The “Bitter Script Reader”‘s blog has long been a great destination for those who want to see discussion of screenwriting and reactions to things that happen on TV and films. Last year, “Bitter” revealed himself to be Adam Mallinger, who was the writers’ assistant for Superman & Lois Season 1, who also was credited by both showrunner Todd Helbing and staff writer Jai Jamison as being “The One Who Pitched John Henry Irons” as the true identity of “The Stranger.”
“For about six weeks or so, the Stranger really was Alex Luthor, a good Luthor on an Earth with an evil Superman. The more we filled out how we were gonna use this guy, and how he was going to interact with Lois, the more it became clear that while he presented as an antagonist, he had a very empathetic, honorable storyline, and that his trajectory was more akin to an eventual ally than a recurring foe,” Adam recalls in his latest entry, talking about the early weeks of the S&L writers’ room.
The article confirms that every script from Episode 2-on was written with the knowledge that The Stranger was actually Superman ally John Henry Irons, which surely affected how the episodes would be written. Certain clues had been dropped in previous episodes, but very few figured it out before the big reveal in “Man of Steel.”
If you would like to read a perspective from someone who has long been a comic book geek — and he’s writing Episode 10 airing on June 15, by the way — swing on over to the blog to read this entry.