The Ending Of Superman & Lois Season 2 Explained
Contains spoilers for "Superman & Lois" Season 2 finale, "Waiting for Superman"
"Superman & Lois" Season 2 has a habit of teasing numerous things before becoming something else entirely. The Bizarro World-themed season juggles various main threats before Ally Allston (Rya Kihlstedt) emerges as the show's version of the dangerous Parasite. In the last episode of the season, "Waiting for Superman," the show finally reveals that it has taken place outside the Arrowverse proper all along, and in this world, Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) is the only powered superhero.
The revelation that there's zero non-Kryptonian metahuman backup out there puts all the hurdles Clark, Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) and others face on a whole new level, especially since the power levels of this show's antagonists tend to be well above and beyond the average Arrowverse villain. Still, this is a superhero show, so by the end of the season, evil is once again vanquished ... at least, Ally's particular brand of evil. The season's ending features familiar faces and teases of even bigger threats. Fortunately, Superman also figures out a handy way to get an advantage over whatever dangers the future may bring, and even constructs a brand new oceanic Fortress of Solitude.
Let's take a look at the ending of "Superman & Lois" Season 2, and what it might mean for the show's future.
Superman recharges his batteries
Superman famously gets his powers from the sun. He's also out of commission for a chunk of the season, courtesy of Ally Allston and her energy absorption power. When Ally merges with her Inverse World version, she becomes so powerful that not even Superman can hold a torch to her — without using a bit of a cheat code, that is.
"Waiting for Superman" completes the redemption arc of Superman's surprise half-brother Tal-Rho (Adam Rayner), previously known as Morgan Edge. The prodigal son helps the depowered Superman into the Sun, which should dramatically speed up his power recharge time. As comic book fans know, this is a pretty solid plan. Soon enough, Clark regains his powers and then some, which allows him to essentially charge at Ally with a temporary, game-changing power-up.
Over the years, various versins of Superman have used this particular trick to different — but usually highly impressive — effects. Arguably the most powerful version of the character, Superman Prime from the DC One Million storyline, supercharged himself by living in the Sun for a cool 15,000 years or so. Judging by how strong the power boost the "Superman & Lois" version of the character gets during his short solar excursion, it's difficult to imagine just how strong he might become over an extended stay. Perhaps future seasons will further explore this?
John Diggle has a new look ... and a new universe
Since "Superman & Lois" finally addresses its Arrowverse canonicity in the Season 2 finale, it's easy to expect the show to embrace the fact that it takes place in a different version of Earth than most Arrowverse shows. However, the episode then muddies the waters when "Arrow" mainstay John Diggle (David Ramsey) makes his second cameo in the show, sitting down with the show's parallel-universe John Henry Irons (Wolé Parks) to find out why this Earth's version of Irons died.
Showrunner Todd Helbing told TV Line that this version of the character is very much native to this universe, and not the "Arrow" version fans know and love. ""This is also a new Diggle. David Ramsey had grown a beard and grew his hair out," Helbing said. "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."
The main Arrowverse Diggle is heavily implied to end his "Arrow" run by becoming a Green Lantern, so making this version of the character a brand new one fits the season finale's statement that Superman is the sole powered hero on this planet. While it would be kind of cool to finally see the character wield the power ring after the brief tease in the "Arrow" series finale, "Superman & Lois" Season 2 implies that this Diggle might stick around for the Intergang plotline ... and, much like Irons and Tal-Rho, the ARGUS agent seems to be on much better terms with Superman than he was in his Season 1 appearance. Who knows? Perhaps this Diggle will share his "Arrow" counterpart's propensity for befriending superheroes, and finds himself visiting Superman's cool, new Fortress of Solitude before long.
Old threats are removed, new ones are teased
Ally and the Bizarro World are seemingly a thing of the past. After showering the Kent kids with lavish parting gifts, Tal-Rho also exits the show by relocating to the Bizarro World — quite possibly to become their new Superman. This leaves the show with relatively few true threats for "Superman & Lois" Season 3 ... at least, until Diggle and Irons' conversation namedrops a criminal called Bruno Mannheim.
This seems to effectively confirm that Mannheim and his criminal organization, Intergang, will make an appearance in Season 3. While the group might not rank among Superman's best-known foes, it's worth noting that Mannheim is, for all intents and purposes, a minion of a certain big-time bad guy. Darkseid is a major player in "The Justice League" Snyder Cut and one of DC's most powerful and terrifying villains. It may very well be that the ruler of Apokolips himself — or at least one of his better-known minions — is looming large behind Mannheim.
One thing is extremely clear: There's someone very, very big and bad on the horizon. During a red carpet event, Elizabeth Tulloch clued fans in on a new Season 3 villain. "I do know that we're getting a very cool villain," the star said, and while she didn't go into specifics, it wouldn't be all that shocking to expect one of the bigger names from Superman's lengthy list of enemies. After all, some fans didn't care for Ally Allston's villain arc, so it's only understandable that the show may want to up its villain game for Season 3.