How Batman v Superman & Superman & Lois Adapt The Death of Superman Differently

In 1992, the Man of Steel finally met his demise in the culmination of DC Comics’ The Death of Superman story, and it has since served as the basis for both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Superman & Lois. In The Death of Superman, DC’s heroes find themselves battling a seemingly unstoppable Kryptonian monster known as Doomsday. It takes the willpower and might of Superman to ultimately put a stop to Doomsday’s rampage, with Superman dying in the process, though he would later be subsequently resurrected in the Reign of the Supermen follow-up story.

In addition to being adapted for numerous animated movies, The Death of Superman serves as source material for two live-action adaptations, namely Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and seasons three and four of the TV series Superman & Lois. However, in bringing the story of Superman’s death and resurrection to a live-action format, both Batman v Superman and Superman & Lois also tweak elements of the story to properly utilize it in the larger story each one tells.

How Batman v Superman Adapts The Death Of Superman

One of the big alterations that Batman v Superman makes in its version of The Death of Superman is in having the Man of Steel be only about a year and a half to two years into his life as a superhero. Additionally, Superman is the only publicly known metahuman when Batman v Superman takes place, compared to the vast DC metahuman community of both heroes and villains in The Death of Superman. This also places Superman in the position of being as mistrusted by one half of humanity as he is revered by the other, and his sacrifice ultimately solidifies the world’s trust in him as a hero.

Additionally, rather than being an unearthed monster in a containment suit, Doomsday is created by Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor in the Kryptonian scout ship, combining his DNA with the body of the deceased General Zod (Michael Shannon). Once the creature that Lex dubs to Superman as “your Doomsday” hatches, Batman v Superman also places great emphasis on there being no civilians around, either due to the work-day in Metropolis being over or the Port of Gotham being abandoned. Clearly, this was added to address to controversy over the level of destruction seen in Man of Steel, but it’s also a notable change from the comics, with Superman’s battle with Doomsday taking place in front of thousands of civilian onlookers in Metropolis.

The biggest function The Death of Superman story serves in the SnyderVerse is that it inspires the formation of the Justice League. While the Justice League has long since been formed (and even lends a hand in fighting Doomsday early on) in The Death of Superman, Doomsday is opposed in Batman v Superman by the Dark Knight, the Man of Steel, and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). While the Trinity is effectively formed on the fly in the Doomsday battle, the heroic sacrifice of Henry Cavill’s Superman inspires Ben Affleck’s once jaded Batman and Wonder Woman to seek out other metahumans like The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and form the Justice League.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League also sees the newly formed League use a Mother Box and the Genesis Chamber of the Kryptonian scout ship to revive the dead Superman, who later arrives to stop Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) and the invasion of Apokolips. With the Justice League fully formed in Superman’s resurrection and the new inductee of Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix), the stage is set for the League to face Darkseid (Ray Porter) and Apokolips in Snyder’s Justice League 2 and Justice League 3 (both unmade movies, but nonetheless eternally clamored for by fans determined to see the conclusion of Snyder’s planned five-movie arc.)

How Superman & Lois Adapts The Death Of Superman

In contrast to Batman v Superman and Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman has already been Superman for over 20 years by the time of Doomsday’s creation in Superman & Lois season three. He has also long-since married Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) and has two teenage sons, Jordan (Alex Garfin) and Jonathan (Michael Bishop), with both having developed Kryptonian powers by season four. Like Batman v Superman’s version of Doomsday, Superman & Lois shows the beast as being created by Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz) from the body of a deceased Kryptonian, in this case Bizarro Superman, who seemingly died in Superman & Lois season two. Lex’s methodology involves killing and reviving Bizarro repeatedly, gradually mutating the Kryptonian of another universe into the monstrous behemoth Doomsday.

Superman and Doomsday’s showdown is every bit as thunderous on Superman & Lois as in Batman v Superman, with the two eventually battling their way to the moon in the cliffhanger ending of season three. When season four begins, Superman and Doomsday have seemingly been battling each other ruthlessly for several days in space and on the moon’s surface, before Doomsday finally triumphs, bringing Superman’s corpse back to Smallville and laying him on the street in front of his family, as if to taunt them.

Lex’s goal is also a bit more specific this time, with Lex instructing Doomsday to retrieve Superman’s heart. This also sets up the show’s version of Superman’s resurrection, with General Sam Lane (Dylan Walsh) injecting himself with the serum used to revive Bizarro, which contains Kryptonian DNA. John Henry Irons (Wolé Parks) then takes Superman to the Fortress of Solitude, with Sam’s heart transplanted into Superman’s chest, reviving the Man of Steel. However, Superman also experiences a degree of fatigue and chest pain he’s never felt before, which may be due to him now having the heart of a much older man beating in his chest.

Aside from the show’s rendition of The Death of Superman, the presence of John Henry Irons a.k.a. Steel is also a re-imagining from his role in Reign of the Supermen. In the comics, John’s life was saved by Superman, who then encouraged him to “live a life worth saving”. After Superman’s death, John uses his knowledge of metallurgy to create a flying armor suit and try to fill the void left by Superman as the Man of Steel. After Superman’s return, John continues his life as a superhero and close confidante of Superman, shortening his heroic title to simply Steel.

John Henry Irons and his daughter Natalie (Tayler Buck) have been a presence on Superman & Lois since season one, with the two being brought over from another universe and John determined to kill Superman after the Man of Steel of his universe went bad. Eventually, John comes to see Superman’s heroism is unshakable in this universe, and becomes his close ally throughout Superman & Lois.

Why Both Versions Make Big Changes (& Why That Works For Them)

Clearly, both Batman v Superman and Superman & Lois take some rather significant liberties in their respective adaptations of The Death of Superman, but comic book movie lovers are the crowd least likely to be surprised by that, since comic book movies adapting specific stories or character arcs do literal adaptations. Batman v Superman itself also draws heavily from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, while still modifying the story significantly to accommodate its adaptation of The Death of Superman, and there are many other examples that can be cited of superhero films making similar tweaks to comic book stories (such as Christopher Nolan’s own Dark Knight Returns adaptation, The Dark Knight Rises.)

In the case of both Batman v Superman and Superman & Lois, the established status quo of each universe would have made a literal translation of The Death of Superman next to impossible to fit into their respective stories, but that doesn’t mean the endeavor of adapting it was off the table for either. However, a modified version of The Death of Superman can and does function well for both Batman v Superman’s set up of the Justice League’ formation in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and in the Man of Steel guiding his teenage sons to follow in his superheroic footsteps on Superman & Lois season four. Both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Superman & Lois will stand the test of time for future generations of superhero fans, partly because each takes the established story of The Death of Superman and adapts it in a way to serve two very differently but equally compelling Superman stories.

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