The Future of the Arrowverse Lies Within 'Superman & Lois' — or Does It?

May 30 2023, Published 4:fifty four p.m. ET

After dominating the small display for over a decade, the Arrowverse has come to an end — or has it? Following the sequence finale of The Flash in May 2023, there's just one superhero drama final on The CW: Superman & Lois.

Wait, are we sure it's part of the bigger picture? The Tyler Hoechlin-led collection seemed to be its personal entity — however did we miss one thing important? Is Superman & Lois in fact in the Arrowverse? Read on to find out!

So, is 'Superman & Lois' in the Arrowverse?

If you recall, the Season 2 finale formally defined where Superman & Lois suits in the Arrowverse — it isn't in it! The episode, titled "Waiting for Superman," published that Superman is Earth's greatest and best hero.

"I've been working for the DOD for a long time," Sam (Dylan Walsh) instructed Jonathan and Jordan. "I've seen things you would not believe — glimpses of other worlds and the leagues of superheroes they have on them. And even though we only have your father on this planet, thank God that we do because he's the finest of any Earth."

Following the finale, showrunner Todd Helbing spoke with Entertainment Weekly and explained additional. He said he didn't know if he would "specifically define it as not in the Arrowverse," adding, "Maybe it's not that binary. It's more that the events in our show are not taking place on the same Earth as the current Arrowverse."

'Superman & Lois' used to be initially meant to be in the Arrowverse.

Todd additionally noted that the original intent was once for Superman & Lois to be part of the Arrowverse: "In the original [pilot], there were a lot of references to Crisis, and there was a Flash mention," he advised the outlet.

"But you know, then the pandemic hit, and things changed, and we couldn't do a crossover with Batwoman, and all of these references to Crisis through the pilot rewriting phase got stripped out just to make everything a little bit more clear for a broader audience," Todd mentioned.

He persevered, "Then at some point in Season 1, I had a conversation with DC, and we clearly wanted to put our own stamp on the show and our take on the Superman mythology. The original intent was to be part of the Arrowverse, but the further along we got and now, unfortunately, with the other shows being off the air, it just felt like the best decision was to have our Superman & Lois not be on the same Earth as the Arrowverse."

Regarding the determination to keep Superman & Lois out of the Arrowverse, Todd felt conflicted — and we don't blame him! Although it makes the show easier, he mentioned the disconnect is pretty unhappy.

"In some ways, it's easier to not be associated with the other shows in such an intimate way, because you don't have to track everything," he explained. "You can kind of just concentrate on your characters and put 100 percent of your focus into the show that you're trying to make."

However, as in the past said, Todd additionally found it sad "because clearly doing all the crossovers are a huge reward for fans and everybody that's tuned in for years. And that stuff is tremendously fun to work on and satisfying. But there's not seven, eight shows on the air right now so that in itself is a much bigger challenge to do stuff like that."

"I don't know, it's conflicting, for sure," he added.

New episodes of Superman & Lois air Tuesdays at Eight p.m. EST on The CW.

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