Warning: SPOILERS for the Superman & Lois episode “To Live and Die Again” are ahead!
The last DC TV show on The CW is about to come to an end. Following The Flash wrapping up the main Arrowverse continuity in 2023, Superman & Lois’ fourth and final season has been airing on the 2024 TV schedule, with Michael Cudlitz’s Lex Luthor serving as main antagonist following his two guest appearances at the end of Season 3.
Luthor’s done a lot of dirty deeds this season, from having Doomsday kill Superman (albeit temporarily) and then ordering the creature to murder Sam Lane, to alienating his own daughter and tarnishing Lois Lane’s reputation in an interview with Gordon Godfrey. But the show’s penultimate episode, “To Live and Die Again”, ended on an especially devastating note because of Luthor, and as a result, I’m pleased to say that this is now my favorite live-action version of the character.
Lex Luthor Unleashed A Nearly Invincible Doomsday Onto Smallville
“To Live and Die Again” started with Lex Luthor hitting the Kent family with more problems, namely a defamation lawsuit and the bill for the custom windows from his penthouse that were shattered when Superman flew them to intercept John Henry Irons’ suit last week. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Amanda McCoy not so subtly tipped Lois Lane off that Cheryl Kimble, the woman who seduced her dad and arranged his kidnapping, was dead, meaning there were no other witnesses who could testify against Luthor.
While Clark was training Jonathan and Jordan to hone their powers now that it’s been confirmed that the Man of Steel’s are slowly diminishing, Lois visited Bruno Mannheim in prison to get his help, as he and his late wife Peia were the ones who framed Lex Luthor for the murder of Boss Moxie, resulting in him being incarcerated for 17 years. Although they were unsuccessful thinking of another witness since everyone else who could speak out against Luthor was also dead, Lois did learn from Bruno that Cheryl had once been in love with with Michael Cudlitz’s character, but all he did was use her until she was no longer needed, then tossed her aside.
Lois recognized that Luthor and Amanda’s dynamic was quite similar, so she visited her to warn her to get away from Luthor before it was too late. Luthor had already started distancing himself from Amanda after Superman paid him a visit to get in his head by making him think Amanda was the one really calling the shots. In response, Luthor made Amanda the largest LuthorCorp shareholder after him, which he claimed was a reward for all the good work she’d done. However, he barely responded when she kissed him, and after hearing what Lois had to say, the seed of doubt was planted in her head.
Meanwhile, as he was waiting for his equally-cold minion Milton to finish upgrading John Henry Irons’ armor into his own “killer suit”, Lex Luthor deduced that Doomsday, who ran off a few weeks back, had returned to the Smallville mines, desperate to reach the portal to the Inverse World. That led to him forming his most unhinged plan yet: because the citizens of Smallville sided with Superman and Lois rather than him, he was going to use Doomsday to destroy the town.
Amanda confronted him about this and what Lois had told her, but he angrily dismissed her, flew to the mines in his new suit and killed Doomsday with new Kryptonite weaponry and have him turn into his final form, as seen above. Now the creature has been unleashed on Smallville, and right now, it doesn’t look like Clark, Jonathan and Jordan have any chance of defeating it.
Why Michael Cudlitz’s Lex Luthor Is Now My Favorite Live-Action Version Of The Character
Prior to watching “To Live and Die Again”, I greatly enjoyed Michael Cudlitz’s Lex Luthor, but I wouldn’t have called him my favorite live-action Luthor. That edge still went to Jon Cryer, who frankly was the only reason I stuck around to watch Supergirl to its completion. But with each Superman & Lois episode, my appreciation for Cudlitz’s Luthor increased, and now after this week’s episode, I can confidently rank him as my #1 live-action Luthor. If we’re talking overall, then Clancy Brown’s version from the DC Animated Universe still holds the top spot, but that’s a topic for another conversation.
This Lex Luthor may not be the mad scientist-type as he’s often been depicted as in the comics, but I’m not bothered by that, especially since he has Milton to handle that kind of work. What’s more important to me is the two key characteristics of his that have blended together so well on Superman: him being a brilliant strategist and his inability to truly care about anyone other than himself.
Regarding that first point, I was reminded of what The Joker told Batman towards the end of The Dark Knight: “You didn’t think I’d risk losing the battle for Gotham’s soul in a fistfight with you? No, you need an ace in the hole.” Now granted, the circumstances in Superman & Lois are different, and as seen in the trailer for the series finale below, Luthor will be fighting both Superman and his teen sons in his spruced-up armor.
As much as I’m looking forward to seeing these action-packed sequences, I’m glad that Lex Luthor simply battling the three heroes wasn’t his endgame. He could have easily just assaulted them on his own and tried to kill them with Kryptonite, but upon learning where Doomsday was, he decided to kill two birds with one stone by having the creature destroy Smallville and eliminate his enemies at the same time. That’s the kind of planning that’s integral to Luthor’s characterization in most depictions and has been done to great effect on Superman & Lois.
As for the second point, there’s no question Michael Cudlitz’s Lex Luthor is a full-blown narcissist. Anything he does is ultimately in service to his desires and goals. He may have wanted to find his daughter and be back in her life, but the minute Elizabeth asked him to drop his mission of vengeance against Lois Lane, he refused. That was more important to him than a renewed relationship with her and getting to meet his future grandchild.
While it may it may have seemed to some like Amanda McCoy was able to pierce that icy exterior of his, he dismissed her just like he did Cheryl Kimble years earlier. He acted as those he and Amanda were in a proper partnership, but everything he did was for his own plan, not the one she wanted to enact together, and he even literally shouted that he could do whatever he wants. Some villains can be redeemed, but barring some major twist in the series finale, that’s not in the cards for this version of Luthor, and I’m perfectly fine with that.
The final episode of Superman & Lois premieres next Monday at 8 pm ET on The CW. After that, Season 4 will become available to stream with a Max subscription alongside the rest of the series at a yet-to-be-announced date.
