Superman was the very first of what we know today as the “Super Hero”. It should be no surprise that there have been more live action TV shows based around him than any other hero. In fact, over the course of his 86 year existence, Superman has held a 32 year presence on TV (and that’s just counting the live action stuff). That’s a lot of Superman. With the recent conclusion of Superman & Lois, let’s take a look at how the season finales stack up against each other.
Superman had appeared in two serials in the 1940’s before his first full show, Adventures of Superman, running from 1952 to 1958. Following that, there wouldn’t be another Superman show until years later, and it wouldn’t even use the name “Superman”. Superboy began in 1988, and just after it ended in 1992, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman began in 1993. That ended in 1997 and made way for the longest running live action superhero show to date, Smallville, in 2001. Smallville ended in 2011 and Superman himself took a bit of a break as the next show would star Supergirl and the one after that was the prequel series, Krypton. Supergirl ended and spun off Superman (well, a Superman from a different Earth) for the four season Superman & Lois, which ran from 2020 until 2024. With so much Superman history, trials, and adventures, there have been some amazing finales. But which one is the best? Spoilers (obviously)…
Honorable Mentions – “The Alpha and the Omega” (Krypton, August 14, 2019) and “Kara” (Supergirl, November 9, 2021)
It feels too much like comparing apples and oranges when ranking shows that aren’t about Clark Kent, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention these two. Supergirl boasts an impressive run of six seasons that really put Kara through the wringer as she juggled her personal life, professional life, and duties as Supergirl. In the finale, she not only defeated a reality-warping villain with her allies, she also revealed her identity to the world and became editor in chief at CatCo. The conclusion was natural and satisfying, unlike Krypton’s, which was abrupt.
Unlike any other Superman show, Krypton was a cable show (airing on SyFy) that focused on Seg-El, Kal-El’s grandfather, and took place a couple generations in the past. Krypton only lasted two seasons and ended with unresolved plots. Seg-El defeated the time-traveling Zod (revealed to be his son), but his other son, the infant Jor-El, was captured by Brainiac. Not the best way to conclude a series.
5. “All That Glitters” (Adventures of Superman, April 28, 1958)
Adventures of Superman began a mere 15 years after the comic book debut of Superman. Previously, there had been serials and a radio program, but as the first TV show, Adventures of Superman was its own thing. Running for 104 half hour episodes, the show lived through the transition from black and white to color. Each episode was stand alone and, not counting the pilot (which was an extensive telling of Superman’s origin beginning with the destruction of Krypton), could be watched in any order. Thus, the final episode wasn’t made to be a definitive conclusion to the series.
A typical episode of Adventures of Superman would have Perry White assign a story to Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen. They would get in over their heads, gangsters would get involved, and Clark would have to slip away to become Superman and save the day. The final episode didn’t deviate much from this formula. Professor Pepperwinkle, an absent-minded professor and recurring guest character, discovers the secret of turning metal to gold. Crooks find out, the professor is captured, and Superman has to stop them. Pretty standard fare, and there wasn’t anything spectacular about it.
4. “Rites of Passage” (Superboy, May 10, 1992 and May 17, 1992)
1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was Christopher Reeve’s exit as the big screen’s Superman, but that jump-started the return of Superman to the small screen. CBS’s Superboy aired from 1988 to 1992 and featured a young Clark Kent/Superboy, first as a college student and then as a journalist. Superboy ran for 100 half hour episodes and, despite changing up the premise, switching the lead actor from John Haymes Newton to Gerard Christopher, and revamping Lex Luthor, the series did have a solid throughline. Clark never knew where he came from, and he was always hiding his double life from love interest, Lana Lang (Superboy was the only live action Superman show to never introduce Lois Lane).
Clark turned 21 in the series finale, and his powers went out of control. Lana suspected Clark of being Superboy, but because of his fluctuating powers, she saw him get injured and thus doubted herself. Clark finally learned about his Kryptonian heritage and had his powers restored to him. In the final scene of the series, Lana wasn’t completely convinced that Clark isn’t Superboy, so she attempts to stab him. We don’t get to see what happens next, but because his powers are back to normal, Lana presumably does find out the truth about Clark. It was an amusing finale, but it could have ended on a more emotional beat rather than a comedic one. At least Clark reaffirmed his mission (and, as an encounter with a future version of himself in a previous episode implied, he will one day call himself Superman).
3. “The Family Hour” (Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, June 14, 1997)
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was the first Superman show to do hour long episodes, and it was geared to an older audience than the previous two shows. The series begins with a Clark Kent in his late 20’s moving to Metropolis and becoming Superman to handle all kinds of threats. The show’s early episodes were built around the idea that Clark and Lois were partners with loads of sexual tension but couldn’t quite get together because one was unavailable or the other was dating someone else or any one of a dozen obstacles keeping them apart. None of the show’s villains lived up to John Shea’s Lex Luthor (who departed the series fairly early on), and episodes prioritized interpersonal relationships over super heroics. By the final season, Lois knew that Clark was Superman, and they were married.
The final episode raised the question of whether Clark and Lois could have children. Not only were they biologically incompatible, but they were also turned down by all the adoption agencies. However, the final scene of the series has Clark and Lois discover a mysterious baby that has been delivered to them. The show could’ve continued and resolved this story, but it worked pretty well as a series finale. Both Clark and Lois had come a long way since the pilot, and the finale began a new chapter in their lives.
2. “It Went by so Fast” (Superman & Lois, December 2, 2024)
Superman & Lois, the most recent live action Superman show, ended up having the shortest run. Much like Lois & Clark, Superman & Lois was heavily focused on the human aspect of Superman (plus his relationship with Lois, hence her name included in both titles). In this case, however, Clark and Lois are middle aged and have been married for about 20 years. They move from Metropolis to Smallville to raise their teenage sons, who soon discover that their father is really Superman. Superman & Lois has the advantage over the previous three entries by having modern special effects and not having to shy away from the more comic book superhero elements (as superhero shows and movies have a decent audience now).
The final season of the show had a wrongly accused Lex Luthor leaving jail and enacting an elaborate revenge scheme on the person who put him there, Lois Lane. Among many other weapons in his arsenal, Luthor also has control of Doomsday. The physical stakes are high, as are the emotional ones. Clark revealed his identity to the world, and a death and resurrection left him with a mortal heart that only had a few decades left in it. While Lois & Clark dealt with Superman’s immortality by having him give it up to save Jimmy’s life, Superman & Lois had both Superman and Lois (who had been battling cancer) deal with their mortality. The final episode portrayed a montage of their final days, showing Lois’ death and then Clark’s. The season suffered from having a short episode count and reduced cast, but the finale was truly amazing in its ability to create a bittersweet ending that showed just how much Clark loved his life and how grateful he was for the life he and Lois built.
1. “Finale” (Smallville, May 13, 2011)
Smallville ended after 10 seasons and 217 hour-long episodes. It evolved beyond the premise of Clark Kent in high school and essentially went through two additional periods of his life. Post-high school, Clark faced more and more dangerous foes and said his goodbyes to Lana Lang and Lex Luthor. The final seasons had Clark working at the Daily Planet in Metropolis alongside love interest Lois Lane and operating as the nearly-seen superhero, the Blur.
Like Superboy, Smallville was about a young Clark Kent, and like Lois & Clark and Superman & Lois, Smallville balanced intense action and genuine peril with character development. What puts the Smallville finale at the top (aside from it being the only other two-parter on this list and clocking in at a grand total of 84 minutes) is that it was a complete ending that was also the perfect beginning. The season’s Big Bad was Darkseid and the forces of Apokolips, the worst threat Clark could face. Lois was let in on Clark’s secret and they got engaged while Clark struggled all season long with the idea of stepping out of the shadows as a public hero while crafting a more subtle persona for his alter ego. All the necessary elements come into play in the finale. Clark Kent is wearing glasses, and the Superman costume Martha made makes a re-appearance. And, best of all, Clark finally flew. With visions of Jor-El telling him that he passed his trials and Martha and Jonathan giving him their blessing, Clark puts on his costume and becomes Superman. While Tom Welling never wore the full costume, it was the moment we had been waiting ten years for. Even Lex Luthor came back to set up their legendary rivalry. The final shot of the series, Clark running across the roof of the Daily Planet and ripping his shirt open to reveal the Superman emblem while the John Williams score played, was the greatest payoff we could have hoped for.
