Kyle Cushing (Arrowverse: Superman & Lois)

Kyle Cushing is the fire chief of Smallville, Kansas and ex-husband of Lana Lang. He was one of Morgan Edge's Subjekts but was returned to normal by Superman.

History

Early Life

Kyle's family immigrated from Mexico to America. When they moved to Smallville, his father changed their name from Cortez to Cushing.

Kyle went to Smallville High School alongside Lana, Pete Ross and Clark Kent. He once pantsed Clark during gym class. He started drinking as a teenager to deal with his mother's death and his academic struggles.

When Lana broke up with Clark she began dating Kyle and the two eventually married and had two daughters. When he left school he joined the Smallville Fire Department, eventually rising to fire chief.

Smallville fell into economic depression as the traditional industries that drove the town disappeared. Kyle held conservative views and resented the loss of Smallville's way of life as people left the town to pursue other opportunities rather than stay and try to improve it. In his experiences as a firefighter he saw the worst effects of the town's decline on its citizens on a regular basis and turned to drink to cope. His relationships with his wife and daughters, particularly Sarah, were extremely strained. During this period he had an affair with a bartender named Tanya, but broke it off when Sarah attempted suicide.

Season One

Kyle believed that Morgan Edge's plans to reopen the disused Shuster mines in town would be the cure to Smallville's economic woes, and campaigned tirelessly for the city to grant Edge the mining rights. This brought him into conflict with Lois Lane, although the two did develop a grudging mutual respect as they recognised that each wanted what they thought was best for the town.

Edge was granted the mining rights, which Kyle's advocacy was key in securing. Edge chose Lana to head up operations in Smallville, much to the Cushing's surprise. While Kyle was proud of Lana he had expected to be rewarded with a job for his work on Edge's behalf. Edge appointed Lana to run a "leadership training scheme", and heavily implied she should recruit Kyle to the program. As she believed that the program was a cover for something sinister, Lana kept Kyle out of it, telling Kyle that while Edge respected him personally he had no interest in employing him.

Sarah considered auditioning for a musical revue at school but was afraid to do so due to severe stage fright. Kyle helped her select a song and promised to accompany her on his guitar during the audition. However, before the audition he had a chance encounter with Edge's assistant Leslie Larr, who told him Edge was interested in hiring him, contrary to what Lana had told him. Depressed at the seemingly lost opportunity, Kyle got drunk and missed the audition, and Sarah told him to never promise her anything again.

Hoping to improve himself so he would not let his family down again, Kyle approached Edge and asked to be entered into the program. He was exposed to X-Kryptonite to give him Kryptonian powers and made the host of a Kryptonian consciousness. Kyle would remain in control of his body for most of the time until the alien consciousness was "activated" by a high-pitched signal, at which point the Kryptonian would take over while Kyle remained unaware.

Kyle and Lana attended the revue and Sarah's performance partner Jordan Kent did not appear. Kyle accompanied her on his guitar as promised and Sarah was able to successfully perform on stage. During the next performance by Avery Phan, Edge activated some of his henchmen, including Avery's mother Emily, sending them to attack Lois Lane. Emily abruptly got up and left without a word and Kyle followed her, claiming he would find out where she was going, although in truth he had been activated too.

Under the control of the Kryptonian consciousnesses Kyle, Emily and another man went to the Kent Farm. Emily and the third man attacked the farmhouse directly, but were held off by Lois' father Sam Lane. Lois and her son Jonathan Kent retreated to the barn where Jonathan had stored a cache of anti-Kryptonian weapons stolen from The Stranger. Kyle followed them in, claiming to be there to help and asked Jonathan to give him his gun. When Emily and the other man burst in, Jonathan shot them but Kyle blasted the gun out of his hands with his heat vision and attacked them. Fortunately Superman arrived just in time and punched Kyle out of the barn. He did not follow the attackers and went back to check on Lois and Jon, so Kyle and the others escaped.

Kyle woke up in a field with bruised ribs and no memory of anything that had happened since he had left the school. He went home terrified and told Lana that he had signed up for Edge's program and had no idea what had happened to him that night.

Sarah assumed Kyle was drunk and stormed out when Lana defended him. As Kyle and Lana were talking, Lois came to the house, which activated the Kryptonian consciousness within Kyle. He attacked them but Lois overpowered him with a chunk of Kryptonite. Kyle was held by the Department of Defense and tortured for information with Kryptonite, eventually giving up the location of the transformation chamber.

Jon Kent took Sarah to see Kyle, and the Kryptonian consciousness mocked her, telling her that her father was dead. Using the Eradicator, Superman created a wave that restored all the Subjekts to normal and Kyle reunited with Lana and Sarah.

Kyle felt deep regret for lobbying in Edge's behalf, and apologised to Lois for how he had treated her. He believed the townspeople would blame him for what happened, which was proven true. Lois interviewed him about what had happened when he was brainwashed, and he told her that he had been able to briefly fight the programming, but he had felt that his family would be better off without him and eventually surrendered to it. Their home was vandalised by angry citizens, but Lana and Sarah both assured him that they would get through the difficult time together, and the family bonded in adversity.

Kyle became disillusioned with Smallville after the town turned on his family so quickly and easily, even suggesting that they move away. Lana wanted to stay but eventually agreed when she realised others involved in inviting Edge to the town planned to place the blame on their family. While Kyle was clearing his things from the fire station a firefighter he had recruited and mentored asked him to stay, but he felt that he could not. Kyle eventually received an offer to replace the fire chief in Bristol County two hours away from Smallville, and with no other choice he and Lana decided to relocate. When they told their daughters Sarah chastised them for giving up on Smallville, and called Kyle a hypocrite for abandoning the town after years of complaining about others doing it, then stormed off.

That night Sarah ran home and told her parents that Jordan had been kidnapped by Morgan Edge and that Sam Lane was injured. They drove back to Sam's wrecked truck, helped Jon and Sam out of the car and patched up their injuries. They took Jon and Sam back to town and found the townspeople protesting the DoD. Faced with the choice to either leave or stay and help, the Cushings decided to stay. Sam asked them to help convince the people of Smallville to evacuate. While the Cushings were fleeing the city, energy waves being generated by Edge struck the town. A building was set on fire and Kyle ran in to rescue a woman trapped inside, winning back the respect of the town. Kyle was offered his job back and the family remained in Smallville.

Season Two

Over the next three months, Kyle worked to get sober while Lana ran for Mayor of Smallville against Mayor Dean, who had tried to scapegoat their family for what Edge had done to the town.

Emily Phan warned Lana that Mayor Dean was digging into their family's past and had been asking questions about Sarah. Lana and Kyle were worried that Dean would reveal Sarah's suicide attempt and cause her to backslide into depression. However, Sarah assured them she had overcome the problems that led her to try to kill herself and she was not afraid. While they were out at dinner Lana and Kyle encountered the Mayor and confronted him, and they both mutually agreed to leave each other's children out of the campaign. However, he also implied that he would reveal Kyle's alcoholism on the campaign trail. Stressed and shaken by these events, Kyle returned to the bar he used to frequent and met up with Tanya. He did not have sex with her, but simply wanted to unload his problems on her.

Tanya repeatedly tried to call him, eventually coming to Sarah's quinceanera party to talk to him. She admitted that she had confided in a friend that they had had an affair and she suspected that her friend may sell the information to Mayor Dean. Sarah and Jordan overheard them and when Sarah had to dance with Kyle she had a panic attack and ran out. Kyle and Lana followed her, and Sarah told Lana what she had heard.

Kyle stayed away from home that night, and came back in the morning to beg Lana for forgiveness, telling her that he still loved her as much as he did when they first met, but Lana asked him to leave. Later that day Lana went to the firehouse and told Kyle that she was no longer sure if she loved or even knew him anymore, and that he had ended his affair to prevent it hurting their children but not to prevent it hurting her. She asked Kyle to move out. Although Sarah was hurt by his actions, she eventually decided to maintain their relationship and so Kyle and Lana agreed to a tentative co-parenting arrangement.

Kyle moved into an apartment but did not take his possessions from the Cushing's house, as doing so would mean admitting that the separation was not short-term. A month later, on the day of Smallville's mayoral election, he was injured while fighting a fire and taken to hospital. The hospital staff called Lana despite Kyle instructing them not to and she and their daughters came to see him. Kyle insisted he was fine and was discharged but Sarah went to his apartment to keep him company, and saw its bleak, barely furnished state. Sarah collected Kyle's things from the Cushing's house and took them to his apartment, hoping to make his new home more comfortable. Kyle initially resisted but he eventually agreed. While they were unpacking, Sarah told Kyle how Jordan had been distancing himself from her, and Kyle told her that his and Lana's marriage had failed because he had not put her first, and advised her that she deserved better. That night Sarah returned and told Kyle that she had broken up with Jordan and asked to stay the night.

Two days later he met up Lana for breakfast, but she seemed distracted and left abruptly, asking him to pick the girls up from school. He suspected that Lana may have started dating and that evening asked Sarah if she knew anything. Sarah told him that Lana had disappeared for six hours the previous day, but also told him that if he had questions about Lana's personal life he should ask her himself. Kyle also learned that Sarah had gotten into songwriting and was working on an album. That evening he took her to an open mic night at Tanya's bar and convinced her to try out her material in front of people.

The next day, Sarah came to him and told him that Lana had found out and was upset even though Tanya had not been there, and believed that they had been keeping secrets from her. Kyle went to Lana's office to smooth things over with her, and found her stressed and worried. Lana told him it wasn't about him taking Sarah to Tanya's bar but because she felt overwhelmed by all the secrets in her life and worried that every choice she had made recently was the wrong one. Kyle assured her that she was a good person and he trusted that she always had the best intentions. He suggested that they and their daughters have dinner together and Lana agreed.

A few days later a second, red, cube-shaped sun appeared in the sky, which the government claimed was a rare optical illusion. The people of Smallville were understandably sceptical and Lana called a town hall meeting to discuss it. She asked Kyle if he believed it was better to know that something terrible was coming or to remain blissfully ignorant. Kyle told her that it depended on whether she was trying to protect others or herself by not telling the truth. He admitted that he hadn't had the courage to admit the truth about his affair to her, but he believed that she was strong enough to deal with the consequences of sharing a terrible secret.

Lana called a town hall meeting and told the townspeople that their world was being forcibly merged with another and Superman had lost his powers and would not be able to help them. The people did not believe her and George Dean tried to use it as an opportunity to undermine Lana, despite Kyle's attempt to defend her. Superman appeared personally and told the townspeople that everything Lana said was true and the people should listen to her. Lana told everyone to go home and shelter with their families.

After the meeting Lana asked Kyle to take Sophie home while she looked for Sarah, who had gone off with Jordan Kent. She said she would meet him back at the house, allowing him to return to the family home. Shortly after Lana and Sarah came home, Kyle was pulled into the Inverse world as the worlds merged. After searching for hours he stumbled across Lois Lane from his world. As the people of the other world disappeared around them, he told Lois that he deserved what was happening to him because of his affair and broke down crying. Lois told him he did not deserve to be alone and he was transported back to their world in the middle of a crowd of people from both worlds. He saw Lana and the girls in the crowd and they reunited.

Superman was able to undo the merge and restore the world to normal. Kyle hoped for a reconciliation with Lana but she told him that, although she would always care for him and he would always be a part of her life, they could never go back to how things were. She told him that he needed to stop hoping that they would be together again one day.

Season Three

Lana and Kyle began divorce proceedings and Kyle came to terms with his marriage ending, settling into his bachelor apartment and redecorating with the help of his daughters. However, Lana did not sign the divorce papers even after they agreed terms, claiming that every time she was about to she was called away to deal with a crisis. Kyle attended Jonathan and Jordan Kent's sixteenth birthday party at the Kent Farm, where he saw Lana flirting with John Henry Irons. He went inside to avoid them and met Chrissy Beppo who was also hiding from the party-goers, depressed that a teenager's birthday party was the biggest social event of her year. The two bonded and ended up spending the night together. Chrissy tried to sneak away the next morning but Kyle woke up before she could. They agreed that it was a one-time thing and they would never speak of it again. Lana came to drop off the signed divorce papers while Chrissy was still in the apartment and, although Lana did not see her, Chrissy witnessed his despair. She was unable to say anything and left after a long, uncomfortable silence.

A few days later, Lana was attacked by a masked metahuman. Sarah mentioned to Kyle that John Henry Irons had installed a new security system in their home, and he became concerned that Lana and Irons may be in a relationship. He went to visit Lana at work to try and get an sense of if there was anything between them, but Lana realised what he was doing and told him to leave.

That night, Chrissy came to Kyle while he was eating dinner alone in the town's diner. She shared her frustrations with Lois's refusal to take her cancer treatment seriously, and Kyle confided in her how his father had died of untreated liver cancer. Chrissy invited him to her apartment, the clear subtext being that they would have sex again. Kyle initially agreed, but then turned her down when Sarah came into the diner, crying and looking for him.

Sarah told him she had had a falling out with her mother but would not say more. She stayed the night in his apartment and the next morning ignored multiple texts and calls from Lana, even hanging up when Kyle answered the phone and handed it to her. Sarah told Kyle that Lana had slapped her, claiming that Lana was angry at her for telling him about John Henry Irons. Kyle went to confront Lana and, while they both agreed that hitting Sarah had been unacceptable, he learned that Lana had actually slapped Sarah when she blamed Lana for Kyle cheating on her.

Kyle returned to the apartment and told her that she should not have tried to weaponise Kyle's affair against Lana. He asked Sarah not to judge Lana by her worst moment and to give her a chance to apologise, telling her that Lana had been the one who found her when she attempted suicide and had performed CPR on her until the paramedics arrived and hadn't left her side until she woke up. They met at the diner that evening where Lana asked Sarah to forgive her and promised she would never hit her again. Sarah apologised for what she said and agreed to come home, but would not let Lana take her hand when she reached for her.

Three weeks later, Kyle got a flat tyre and was stranded on the side of the road for over an hour trying to change it. In that time, nobody offered to help until Jon Kent pulled over and asked if he needed a hand. Kyle was impressed and asked Jon if he would like to volunteer with the fire department over the weekends, which the young man eagerly agreed to. That evening, Kyle chaperoned Smallville High's Valentine's dance and spent most of the night talking with Chrissy. He invited her to dance with him, and after a moment's hesitation she agreed. They slept together again that night and continued to develop their relationship. Chrissy wanted to go public but Kyle was unwilling to do so and potentially hurt his daughters so soon after the divorce.

A month after the dance Lana asked Kyle to look after the girls on a weekend he was not scheduled to do so. Kyle had already made plans with Chrissy and so left the girls alone, trusting Sarah to watch Sophie. However, Sarah was herself distracted with studying for a test and Sophie wandered out of the apartment on her own, feeling neglected and ignored. Sarah didn't notice Sophie was missing until an hour later when Lana came to pick them up, and they went out to look for her. Lana went to check the general store, where Kyle was picking up snacks with Chrissy. Lana told him that Sophie what had happened and asked where he had been. Kyle made a weak excuse and Lana noticed Chrissy Beppo trying to hide from her nearby. She realised what had happened and stormed off, ignoring Kyle's attempts to explain himself.

Kyle figured out that Sophie had gone to the fairground, where the family had always had fun when the county fair came to town. He raced over there and found Sophie there, as well as Jon and Sarah who had also worked out where Sophie would go. Jon convinced Sophie to come home. That evening Kyle went to see Chrissy at the Smallville Gazette. She expected him to break up with her but he instead agreed to go public with their relationship now that Lana had found out.

Weeks later, Kyle found ice coating a room in a building which had caught fire; similar to ice he had found in the old town hall when it burned down the year before. From this, he came to believe that there was a metahuman in Smallville. He suggested to Chrissy that the Gazette write a story on the strange phenomena, but she told him that there was not enough evidence to support his theory. That evening, Kyle got a call from the sheriff's department that Sarah had crashed her car while driving under the influence and trying to flee the scene of an underage keg party.

Kyle drove out to the crash site and the deputy told him that they had to charge Sarah with a DUI. George Dean, Jr., who was also in the car, claimed they had walked away unscathed because someone with powers had pulled them out before they crashed, although Sarah insisted that she saw nothing. Kyle drove Sarah back to town and told Lana what had happened. They both yelled at her for what she had done but when Kyle accused her of still not telling the truth about being saved by a superhero, Lana also claimed that was impossible. Frustrated at everyone refusing to believe him, Kyle stormed off.

Kyle realised that the unusual occurrences started when the Kent family returned to Smallville. As he thought Jon had run into the burning building, he came to believe that Jon had powers and drove to the Kent Farm to confront him. Clark told Kyle he was wrong and repeatedly told him to leave, but refused to go without answers. The twins came out of the house and Kyle tried to go up to Jon, but Clark pushed him away, demonstrating super-strength. He promised Kyle that he would explain everything in the morning and flew away, leaving Kyle stunned.

The next day, Clark revealed to Kyle that he was Superman and that Jordan had inherited his superpowers; and that Lana, Sarah and Chrissy already knew. Kyle seemingly took it all in stride and promised to keep Clark's secret, but was upset that Chrissy not only kept the secret from him but lied to him when he was close to figuring it out, and walked out on her. Later that day, Lana came to Kyle's apartment and told him Sarah was in a downward spiral like the one that he lead to her suicide attempt. They all met together and Kyle told Sarah how his own drinking problems started when he was her age, and that he had been able to start getting his life back on track when he found purpose in life as a firefighter and a father. He advised her to take a waitress job at the diner as a first step. That evening he went to see Chrissy and apologised.

After learning the truth about Clark, Kyle began unconsciously treating Jon better and protecting him from hazing by the other firefighters. Clark met with Kyle and asked him to treat Jordan the same as everyone else. Kyle agreed but believed Jon had sent Clark and was disappointed in Jon for not speaking with him directly.

A month later, Chrissy revealed that she was pregnant; Kyle was initially shocked but excited to have a child with her. He told Lana and the girls, and was concerned how Lana would react as she had always wanted to have a third child, but she told him she was happy for him. That night, Kyle and Chrissy went to a public viewing for a meteor shower where he proposed to her in front of the whole town and she said yes.

Season Four

Kyle and Chrissy originally intended to have a small courthouse wedding, but a burst pipe flooded the whole floor of the courthouse the day before the ceremony so the venue was changed to the Kent Farm. Chrissy's estranged mother came to town for the wedding, but did not approve of their relationship due to the age gap between them, and she believed that they were only getting married because Chrissy was pregnant. The morning of the wedding Chrissy's mother told him that everything was happening too fast, but he told her that he loved Chrissy and she loved him.

Just before the ceremony was supposed to start, Sarah ran into the barn and told Kyle that Chrissy had disappeared. Lois found Chrissy and brought her back. Chrissy told Kyle that she loved him and wanted to marry him, but wanted to slow things down. They agreed that they would not get married until things felt right, but invited their guests to enjoy the party.

While searching for a new family home, Chrissy and Kyle found a house which was perfect for their needs but well out of their price range. Later that day, Kyle found another boy picking a fight with the Kent twins, accusing them of having superpowers, and broke it up. Kyle called Clark to the fire station and told him what had happened.

In order to raise the money to buy the house, Chrissy attempted to sell her half of the Smallville Gazette, but was unable to find a buyer. Kyle offered to sell all of his possessions to afford the house, but Chrissy told him not to and that they would not be able to make the money in time anyway.

That night, Lois and Clark invited Kyle and Chrissy to the diner for dinner. Lois offered to buy out Chrissy's half of the Gazette with the money her father had left her, promising that she could keep her job as co-editor and buy back her stake if she ever wanted to, and Chrissy enthusiastically agreed. However as the two couples were celebrating Emmitt Pergande, a drug dealer who Clark had run out of town months previously, stormed into the diner with a gun. He accused Clark of being Superman and, despite Clark's attempts to talk him down, shot at him. Clark changed into his Superman outfit at super-speed and let the bullet bounce of him, revealing his identity to the people in the diner. Kyle disarmed Emmitt and delivered him to the police. Realising it was only a matter of time before his secret got out, Clark announced his identity to the world on live television.

Clark was able to defeat Luthor for good with the help of his friends and family. A year later Chrissy and Kyle, with their newborn son, attended Lana's wedding to John Henry Irons. Chrissy was already pregnant with their second child, and her and Kyle's relationship with Lana had improved to the point that Lana was happy to look at her sonogram pictures; and danced with Kyle at the reception.

Thirty-one years later, Clark suffered a heart attack while walking his dog Krypto with Kyle. Kyle performed CPR on Clark and prevented him from dying; however, Clark passed away peacefully a few days later.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Abilities

Athletics
Barbecue
Bilingualism: Kyle can speak English and Spanish.
Leadership
Medicine: As a firefighter, Kyle is familiar with emergency medical procedures such as CPR.
Music

Weaknesses

Vulnerability to Kryptonite (Formerly)

Other Characteristics

Alcoholism