Excuse Me, but Does Superman Have a Brother?

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Season 1 of Superman & Lois

It's official: In the previous episode of Superman & Lois, we learn that villain Morgan Edge is cultivating a superhuman army using X-Kryptonite. Citizens of Smallville have been exposed to the superpower, and things are dire. What's Morgan Edge's motivation? Well, surprise! He's Kryptonian. And one more bombshell: Morgan claims that Superman is his brother.

Morgan claims that he was sent to earth around the same time Superman was. But fans are now wondering what Morgan really means. Does he mean "brother" like a Kryptonite brother? Like they're made of the same power and are supposed to be alike? Is Morgan just trying to manipulate Superman? If Morgan really is Superman's brother, what's his real name? Does Superman even have a brother in the comic books? Is your mind blown right now? We did some digging into Superman's family tree.

Superman does, in fact, have a brother. This was officially confirmed in Action Comics #1028, which was released in 2020. Even though DC has always made it seem like Superman was an only child, DC pulled a fast one and introduced Kon-El, or Conner Kent, who's a clone created from Superman's DNA as well as Lex Luthor's. The narrative hasn't exactly been a clean one. Conner Kent was created in 1993's The Adventures of Superman #500, and he was called Superboy and also raised by Superman's parents.

Yeah, it's pretty confusing. Kon-El disappeared from DC Comics, showed up again in 2019's Young Justice #1, where the Young Justice team bring him back to the world where people remember him (Superman, on the other hand, has totally forgotten about him).

But back to Action Comics #1028: This is when Superman officially accept Kon-El as his real brother. He not only accepts him, but he tells Kon-El that he's proud that he has a brother, and reinforces the fact that Superman's parents are also Kon-El's parents, and he wants him to feel welcomed. Plus, in the comics, Superman's son is named Superboy, so DC really had to tidy that story up and give Kon-El his own existence and agency.

This doesn't really answer the question about Morgan claiming to be Superman's brother, because that doesn't follow the narrative in the comics at all. Kon-El is benevolent and is basically Superman's twin. Morgan looks nothing like Clark, nor do they share any of the same traits aside from their powers. And, yeah, Morgan is evil.

Mostly, fans are skeptical that Morgan is Superman's true brother...unless the CW has totally veered off course. One fan tweeted "Superman & Lois got me speechless already and we're only 12 mins in!! Superman's brother! ..I love how they're creating new stories to tell in his legacy." It's more likely that Morgan is General Zod, but we should be learning about that more in upcoming episodes.

Watch new episodes of Superman & Lois every Tuesday night at 9 p.m. EST on the CW.