Warning: SPOILERS for the Superman & Lois episode “Break the Cycle” are ahead!
Michael Cudlitz’s Lex Luthor has been keeping his time occupied on Superman & Lois with two goals. First, exacting revenge on the Kent family, which included having Doomsday kill Superman in the Season 4 premiere. The second has been trying to track down the location of his daughter, Elizabeth, which is a secret that Sam Lane died to protect.
Well, Superman & Lois’ final season has hit the halfway point on the 2024 TV schedule tonight, and it saw Luthor finally reuniting with Elizabeth, played as an adult by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. alum Elizabeth Henstridge, who’s also directed a few episodes of the DC TV show. While it was welcome to see the curtain pulled back on their relationship, it was the Doomsday twist thrown in at the end of “Break the Cycle” that really changed the game.
How Lex Luthor’s Reunion With Elizabeth Went Down
In Superman & Lois Season 3, it was revealed that Bruno and Peia Mannheim framed Lex Luthor for the murder of Boss Moxie. So although Luthor had committed all sorts of other crimes, being proven innocent of that particular transgression allowed him to finally be freed from prison after 17 years. Unfortunately, during his time incarcerated, Elizabeth stopped talking to him, though he was still able to keep tabs on her through his private investigators, like learning she’d graduated from the top of her class in medical school. Eventually though, she went into hiding, enraging Luthor since he’s the only person in his life that he still loves.
While going through her father’s old DOD files, Lois Lane found a witness protection document revealing that Elizabeth Luthor was living in some village in Italy. Desperate to get Lex Luthor to stop targeting her family, Lois persuaded a reluctant Elizabeth, who’s nearly six months pregnant, to meet with her father at Victoria May’s Diner in Smallville. After a while, Elizabeth left because she was frustrated by her father’s inability to take responsibility for his actions, but Clark Kent convinced her to return to the diner and continue the dialogue.
As Lex and Elizabeth caught up, viewers were shown flashbacks taking place 17 years earlier, the time when Elizabeth’s mother was divorcing Lex and trying to take Elizabeth, then 14 years old, far away from him. Lex successfully convinced Elizabeth to stay in the United States with him, as he told her she was the best part of his life. However, one morning, after he dropped off Elizabeth at school, Lex was apprehended by Superman for Boss Moxie’s death, and that was the last time Lex saw his daughter until the present day storyline of “Break the Cycle.”
Alas, despite it briefly looking like Lex and Elizabeth would finally mend fences, when the latter learned the former intended to still carry out his mission of revenge against Lois Lane for taking 17 years of his life away, she tried to convince him to drop it for her sake. When he refused, and not wanting to expose her forthcoming son to that kind of hatred, Elizabeth demanded that Lex stay out of her life forever and left. Knowing how Lex’s mind works, he’s going to blame Lois for that happening too and double his efforts to make her and her family’s life hell. Although, that’s going to be a little harder for him to do now thanks to this episode’s other big development.
Why Doomsday Is No Longer A Threat… For Now
As Elizabeth’s reunion with Lex Luthor was happening, Lois Lane remembered that her father’s box of documents also had an ELT, i.e. the device one uses to alert Superman if they're in trouble. Remembering how Doomsday responded to the device’s signal, and how this indestructible creature was once the Inverse Superman, she came up with a frankly bonkers idea: try to reason with Doomsday since deep down, there was still some of this alternate universe version of her husband. This came after Clark traveled to the Fortress of Solitude and relived the fight with Doomsday in his head to pinpoint its weakness, only to discover it had none. As if he didn’t already have enough to deal with on top of his powers being diminished and the world knowing that Superman is alive again.
Lois carried out her plan at an empty underpass, though she was surprised when Jonathan flew to her after hearing his grandfather’s ELT being triggered. Doomsday arrived soon after, and while it initially looked like he was going to tear through them both, Lois reminded the behemoth of memories from his prior life and convinced him not to destroy her family. Evidently what she said made an impression, as Doomsday left without laying a finger on Lois and Jonathan. Needless to say that Lex Luthor was pissed off when he saw from the security footage shown to him by Amanda McCoy that Doomsday had his subway lair and never returned.
Like with Elizabeth, this isn’t necessarily the last we’ve seen of Doomsday on Superman & Lois. Frankly, having Doomsday running around in who knows where is a pretty big bullet to be left in this show’s chamber, so to speak. However, assuming that Lois Lane’s heartfelt plea worked, then it doesn’t sound like we need to worry about Doomsday and Superman fighting again… or at least, not a Doomsday in his right mind. If Lex is able to track down the creature, I wouldn’t put it past him to come up with some way to mind control him so that it will be his weapon again.
There are now just five episodes of Superman & Lois left in the coming weeks, so keep tuning in to The CW Mondays at 8 pm ET to see how this small screen DC saga will conclude, and check in with CinemaBlend for our continuing coverage on these events. Also remember that the first three seasons can also be streamed with a Max subscription.
