The history of superhero TV shows on The CW began and ended with Superman. The first, just as the network was born from the ashes of UPN and the WB, was "Smallville," which set the standard for telling superhero origin stories on TV without big budgets or blockbuster-level visual effects, and continued to became a Guinness record holder.

23 years later, The CW bid farewell to what will likely be the network's final superhero TV show in "Superman & Lois." Rather than being another origin story, however, this series was a bold and exciting new take that began 20 years after Clark Kent first suited up as the Man of Steel, fought enemies as Lex Luthor, married Lois Lane and became a father to twin boys. Instead of examining the beginning of Superman's career, the show explored Clark Kent's life as a middle-aged superhero all the way up to his final years.

The result was an amazing series that stood out from other DC shows on The CW. Superman and Lois struck a healthy balance between its superheroes and family drama, making the supporting characters and the larger community surrounding the Man of Steel feel fleshed out and important. Even in the visuals department, the series' 2.2:1 widescreen aspect ratio made it feel more like a movie than the network's other offerings.

James Gunn is now rebooting Superman on the big screen as part of his new DC Universe (a franchise that will prioritize synergy above all else)it's as good a time as any to look back at what could end up being the last standalone Superman TV show in a while and rank the best seasons of Superman and Lois.

Superman and Lois Season 2 had some great stuff. First of all, it introduced Bizarro and his upside-down world. On the drama side of things, the story of the Cushing/Cortez/Lang family is exciting and poignant, while the story of Lana and Kyle's relationship breakdown is handled with nuance and care for all parties involved. It's rare for a superhero show to make the non-superpowered stuff as exciting as the superpowered action, but this season showed that it can be done. Also, in the second season Tal-Ro, Clark's biological brother, became a friendly Hannibal-like villain, and he is absolutely wonderful to watch.

Unfortunately, the balance of drama and superheroes this season isn't as well managed as in others. The overall narrative is also rather scattered, with the season's various subplots mostly unconnected until the very end in contrived ways. The whole story with Ali, the cult leader, never feels properly cooked, as she is neither interesting enough as a character nor disturbing enough as a cult leader.

The opening scene of Superman and Lois alone should be studied as one of the best superhero shorts ever made. In a few minutes, this sequence manages to tell the familiar story of Superman's origin while also making it clear that this is a different take on the character. It's exciting enough to see Tyler Hoechlin's Man of Steel recreate the cover of Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1 by lifting a car, complete with his charmingly dated 1938 costume. The moment that really sells it, though, is when The Kid compliments his super-suit and Clark enthusiastically (and proudly) declares, “My mom made that for me! with a big stupid grin on his face. It's Hoechlin's relentless honesty that allows this scene to truly capture the striking, lovable, and relentless optimism of the show's source material.

While it takes a while for the show to find its footing (especially with Lois' storyline), it's a testament to the show's writing, production, and especially the acting that Superman and Lois works as well as it does. has been selling this version of Superman so well since the beginning. This isn't a brooding, hard-nosed Man of Steel story, even if it's painfully obvious from the start that his role as a symbol of truth, justice and a better tomorrow has cost Superman dearly, and he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. . Instead, this is the story of a Superman who is extremely kind, has learned every language on the planet just so he can better understand the people he protects, is fiercely against white supremacists, and protects immigrants.

Most importantly, the first season shows that Superman and Lois really nailed the essence of Clark Kent as just a genuine good guy, and the fact that Lois loves him more than Superman makes it that much more refreshing. Season 1's subplot about Lois with giant conglomerates acquiring newspapers simply to run them into the ground is also exciting, as is his big General Zod twist (which is different enough to avoid feeling derivative or tired).

The third season of "Superman and Lois" increases the personal drama with a brave and powerful story where Lois is diagnosed with breast cancer. This is the season where Bitsy Tulloch really shines as Lois Lane, spectacularly portraying the harrowing emotional journey the character goes through and making this a moving story about what chemotherapy does not only to one's body, but also to their spirit. Seeing not only her, but also Clark, an otherwise invulnerable being, have to go through this together is heartbreaking and a highlight of the entire series.

The other side of the season deals with the revival of Intergang and Metropolis gangster Bruno Manheim, and how he and his wife Peya become friends with Clark and Lois. It is through Mannheim that the series asks some big and crucial questions about the role Superman plays in society. Manheim, a black man, claims to be doing what needs to be done for the less fortunate people of Metropolis, arguing that Superman ignores the everyday problems of people because dealing with them is far less glamorous than fighting interdimensional invasions and alien attacks. As Mannheim says, Superman is always reacting to problems rather than trying to fix the everyday problems that ordinary people on Earth have to deal with.

Combine all that with Lois's cancer storyline, and the third season of "Superman and Lois" finds Superman at his most human. Here, the character's primary conflict has less to do with supervillains and more to do with the things that come from simply being a person, be it social injustice, illness, or his own inability to do enough to change the world.

"Superman and Lois" really went out with a bang. Despite having fewer episodes and a smaller cast, Season 4 delivered one of the best Superman stories of all time. There were also many firsts for the live-action character. First of all, we finally got it comic-accurate Doomsdaycomplete with a phenomenal adaptation of The Death of Superman that knew how to focus not on whether Superman would come back to life, but how the heavy sacrifices that lead to his return and how his life is never the same afterwards.

And before that, however, there was a moment when Superman revealed his secret identity to the worldanother live-action first, and a perfect encapsulation of this take on the character (as well as the superhero genre's larger themes of secret identities and the costs they have on superheroes). From the beginning of the show, it was painfully obvious that Clark Kent lost a lot by having to keep his powers a secret and that he sacrificed countless relationships because of it. That includes his friendship with Jimmy Olsen, who is phenomenally portrayed here by Douglas Smith.

On top of that, having fewer episodes meant that Superman & Lois Season 4 had to focus more on the time it spent on its non-Superman characters, leading to some poignant and emotional moments of closure for everyone. from Kyle and Chrissy to John Henry Irons and Natalie. Meanwhile, on the villain front, Season 4's Michael Cudlitz delivered an incredibly terrifying take on Lex Luthor, one who's less of a ruthless, fantastical CEO and more of a rough-and-tumble biker who will beat you to death with his bare fists. Instead of obsessing over Superman, this time Lex's vendetta is against Lois for reporting that she sent him to prison, leading to an exciting game of cat and mouse between Lex and the Kents.

But what really makes this season the best season of the show, and one of the best Superman stories ever (regardless of medium), is that Superman and Lois went ahead and did the unthinkable: did Clark Kent actually lose his powers and became mortal. This, in turn, led to the perfect finale, bringing this specific Superman story to a definitive end while also encompassing everything that makes the character great in the first place.