As DC film fans anticipate seeing Henry Cavill back in blue and red (and then also in black) for HBO Max's release of Zack Snyder's Justice League, TV viewers are eagerly anticipating Tyler Hoechlin's Man of Steel half-anchoring the standalone series Superman & Lois. Fans have lots of questions about what to expect from the first proper Superman TV show since Lois & Clark in the '90s – Smallville doesn't quiiite count – and the showrunner and stars took to DC FanDome to give some answers.
For Part 2 of the day-long DC FanDome event, Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch joined Superman & Lois showrunner Todd Helbing for a show panel moderated by comic great Jim Lee. During the fan-submitted Q&A part of the panel, someone asked if the titular hero would be getting a different super-suit for the new show, and here's how Helbing put it:
So okay, I’ll take the heat for this one. It’s like, originally, [Tyler Hoechlin] came on for the crossovers, and that suit just wasn’t built to sustain a series. And I think, just with everything we were talking about earlier, it gave us this fresh slate. ‘Yeah, let’s make a new suit.’ So there’s gonna be a really badass Superman suit in this show that I’m pretty excited about.
As it happens, Tyler Hoechlin is indeed going to rock out with a new Superman costume, largely because the original suit he'd been wearing wasn't crafted for longterm use. It was only meant to withstand a couple of scenes in a couple of episodes a season, so the actor (and stuntmen, presumably) is going to need something more durable to mark his return to Smallville, and to the Arrowverse at large. He can't face off against new villains in old duds that might rip in the middle of a brawl!
Even after the long line of live-action Superman suits that have come before, it's still incredibly easy to get excited about seeing a new one come into existence. Unfortunately, Todd Helbing didn't have any specifics to share about what we can expect to see from Superman's next suit, but if he's calling it "really badass," I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't expect too many changes, but it'll be interesting to hear which comic era they looked to for inspiration.
When he mentioned "everything we were talking about earlier," Todd Helbing was referring to a previous part of the discussion tied to giving Clark and Lois fraternal twin teenage sons in the post-Crisis world. In explaining that decision, he talked about how the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover allowed the creative team to basically start fresh in terms of setting up a unique family life for Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch's characters. And as it goes for everyone, any time a multiverse event gives you twin teenagers, you just know a new super suit is on the way. Okay, maybe that isn't for everyone.
Though it's not yet known when Superman & Lois will be making its high-flying debut on The CW, we're hoping that production will be going smoothly enough to allow it to air as early in 2021 as possible. While waiting to hear more, check out our Fall TV 2020 premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows are on the way soon.
