A lot is going on in the final season premiere of Superman & Lois, including — spoilers past this point — the death of Superman (Tyler Hoechlin), the possible introduction of Brainiac, and even Lois having to choose which of her sons lives, and which one dies. But throw one more mystery on top of that: the show creates a brand new daughter for Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz) with Elizabeth Luthor.
While Lex achieves one of his goals in the first episodes of the season — killing Superman — that’s far from his endgame. He wants to destroy Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch). At the same time, he wants to track down his daughter, who was hidden from him years earlier as soon as his crimes came to light.
The issue, from Lex’s perspective, is that Lois framed him by publishing incorrect info that sent him to jail for 17 years. Some of that is true, though Lex has still murdered multiple people. He’s not a nice guy, and he shows that off pretty easily in the first two episodes of Season 4 alone. But what his quest to find his daughter does is give him a family-based motivation, like the rest of the characters on the show.
That’s all well and good, but who is Elizabeth Luthor? And what do we know about her from the DC Comics source material?
Elizabeth Henstridge Is Playing Elizabeth Luthor On Superman & Lois
You probably know Elizabeth Henstridge best as Simmons from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. However, she’s built up a pretty prolific career as a director as well, starting with AoS, and running through multiple seasons of Superman & Lois. She’ll also direct this season’s fifth episode, though it’s unknown if she’ll also debut as Elizabeth Luthor then, or in another part of the season.
And honestly, that’s pretty much all we know at the moment about Henstridge in relation to Elizabeth Luthor, as that’s all that was reported pre-airing about her casting. However, it must have made it either very confusing or very easy on set to have the same name as the character. One of the two.
Who Is Elizabeth Luthor In DC Comics? Spoiler: She Doesn’t Exist
So, here’s the interesting thing: Elizabeth Luthor doesn’t exist in DC Comics, nor any of the source material. She’s a completely original character for Superman & Lois.
In the current comic books, Lex Luthor does have a daughter: Lena Luthor. If you’re a fan of the Arrowverse shows on The CW, you may remember Lena Luthor as played by Katie McGrath on Supergirl. She was Lex’s sister there, and at various times in the comics, Lena has also been Lex’s sister (DC’s constantly rebooting continuity can get weird). Lena, however, does not seem to exist (yet) on Superman & Lois, and Elizabeth is not Lena. Likely, they gave her a new name for this exact reason, so there wouldn’t be any confusion with McGrath’s character in the other series.
Weirdly, there are two instances of an Elizabeth in relation to the Luthor family. The first is Elizabeth Walsh (also McGrath) on Supergirl, a witch who had an affair with Lionel Luthor, and became pregnant with Lena. So not technically Elizabeth Luthor, though she did give birth to a Luthor.
The other one is from a fanfic wiki for the Arrowverse, which — hang in there– casts Hailee Steinfeld as Elizabeth “Liz” Danvers-Luthor, the child of Lena Luthor and Supergirl (Melissa Benoist). I cannot stress enough that this is not canon, and comes from fans, but I also definitely approve of everything they’re saying there. It’s good stuff.
Regardless, the point here is that Elizabeth Luthor does not exist in DC Comics, nor any other source material. She’s new for this series, which means she’s a blank slate at the moment. Perhaps we’ll know more when episode 5 of the season airs…
Where To Watch Superman & Lois:
Superman & Lois Season 4 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
The final season of Superman & Lois premieres with two episodes on The CW on Monday, October 17, 2024 at 8 pm ET / PT. Episodes then stream the next day on The CW website and app. After the premiere, it will air once a week for 10 episodes total in Season 4, with exact air dates TBA.
Here’s the full list of episodes in Superman & Lois Season 4, with premiere dates:
- Monday, October 7, 2024: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 1: “The End & The Beginning”
- Monday, October 7, 2024: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 2: “A World Without”
- Monday, October 14, 2024: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 3: “Always My Hero”
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 4
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 5
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 6
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 7
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 8
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 9
- TBA: Superman & Lois, Season 4, Episode 10 *SERIES FINALE*
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