While there was a lot to unpack in Tuesday night’s Superman & Lois premiere thanks to loads of Easter Eggs, references, and the fleshing out of Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) and Superman/Clark’s (Tyler Hoechlin) story, the moment of the episode for many fans came at the very end. A mysterious adversary — the Stranger (Wole Parks) — did battle with Superman and revealed he not only knows an awful lot about the Kryptonian but isn’t much of a fan and then, retreated back to his own base of operations where his name was revealed: Captain Luthor. The reveal set off all sorts of speculation as to who this Captain Luthor is and while Superman & Lois showrunner Todd Helbing isn’t revealing specifics just yet, he did tell Entertainment Weekly that viewers will find out more about this mysterious Luthor and just why he doesn’t like Superman.
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“What Jon Cryer does on Supergirl is awesome and I think the way they presented this version of Lex Luthor is fantastic, and we wanted to present a villain or an adversary to Superman at the beginning that just felt different and threatening, but could also lead us in ways that you can’t necessarily go with like a Jon Cryer version of it,” Helbing said. “So, all I’ll really say is you’re really going to get this guy’s backstory, where he’s from, what he’s like, where he comes from, his professional life, his personal life. You’re gonna get to know why he’s going after Superman. Once you understand his motivation, it’s like what Wole said at TCAs: it’s like every villain is the hero of their own story. It’s true. once you start to understand who this guy is and what his motivations are, I think people are going to look at him differently.”
A few details of that origin have already been shared even in just the pilot episode, with Captain Luthor telling Superman specifically that they have history and that his own world was destroyed and he survived, making it to this world. Given that The Arrowverse did just experience Crisis on Infinite Earths in which the Multiverse was destroyed and reborn — though those on Earth-Prime are unaware the other Earths were also restored — it seems like this Luthor’s story may have some connections to that event. Helbing confirmed as much to Entertainment Weekly with a simple “yes” but no elaboration.
While there is no direct “Captain Luthor” reference in comics, if the character is from another and presumed destroyed Earth, it’s possible that the character could be a take on Alexander Luthor, Sr. from Earth-3. That character, who was created by Geoff Johns and David Finch and first appeared in Justice League Vol. 2 #23 in 2013, has something of an armored-looking appearance similar to what viewers saw with the Stranger, though with DC being a multiverse there’s no shortage of Earths and stories they could draw on.
Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.
Who do you think Captain Luthor is? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
