‘Superman & Lois’ Season 3 Finale Episode 13 Recap & Ending Explained: Doomsday’s Twisted Origin

Welcome to the ending explained for the finale of Season 3, Episode 13 of ‘Superman and Lois.’ The 13th episode, titled “What Kills You Only Makes You Stronger,” has a title more accurate than ever. What begins as a wholesome story of healing and new beginnings quickly turns into horrors beyond human comprehension, and so far, the finale did justice to the season that was mostly slower-paced than usual. We also understand why Superman appearances in this season were so few and rare, considering that the CGI budget was most likely through the roof for this final episode. 

Doomsday made his grand appearance. He is one of the most vicious and dangerous villains that Superman ever faced and one of the few characters in the comics that managed to defeat him. He also came pretty close in this finale, but before we give everything away, let’s see how everything played out. 

Chrissy is pregnant, and there’s a new romance on the horizon for Lana 

We know that Chrissy and Kyle started dating at the beginning of the season, and now aptly, in the final episode, Chrissy revealed that she is pregnant. Kyle used to be married to Lana Lang and has two daughters with her, parenthood is nothing new for him, and he is delighted and ready to take on the father role once again. 

He goes to break the news to Lana and the girls, and everyone is happy for him, truly. Lana even promises that she will spoil the baby rotten. She handled this much better than Kyle hoped she would have, but Lana was always among the most emotionally mature characters in the series. 

The fact that John Henry Irons started courting her likewise helped heal her hurt feelings. And he is preparing for the date when Sam Lane visits him and tells him that D.O.D. wants him to be their official weapon developer, and they want him to relocate to Metropolis. Nat is excited because she will get to enroll at the D.O.D. academy, the same place that Matteo is currently attending.  

Clark & Lois are re-discovering their relationship 

Following her double mastectomy, Lois feels fine for the first time in months, and she looks forward to being intimate with Clark again. They make a quick trip to Italy to blow off some steam. Considering everything that happened, they need it. Lex Luthor and problems with Jordan couldn’t be farther from their minds. 

They later return home and propose to the boys that the family takes a vacation this Summer in Italy. Jonathan and Jordan accused them of bribing them to spend some time with them, and it’s working. 

Sam Lane also has a love in his life, thanks to Jordan

Things are being prepared for tonight’s meteor shower viewing in Smallville, and the coach uses the opportunity to get some solid vengeance on Jonathan, who is still “serving” him to make up for that incident that happened with Football.

Natalie and Jordan are also present, and Sam Lane makes a grand appearance with his new girlfriend, Gretchen. They apparently met on the senior dating app “Senior Swipe,” which Jordan showed Sam. 

Gretchen and Sam haven’t been dating all that long but have been on a few dates. The relationship seems oddly weird as Gretchen seems to be too attached to Sam and makes rather uncomfortable physical advances on him while his grandkids are around.

Jordan and Sarah are no longer friends, but they are speaking which is in an upgrade

Clark, Jonathan, Jordan, and Lois are having dinner in the diner and discussing their upcoming family vacation. Clark proposes that Jordan and he simply fly the family to Italy to save money on flights. Jordan gets mad because the family is using him to save money while he is not allowed to use his superpowers to save lives. 

Clark calls him up on this and quickly points out that Jordan was using his powers for selfish reasons, primarily for clout and vanity, and as long as he doesn’t get his priorities straight and learns responsibility, he won’t be able to use his powers, period. 

Sarah brings the bill to the table, and Jordan is extremely rude toward her. Clark forces him to apologize since it’s been months since the two broke up, and Jonathan should have moved on already at this point. They weren’t married on anything. There’s absolutely no excuse to act the way he does. 

Jordan admits that he is wrong and offers Sarah the olive branch. Sarah agrees they shouldn’t be friends but accepts his apology. 

Clark and Lois figure out that Lex Luthor is coming for them 

In the previous episode, we saw that Lex Luthor had gotten out of prison and swore that he would destroy Lois if he ever had to read a single word she wrote again. Since Lois doesn’t plan on quitting journalism, this leaves her open to the attacks. 

Lois and Clark get the news that Judge Reagan has been killed, the same Judge that passed a sentence on Lex, even though he was innocent when it came to killing Boss Moxie. Reagan is just the first in the string of Luthor’s planned victims, and he is saving his worse for Lois. But first, he needs to ensure that Lois no longer has her safety mechanisms around her, primarily her father, who works for the D.O.D. and Superman. 

Kyle proposes to Chrissy when Sam Lane gets kidnapped 

The meteor shower is starting, and Sam needs to rejoin his grandkids at the viewing area. Gretchen refuses to let him go and talks him into making out with her in the side alley. He is just about to make a call when Luthor’s goons show up, and Gretchen uses the opportunity to tase him. Leaving him alive but incapacitated. 

Gretchen was working for Lex Luthor all this time and probably got close to Sam to spy on him and track his movements for Lex. 

At the same time, the meteor shower is about to begin, and Kyle uses this opportunity to propose to Chrissy. Lana is shocked but gets comfort in the fact that her date with John Henry was a success, and they are definitely romantically involved, even if he is moving to Metropolis.

A couple of minutes later, Natalie tells everyone present that something is wrong, considering the fact that Sam is nowhere to be seen and he isn’t answering his phone. Clark uses his X-Ray vision to locate Sam’s phone. He finds it in the side alley where Sam was kidnaped. He starts looking for him immediately. 

How Lex Luthor created Doomsday 

In the last week’s episode, we know that Lex visited Mannheim’s former lab and found Bizarro Superman in there. Bizarro is a savage animal at this point and is feeding on the rats, barely aware of who and what he is. 

Bizarro attacked both Luthor and his guy, but Luthor managed to incapacitate him by using a gun enriched with X-Kryptonite.

Luthor was actually going for the kill, hoping that Bizarro would die from the shots. However, he doesn’t, and Luthor soon notices that every time he kills Bizarro and shoots him with X-Kryptonite, he gets only stronger and bigger. 

Luthor decided to use the opportunity to create a perfect Superman-killing weapon out of this. In the flashback scene, Bizarro is chained to the ceiling and tortured in the most horrific ways imaginable.

From drowning to being burned alive, cut up with various knives. He was shot at, massacred with a chainsaw, and X-Kryptonite enriched everything, and we know that Bizarro is specifically extremely vulnerable to this form of Kryptonite. 

Luthor’s torture eventually created Doomsday, even though he wasn’t called by this name in the series. We all know that there’s only one villain in the source material with this specific power. 

Soon, Bizarro morphed into a giant monstrosity, more insane than ever and ready to kill Superman once and for all. 

Did Doomsday kill Superman? 

Superman goes up to space in order to locate Same Lane quickly. He fails to do that but manages to track down Lex Luthor just fine. What Clark doesn’t realize at the moment is that it is a trap. 

Lex Luthor tells Superman that he is just a fool in a cape and tights and that he is about to get really comfortable with the concept of death. Lex Luthor activates a secret switch that summons Doomsday, and he makes a grand appearance by crashing into the nearby barn and exploding. 

Doomsday is going straight for the kill, and Superman doesn’t have enough time to react. Doomsday beats him up savagely before throwing him high up in the sky. 

Both Superman and Doomsday finally land in Smallville during the meteor shower event. Superman begs Jordan and the rest of his family not to get involved and moves Doomsday again to Metropolis. The two crash into the water, with Superman using his freeze breath to deal with Doomsday, he is successful for a moment, and Doomsday is completely frozen solid.

He moves him to the top of the highest tower in the Metropolis and impales him on it. Before Superman realizes that he has killed someone, Doomsday is alive again and lands next to him in a crowd of people.

Superman fought with him again, and the two crashed through the concrete until they hit the subway. 

Doomsday proceeds to violently beat Superman using everything, including the environment, to kill him. Doomsday finally manages to make Superman bleed, and you know the saying, “If it bleeds, we can kill it.” 

Superman is running on fumes at this point, being extremely overpowered by Doomsday. He is struggling to stay alive when Doomsday starts choking him and decides to put away Superman’s corpse in, well, outer space. 

Doomsday is ascending and about to leave the planet when Jordan tells Jonathan and Lois that he can no longer hear Clark breathe. And yeah, sure, Superman is dying, his lips are turning blue, and it seems that all is lost, but you know what they say that it happens when you’re close to death? Your whole life flashes before your eyes. This is what happened with Clark. His mind is flooded with images of his happy life with Lois and the boys. He gets just enough energy to free himself from Doomsday’s grip. 

Both of them crash into the moon, and the fight continues up there, with both of them still alive and kicking. The season ended up on a cliffhanger, just like the showrunners promised that it would end. To see how Clark will manage to deal with Doomsday, we’re going to have to wait for season 4, which was recently confirmed to be in development. 

What are your thoughts on the Season 3 finale? Let us know in the comments below!

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