Warning: There are spoilers ahead for last night’s Superman & Lois season 2 finale! Arrowverse status
Since the beginning of its run, Superman & Lois has been an outlier in the Arrowverse with minimal connections to the rest of The CW’s superhero shows. And during last night’s season 2 finale, General Sam Lane’s speech revealed that Superman & Lois is not the same world as the one that survived Crisis on Infinite Earths. Essentially, Lane told his grandsons that Superman was the only hero on their Earth. Now, showrunner Todd Helbing has explained to TVLine why Superman & Lois isn’t a direct part of the Arrowverse.
“DC and I had a conversation during season 1, and the decision [to keep Superman & Lois separate] was made then, but I couldn’t make it public until the end of this season,” said Helbing. “So when I got all these questions [in previous interviews], I knew what we were doing, but I could never talk about it. It got a little frustrating on my end, but I totally understand DC’s position. So this put that to rest. I’ve said from the beginning that we want to put our own stamp on the Superman property. This wasn’t meant to alienate us from the Arrowverse, but because a lot of the other shows are sadly no longer going to be on the air, it felt like the right thing to do.”
Helbing added that fans should “think about this as a separate Superman, a doppelganger of the one who was in the Arrowverse. I understand why everyone has been wanting the [Arrowverse] references, but it would have felt wrong.”
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Additionally, it’s Helbing’s contention that the John Diggle who appeared in last night’s season 2 finale was not the same character who starred in Arrow for eight seasons. Instead, this Diggle was another doppelganger.
“This is also a new Diggle,” noted Helbing. “David Ramsey had grown a beard and grew his hair out. He called me and said, ‘I’ve been growing my hair, I look different. Do you want me to shave and get a haircut?’ So not to add more confusion to it, but he’s a different Diggle.”
That said, not everything Helbing mentions holds up under close scrutiny. Ramsey guest-starred in the first season of Superman & Lois, and there were no indications that he wasn’t the same John Diggle. Additionally, there was a planned crossover between Superman & Lois and Batwoman that was cancelled due to COVID restrictions. So the show was apparently supposed to be in the Arrowverse before that happened.
But with The Flash potentially entering its final season next year, that would mark the end of the Arrowverse as we knew it. The CW’s Stargirl also takes place on its own world, separate from the other DC shows. And if Superman & Lois continues beyond season 3, it will essentially stand alone in the DC multiverse.
How do you feel about Superman & Lois getting a divorce from the Arrowverse? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: Superman: Lois and Clark
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