Warning: SPOILERS for Superman & Lois Season 1, Episode 3 - "The Perks of Not Being a Wallflower"
Superman & Lois episode 3 addressed one of the lingering issues with Superman Returns: the Man of Steel's creepy penchant for spying on people, especially Lois Lane. Even though Clark Kent (Tyler Hoechlin) and his wife Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) moved their family to Smallville, life is getting complicated now that one of their sons, Jordan (Alex Garfin), is developing superpowers. Clark is trying to be around more and is protective of both of his sons, Jordan and Jonathan (Jordan Elsass), but his ability to hear and see them anytime he wants naturally became a problem.
In Superman Returns, Clark Kent (Brandon Routh) also had a disturbing habit of spying that was especially pronounced in the film. After five years in outer space, the Man of Steel returned to Earth and tried to fit back into life in Metropolis but he felt more alienated than ever. Clark was especially distressed that Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) had moved on from her romance with Superman; she was engaged to Richard White (James Marsden) and she had a young son named Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu). Superman rededicated himself to being the world's savior and there's a memorable scene where he floated above the world and listened in on everyone on the planet who needed help. But Superman also violated Lois's privacy by literally peering into her home and listening in on her private conversations with Richard. It was an unheroic low point for Superman that fans still cringe over.
To Superman & Lois' credit, The CW show addressed Clark's same problem with spying head-on, and his entire family called him out on it. Now that both Jonathan and Jordan know that their father is Superman, he no longer hides when he hears a cry for help and zooms off to save the day. But the twins were understandably upset when Clark listened in on a confrontation Jordan had with Sean (Fritzy-Klevans Destine), the boyfriend of Sarah Cushing (Inde Navarrette), and the Super dad suddenly appeared at Smallville High School. Jordan and Jonathan both took issue with their father spying on them and appearing unannounced. Clark admitted that he does violate people's privacy with his Super Hearing. In fact, he did it to Lois in the past and he almost lost her until he promised he would never do it again.
Ultimately, Clark made the same promise to his sons that he made to Lois that he would no longer use his powers to spy on them, even if he thinks it's because they need his help. Both Jordan and Jonathan took their dad at his word, although they quipped that he didn't buy them flowers as he did for their mom. The Kent family crisis, and especially Lois confronting Clark about how he used his super-senses to keep tabs on her, felt like a direct rebuke of Superman Returns' ethical problems. Superman's powers like Super Hearing and Super Vision can lend themselves to him performing immoral acts so it was refreshing that Superman & Lois pointedly tackled the problem in a way Superman Returns never did.
Jordan also asked his father whether "lurking" is one of his superpowers when he found Clark waiting outside his bedroom door for him. This also felt like a jab at Superman Returns where the Man of Steel spent his nights hovering outside Lois and Richard's home, and he even entered Jason's bedroom to give the boy the same speech his father, Jor-El (Marlon Brando), recited to him when Superman found out Jason is his son. The unspoken comparison between Bryan Singer's film and the Arrowverse series is especially effective since Crisis On Infinite Earths established that Superman Returns exists as part of the Multiverse. Tyler Hoechlin and Elizabeth Tulloch's Clark and Lois even met and fought alongside Brandon Routh's Superman in the Crisis.
Contrasting Superman Returns to Superman & Lois feels correct since both incarnations of the Man of Steel depict him as a father, although Brandon Routh's superhero couldn't legally be Jason's parent. Meanwhile, Superman & Lois is all about Clark trying to be a father and husband and raising a family with Lois, which is groundbreaking for a Superman live-action project. But, as Superman & Lois reminded Clark, he can't be a good father without earning his family's trust, and that means no more Superman Returns-like creepy lurking.