Arrowverse Gives Superman A Power Origin That DC Movies Ignore
The Arrowverse gives Superman a power origin in Superman & Lois that DC movies tend to ignore. The superhero series took a break from all the action involving Morgan Edge (aka, Superman’s half-brother Tal-Rho) to focus a bit more on Clark Kent’s past — which involved learning how to use his powers, meeting Lois Lane at The Daily Planet in Metropolis, and ultimately becoming Earth’s champion. While the Man of Steel’s abilities have always been the same in every iteration, the power of flight has a bit of a different origin story in Superman & Lois.
After stopping Tal-Rho from turning many of Smallville's citizens into Kryptonians, Superman heads to the Fortress of Solitude and collapses. While unconscious, he relives some of his most cherished past memories, including his arrival at the fortress for the first time, meeting his biological father Jor-El (in hologram form), and learning how to master his superhuman abilities. Clark has typically had a learning curve when it came to managing his heat and X-ray vision, as well as his super-hearing and strength. However, his flight was barely touched upon when it came to his training in other DC movies.
In Man of Steel, Clark was shown making great leaps before finally learning how to fly. He crashed a couple of times before finally mastering the ability enough to break the sound barrier, but it also didn’t take that long for Superman to get the hang of it. In the 1978 Superman movie, Clark already had a grasp on all of his powers by the time he landed in Metropolis, so there wasn’t much to learn on that front. But Superman & Lois once again changes up the game by showing Clark taking flight for the first time after several years spent training to use this specific power alongside all the others.
His learning to fly has never before been shown in this manner and it’s rather refreshing that the series actually made an effort to showcase this portion of his training by tackling it over the course of years rather than relegating it to a short period. In the DC movies, and even in Superman-focused series like Smallville, the Man of Steel tended to learn about how to control his powers fairly quickly and while still living at home. The flying part usually seemed to come the easiest for him, especially by comparison to all the other abilities he struggled to control. The fact that Clark took a while to finally be able to fly without effort in The CW show was also pretty relatable, showcasing the superhero as someone who had to practice for a very long time to use his gifts just like everyone else in the world.
What’s also different regarding Superman & Lois is that Clark clearly didn’t really know how to utilize any of his powers properly until he went to visit the Fortress of Solitude, spending years there to really hone his flight before finally returning to Smallville to start his life anew. Flight is one of Superman’s most visible powers in any iteration. That the Arrowverse's Superman & Lois provides a power origin story for it that is glossed over in other properties is yet another aspect that sets it apart from other narratives about the Man of Steel.