WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Superman & Lois Season 2, Episode 2, “The Ties That Bind,” which aired Tuesday, Jan. 18 on The CW.
Only two episodes into its second season and Superman & Lois is already doubling down on the amount of enemies confronting the Man of Steel as he balances his role as the world’s greatest superhero with being a loving family man in Smallville. Most notably, the series appears to be building to the Arrowverse debut of Superman’s most infamous supervillain, Doomsday, with the hulking menace telepathically linked to the Man of Tomorrow as he begins emerging from his subterranean prison. And while the arrival of Doomsday is troubling enough on its own, the presumed Doomsday could be linked to very different antagonists facing Superman in Season 2: The U.S. military.
In Season 1 of Superman & Lois, Superman’s direct liaison with the military and American government was General Sam Lane, who also headed the Department of Defense. While Superman and his father-in-law certainly didn’t see eye to eye on the Man of Steel’s activities and his priorities, they were able to work well together, with General Lane never trusting Superman’s allegiances — though not without secretly developing safeguards should Superman ever break bad. However, Lane retired at the end of Season 1 to focus more on family, with his replacement, Lieutenant General Anderson, having a much more combative dynamic with Superman.
Anderson’s frustration with Superman stems from the superhero publicly pledging his support to the world, without a priority to defend American interests. Anderson repeatedly asks Superman to formally join his team and work directly with the American military, growing visibly more terse with every subsequent overture as his requests are denied. This culminated in Anderson creating his own squad of super-powered soldiers, with powers matching Superman and wearing the hero’s iconic logo despite Superman’s protest as Anderson finally got his own detachment of Supermen directly under his command. And Anderson co-opting Superman’s symbol and launching his squad coincides with troubling developments in Smallville.
Ever since the start of Season 2, Smallville has been rocked by a series of earthquakes, with the frequency and magnitude puzzling due to the natural phenomena’s general rarity in Kansas. Lois Lane and Henry Irons discern that the epicenter of earthquakes are at a mining claim on the outskirts of town where Tal-Rho had excavated x-kryptonite in his failed attempt to subjugate humanity with Kryptonian entities. A company linked to the military has since taken control of the property, with Anderson mentioning the connection to the company in passing while the head of mining operation stonewalls Lois’ efforts to investigate what the company is up to. More worryingly, the head of the operation is in contact with a mysterious source, aware of the monster emerging from the mines and more impressed by its power and fury than concerned.
With Superman weakening due to his strange connection to the presumed Doomsday, the emergence of such a formidable monster would give the military the perfect, public showcase to unveil its Superman squad in action as stronger heroes than the Man of Steel. Of course, Doomsday has never been a supervillain that anyone has truly been able to control, and if Anderson is indeed behind the mining operation deliberately unearthing the monster, he’s quickly about to discover that he’s bitten off more than he can chew, with even Superman unable to save the day without paying the ultimate price.
Developed for television by Greg Berlanti and Todd Helbing, Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 8pm ET/PT on The CW.
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