YMMV / Superman & Lois

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• Adorkable: Clark Kent, naturally, is a goofy and nerdy Nice Guy.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Superman doesn't argue much with Bruno Mannheim's comment about how Superman doesn't actually change a whole lot of things, other than saying that every life he saves changes the world. Is it because he feels that Mannheim has a point but is committed to his role as a Small Steps Hero, or simply because he doesn't see the point of getting in an argument?
• Arc Fatigue: Season 3 starts out with Sarah and Jordan's relationship having trouble, again, with her wanting to take some time for herself. After the difficulties they went through in Season 2, it's pretty wearying for them to be back at an awkward stage, especially given that Sarah doesn't give any real reason as to why she wants to just be friends after it was implied in the Season 2 finale that they'd start over dating again and she'd even told Lana she wouldn't have broken up with him in the first place if she'd known his secret. It's especially frustrating given that up to now, the show has mostly avoided the cheap relationship drama plaguing most Arrowverse shows. It becomes even more frustrating throughout the season as their lack of a relationship isn't a major plot point until halfway through when Jordan becomes increasingly pushy and angsty about it, and so it seems like there was no point to them breaking up again other than to add some "drama." And now that it's been announced she won't be in Season Four at all, it seems even more pointless.
• Audience Awareness Advantage: Lucy Lane in season 2 comes off as Unintentionally Unsympathetic to the audience for committing a number of bad actions in Ally's name and then essentially escaping punishment. However, since her most consistent interactions in the season are with her big sister (who was forced to be Lucy's primary mother figure/caretaker while dealing with her own difficulties) and her father (who feels that it's his fault for not being a better parent), Lucy gets treated with rather more leniency than some audience members feel she deserves.
• Broken Base: The complaints about Tyler Hoechlin not being muscular enough. Some find it a big deal, others not at all, since it's not as if his Super-Strength comes from working out.
• Complete Monster: Zeta-Rho is the abusive father of Tal-Rho and the former husband of Lara Lor-Van who plots to use Lara's Eradicator to resurrect Krypton via brutal colonization, stealing her Sunstone from Kal-El's rocket in revenge for her leaving him and intent only on destroying it after she witnesses his triumph. Zeta, for all his rhetoric of saving his race, is nothing but an egomaniac who cares for only two things: rebuilding Krypton into his supremacist vision of "proper greatness"; and punishing the House of El, viewing Lara's bloodline as treasonous for defying his will. To these ends, Zeta sent Tal-Rho to Earth and tortured him for months to burn away his "weakness", molding him into the herald for Krypton's resurrection. Tal, taking the persona of Morgan Edge, experimented on humans to replace their minds with those of Kryptonians on his father's behalf, even having Superman overtaken by General Zod. When Edge fails, Zeta forces him through a Death of Personality to become the Eradicator and raise their army, with Zeta taking Superman's son, Jordan, as his own host. The culmination of Zeta's machinations are witnessed in John Henry Irons's universe: the near-extermination of humanity, with entire cities razed by his loyal Kryptonian "subjekts".
• Fandom-Specific Plot: Common fanfic plots include:
  • Future fics about Jordan (and sometimes Jonathan) becoming heroes, and/or Jordan and Sarah becoming more serious.
  • Jonathan develops powers (either typical Kryptonian ones or a variation), or at the very least confronts his Kryptonian heritage more directly.
  • Identity reveal fics where Sarah learns about Jordan's powers. No longer necessary as of the Season 2 finale.
  • Mr. Mxyzptlk shows up to mess with the boys or the whole family.
• Friendly Fandoms: The show itself serves as one, unifying the Superman fanbase, being well-loved both by fans of the movies by Richard Donner and Christopher Reeve and fans of the movies by Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill due to incorporating elements from both. Likewise, many fans of Smallville like that the show is based in the titular hometown and the fact that many familiar elements from that series have found their way into this one.
• He Really Can Act: Tyler Hoechlin's performance as Superman is seen as one of the best parts of the series. It even won over people who were skeptical of his casting and hadn't watched him act in the years he'd been playing Superman in Supergirl.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In Season 2, Bizarro Lois says, "Jonathan never felt heard or seen and it turned him into someone I hardly recognize!" This hits different after Jonathan was recast between Seasons 2 and 3, turning him into someone the audience may hardly recognize.
  • In Season 2, a mysterious figure in an armor suit busts out of a quarry and goes on a rampage. Many thought it was Doomsday since that was how he first appeared. Turns out it was Bizarro… until near the end of Season 3, when Bizarro is resurrected and transformed into Doomsday!
• Informed Wrongness:
  • Also overlapping with Strawman Has a Point, the show treats General Sam Lane's decision to stock Kryptonite weapons as a tactic against Superman should he ever turn as a horrible choice that blatantly violates everyone's trust, and they should have faith that would never turn because he loves his family too much. The only problem is, John Henry Irons comes from an Alternate Universe in which Superman became evil, and there's been many stories from DC prior to this (mostly notably Injustice: Gods Among Us and even Supergirl,), and other non-DC stories like Brightburn, Irredeemable, The Boys, and Invincible that have shown exactly how dangerous the Man of Steel could be if he turns willingly or not, since there's almost no force on Earth that could stop him. Even though Sam admits he doesn't want to do this (what with Clark being his son-in-law and all), he has to in case worst comes to worst, yet is treated as being in the wrong for this. Even Superman himself agrees with this sentiment and asks Sam and Irons to keep 7734 active for the time being. Although Lois makes a valid point that there are plenty of supervillains who would love to steal an anti-Superman armory and a lot of her anger is a result of Jordan, Sam's own grandson, getting hurt as a result of those weapons; making it more that It's the Principle of the Thing.
  • In "The Lies That Bind," Lois is treated as being in the wrong for not telling Lana about Clark's secret identity earlier. The fact is that secret identities are kept secret for a reason, because they keep people's identities safe. Lois and Clark had no real reason to bring Lana in on the secret until that point. And it wasn't Lois's own secret to tell. Much like the point above, the supposed party "in the wrong" is vindicated and Lana does come to understand why Lois keep such an important secret from her, especially when Lana herself is forced to keep Clark's secret from her own daughter, because she doesn't want to turn Sarah into a liar.
  • Lois's credibility as a journalist is called into question by Ally Allston after her sister Lucy recants her story and Lois left out that Lucy was able to see her Inverse self. Lucy is furious with Lois for leaving out facts about the Inverse world, and then later Chrissy is questioning Lois's integrity for not telling the whole truth. The issue with that was that Lucy was overdosing on pills and nearly drowned herself in order to see the Inverse world; any detail in regards to that was an unreliable account as Lucy was under the influence and delirious. Lois is correct when she tells Lucy that she was not in a right state of mind and ultimately, the contents of the experience had no bearing on the report of Allston's crimes of abuse, but they are still furious with her for keeping secrets. Once again, the party supposedly in the wrong is eventually vindicated when Chrissy and later Lucy learn just how dangerous Ally is.
  • John Henry Irons gets hit hard with this in "The Dress" where all of his supposedly extreme actions seem very justified, if not understandable.
    • Irons prevents Bruno Mannheim from visiting his wife Peia while she is in DOD custody unless Mannheim returns the assets he stole from the DOD. This is meant to be viewed as cruel and unfair particularly because Peia has cancer and is in danger of dying before she can say goodbye to her husband and son. However, Peia is also a criminal who has aided and abetted her husband in numerous illegal activities, including the murder of Smallville's previous mayor. Furthermore, the assets Mannheim stole from the DOD include materials and weapons that are dangerous to Superman. Irons playing hardball with Mannheim is not just in the public's best interest, but Superman's as well and his request is perfectly reasonable.
    • Nat views Irons's security measures to keep her safe as an overreaction but his fears are absolutely justified given Mannheim has already threatened his family before. As if that isn't enough, Mannheim tries to have Natalie abducted in broad daylight to force Irons to let him see Peia. And while keeping Natalie from seeing Matteo may seem harsh, it's not out of the realm of possibility for Mannheim to use his son to get to the Irons family.
    • Superman goes to see Mannheim to persuade him to return the assets, but their conversation is interrupted by a raid on Mannheim's house conducted by Irons. While it is suggested that this raid is payback for the aforementioned kidnapping attempt, Irons's response is hardly comparable to what Mannheim has done to instigate it and a raid on a criminal's house to find stolen assets and data is not wrong.
    • Mannheim sends the superpowered white supremacist Henry Miller to kill Irons. Irons is forced to kill him in self-defense, an action that is rebuked by Clark and Sam. Miller has powers that allow him to contend with Superman and Irons's ability to defend himself was limited by his armor being damaged. It's also not clear if Irons even meant to kill him or if the process Mannheim used to keep Miller alive just wore off, but either way, Irons is completely undeserving of castigation.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Kyle may be a dick, but he's clearly traumatized by and has PTSD from all the fires he had to put out. And in his efforts to overcome his perceived weaknesses, he unknowingly winds up getting slowly body-snatched by a Kryptonian after turning to Morgan Edge for help. And then after being released from the mind control, he finds himself hated by almost everyone in Smallville because of his former enthusiastic support for Edge. It doesn't help that he later reveals that the Kryptonian slowly possessing him stopped him from fighting back by telling him that his family would be better off without him. And then Season 2 gives him an even worse hell when, just when he has his life back in order, his family discovers he had an affair with his local bartender years ago and boot him to the curb. While his daughter does show she still wants to have her father in her life, poor Kyle is struggling to accept his family may be permanently broken, and he has no one to blame but himself.
  • To a lesser extent, Morgan Edge a.k.a. Tal-Rho, the maternal half-brother of Superman. While there is a lot of gaslighting involved, one can't help but feel some pity for the fact that he grew up without being loved or having a family as Clark did; resulting in a pseudo-Killmonger-esque supremacist who believes humanity doesn't deserve anything.
• It Was His Sled:
  • Promotional material doesn't even bother to hide the fact that the Stranger is actually John Henry Irons, not an alternate version of Lex Luthor as initially suggested on the show.
  • In addition, the pilot reveal of Jordan being the twin to inherit his father's abilities is kind of a given in later episodes and promos.
• Like You Would Really Do It: "All is Lost" ends with the possibility of Clark being permanently depowered. There's no way that's going to last, especially in a show where he's one of the main characters.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Bruno Mannheim is the ruthless head of Intergang. A lifelong resident of Hob's Bay, Metropolis, he joined Intergang to escape poverty and rose through the ranks. Taking over Intergang after his lover Peia killed Boss Moxie and framing Lex Luthor for his death, Bruno expanded Intergang into a major countrywide criminal organization which developed weapons that nearly killed Superman on several occasions, all while building Hob's Bay into a successful district and developing a cutting-edge cancer treatment center, earning the love of the residents. Seeking a cure for Peia's cancer, he used stolen samples of Superman's blood to grant powers to gravely ill criminals and had his men steal Bizarro's corpse from the DOD to experiment on, clashing with Superman and John Henry Irons. When his efforts fail to save Peia and he is arrested, he agrees to confess to everything so long as his son is not charged for helping to break Peia out of DOD custody.
  • Peia Mannheim is Bruno Mannheim's wife and Intergang's top enforcer. Previously working directly with Boss Moxie, she betrayed her boss and killed him after falling in love with Bruno, then used her powers to falsify a confession by Lex Luthor to frame him for Moxie's murder and have him arrested, allowing Intergang to take over Metropolis's criminal underworld. She used her sonic powers to kill numerous targets, including Henry Miller and her universe's John Henry Irons, and also tricked Superman's super hearing by simulating the sounds of disasters to distract him and lured him into a trap by replicating Lois's voice for a fake cry for help. Arrested after collapsing due to cancer taking its toll on her body, she confesses to her crimes to Lois, whom she befriended during their cancer treatments, but refused to confess to Moxie's murder as it would exonerate Luthor, whom she considers to be the Devil. When her husband's attempts to cure her backfire and she loses control of her powers, she accepted death at Superman's encouragement, asking him to tell her husband and son that she loves them.
• Memetic Mutation: John Henry's battle armor looking very similar to that of Master Chief, Samus Aran, and Doomguy.
• More Popular Replacement:
  • Morgan Edge aka Tal-Rho is considered to be far more cool and compelling than the one-note Hate Sink Morgan Edge from Supergirl (2015).
  • Likewise, for all his faults, the flawed-but-protective grandpa Sam Lane is generally considered a more fleshed-out character than the arrogant xenophobic Sam Lane who created Red Tornado in Supergirl.
• Narm Charm: Is the suit from the Max Fleischer cartoons in live-action silly? Sure. Is Superman's line about how his suit was made by his mom corny? Yep. But is the scene where these things happen a wonderful distillation of how friendly, humble, and unassuming Superman is at his core? Absolutely.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Many fans believe X-Kryptonite is an invention of the show, but it was created in 1959 Supergirl story "Supergirl's Super Pet".
  • While Jordan is a new Decomposite Character of Jonathan Samuel Kent from the more recent comics, the 1980 Superman storyline "Superman of the Year 2020" featured a son called Jorel Kent (also named after Jor-El) as the Superman in its version of 2020, missing the show's start-date by a year.
• Salvaged Story:
  • The upbeat, always idealistic, and genuinely sweet Superman has earned a lot of praise from reviewers, especially in contrast to the many Darker and Edgier superheroes in both the Arrowverse and DC Extended Universe.
  • After complaints of Kryptonian heat vision being colored blue in Supergirl, it is finally shown as red-colored here.
  • One of the common complaints about this particular Superman is that he's slightly not muscular enough for the role. In the show itself, Tyler Hoechlin puts on a few pounds and the complaints have lessened.
  • After all the Worf Effect Tyler Hoechlin's Superman has been through, seeing him mow through the bank robbers in "Loyal Subjekts" and tear through four Kryptonians in seconds during the finale is a nice reminder of just why he's a Living Legend. His combat prowess also gets more opportunities to shine in Seasons Two and Three, which makes his enemies feel that much more menacing in turn when they do defeat him.
  • Unlike the Arrowverse shows, where the characters have to wait sometimes half a season or more to discover the villain's true identity, in each season the Big Bad has been pretty obvious from the beginning (indeed, the Big Bads of Season 3 and 4 were each first mentioned at the end of the previous season).
  • Seeing characters open up about their secrets, work through their issues, and (usually) forgive others for their secrets is similarly a nice change from the Arrowverse shows, where characters would often hold onto their problems for ages in order to manufacture Wangst. Additionally, the first two series were mostly lacking in the kind of angsty relationship drama that plagued other Arrowverse shows (when characters had relationship difficulties in this show, usually it was for understandable reasons, and most of the time the difficulties were more or less resolved amicably in the first two seasons).
• The Scrappy: A lot of fans loathe Candice for being a bad influence on Jonathan and letting him take the blame for her selling X-Kryptonite in Season 2 and continuing to go unpunished for it in Season 3, wishing Jon would come to his senses. It's hard to find anyone who actually likes her or wants them to stay together.
• Signature Scene:
  • The flashback of Superman saving some people in his Fleischer outfit, which he happily admits was made by his mom, became an encapsulation of what the character's fans have been wanting out of adaptations for the past decade or so.
  • Clark confronting Candice's father in the diner, going full Papa Wolf, in Season 3 quickly went viral on social media and caused a lot of people who had dismissed the show to check it out.
• Special Effect Failure: It's more than a little obvious that Tyler Hoechlin is wearing a muscle suit to bulk up his version of Superman. It not only looks strange, but there are points where you can see the pads shifting out of place when Hoechlin moves. It's especially evident when you compare it to the suit worn in Supergirl (2015), which shows off Hoechlin's lankier frame.
• Spiritual Successor: The series can be seen as this to Smallville (Clark returning to his hometown after establishing himself as Superman), Lois & Clark (who are now Happily Married with children this time), and the Zack Snyder-directed DC films (with its dramatic moments and occasionally dipping its toes into deconstructing certain aspects of the main character).
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Bizarro certainly makes his presence felt upon his debut, making a huge impact as a powerful, monstrous threat as The Spook whom nobody knows anything about and is even given some characteristics of Doomsday (especially the body suit) to further the suspense. Just a handful of appearances later, it turns out he doesn't amount to much more than a Disc-One Final Boss at best and gets killed off as a Sacrificial Lamb so Superman can save his brother. He's given a more extensive backstory later on in one episode to flesh him out but compared to how much development and focus the writers have given a more minor Superman villain like Morgan Edge/Tal Rho and Parasite (Ally), it really feels like they drew the short straw for Bizarro and decided to give him the short end of the stick.
    • This is especially prevalent given that his female counterpart showed up in Supergirl... for all of one episode, before being completely forgotten as well.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: In "Waiting for Superman", the Lois from Bizarro's universe is accidentally teleported to the main universe, right in front of the Kents. Instead of getting some interactions with alternate versions of her own family, she only gets a few seconds of screentime before she disappears and is never seen again.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Thaddeus Killgrave is a rather obscure minor player in Superman's gallery of enemies, hasn't made any major appearances in the comics since the 90s, and has never appeared in any adaptation before. This makes his inclusion in Season 1 rather surprising.
  • After setting up The Stranger as an alternate universe version of Lex Luthor, no one was expecting his true identity to be John Henry Irons.
  • Season 2 opens up with a whammy of a character few would have ever thought would come to the series: BIZARRO!
  • Season 3 kicks off by including a character who usually contends with Green Arrow, not Superman, Onomatopoeia!
  • The third season episode "Head On" introduces Deadline, who's always been a more obscure villain. Usually when people think of DC villains they want to appear on a show, Deadline typically never comes to mind. And even having Deadline be associated with the immensely popular Anti-Hero Deathstroke in the modern Rebirth era hasn't really raised Deadline's popularity levels much. Because of that, seeing Deadline appear can come as a major surprise, particularly because the character has never really made major waves, even as a Deathstroke-affiliated character.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic:
  • John Henry in "The Dress," refusing to let Bruno see his dying wife until he hands over what he stole from the DOD. Natalie and Clark call him out on it, with the former equating it to them losing their Lois. However, Bruno has the choice to see his wife again, and all he has to do is give back what he had stolen. This makes John Henry look like he's in the right to some viewers, as unlike him, the other man does have a chance to be with his dying wife.
  • Jordan in "Injustice" is called out by Sarah, Lois, and Clark for saying that whoever saved Sarah and Junior was a badass. She reads it as him bragging about himself and being careless about his secret, and Lana brings this to the Kents. Since Lois and Clark weren't there at the time, they're hearing it thirdhand and, to some viewers as well as Jordan himself, making it sound like he's being punished just for saying that whoever it was is a cool person. If they had framed prohibiting him from using his powers in public for the time being as a safety measure to avoid detection rather than a punishment, it would have come off much better. That being said, his actions later in the episode letting people take selfies with him, albeit in costume are definitely not all that sympathetic.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Sarah in Season 3 essentially dumps Jordan, who she knows is head over heels in love with her, for practically no reason and with no warning, then expects him to be totally fine with just being friends. While the last time was fairly understandable, given that she was dealing with the revelation of her father having lied to her and was in no mood to accept the same from her boyfriend, here it's presented as out of the blue. She then almost seems to blame him for still being in love with her, especially when she sends somewhat mixed signals by making it clear that she does want to spend time with him and even protect him as a platonic friend. Given all of this, the way she treats him in Season 3 can make her come off as being very poorly written at best, and a complete jerk at worst.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Viewers have gone as far as to call the show's effects on par with movies, especially following the questionable CGI of the Arrowverse. Some have even favorably compared it to Man of Steel.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: Given the series' main story takes place in a small town in Flyover Country that's on the verge of social and economic collapse, with several characters frequently remarking how bad things have gotten in the last couple of decades due to farming crises, people moving out in droves to the cities, and rising drug use, and one of the main antagonists being a Trumplica, is it any wonder this series can be read as a commentary of some kind?

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