final season. The execution has, however, raised an important question about Clark.
The final season ofSuperman & Loishas taken some interesting turns, leading to potentialreplacements for DC’s Man of Steelin the series. With a genuinelyevil version of Lex Luthorand excellent stories that both play with and reinvent the popular source material, many have already lauded this season as the best installment ofSuperman & Loisyet. Despite this, one significant mystery remains, although I don’t know if the show will do anything to address this by its end.
Clark’s Death Was Not Addressed Nearly As Clearly As Superman’s
While Superman has now finally been revived inSuperman & Loisseason 4, episode 4, the fact is that the family was somehow able to hide Clark Kent’s death from everyone in Smallville for as long as he was gone. When this happened in the DCEU, for comparison, there was a wave of destruction over the entire city of Metropolis that allowed Clark’s death to be seen as a casualty of that.With Superman’s death inSuperman & Lois, no effective excuse for Clark exists. This raises a number of questions about how the Kents were able to hide this from Smallville.
Instead, Clark’s death has not been addressed by the family in the episodes since to the town.The focus of the series has instead been on Superman’s death, and how that has affected the people around him.With Superman gone, it then becomes unclear how the Kent family was able to hide Clark’s death. Fortunately, with Superman’s return, I don’t believe this will continue to be the issue that it might otherwise have seemed to be.
Superman & Lois Already Revealed 1 Smallville Resident Realized Superman’s Identity Because Of His Death
Chuck Arden Seems To Have Realized The Connection Between Clark And Superman
In thepremiere episodes ofSuperman & Loisseason 4, a character named Chuck Arden realized Superman’s identity as Clark Kent by watching his family’s reaction to his death.In the season premiere episodes, Chuck defends Clark’s kids from Lex as best as he can,although he is simply a resident of the town and cannot do much to help. Still, I believe this goes to address the mystery at hand at least lightly, and reflects a good heart in the citizens of Smallville, working toward establishing the close-knit community.
Smallville is a large part of the heart of theSuperman & Loisseries, and seeing characters like Chuck only helps to reinforce this. Even though Chuck realized that Clark Kent is actually Superman, it is unlikely that this will amount to much, since the show only very briefly addresses this fact. I do believe that this suggests the possibility of others realizing the connection between Clark and Superman, however.
Superman & Lois Season 4 Doesn’t Need To Answer Its Clark Kent Mystery
The Series Has More Important Details To Focus On
Overall, this mystery is not the most important component ofSuperman & Lois.The question of the town noticing Clark’s disappearance actually feels akin to the efficacy of Clark only using glasses to hide his identity as Superman.While there are certainly questions that can be asked about this, and there are certainly reasons to doubt that Clark’s identity could remain uncompromised as a result, there are simply more important stories to tell than to continue focusing on this. While fiction does need to be accountable to truth, there are more important details to examine.
The rest of the story, including Superman’s regeneration and how he and his family end the series, is where the focus needs to be. While Clark Kent’s disappearance for a short time may seem confusing to some residents of Smallville, it is not a big or significant enough disappearance to cause that much of an issue. Though Clark is tremendously important to viewers of the series, he is only a human to the residents of Smallville, and is not someone to whom many of the residents would give much attention.
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Superman & Loisdoes tease the mystery of how Clark’s disappearance was hidden from Smallville, although I don’t believe it will wind up being important to the end of the series' story. There is much to be told with Clark, Lois, Lex, Jonathan, and Jordan among other characters in the coming episodes to give the series a satisfying ending.It would be nice to find an explanation in the forthcoming episodes ofSuperman & Lois, although this is not necessary to the ultimate effectiveness of the series.
Superman & Lois
Cast
Superman & Lois follows the Man of Steel, Clark Kent, and journalist Lois Lane as they navigate the strains of contemporary parenthood while confronting threats from supervillains and alien invaders, blending personal challenges with heroic responsibilities in this 2021 television series.
