'Superman & Lois' showrunner teases Season 2 threats: 'Villains affect Clark and Lois personally'

Things are about to seriously heat up in Smallville with the second season of Superman & Lois, which debuts on The CW next month. Chatting with SFX Magazine, series showrunner and executive producer Todd Helbing teased out the arrival of two new antagonists — both of whom will put the show's titular protagonists (played by Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch) to the absolute test.

"There are multiple villains, really," he promised. "Both villains affect Clark and Lois personally. We start out with one villain that is really more Superman, while setting up the Lois villain. They are not working together, but they hand off in a cool way this season. One of them comes to the forefront and, in a lot of ways, is more powerful than the other one. It will take the whole team, in a different way than last year, to stop this person."

Helbing gave up a few more hints about Superman's adversary, stating that the ill-intentioned character ties directly into the hero's role as a father. The showrunner couldn't say anything beyond that, lest he give away the surprise. "This is a particular villain, that the more I talk about the more people are going to figure out who it is," he continued. "But Superman is dealing with an enemy that is going to be a massive headache for him."

If the baddie is that well-known to fans that any more clues might give it away, we're putting our money on Bizarro. Indeed, viewers may very well see Clark Kent temporarily replaced by his opposite-loving mirror image. Or perhaps the mystery villain is Metallo, a powerful cyborg with a literal heart of Kryptonite. We imagine that might cause a headache or two for the Man of Steel and his super-powered son, Jordan. Of course, there's always a good chance it's none of the above. During an interview with TV Insider back in October, however, Helbing discussed his desire to put fresh twists on lesser-known comic book villains. 

"The only tease I will say is, in the same way that we took Morgan Edge and twisted the mythology a little bit — made him Clark’s brother and ultimately the Eradicator — we’re trying to go into the comic books to find lesser-known villains and reinvent them," he said. "We can introduce them and people can then go read the versions in the comics."

When asked if any baddies previously featured in the now-ended Supergirl might show up to settle their vendettas against Kryptonian do-gooders, the showrunner replied: "I think we’ll try to avoid double-dipping as much as we can."

Season 2 of Superman & Lois premieres on The CW Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. EST.