The following contains spoilers for Superman & Lois Season 3, Episode 5, "Head On," which debuted April 11 on The CW.
Season 3 of Superman & Lois is throwing the kitchen sink at Tyler Hoechlin's Clark Kent. He's been accosted by Intergang and their green kryptonite blasters, but thankfully, Steel helped save the day. To make things worse, Bruno Mannheim is creating metahumans using Superman's blood, sending villains like Atom-Man after Kal-El as well.
Things are not going to ease up, though, because Bruno is resurrecting Bizarro to continue piling the stress on with his legion. Simply put, the Man of Steel is facing his toughest trial yet, and accepts he needs backup if they're to stop the Mannheim empire. Interestingly, with this season being very action-oriented, Superman & Lois actually gives fans the best Man of Steel fight in live-action, but there's one major flaw that detracts from it.
Superman & Lois' Deadline Pushes Kal-El to the Limit
In Episode 5, "Head On," Bruno wants secrets from Sam Lane's Department of Defense and sends Deadline to attack the base. The metahuman villain is able to shift phase, going from corporeal to intangible similar the X-Men's Kitty Pryde. It results in Superman hearing and coming over for a brawl, but he can't hit the thug. Superman tries everything -- from super-speed to heat vision to cold breath -- but Deadline simply transitions out of harm's way every time.
Apart from Deadline's powers, he also has a green kryptonite knife, cutting and stabbing Superman up a la Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie. As he does so, he's able to slam Superman around, with the choreography and sped-up action improving on what's been done in the Zack Snyder DCEU movies. While those films lacked tact and substance, they had style with epic fights versus Zod and Doomsday. In Superman & Lois, it's a bit more streamlined, but the fight's treated with respect, pushing Superman to use more brain than brawn.
Superman eventually hatches a plan, slowing things down in an unpredictable, cerebral manner, to time when the villain goes solid. This allows Deadline to dig into Superman again, but the Man of Steel counterattacks with perfect placement and precision like an MMA fighter. It ends with Superman cracking Deadline through a wall right as he tries to phase out and escape, causing him to get stuck in the concrete to hand Superman a hard-earned victory.
Superman & Lois' Deadline Fight Has a Major Flaw
The Superman and Deadline fight is intense, has intrigue, suspense and tension as they play a chess game. But it has a major flaw in its execution due to the blade Deadline uses. Throughout the brawl, Deadline stabs Superman with a green kryptonite knife at numerous points, with deadly speed and by targeting vulnerable spots. Yet, he doesn't kill Superman, even when Kal's on his knees and vulnerable. What also makes this scene a bit ludicrous is the green kryptonite knife doesn't have any effect on Superman, as it should penetrate his skin despite having a regenerative suit.
Shockingly, Superman is perfectly fine in mere seconds, as he never succumbs to any stab wounds. This makes the green kryptonite knife a wildly ineffective weapon. What exacerbates the problem is that Superman -- as with so many comics, series and films -- had been exposed to the deadly green rock as a poison before, even when it wasn't in lethal dosages. It took Superman a while to get the mineral out his system in Season 2, but in Season 3, Superman & Lois forgets the damaging effect. Had the show indicated that Superman's suit alleviates this, or if he's grown resistant to the mineral since, his not succumbing to kryptonite-induced stab wounds would have made sense -- especially as he has Lara and the Fortress to experiment on himself.
Sadly, the show never leans into these solutions. Thus, the oversight at the end really fizzles the great work done in the fight, just to get Superman prepped up to continue investigating with his peers. Ultimately, had the crystal negated Superman's abilities and acted as his Achilles' heel, it would've allowed Steel to be more of Bruno's nemesis, and Jordan to step up as Superboy. Alas, the show rushes Superman back like he's Wolverine, making the kryptonite seems like a joke, contradicting decades-old lore.
Superman & Lois returns April 25 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.