Why Hasn’t Superman Mentioned Supergirl in “Superman & Lois”?

A theory on why Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman from “Superman & Lois” isn’t the same one from “Supergirl”.

By Michael Moreno

Supergirl and Superman

Tyler Hoechlin, who is currently playing Superman in The CW series “Superman & Lois,” officially made his debut as the Man of Steel in the fall of 2016 for the Season 2 premiere of “Supergirl”. He has also made various appearances on her show, as well as appearing in a couple of The CW’s annual crossovers, most notably, the 2019-2020 crossover event known as “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. Since the ending of the last crossover event, fans have wondered when Superman will again team up with his cousin Supergirl (played by Melissa Benoist). In this article, I will give a possible theory and evidence as to why Tyler’s current version of Superman is not the same one that was shown teaming up with Supergirl prior to his own series. And this theory just might hold some water.

Evil Superman

In the last major crossover event, Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman, as well as various other superheroes, fought in a war for the Multiverse known as “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. This crossover event was inspired by a DC Comics 1985 comic event written by Marv Wolfman by the same title. The CW “Crisis” crossover also had a tie-in to the comic series titled “Crisis on Infinite Earths – Paragons Rising: The Deluxe Edition,” which was written by Marv Wolfman and Marc Guggenheim.

Paragons Rising

In that comic, on Earth-F, Superman tries to defend Lois and his world from being erased by the “Anti-Matter Wall” and fails. This gives proof that this version of Superman and Lois did in fact experience the events of “Crisis on Infinite Earths”. What’s worth noting is the fact that this version of Superman is wearing the Max Fleischer Superman suit, the same suit that Tyler Hoechlin wore in the pilot episode of “Superman & Lois” and in the eleventh episode of the first season of the series titled “A Brief Reminiscence In-Between Cataclysmic Events”. Although, while in the comic book Lois Lane had been wearing 1940s attire, in the current TV series she wears modern attire. This slight change however could easily be explained as arising from the restored multiverse, possibly combining one universe with another and their histories. The fact that the “Crisis” crossover tie-in had Earth-F’s Superman wearing the Max Fleischer super suit, and that Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman wore the same suit in his first season for the TV series is pretty strong evidence that Tyler’s current Superman might not be the same one from “Supergirl” series or the crossovers. And since Earth-F’s Superman was erased at the same time that Tyler’s Superman was helping his cousin, it would be impossible for Tyler’s Superman to be in two places at once, unless he was an alternate version.

Earth-F

What if the Superman who was seen in the “Supergirl” TV series and crossovers turned out to be Bizarro? As seen in the trailer for the “Bizarros in a Bizarro World” episode of “Superman & Lois,” Superman and his family appear to be their world’s most recognized and famous family. What if, after Kara Danvers revealed her secret identity as Supergirl to the world in her series finale, the world found out soon after that Clark Kent is Superman? Maybe it didn’t take long for the world to do some research and see who Kara is related to. Kara may have accidently revealed to the world that her cousin Clark Kent is Superman, and therefore the Kent family became famous for it.

Bizarro World

At the end of “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” Lois did mention “the boys” to Superman indicating that they have two sons. While initially they only had one baby boy (Jonathan) before the end of the crossover, but by the end they had two sons (since the rebirth of the multiverse changed and combined the history of some worlds). And while it is true that by the end of the “Crisis” crossover Lois mentions the “boys,” it is possible for there to be more than one version of the Kent family throughout the multiverse. What if not long after becoming famous, something bad happened to Clark’s family, and, in the course of events, Clark mutated into Bizarro? All of this could explain why we haven’t seen Supergirl on “Superman & Lois”. She wouldn’t be the cousin of this version of Superman. She might actually be the cousin of Bizarro…

Bizarro

The “Crisis” tie-in comic could also provide an explanation behind when Lois briefly mentions the Multiverse in “Man of Steel” (Season 1, Episode 7) and in the following episode when the topic of another universe is again discussed. The same could be said when John Diggle, aka Spartan (played by David Ramsey) shows up to help in “Through the Valley of Death” (Season 1, Episode 12). Such knowledge of the Multiverse would be an explanation as to why John Diggle mentions “doppelgängers, other worlds, glowing boxes” in that same episode. It would indicate that there are more than one version of already established characters within the Arrowverse/CWverse. There could be more than one version of John Diggle throughout the Multiverse as well who has fought by Superman and the Green Arrow’s side. And given the fact that the show has already shown an evil version of Superman from another universe as shown in Season 1, and that Bizarro (who also comes from an alternate reality in the current season) the possibility of this show taking place in a universe separate from the rest of the “Arrowverse” is pretty high.

Diggle

While there is no current reason as to why Superman has yet to even mention his cousin Supergirl, this theory about the “Crisis” event gives a plausible answer to that question – that maybe this version of Superman doesn’t have a cousin named Supergirl. And that Superman from the “Superman & Lois” series is not the same one who made his first official appearance on “Supergirl”.

What do you think?

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Loganswalk
Loganswalk
April 22, 2022 7:27 pm

Interesting article. I almost hope he isnt the Superman from Supergirl, because if it is the fact that there has been no mention of her is insulting. Being from a different Earth would be the best way to handle it if they dont want the baggage from the Supergirl series. I hope the Supergirl Kal-El isnt Bizarro though …. he deserves better than that.

afriend
afriend
April 22, 2022 11:59 pm

I really enjoy Superman & Lois, but I already look on it as one of the better “Elseworlds” stories given how many little changes they’ve made to the core mythos for… Good reasons, I’m sure.
So Earth-F, Earth-987, Earth-(I don’t seem to have an infinity symbol on my phone)… I just hope the cast keep up the good work.

Steve Eden
Steve Eden
April 23, 2022 10:17 pm

Well thought out, Steve. I can’t quite “get” the Bizarro thing, seems a bit TOO far out there, but of course Being “TOO far out is what comics (and their off-shoots) do so well.

Superman2878
April 24, 2022 12:01 pm

I remember in the fight between Superman and Deegan who had tured himself into an evil version of Superman in the Elseworlds crossover, an extra called Superman Bizarro. So maybe they were hinting at something?

dragon22a
dragon22a
April 24, 2022 4:38 pm

There certainly seem to be a lot of things that lead one to believe that “Superman and Lois” takes place on another Earth in the Multiverse. They never mention Kara. Not seeing her might be explained based on not wanting to possibly expose Clark’s identity or her being off world like they did in the Flash once but never mentioning her is strange. The Fortress of Solitude is completely different from the one on “Supergirl” From the flashbacks Superman is shown wearing his current suit going at least as far back as when he proposed to Lois and never seems… Read more »

Kenny Kraly Jr.
Kenny Kraly Jr.
April 25, 2022 11:22 pm

Great points made in the article Superman & Lois is better off not menting Supergirl , The Flash and the other DCTV Arrowverse heroes. But things could change.

Superman2878
April 26, 2022 11:31 am

Yeah, that’s a very good point that you make about keeping the other CW shows out of Superman and Lois. The quality and story telling for the other shows just aren’t up to par with Superman and Lois. I just think that if they were to bring in the other shows to crossover with Superman and Lois, then they could start dragging the show down. So I agree with you that they should just keep the other CW superhero shows away from Superman and Lois.

Last edited 1 year ago by Superman2878