Warning: SPOILERS for the first five episodes of Superman & Lois Season 4 are ahead!
Following the premiere of “Break the Cycle” earlier this week on the 2024 TV schedule, which pulled back the curtain on Lex Luthor’s relationship with his daughter and ended with one hell of a Doomsday twist, Superman & Lois Season 4 is now at its halfway point. There are just five episodes left to go until not only is the season over, but the DC TV show will conclude its four-season run. So as we go through these final weeks, there’s one big Luthor moment I hope is included before the series finishes: having him actually fight Superman.
So far Michael Cudlitz’s version of the character has demonstrated himself to be a brilliant man and masterful schemer, with notable examples of these qualities including how he used Bruno Mannheim’s serum to transform the Inverse Superman into Doomsday, as well as deducing that Jordan was Superboy and using that information to screw with his head. Until the events of “Break the Cycle,” Luthor didn’t need to worry getting his hands dirty either. Doomsday served as his main muscle, with the beast not only responsible for temporarily killing Superman, but also permanently killing Sam Lane.
But now Lex Luthor doesn’t have Doomsday at his disposal anymore. At the end of “Break the Cycle,” we learned that Lois Lane was able to remind the monstrosity of his past life as the Superman from the Inverse World and convinced him not to keep targeting her family. Luthor was understandably enraged to see his minion was gone, and while I won’t rule out that possibility that he’ll track down Doomsday and find a way to mind control it to do his bidding again, for now, that thing’s living its own life. Sure, Luthor also has plenty of average goons he can arm with advanced technology, but I don’t want Superman & Lois to end without him being forced to finally take on Superman directly.
Now, there are a few ways this could be pulled off. One is that Lex Luthor could simply utilize the aforementioned technology along with some Kryptonite weapons, but that’s kind of boring. I’d much rather see Luthor don the same kind of armor he has in the comics, which boosts his strength and durability and lets him fly and shoot energy blasts, among other capabilities. Jon Cryer’s Luthor got his own battlesuit for Supergirl, so why can’t Cudlitz’s incarnation follow… well, suit (I regret nothing).
As much as I’d like to see this, we also can’t forget that Superman & Lois was made on a much smaller budget compared to the previous seasons. Between the usual visual effects needed for this series and how it can’t be cheap to show Doomsday, there may not have been enough money to depict Luthor’s armor. Which brings me to a third option: having Superman and Luthor duke it out in a good ol’ fashioned brawl, with neither man using any powers.
Since being brought back to life with Sam Lane’s heart, Clark Kent’s powers have started diminishing. He can’t hear as well, it’s more difficult for him to fly long distances, and he’s even getting buzzed from alcohol now. It’s entirely possible that by Superman & Lois’ final episode, all his powers will be gone. If that happens, then it’s easy enough to envision a scenario where he and Luthor are in the same room and the former will need to beat the latter using human-level strength. I’m still holding out hope for the battlesuit approach, but I think the writers could still make this brawl dramatically compelling.
We’ll find out if my wish comes true as Superman & Lois airs its final episodes Mondays at 8 pm ET on The CW. Feel free to also stream the previous three seasons with a Max subscription or take a look at the upcoming DC TV shows.