Warning: SPOILERS for Superman & Lois Episode 10 – “O Mother, Where Art Thou?”
Morgan Edge’s (Adam Rayner) life story in Superman & Lois confirms how lucky Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin) was that his spaceship from the doomed planet Krypton landed in Smallville, Kansas. The villainous Edge revealed his true identity as Superman’s half-brother Tal-Rho and that the older Kryptonian arrived and lived on Earth before Kal-El did. But Tal-Rho’s life was very different from the loving upbringing of being raised by the Kents in Smallville that Clark was fortunate enough to enjoy.
Superman & Lois‘ Morgan Edge twist is the latest “what if” story exploring what could have happened if Kal-El didn’t arrive in the heartland of America. For example, Superman: Red Son depicted Kal’s rocket landing in the Soviet Union so that Superman became the champion of Communism instead of truth, justice, and the American way. Alternatively, Flashpoint looked at a scenario where Kal-El crashed in Metropolis; even though he was still in the United States, the infant Kryptonian was captured by the military to be raised and studied in isolation. As a result, Superman was a very different person in Flashpoint and it hammed home what a crucial role Smallville and the Kents play in turning Kal-El into the superhero he is who loves and defends the Earth and all of its people.
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Compared to Clark’s childhood, Tal-Rho’s life on Earth was a nightmare. The Kryptonian adolescent crash-landed in the United Kingdom as a teenager and he was immediately hunted by the locals. Soon, Tal was captured and held in an underground World War II bomb shelter that was converted into a prison for the superpowered alien. Tal was experimented on in order to discover h0w his powers worked, but he eventually escaped. Naturally, having never learned that humans were anything more than his jailers, Tal used his powers and killed anyone who tried to stop him. Remarkably, Tal-Rho was able to adapt to life on Earth, assumed the identity of Morgan Edge, and he eventually amassed a fortune and a corporation that allowed him to pursue his true goal: to restore Krypton on Earth.
Smallville is undeniably a major reason why Clark Kent became a good-hearted hero. Being raised in a close-knitted community taught him essential Midwestern values while the wide-open farmland allowed Clark to fly under the radar, so to speak, as he gained and honed his many superpowers. Superman & Lois‘ Martha Kent (Michelle Scarabelli) was a beloved figure in the town who was known to always help anyone in need, and Clark learned from his adoptive mother’s example.
This isn’t to say that Clark’s life in Smallville was free of difficulty. Superman & Lois is exploring the challenges of Jordan Kent (Alex Garfin) growing up with powers in Smallville and how they echo what Clark went through. But compared to Tal-Rho, Kal-El was incredibly fortunate. Smallville is an idyllic American town and the Kents were the best parents Clark could have asked for. Superman’s life story could have been much closer to Morgan Edge’s if he’d landed elsewhere, even in another, more dangerous part of the United States.
Tal-Rho’s childhood on Earth resembled the 2019 dark Superboy movie Brightburn, but the twist of that film is Brightburn also grew up in a Smallville-like town with loving parents yet he still turned out to be evil. So perhaps nurture can only be blamed up to a point and Tal-Rho’s nature was always the opposite of Kal-El’s. It’s possible that Superman & Lois‘ Morgan Edge would still be a villain even if he grew up in Smallville because it’s likely that he’d still want to sacrifice humanity to bring back Krypton. By contrast, everything about growing up in Smallville was essential in making Superman who he is.
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