WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Justice League Infinity #2, on sale now from DC Comics.
Justice League Infinity #2, by J.M. DeMatteis, James Tucker, Ethan Beavers, Nick Filardi, and Tom Napolitano, unleashes an evil version of Superman into the DC Animated Universe, literally right in front of Lois Lane. Perhaps more disturbing than this sadistic version of the Man of Steel, however, is the way Lois handles the imposter. The wife of Superman produces a Kryptonite weapon capable of killing her husband, inferring dark implications for the dynamic between Lois and Clark, particularly in the traditionally family-friendly animated version of the DC Universe.
In the first issue of Justice League Infinity, Amazo accidentally altered reality. This caused the DCAU’s regular Superman, who was enjoying dinner with Lois at the time, to switch places with an evil version of himself. The issue reveals that this Superman is actually known as Overman, and was raised in an alternate reality by Vandal Savage, who conquered the world while working with the Nazis. Unsure of where he was, Overman attacked Lois but she bought herself a moment’s reprieve when she shot him with a Kryptonite gun that Clark entrusted to her.
Overman proved to be invulnerable to green Kryptonite and Lois only survived their encounter because he left without killing her. Ultimately even the Justice League seemed outmatched against Overman until the Martian Manhunter returned and disabled him with a telepathic attack. But the fact that DCAU Clark gave Lois a Kryptonite weapon to use against him speaks volumes.
In the comics, Superman has long trusted Batman to wield Kryptonite against him should the need ever arise. The DCAU followed this example, with Bruce being shown to be in possession of a few different Kryptonite samples following his and Clark’s first meeting in “World’s Finest.” But Clark giving Lois Kryptonite is different because of the intimate relationship between them. The idea that the couple has even had to consider how Lois would defend herself from Clark is quite sad. It highlights how Clark’s powers negatively impact his personal life and is a rather dark note to include in a DCAU story, given that the franchise started with cartoons aimed at a target audience comprised mostly of children.
Some may argue that the Kryptonite failsafe concept goes against the core ethos of Superman, as it relies on the Man of Steel making a decision based on fear and pessimism in contrast to his normal optimism. But most iterations of the character have similar systems in place. In Smallville, Clark’s friends and family frequently had to use green Kryptonite to subdue him in various instances where his mind was altered to make him act dangerously.
Tyler Hoechlin’s Arrowverse version of Clark has similarly changed his position on Kryptonite weapons over time. In his initial appearances on Supergirl, he was outraged to discover that Martian Manhunter and the DEO had a Kryptonite arsenal, pointing out that the weapons posed a threat not just to his own life but to his cousin’s as well. He was similarly upset in Superman and Lois when he discovered that Sam Lane (Dylan Walsh) had the DOD creating Kryptonite weapons through Project 7734. But after Zod temporarily took over his body, Clark realized the threat he could pose if he was ever corrupted again and decided that someone needed to be armed with Kryptonite to stop him if need be, entrusting the weapons to John Henry Irons.
The stance of the Superman franchise as a whole seems to be that it would be irresponsible of Clark not to allow the people he seeks to protect to protect themselves from him if necessary. It’s just terribly unfortunate that his own wife has to carry part of that burden.
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