At the end of its second season this week, The CW’s “Superman & Lois” answered a key question – turns out it’s not a part of the Arrowverse.
Dylan Walsh’s character, Lois’ father Sam Lane, finally revealed that information in a scene in the season finale that in this show’s universe, Clark Kent/Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) is the only superhero on Earth. Walsh’s character says in a speech to his grandsons:
“I’ve been working for the DOD for a long time. I’ve seen things you would not believe – glimpses of other worlds and the leagues of superheroes they have on them. And even though we only have your father on this planet, thank God that we do, because he’s the finest of any Earth.”
The Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths special a few years back ditched the multiverse and merged all the show’s universes into one Earth – including the “Supergirl” series one where Hoechlin first played Superman.
Showrunner Todd Helbing, who worked on “The Flash” for five years prior to this show, explains to EW that originally the plan was to be a part of the Arrowverse back in the first season.
However, the pandemic hit which saw crossover plans ditched and references to the Crisis event getting stripped out:
“It just felt like the best decision was to have our Superman & Lois not be on the same Earth as the Arrowverse.”
He then goes to confirm that Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch’s Arrowverse crossovers and past appearances as Clark and Lois prior to this series are different characters:
“Everybody that you see, while some people may have similar backstories and some may be different, they’re different characters.”
Does that also apply to David Ramsey’s John Diggle who has shown up several times so far?
Exactly. He’s a doppelganger. He worked with Oliver Queen, he worked with other heroes that as of now are unnamed, but yeah, he’s just a doppelganger of John Diggle that everybody saw in the Arrowverse.
He confirms the third season will see Intergang and/or its crime boss Bruno Manheim serving as villains. However, they’re still in the planning stages for the next season so things aren’t set in stone just yet.
One thing they will do next year, and which kind of got away from them a little bit this season, is refocus back on the family dynamics:
“Sometimes, depending on who the villain is, the mythology starts to take over towards the end. We really try to offset that as much as we can. With Ally, when you talk about combining two worlds and the population on both, it gets a little sci-fi and comic book. [Laughs] I think next year, I would guess that we lean a little less into mythology and more into the personal drama.”
Despite The CW’s seemingly imminent sale, the series is set to return for a third season. Meanwhile the last of the Arrowverse shows, “The Flash,” is getting a ninth season to air next year and is expected (but not confirmed) to be its last.
Source: EW
