A producer for My Adventures With Superman offered some words about the show’s big Lois Lane twist.
Usually, in Clark Kent’s stories over the last few decades, it often takes some time before his fated lover discovers he moonlights as a superhero when he’s not at the Daily Planet. The creatives chose to ditch that little dilemma for Max's new animated series by having Lois figure it out by Episode 4.
The moment occurs when Lois Lane accidentally finds a newspaper clipping in Clark's jacket that he originally hid to keep her from discovering his Superman identity.
Superman Producer Talks About Lois' Clark Kent Discovery
In an interview with Steve Younis and Michael Bailey of Superman Homepage, My Adventures With Superman producer Josephine Campbell talked about the show's big Lois Lane twist.
Turns out that having both Jimmy Olsen and Lois "in on [Clark Kent's] secret" was important to the team:
“Yeah, so there’s sort of two decisions with that. And one is, it was actually a plot point that we had during our pitch, and Brendan [Clougher] and Jake [Wyatt] had sort of come up with it, which is that this show is 'My Adventures With Superman', which is just as much Lois and Jimmy, as it is Superman. So, for us, getting them together as a team and actually finally having them all on the same side, all in on the secret was something that was sort of important to us."
The producer pointed out how Lois Lane finding out Clark's superhero identity so early "is different than a lot of Superman media:"
"It was something that is different than a lot of Superman media. She never finds out until the very last episode, or Jimmy never finds out. So, it’s another way to be like, this is sort of our different take on Superman. This is getting rid of some of these tropes of she has to be… I think it’s 'Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman' has that scene with their time traveler, who’s like, ‘You have to be the dumbest woman in the world not to know this.’"
Campbell emphasized how their "Lois is whip smart," which is an element of the character the creatives really wanted to accentuate:
"Our Lois is whip smart, so, for us, it also fed so well into the the rom-com part of our show, which is secrets and lies are a thing that destroy relationships, or stop them before they even grow. So, this is a huge one. Doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be more secrets, or more lies. There’s still going to be some secrets and lies going on, because they’re in their 20s. But for us, it was different. It was showing how smart Lois was."
The producer noted that revealing Clark's identity to Lois so early "was a great way to sort of like expand on their relationship:"
"It was a great way to sort of like expand on their relationship and then, yeah, it was um sort of a way for the the show and the characters to grow beyond the bits we’ve seen before, where now they are a team. Now, also, they’re in on helping Superman keep his secrets. And then the other thing is, yeah a little bit what you said, is that with these shorter streaming services and shorter streaming seasons, it used to be you get 26 episodes at like 24 minutes in the ’90s. 22 minutes was newer. And now, honestly, it’s 21 minutes and 30 seconds and you never know if you’re gonna get any more."
Campbell admitted that when writing other projects, they take similar approaches:
"So some of this and this is the approach I took to writing 'Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous' which I was head writer of, this is the approach I took to being head writer of 'She-Ra: Princess of Power' , of just like, ‘Maybe we’ll get more seasons, maybe not. Let’s do what feels right for this story.’ And Jake [Wyatt] and Brendan [Clougher] were wholeheartedly the ones who were like, ‘This makes sense for us. This makes sense for them. Let’s go for it.’”
Could Lois Lane's Early Discovery Become a Norm?
Lois' early discovery is far from the only unique aspect of this modern re-telling of the Superman story. Many elements of Clark Kent’s origin are changed, Task Force X is completely different, and the Chaos God, Mr. Mxyzptlk, even popped up to warn Lois about the many evil Supermen in the multiverse—and that’s just making a few.
The choice of Lois Lane finding out Clark's secret earlier than normal also feels like it's part of the recent trend over the years to phase out superheroes and their secret identity. Obviously, the world still doesn't know, but clearly, this show's story didn't want to have to juggle Jimmy and Lois' ignorance of Superman's alter ego.
One big question on fans' minds is a simple one: will James Gunn's Superman: Legacy take the same approach with David Corenswet's Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane?
After all, the duo's dynamic is undoubtedly something Gunn is looking forward to exploring, so he'd probably want to help make it stick out from the crowd.
My Adventures With Superman is now streaming on Max.
