WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Superman & Lois Season 2, Episode 9, "30 Days and 30 Nights," which aired Tuesday, March 29, on The CW.
Superman & Lois Season 2 has introduced into the Inverse World, a strange reversed version of the Arrowverse's reality, complete with its own familiar faces mirroring the main cast, including the brutal Bizarro. Glimpsed briefly as Bizarro recounted how he arrived in the Arrowverse, the Inverse World appears to be ruled by this reality's version of cult leader Ally Allston, with this world's super-powered iteration of Lana Lang as her enforcer. With the series poised for a deeper exploration of this shadowy, twisted reality, the promo from the season's tenth episode suggests the Inverse World will take stylistic cues from Riverdale.
The promo for the episode "Bizarros in a Bizarro World" appears to expand on Bizarro's origin story, with the Inverse World's Superman and Lois seen embracing the fame and glamor that comes with Clark Kent being the most celebrated superhero in this universe. In this morally inverted reality, decadence and debauchery appears to be the de facto law of the land, with the citizens of Smallville indulging in their baser impulses while Ally is seen discovering the means to access the Arrowverse. In this glimpse, the fashion, cinematography and lighting is all visually reminiscent of Riverdale.
Among the more noticeable similarities between the two CW series is the difference in outfits worn by the Inverse World characters in comparison to their Arrowverse counterparts. There's a lot of leather and black in the Inverse World wardrobe, with the Jonathan of this world practically looking like one of Riverdale's Southside Vipers while providing a nod to Conner Kent's original Superboy costume. Lois and Lana dressed more suggestively than their Arrowverse doppelgängers, while many people around Smallville are seen in similar brusquer attire.
There are tonal similarities as well, with the affluence and adoration that Superman and his family enjoy evoking the wealth and social status that the Lodges and Blossoms have lorded over their Riverdale neighbors for years. Lois and Lana are shown hinting at having their own sinister edge, with a quiet menace to their appearances in the promos. Smallville is no longer the wholesome picture of small town Americana but a place where everyone has a deadly secret and can indulge in their worst impulses.
Riverdale was always a show that took the poster boy for wholesome, family friendly comic book fun and subverted it into a bloody crime story, complete with next-door serial killers and rival gangs. Recognizable elements from Archie Comics were still there but repurposed to be given an unsettling edge as Archie Andrews found themselves literally struggling to survive against the hidden evils of their hometown. Coincidentally, Riverdale recently had its own exploration of parallel dimensions with the "Rivervale" event, as it offered an even darker and more horrifying take on the show at the start of its sixth season outside of its main continuity.
Superman has now been stranded in the Inverse World for a full month while this inverted world's Jonathan has arrived in the Arrowverse to meet the prime reality's iteration of the Kent family. It will be interesting to see how much of this more debauched Smallville is intact without its greatest hero and how the Arrowverse Superman will react to it. But judging by the promos, the Man of Tomorrow is sure to find the Inverse World to be a thoroughly unpleasant place and a nightmarish twist on the home he left behind.
Developed for television by Greg Berlanti and Todd Helbing, Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 8pm ET/PT on The CW. Season 2 resumes Tuesday, April 26.
