Hollywood has long had a history of being unable to make a really good Superman movie. And they are unable to understand why. An article in CNBC claims the problem is a lack of diversity that Americans can't relate to. Also, Superman is too pure, too idealistic. Any comic book fan can tell you that one of the key differences between DC and Marvel early on was that Marvel wrote super heroes with actual weaknesses; they were inherently human, encompassing all of the good and bad that that entails.

But Superman is not human. He's not sinful. He's a child sent from his father to earth to save it from evil. Sound familiar? It should. It was written by two Jewish creators who were very knowledgeable about the Torah. But in a world where Hollywood is bent on making anti-hero movies like The Boyz, Joker and Cruella, where the heroes are terribly evil, Superman has fallen by the wayside.

That is until the CW premiered Superman and Lois.

I admit I didn't really want to watch Superman and Lois. Mainly because it was on the CW and they have a history of turning superhero TV shows into diversity education camps. Bat Girl is a Lesbian? Super Girl a radical feminist? No thanks.

But I watched the pilot of Superman and Lois anyway and I was blown away. The CW nailed Superman and made a family show modern Hollywood is unwilling to tell. Warning: spoilers ahead.

Superman and Lois takes place after the death of Clark Kent's adopted mother. Clark and Lois, married with two teenage twin boys, have settled into a quiet life in Smallville where they can take care of the family farm and have the quiet they need to raise their children right. But  puberty hits and one of the twins discovers he has inherited Superman's abilities, the other twin does not.

The show is packed with Biblical morals. A father who is literally invincible has one weakness, his family. He saves the world, people need him and die without him but he has to be back before dinner. Sure Superman is the strongest father in the world--he can literally beat up your dad--but he struggles like everyone else to be a good father and to be present for his children. Clark Kent might save hundreds of people by stopping a train from crashing with his bare hands, but he's visibly upset about missing his kids football game because of it. An extraordinary balancing act. He also struggles with training his super-son. He has inherited Clark’s super abilities, but he also inherits traits of his mother Lois, human weaknesses imperfect invincibility and he struggles with sin much more than Superman ever did.  And his other son feels left out.

As Hollywood tries to figure out why Superman has failed to be a blockbuster success, and considers a diverse reboot of Superman with Michael B Jordan, the CW has created one of the best Superman versions in decades by simply sticking to the story we all know and love. I doubt the CW will allow Superman to be free of social justice narratives for long. Sooner or later the writers will get one of those dreaded "diversity" notes. But right now, the high ratings for the show are well-deserved.
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Television shows with strong family values and strong television fathers who are not comedic buffoons shouldn't be a rare surprise. This is why LOOR is building a platform that is safe for writers and creatives to tell stories with strong and heroic fathers. We know that humans are created in the image of God and, whether we want to admit it or not, we resonate with compelling stories where men are men and women are women. This will be the key to LOOR's success. Will you join us? Become a creator with LOOR and you can love God and make whatever you want.

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