At the end of last night’s “Superman and Lois” we saw a couple of larger season arc-ing plot-driving moments in the midst of a very good character-driven family bound story. Lois, investigating a story about a missing worker employed by Morgan Edge, was attacked by an unknown man. Superman intervened but was given a good beat down by the man – who appeared to have Kryptonian or super strength – before Superman was able to subdue him using super breath and ultimately beating him. But who was this man? How was he able to match a Kryptonian’s powers? Was he working for Morgan Edge? Does he or Morgan know Lois’ relation to Superman – or Clark? I have two major theories I went to set up for the rest of the season on “Superman and Lois”. They may seem contradictory at first – but I actually think they can both be true. Here are five questions the series poses with this episode and my answers.
1.) Who was Lois’ attacker and does Morgan Edge have Kryptonians working for him?
The actual identity per se of Lois’ attacker in the hotel is unknown. We know that Lois and her editor are looking for him and have his photo on a bulletin board at the end of the episode. Also unknown is what the attacker’s relationship to Morgan Edge is. He does know of Morgan, as he knew his assistant Leslie Larr was at the end of the episode – as he was on the phone with her, right before she killed him with HEAT VISION (more on that in a sec). So some involvement in the Edge empire is assumed – how much and to what ends is uncertain.
And when Superman first arrives at the hotel, the attacker is able to match Superman blow for blow even getting the better of him before Superman is able to recover using his super breath to subdue and eventually defeat him. So an even bigger question is how in the heck did the attacker have what appeared to be Kryptonian strength?
Theory One: Morgan Edge is placing Kryptonian powers into human hosts. This theory would then mean that Lois’ attacker was not a Kryptonian but rather Lois’ attacker was a human of our earth, enhanced with Kryptonian powers to metahuman status. On my own I would then further theorize that the mine where Sharon Powell’s missing son Derek was working was actually a lab where Morgan Edge experiments on humans, trying to bestow them with Kryptonian powers. This sounds a little crazy when I first pose the question but hear me out.
It is unknown at this point in this continuity how much knowledge Edge has with Kryptonians. While Edge has dealt extensively with Kara Zor-El on “Supergirl”, it is likely a different Edge from a different earth. This is probably not the same earth as “Supergirl” continuity – that is also unknown as post-crisis things seem to have changed quite a bit for the Superman previously played by Tyler Hoechlin on “Supergirl” – most significantly he now has twins instead of only one son, leading this author to believe that this “Superman” is at least different – even if there is a “Supergirl” in this continuity, so all previous dealings with the Morgan Edge we’ve seen on “Supergirl” should be discounted. And after checking, Edge’s company’s name has changed to Edge EnerCorp from Edge Global (back on “Supergirl”). Now assuming that this is a different Edge, one can assume that he did not receive the same fate as the other Edge over on “Supergirl” (incarceration) or maybe he did and maybe he has a new company but I doubt that since everyone on this earth seems to trust him.
So could this Edge be aware of Kryptonians or Kryptonian powers on some level? It’s an almost 100% certainty. Is he working with Kryptonians or manufacturing Kryptonian powers and vesting them? I think the latter is more likely. It didn’t seem like the unknown man attacking Lois had heat vision or super breath or speed – just strength, hence Superman eventually besting him. So it’s my theory that Edge is using people in these small towns as guinea pigs, testing powers on them and seeing if he can infuse Kryptonian powers by altering their DNA – sort of like Stryker with the Weapon X program over in the other comics universe.
How is Morgan Edge doing this? Maybe he’s mapped Kryptonian DNA from some sample off of Superman and is using CRISPR tech to modify the human DNA. Or maybe he has a captured Kryptonian that he is using to “power” all of these test subjects. Maybe both. But who could that Kryptonian be? Enter “Larr”.
2.) Who is Morgan’s assistant – Leslie Larr?
On a superficial level – we know that Lois’ unknown assailant met his end in the episode’s final scene, struck down by the woman he called Larr. From previous episodes we can deduce that this woman is Leslie Larr, Morgan Edge’s assistant. Nice to see her back after she had a noticeable one-off line to Lois Lane after Lois decided to quit in the last episode. She said “He’s going to crush you.” At the time we did not know that she meant this literally.
Morgan Edge’s assistant Leslie Larr also clearly has the kryptonian power of heat vision. But I think Larr might actually be Kryptonian (as opposed to the unknown man/assailant that she killed). The reason really is nothing more than the name which sounds suspiciously like “Lesla-Lar”
In comics continuity, Lesla-Lar is a Kryptonian scientist displaced onto this earth with other Kryptonians in the “New Krypton” event (more on that in a bit) of “Superman” and “Supergirl” comics. She quickly became jealous of Kara Zor-El and begins to plot her demise, teaming with Lex Luthor. So is Leslie Larr in this earth of “Superman and Lois” the kryptonian Lesla-Lar? I think there’s a good chance. Lesla had all of Superman and Supergirl’s powers in the comics and I think the fact that we just saw her use heat vision indicates that she probably has multiple powers.
She may be working with Edge in the same way that Lesla was working with Lex Luthor during the “New Krypton” event, using him to help her gain the weapons necessary to destroy Kara, in this case Clark/Superman, and then taking Edge out when he was no longer necessary.
3.) Is Sam Lane working with Morgan Edge?
I don’t know if he is at the current time but I think he might be. Remember at the end of last week’s episode we found out that Sam Lane had been stockpiling kryptonite (something that he did in the comics during the “New Krypton” event). Also in that “New Krypton” event, Sam Lane worked with Morgan Edge on creating an army that could work to keep Kryptonians in check. With the advent of so many Kryptonians living on earth it was needed and the two teamed in the project 7734 (see last week’s post).
I could see a world where Sam, Captain Alex Luthor and Morgan all team up to take down the new Kent super-family, creating a world not unlike the world where Alex Luthor came from – where Superman is an antagonistic being bent on destroying Lane’s troops (as we saw in the final scene from last week’s episode) – but that seems like a theory that might be a ways down the line towards the end of the season or maybe even the next. I do think that Morgan and Sam will be working together by the end of the season.
4.) Does Morgan Edge know that Superman is Clark Kent?
I think this is the most interesting question of this episode. I say that because Lois takes out her Superman alarm and shows it to her unknown attacker in the hotel and he says that it will not help her. And she, I think, believes that he thinks its some kind of mace spray or taser so Lois says “”but he will” when Superman bursts through the wall. But considering that the known attacker could then match Superman blow for blow – I think there’s a good chance that he knew that Lois was using the alarm to call Superman and knew that he could take Superman on. In fact that might have been the entire plan of cornering Lois in the hotel room.
If this is true, then its not a stretch to believe that Morgan Edge knows that Lois has a connection to Superman (duh – we all do) but could Morgan know that her husband Clark Kent is Superman? I think so. Considering that Clark mentioned earlier in the show that no one can know Superman’s identity because of the harm that would come to their family, I think the writers were trying to implant that warning into our brains to foreshadow what was coming from Mr. Edge.
5.) Is there a Kryptonian encampment somewhere on this earth?
Theory Two: This is the “New Krypton” storyline from the comics and there is already a city of Kryptonians somewhere on earth. Considering the presence of Lesla-Lar and that Morgan Edge may know about Kryptonian powers and be experimenting on humans with them – this is not out of the realm of possibility. In addition, because this show is about a family dealing with Kryptonian powers and Superman not being “the only one” with powers anymore because of his son Jordan – the idea of New Krypton on this show could be a nice tangible extrapolation of those ideas into something with a bit more conflict. So what is New Krypton?
Well I’ve already mentioned “New Krypton” a bunch of times in this blog. So what was the New Krypton storyline? It began around “Action Comics” 866 and crossed over into both “Superman” (beginning #681) and “Supergirl” (beginning #35) comics and was written almost exclusively by Geoff Johns (who just happens to be an executive producer on “Superman and Lois”). The event began with Superman battling Brainiac and ultimately ending up rescuing Kandor and its residents, who are saved from Brainiac’s abduction. Superman deduces that Brainiac destroyed Krypton after abducting Kandor from the planet. Anyway, Superman relocates Kandor into the Fortress of Solitude dubbing it “New Krypton”. This results in greater global destabilization when human military personnel become nervous about the multiple Kryptonians now inhabiting the planet and their abilities. For the most part the Kryptonians are peaceful – with notable exceptions, like the aforementioned New Krypton resident Lesla-Larr (who is eventually imprisoned in New Krypton’s jail).
But it also results in Sam Lane’s 7734 project and a greater build up of weapons and knowledge, through the help of Lex Luthor, that can be used by earth’s humans to battle the Kryptonians – something that Sam Lane could potentially work with Morgan Edge on here in “Superman and Lois”.
Now maybe the city in “Superman and Lois” is already here and in this version of the New Krypton storyline, Superman did not rescue Kandor from Brainiac. And New Krypton is not in the Fortress of Solitude, as happened in the comics – but somewhere, maybe Edge’s mine – with hundreds of Kryptonians living on earth unbeknownst to Clark/Superman.
It’s an interesting theory that gets even more interesting when you tie it to the show “Krypton” and its storyline which was essentially the set-up for Kandor being abducted by Brainiac and which would mean Kandor would eventually find its way to earth.
It is even MORE interesting when you consider that the Syfy channel series “Krypton” now auto-plays after every episode of “Superman and Lois” on the CW website. But maybe this is a little too much theorizing and tin-foil hat wearing now. Still this could get very interesting.
No Scoops Club 