X-Kryptonite Has Set the Stage for an Insane Season of 'Superman & Lois'

Thanks to COVID-related production delays, we haven't had a new episode of Superman & Lois since March 23, which might mean you need a quick replay of the major action that went down last time you tuned in. Back in March, Arrowverse's Superman & Lois introduced X-Kryptonite, which could change everything, and set us up for a super crazy first season. But let's back up.

In the first few episodes, we were mainly focused on Morgan Edge and how he was overtaking the Shuster Mines in Smallville. Lois started looking into Morgan and discovered that he had financially destroyed these communities by shutting down unions and paying completely unlivable wages. And worst of all, a lot of his employees "mysteriously" disappeared.

What was Morgan's motivation? Turns out he was looking for something, and we recently found out what that something was in the episode "Haywire." Edge and Leslie Larr go to Shuster Mine with their energy detector and they find that the Shuster Mines are full of "enough X-Kryptonite to resurrect an army." In the episode "The Best of Smallville," Lois is able to make a huge breakthrough in her investigation, and she's the one who finds out about X-Kryptonite.

X-Kryptonite is Kryptonite that any human can take and essentially develop the same abilities and powers as Superman. X-Kryptonite first came about in Action Comics #261, which was published in 1960. X-Kryptonite is a failed science experiment conducted by Supergirl when she was trying to develop a cure for Kryptonite poisoning (it was meant to be green Kryptonite). Instead, she created the opposite of what she meant to. This is how she accidentally created Super-Cat, who was her pet cat. 

The discover of X-Kryptonite is kind of funny, since Supergirl is trying to create green Kryptonite, which would be poisonous to her and Superman, and she throws it out the window. This is pretty bizarre, since why would you throw out a concoction that could potentially kill you? And since she thinks it doesn't work, couldn't it affect other people if they come across it? Which is precisely what happened when Streaky, her pet cat, discovers the potion.

Eventually, all of X-Kryptonite is turned into iron, and Streaky gets stripped of all her powers. No more Super-Cat! But this isn't the only alt-version of Kryptonite in the comics, so Superman & Lois has a lot to play with, if they want. In fact, DC Comics can incorporate various types of Kryptonite, since it's a very cool and mysterious power that seems to be incredibly versatile.

In fact, there are several different types of Kryptonite in the pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths comics. There's blue Kryptonite (this temporarily takes away Kryptonians' powers), gold Kryptonite (the same as blue, but with permanent effects), and red Kryptonite (which was essentially an unhinged version of the power, so you never knew what you'd get). In most of the comics, these types of Kryptonite were used to make a human evil for a while. The rarest of them was X-Kryptonite, though.

What will become of X-Kryptonite and how will Morgan use it? This will likely be the rest of Season 1's focus. 

Watch the next episode of Superman & Lois next Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST on the CW.