‘Superman & Lois’: How Is Bizarro Superman Alive?
Much of the Superman & Lois season 3 focus is on Bruno Manheim and Intergang, whose criminal activities so far make them the prime villain that Superman will have to face this season. Early on, we learned that Bruno Manheim would stop at nothing to gain the upper hand over Clark Kent, but his primary motivation was hidden until the latter episodes of the series when it was revealed that Peia, his wife and the notorious villain Onomatopeia, is suffering from terminal cancer with little options to help her. In one of his desperate moves, we’ve seen that Bruno stole the corpse of the Bizarro Superman, and now in the latest episode, we’ve seen Bizarro alive. So what happened to him, and how is he alive all of a sudden?
Bizarro was resurrected by using a special cocktail of drugs created by Aleister Hook. The treatment was initially based on Clark’s blood, but due to its limited functionality, Mannheim started doing experiments on Bizarro’s corpse instead. Bizarro received the same treatment as Peia, and it brought him back to life. It is unknown what exactly is in the treatment, but it is generally accepted that Kryptonian blood is the key to its dangerous side effects.
Now it was never revealed what kind of drugs and substances Bruno used to develop a cure for Peia, but we know that the first version involved using Clark’s blood. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!
Bruno Mannheim used Kryptonian physiology to research, basically, immortality
At the start of season 3 of ‘Superman & Lois’ Clark was shocked to see Henry Miller, aka Atom-Man, out of prison and terrorizing Metropolis with his newfound superpowers.
This was put in the background until one more criminal resurfaced, James Distefano, aka Deadline, again with superpowers and once again connected to Bruno Mannheim. But what did Henry Miller and James Distefano had in common?
They were both terminally sick and got their powers after being involved with Bruno Mannheim and Aleister Hook. The matters became more clear when Chrissy and Lois accidentally uncovered a freezer full of blood in one of Mannheim’s warehouses, and after analysis, it was revealed that the blood in question belonged to Superman and that it was stolen from D.O.D.
We know that Kryptonian physiology is vastly different than human physiology. Kryptonians are practically immortal as long as they are exposed to yellow sun radiation, and they are highly invulnerable to most forms of damage, including classic human ailments. They also have a supreme healing factor that allows them to repair even the most severe damage in a matter of moments.
Bruno Mannheim used Superman’s blood for a reason, only that blood and his first treatment version had certain side effects. All of those who received treatment would develop superpowers, but the treatment did little to cure their original ailments. We saw this effect with Jame Distefano, whose lymphoma spread and ultimately killed him extremely aggressively, even though the treatment worked for a time.
Bruno Stole Bizarro in a last-ditch attempt to cure Peia
We assumed that Bruno was stealing blood to create an army of superpowered criminals, but this wasn’t the case. As the story progressed, we learned that Bruno donated quite a lot of money to develop a cure for certain types of cancer. Hobb’s Bay Medical Center established itself as the best place to be if you have cancer due to his efforts and his financial backing.
But why would he do that? It doesn’t seem to be in character, considering that he is the leader of Intergang and probably the most dangerous man in Metropolis. And despite knowing what kind of effects his “treatments” had on criminals, he never attempted to give himself superpowers.
It was never about superpowers. It was always about his wife, Peia, aka Onomatopoeia, the villain we met back in the first episode of season three.
We learn that Peia has breast cancer, just like Lois, and he is desperately trying to save her, sinking large amounts of money into researching the cure. We also learned that Mannheim stole the corpse of Bizarro Superman, obviously to use him in developing the cure.
How is Bizarro alive?
We know that Bizarro appeared in the second season of Superman & Lois and hailed from the Inverse World. He was the polar opposite of Clark Kent of this earth, and despite being physiologically the same, there were significant differences between the two.
First of all, Bizarro was empowered by Green Kryptonite. That’s right; Bizarro is upon contact with Green Kryptonite, even stronger than regular ol’ Superman. However, this fact caused him to get addicted to Kryptonite which gave Bizarro his monstrous pale, and cracked appearance.
Second, Bizarro is powered by the red sun as opposed to Clark’s utilization of yellow sun radiation. This is because, in Bizarro’s reality, his planet is near a red star, and his cells learned how to utilize that type of radiation.
Third, Bizarro is extremely weak to yellow Kryptonite, and we’ve seen this type of Kryptonite before under the name X-Kryptonite. X-Kryptonite was turned into a drug that was capable of giving humans superpowers and enhanced physical attributes. X-K was often inhaled. This is how General Anderson managed to kill Bizarro in the first place. Anderson discovered that Bizarro is affected by X-Kryptonite much in the same way that Green Kryptonite affects Clark Kent.
So Bizarro died already in the show, and Bruno brought him back to life? How?
It’s not exactly clear what was in the cocktail administered to Bizarro by Aleister Hook. Some fans theorized that the treatment involved X-Kryptonite, but I don’t see how that could be beneficial to Bizarro, considering that Yellow Kryptonite is his weakness.
Superman’s blood was obviously involved, but we don’t know to what extent. So far, we’ve seen Bizarro mostly dead or in a comatose state. He was being held in a special room, and in one instance, we’ve seen that the treatment worked, and he was resurrected and opened his eyes.
It wasn’t until the latest episode that we saw Bizarro fully alive and breathing, seemingly having difficulties controlling his powers and on the verge of a meltdown. It’s unknown whether Bizarro fully recalls his demise and whether he remembers or knows what happened to him. It’s also unclear whether he understands that he was a part of Mannheim’s experiment.
We’re most likely going to see Bizarro in the finale, and it’s unclear what his purpose in the series will be except in the obvious antagonist role.
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