Superman & Lois Just Brought a Surprising DC Antihero Into the Arrowverse
The latest issue of DC's Earth-Prime comic miniseries is out today featuring stories set within The CW's Arrowverse continuity. One of the hallmarks of the Arrowverse is the introduction of unexpected characters, even if only briefly and that's a hallmark that carries over to this week's Earth-Prime: Superman & Lois #2. The issue, which features three stories all centered on the lives and various relationships within them for Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane, sees the introduction of a surprising antihero to the Arrowverse — and it's not one that most fans would see coming. Warning: Spoilers for Earth-Prime: Superman & Lois #2 beyond this point.
The first story — the main entry for the issue — sees Lois and Clark explain to their sons why they celebrate their wedding anniversary four days after the actual date of their wedding. Through what is essentially flashback, the reader is walked through each of those days and the various issues that prevent the couple from coming together to make their anniversary dinner reservations. The interruptions are pretty mundane, as mundane goes for this couple. Superman is doing Superman things, Lois is doing Lois things and they both get pretty caught up in their work. But one reservation is missed because none other than Lobo shows up and captures Superman on behalf of another character — implied to be Maxima — who paid him "a fraggin' ton of money" to bring Superman to her. Superman escapes, of course.
This appearance, albeit on the pages of the comics, brings Lobo officially into the Arrowverse but it's not the first time we've actually gotten to see the fan favorite antihero brought into a Superman-adjacent live action universe. The character made his live action debut in Krypton's second season. Played by Emmett J. Scanlan, Lobo confronts Superman's grandfather Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe) while on Brainiac's home world of Colu as Lobo is out to kill Brainiac.
While Lobo hasn't appeared live-action in the Arrowverse, his species has been referenced. Lobo is a Czarnian and that species was mentioned in both Season 3 and Season 5 of Supergirl. In Season 3, specifically in the episode "Crisis on Earth-X, Part 1", Supergirl is asked if the enemy she was fighting was a Czarnian and in Season 5's "Tremors", there's some discussion of the Czarnians' evolutionary process and how it may have been affected by another species. Now that Lobo has been directly shown in the Arrowverse via this comic, it's possible we could see the character pop up on Superman & Lois or, if nothing else, at least be mentioned.
Earth-Prime: Superman & Lois #2 is now available wherever comics are sold.