'Superman & Lois' are totally normal parents in new CW series

What do two teenage boys call the world’s greatest hero and the world’s greatest journalist?

Mom and Dad.

The CW’s newest superhero show, “Superman & Lois,” which premiered Tuesday, asks just how much parenthood has changed the Metropolis couple, if at all.

For Elizabeth Tulloch, Lois Lane to Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman, the failures are often more interesting than the successes.

“Part of what makes them interesting is we’ve seen a lot of versions of them where they’re perfect,” the 40-year-old actress told the Daily News. “Now you’re seeing them failing and struggling and messing up.”

Lois and Clark are far from the perfect parents of twin boys that they would like to be. One twin, Jonathan (Jordan Elsass), has grown into a jock who relentlessly picks on his anxiety-riddled brother Jordan (Alexander Garfin). While Jonathan has risen to high school fame and glory, Jordan has receded in the shadows as a bystander.

Thinking they were protecting their children, Lois and Clark have chosen not to reveal Dad’s night job — reaching for an ever-ready lie when he misses Jordan’s therapy or Jonathan’s game. It becomes untenable.

“What’s setting our show apart is there’s so much emphasis on the family and the foursome,” Tulloch told The News. “They’re hiding their secrets from the boys, then the boys have to hide their secret from other people. We’re not just focusing on the romance of Lois and Clark. They know they need to prioritize their sons.”

The show, the seventh series to join the CW’s Arrowverse, propels Lois and Clark into their futures, past the awkward flirtations in the newsroom and joy of new love. They have now settled into patterns, and superpowers are painted as a fun fact for the couple rather than the basis for a relationship.

At home, it’s Clark and Lois.

“Even though Superman is Superman, she is his equal,” Tulloch said. “They’re built on a foundation of mutual respect and admiration.”

“Superman & Lois” — and the Kents — move to Smallville, a once idyllic hometown that has crumbled under a growing meth problem and disappearing factory work. Morgan Edge, the union-busting hedge fund owner who just bought the Daily Planet, has promised to rebuild the town and bring in hundreds of jobs.

Lois isn’t so sure.

“She initially assumes everyone is going to see her side of things but they view her as an outsider who doesn’t understand their struggles,” Tulloch told The News. “They say, ‘we just need work. We need to put food on the table. We don’t care if the person is corrupt or evil.’”

Figuring out how to relate to Smallville is part of Lois’ learning curve — because even when she faces opposition, she knows she’s right.

“This is Lois Lane. She wants to save the world with words,” Tulloch said. “What could be more hopeful than believing that all the world needs to change is to hear the truth?”

That’s the point of “Superman & Lois”: hope. Not just the crest on Superman’s chest, but the idea that things can get better if people try to make them better.

“People need hope and they need Superman, but they need to be able to relate to him a bit more. Superman does the right thing because it’s the right thing. He could use his powers for evil and he’s choosing not to. If he wasn’t Superman, if he was just Clark Kent, he would still be good,” Tulloch told The News.

“You don’t need to have powers or be crazy strong to be good.”

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