Who is the Superman and Lois Tal-Rho character? That’s the question fans of the CW show have been asking since seeing Superman And Lois episode 10 ‘O Mother, Where Art Thou?’ yesterday, which not only revealed the main villain of the show as supposedly Superman’s brother Tal-Rho. It also teased another major villain with the Superman and Lois Eradicator machine. But who are Tal-Rho and the Eradicator in the comics?
Who is Superman and Lois Tal-Rho?
Continuing on from the tease at the end of episode nine, the latest episode reveals that slimy businessman Morgan Edge (Adam Rayner) is actually a Kryptonian named Tal-Rho, the son of Zeta-Rho and Superman’s mother Lara Lor-Van, making him Superman’s half-brother. While Morgan Edge is a character from the comics — and has actually appeared in the CW’s Arrowverse before, in Supergirl, where he was played by Adrian Pasdar — there has never been any indication that Edge is anything but human.
As for Tal-Rho, he is an original creation of the show. Superman has never had any siblings, with his closest relative his own age being his cousin Kara Zor-El/Supergirl. The TV show Krypton suggested that he might be related to General Zod, who is a similar character to Superman and Lois’ Tal-Rho, but that show did a lot of messing about with the Superman timeline and was cancelled before it could sort them out.
What is the Eradicator?
In the show, the Eradicator is specifically named as a glowing egg-shaped object that houses the consciousness of many Kryptonians — which can be transferred to humans, as Tal-Rho/Morgan Edge is trying to do. This is exactly how the villain known as the Eradicator started in the comics, but eventually it fuses with Superman to create a humanoid robot with many of Superman’s powers. Following the Death of Superman story arc, the Eradicator pretends to be Superman.
Following Superman’s return, it eventually turns into a villain hell-bent on protecting Krypton’s culture, and no longer considers Superman worthy of being Krypton’s heir, especially after the half-human Jonathan Kent is born. With both Jonathan and his brother Jordan present on the show, and the end of episode 10 showing a half-dead Superman clutching the Eradicator system outside the Fortress of Solitude, it does seem like the show is setting up the proper villain Eradicator character too.
There’s actually been a lot of Superman news recently. While the plans for the next movie as a reboot have upset a lot of fans, in videogames the Man of Steel is venturing into Fortnite in August and there’s an animated movie based on the Injustice games in the works for a probable release this year.
