The following contains spoilers for Superman & Lois Season 3, Episode 12, "Injustice," which debuted Tuesday, June 20 on The CW.
The end of Superman & Lois Season 3 is moving into focus, with the season’s penultimate episode laying the groundwork for the CW series' upcoming fourth season. Though the battle against Intergang and Onomatopoeia reached its conclusion, the consequences of defeating Bruno Mannheim include an even greater threat. And the arrival of this familiar foe comes at a particularly challenging time for the Kent family, as Lois Lane and Clark Kent struggle to protect their son’s superhero secret.
In the wake of Mannheim publicly confessing that he framed Lex Luthor for murder, Lois and Clark brace themselves for Luthor’s release from prison. The Daily Planet gets wind of a teenage superhero active in Smallville, reaching out to Lois for advice on how to approach the story, since she broke the news of Superman’s introduction years ago. At school, Sarah Cushing is annoyed that Jordan Kent is bragging about Superboy’s exploits -- since he was so hard on her for exposing his secret to George Dean, Jr. after a harrowing car crash.
Similarly, Lois and Clark admonish Jordan for talking about his Superboy journey in Smallville, and decide to ground him from further superhero activities until the public eye moves on. Meanwhile at the fire department, Jordan's brother Jonathan Kent is uncomfortable that Kyle Cushing is giving him preferential treatment after learning that his father is Superman. Clark meets with Kyle privately and informs him of Jonathan’s concerns, leading to Kyle re-evaluating how to treat Jonathan at work.
A massive tornado forms near Smallville. Jordan disobeys his father by reclaiming his superhero outfit from General Sam Lane and helps Superman dispel it. The father-son duo is successful in quelling the natural disaster, but Superman is visibly frustrated that Jordan stays behind in the aftermath to have his photo taken by the civilians he saved. Jordan has a major conflict with Clark about ignoring his parents and taking in public adulation; he later commiserates with Jonathan over their respective setbacks.
After being released from prison, Lex recalls threatening the warden into tacitly giving giving Luthor control of the prison by holding his family hostage. Lex immediately uses that newfound power to have the guards assault all the inmates who harassed him when he was admitted into the penitentiary. Though the public assumes Lex will return to Metropolis to retake control of LexCorp, he walks all the way from his prison to the Kent farm to personally confront Lois over the story she wrote that put him behind bars.
Lex reveals the warden briefed him on all the developments surrounding Lois’ life during his lengthy incarceration, including Lois’ recent battle with cancer. An enraged Lex then blames Lois for his falling out with his daughter, demanding she cease her journalism career even after Lois apologizes for his wrongful conviction. An unsatisfied Lex has one of his henchmen pick him up and take him to Mannheim’s secret laboratory under Metropolis where they discover Bizarro. Lex impassively watches as Bizarro brutally kills the henchman, setting up a showdown between Lex and Superman.
Developed for television by Greg Berlanti and Todd Helbing, Superman & Lois airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m. on The CW, with episodes available to stream the following day on the CW app.