Titans Season 4 Just Turned Superboy Into Lex Luthor, And It's Pretty Weird
This post contains spoilers for the fourth season of "Titans."
At the midpoint of the fourth season, "Titans" has taken the trailer slogan "new beginning" to heart so far. The change of scenery for the titular superhero team has brought in new allies and villains into the fold, from Lex Luthor (Titus Welliver) to Jinx (Lisa Ambavalanar). A different tone also permeates throughout the series, one that aptly mixes a good dose of horror with noticeably fluffier superhero stuffing. But the Titans themselves still have a lot to learn, especially Superboy, aka Conner Kent (Joshua Orpin). The most powerful member of the team has arrived at an existential crossroads this season, and it's evolved him into becoming a very different kind of character that leans into his heritage.
The clone-son of both Superman and Lex Luthor, Superboy has been yearning for a parent ever since the start of season 4. When Superman ended up ghosting him to save an alien planet, Luthor filled that void before his untimely death. Since then, Superboy has been eager to prove himself as an intellectually and physically powerful hero. This has led to him butting heads with Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites), who is keen on keeping Superboy down to earth. But in typical "Titans" fashion, daddy issues reign supreme, and Superboy has now adopted the worst possible part of his ancestry.
A bald, annoying Superboy
In the mid-season finale, "Titans" worked overtime to show just how messed up Superboy is after being possessed by Mother Mayhem (Franka Potente). The traumatic experience triggered a personality change, throwing any hesitation to be more like his genius father out the window. Mirror in hand, Superboy shaved off his full head of hair with laser beams to capture the Luthor look. He's now a more arrogant, annoying version of Luthor that isn't afraid of touting inherited intelligence to his peers. In fact, it isn't long before he starts bossing around S.T.A.R. Labs to stop Mother Mayhem from completing the Brother Blood ritual.
The entire ordeal is disorientating, to say the least, especially since Orpin has to completely shift his performance as Superboy to a Luthor-lite version that doesn't take any crap from anyone, even from Grayson. I'll commend that the Titans leader is actually quite patient with Superboy, despite his antics, which is a far cry from previous seasons. But that doesn't change the fact that Superboy's 180-degree turn is foreign to the senses, despite it being comic-accurate. It's all super weird and pretty exhausting, but at least he gets his comeuppance before the credits rolled.
Arrogance never works out
Near the latter half of the sixth episode, Superboy gets the very bright idea of facing off against the magic-wielding Mother Mayhem all by himself. Of course, he fails quite spectacularly due to his innate weakness to magic. The Titans are then forced to infiltrate the lair to rescue both him and Sebastian (Joseph Morgan). It's an embarrassing situation for Superboy, to be honest. He shaved his head and became a massive prick to everyone just to fall flat on his face when the pressure was on. I think it's time he got some guidance from someone not with the last name Luthor.
Although it doesn't seem like "Titans" will be introducing Superman anytime soon, I'd gander that Superboy would benefit from a meeting with his good-natured father. Superboy's journey this season has been dedicated to coming to terms with his parentage, so a meeting with Kal-El should give him some much-needed clarity of purpose. His turn as a super-powered Luthor makes sense in the grand scheme of things, but it shouldn't outlast its expiration date. Luthor just sucks all around, and a young version of him with the abilities of Superman isn't a great mix.
New episodes of "Titans" air on Thursdays on HBO Max.