Warning: Spoilers for Superman & Lois season 2, episode 9
Superman & Lois season 2 just recreated Clark’s big super speed moment from Smallville season 1. For both Jordan and Clark, their high school years have been complicated by the emergence of powers like heat-ray vision and super hearing. At this point, Jordan already has most of the tools in his father’s arsenal of Kryptonian abilities.
Just recently, it was revealed that Jordan somehow acquired super speed off-screen. The power was put into action when Jonathan (Jordan Elsass) and Candice (Samantha Di Francesco) found themselves in danger. Jordan’s efforts to save them were followed up by even bigger vigilante activities in Superman & Lois season 2, episode 9, titled “30 Days and 30 Nights”. Not only did Jordan seemingly have his first-ever experience with flight, but he had to step up in a big way when Lois (Bitsie Tulloch) and General Lane (Dylan Walsh) were captured. How he’s using his abilities in Superman & Lois indicates that he’s on his way to becoming the the show's very own Superboy.
One of Jordan’s biggest moments in “30 Days and 30 Nights” came when slow motion was used to show the Arrowverse's Jordan Kent watching a blast of heat-ray vision shoot towards his mother and grandfather. The character turning around and looking at it from multiple angles in amazement before saving his family was a recreation of an iconic scene from Smallville season 1. In “Rogue”, Clark was bewildered when he saw a bullet moving toward him in slow motion, prompting him to follow its trajectory with his eyes as it moved past him. It was the first time Smallville’s Superman had ever dodged a bullet. Superman & Lois essentially did the same scene but swapped Clark for Jordan and the bullet for heat-ray vision.
With Jordan now on the same path as Smallville’s Clark, it seems only fitting that Superman & Lois would take this direction with his character by giving him a similar experience. What happened to Clark in “Rogue” perfectly captured the shock and awe of a Kryptonian realizing just how fast they really are and understanding that they can actually move faster than a speeding bullet. Plus, it was certainly something that needed to be depicted onscreen. Considering that outrunning and dodging bullets is a key aspect of how Superman operates, it was a landmark moment for Clark. The same applies to the Arrowverse’s Jordan in “30 Days and 30 Nights”, especially since his super speed is sure to factor heavily into his superhero journey.
Comparisons between Smallville’s Clark and the Arrowverse’s Jordan are getting deeper and deeper in Superman & Lois season 2. With the way things are going, that’s unlikely to change anytime soon. Over the past few episodes, Jordan’s actions and words have made it increasingly clear that he’s determined to use his powers for good, which of course means sharing a lot of the same problems Tom Welling’s character had in Smallville. If that’s the case, that’ll involve lying to any future love interests, more disappearances he can’t explain, struggling to keep his friends from finding out about his powers, and more.
Superman & Lois releases new episodes on Wednesdays on The CW.
