My wife and I have really been enjoying Wandavision, and I was all set to write a review of the first few episodes, but then I stumbled upon the trailer for the new Superman and Lois series, which left me feeling empty. So why did one superhero series really grab me and the other completely miss? Personal preference plays a part, but I think a deeper answer is how each series answers the question of an overpowered main character.
Ok, let’s set some context. Wandavision is produced by Jac Shaefer, who joined the Marvel Universe with the Captain Marvel movie. Set after the Infinity War saga, this series puts Wanda, the Scarlet Witch, in a bizarre alternate reality where she is reunited with her dead lover, the biomechanoid superhero Vision. Presented as a homage to generations of classical US sitcoms, this series puts our heroes in in the roles of loving newlyweds trying to life a normal life in post-war US suburbia. The attention to detail is stunning, and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda steals the show, recreating the mannerisms and eye-rolling humor of the serials we watched as kids. What really drags me in is Wanda’s slowly creeping realization that none of this can be real, that there is something very wrong, and very dark, sitting just beneath the surface of her picture-perfect sitcom life. The show can therefore shift from nostalgic sweetness to cold dread in a heartbeat, and it’s kept me coming back for more.
Superman and Lois will be airing at the end of February 2021, created by Greg Berlanti and Todd Helbing, who both worked on the Flash television series. The show is publicized to follow the lives of Clark Kent and Lois Lane as the married couple retire from saving the world and move back to the Kent farm and try to raise their teenage children. From what I’ve seen of the trailer, the tone is dark, revolving around the family tensions created by Superman trying to lead a “normal” life and keep his past hidden.
So, what’s the similarity here? Both series have chosen the same path to dealing with their overpowered main character. Wanda is literally capable of bending reality, and Superman is, well… Superman. He’s the superhero against which all other superheroes are measured. Neither show wants to trot out the tired old strategy of simply creating newer and stronger enemies for our heroes to fight – after a certain point, the victories of our god-like champions simply become a tedious certainty. What they both do is try and create a situation where our superhero’s strength has no direct power to resolve the plot. Wanda’s powers can’t seem to break her out of the suburban alternative reality, while Superman is finding that leaping all buildings in a single bound doesn’t help much with raising angsty teenagers.
Then why did one command my attention and other fail to do so? Wandavision’s solution to the powerful hero is to create a fun, yet intriguing mystery. Superman and Lois’s solution is to create what seems like an angsty family drama. I have nothing against making relationships the center of a Superman plot – I loved Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as a teenager, with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher’s goofy, sweet romance more important to the story than Superman’s ability to shoot laser beams from his eyes. But so far, the new show seems kinda depressing and generic, as if I could insert a different set of character names into the title and the trailer would play out pretty much the same way.
Perhaps I’m wrong – Superman and Lois might end up being a great drama. But until then, I’m diving right back into the sweet madness of Wandavision. Stay tuned, folks!
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