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- All Love Is Unrequited: Mayson Drake.
- All Psychology Is Freudian: Clark is confused by a Lois double who dencounces him at an Anti-Superman rally. He is later skimming a psychology textbook in an effort to try to understand Lois' behavor (Freud is on the cover).
- Alliterative Name: William Wallace Webster Waldecker (aka "Resplendent Man").
- Always Camp: The French Jerk party coordinator in "That Old Gang of Mine".
- Always Someone Better: Tempus quotes this to Jesse James (Don Swayze, brother of Patrick) before demonstrating his modern day automatic pistol.
- Apologetic Attacker: In a saloon in 1866 Smallville, Tempus is elated to meet his "inspiration", Jesse and Frank James. Until he robs them.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "Let's see: satellite hijacking, attempted murder, terrorism and — oh yes — speeding!"
- Audible Gleam: Secret Service Agent Navarro. "You can't protect the President if you don't protect your teeth."
- Avenging the Villain: Arianna Carlin, following Lex's suicide.
- Back from the Dead: Lex Luthor.
- Ballistic Discount: A gun merchant who foolishly gives Tempus a demo of his Desert Eagle.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: H.G. Wells decides to grant Tempus his wish: "To live in a violent, hellish dystopia." We cut to 1866 again, where Tempus is in the Kansas State Asylum.Tempus: I don't belong here! I'm from the future! I have to get out of here so I can build another time machine! Hey! Anybody listening to me?!
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Lenny Stoke puts a nice gloss on his citywide blackmail via Earthquake Machine, calling it a "sound tax".
- Blunt Metaphors Trauma: Clyde Barrow chewing on Perry's credit card."Gold card? [nom nom) Like hell it is."
- Bodyguard Babes: Lenny Stoke has two of these.
- Brand X: Golden Springs beer, the telling clue to a killer's identity! Or something.Lois: Clark, this isn't just any beer!
Clark: I know, it goes with "sun and good times!" - Brawn Hilda/Dumb Muscle: Lois's impression of the duo of Amazonian bouncers for Lenny Stoke's Stoke Club in the episode "Wall of Sound," given her scathing choice of words when egging them on.Lois (paraphrased): "You see, he [Lenny] likes his women... smaller than the average cow. So either you lose some poundage or go grazing somewhere else." (Beat) "Should I be using smaller words?"
- Briefcase Full of Money: In "Chi of Steel", Perry's financial advisor is explaining how his life savings have been converted to bearer bonds, stored in a safe in a room they are in, preparatory to a hooded ninja immediately breaking into the gentleman's club and stealing it.
- Broke Episode: During a citywide blackout, Perry orders everybody to prepare tomorrow's edition using old-school printing presses. It pays off, and the Planet is the only paper with a new issue that following morning.
- Cat Fight: Lois and her doppelgänger in "Madame Ex". The encounter starts out polite enough, but quickly escalates when the impostor insults Lois' fashion sense. Let the hair-pulling commence.
- Cement Shoes: Al Capone prefers doing things the old-fashioned way.
- Changed My Jumper: Lois' business attire doesn't fly in 1866, where she's referred to as "the naked lady".Lois: I'm not naked. These are just new fashions from... France.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: The premise of "Whine, Whine, Whine" is that Superman saves a musician from being crushed by a falling amplifier... only to have the resucee sue him for "spraining" his arm. The rest of the episode features a lot of Ambulance Chasers trying to cash in. At the trial, the court room is rigged with a C12 bomb, and Superman bursts through the ceiling to fly off with it, saving everyone... and the musician claims to have gone blind from getting plaster dust in his eyes. Finally his wife gets fed up, reveals that he's just pretending to be injured, and dumps him in front of the entire court.
- Coolest Club Ever: Stoke Club. He even has amazons for bouncers!
- Cowboy Cop: Clark lampshades Dan Scardino's not-so-subtle resemblance to Mel Gibson.
- Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Lex negotiating with his accountant.Lex: If you cross me, Bender,
I will cut open your chest, and sew up a rat inside. - Dead Partner: Dan Scardino's got one.
- Death by Falling Over: Lois uses her Waif-Fu to overpower Lenny Stoke's bodyguard, Cory Everson
. She looks a bit embarrassed as she lolls on the sidewalk and 'faints'. - Death Is Cheap: After the tumble he took, Lex ought to be hamburger. But Dr. Tasha Yar freezes his body, and he turns up again in Season 2 no worse for wear.
- Defensive Feint Trap: Lois needs to get inside the Stoke Club, but two burly ladies are guarding the door.Lois: Hi! I just thought I'd give you girls a tip. Lenny told me he really likes his women to be...well... how should I put this? 'Smaller than your average milk cow? [...] Should I be using smaller words? [run away]
- Delivery Guy: Superman, prompting the father to exclaim, "I've just thought of the perfect name."
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Jesse James, after getting outgunned by Tempus.Frank James: Jesse, it happens to every man once in awhile.
Jesse James: Not to me!
Frank James: Look, it's not your fault. His was just plain bigger.
Jesse James: Size never made no difference before.
Frank James: You gotta get your mind off this Jesse, or it could affect your future performance. - Dragon Ascendant: Nigel.
- Drugged Lipstick: To be more specific, kryptonite lipstick. Diana Stride plants some on Superman after applying it.
- Good Is Dumb: In "Tempus Fugitive", it apparently wasn't hard for Tempus to convince Wells to take him on a time travel tour.
- Empty Quiver: In "Lucky Leon", Superman is duped into diverting a nuclear warhead straight into the hands of Intergang.
- Eye Beams: Patrick Sullivan gains these after donning his cursed mask.
- Fantastic Aesop: In "The Eyes Have It", evil scientists try to reclaim a device which implants the entire sum of human knowledge into one's brain. The device is later destroyed (forever?), something Perry remarks on as a "good thing".
- Foot Popping: In mid-air, no less
- Foreign Cuss Word: When Clark arrives at Lois' apartment for Christmas dinner, she proclaims "You are going to get stuffed!" The line made quite a stir in Australia.
- Even funnier is that leading man Dean Cain wrote that line himself.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Granted, they've been trying to get together for a while now, but Clark proposes to Lois pretty soon after they start dating.
- Friendly Local Chinatown: "Chi of Steel" revolves around indentured labor, mystical bracelets that allow the wearer to pwn Superman and a Chinese Expy of Clark.
- Get Back to the Future: "Tempus Fugitive":Tempus: Well, Lois Lane, independent career woman of the 1990s, you're about to be stranded in 1866, without the right to vote, own property or write for a great Metropolitan newspaper! God, I love irony.
- High-Altitude Interrogation: Superman to John Dillinger (or his clone, anyway).
- His Name Is...: Bill Church's lawyer is about to finger his boss as the head of Intergang—unaware that Church is listening in. One remote control button push later, and blammo.
- Hologram: Upon being 'outed' as Superman by Diana Stride, Clark uses a hologram of himself in the Superman outfit to baffle everyone at a press conference. Ma and Pa Kent lend their support.Jonathan: Oh boy. What am I doing playin' with lasers on a farm?Martha: You're helping our son! Now get your telemetry straight.
- Hopeless Suitor: Mayson Drake and Dan Scardino.
- Maybe those two should have hooked up instead. (It practically writes itself!)
- Hospital Hottie: Diana Stride, in one of her many disguises.
- I Always Wanted to Say That: Mayson entering the newsroom and yelling "Stop the presses!" A nonplussed Lois points out that
nobody ever says that. - I Don't Like You And You Don't Like Me: Lois and Mayson Drake in "Hot Copy".
- Ill-Timed Sneeze: Hyper-allergic Dr. Hamilton gives himself and Lois away whilst hiding in a closet (Bonnie Parker's perfume set his sinuses off).
- I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Before she dies, Mayson's last word to Clark was "resurrection". Which we learn what it meant in the next episode with the same name.
- I'm Standing Right Here: "Luthor was a lowlife, scum-sucking criminal! How could anybody like that guy? [beat] Sorry, Lois."
- Impersonating an Officer: Intergang threatens to kill Superman's friends if he shows his cape in their territory. But they didn't mention anything about him dressing as a cop instead.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: In "Lucky Leon", Lois explains the problems men have talking about feelings and says that when they finally work up the nerve, they usually use a lot of sports metaphors. Clark is skeptical, but just then Perry pokes his head out of the office and gives them a reassuring speech to relay to Jimmy, who's currently in trouble due to a frame-up. Sure enough, it's a hurricane of sports metaphors.
- Ironic Fear; Just before Superman hoists Lenny Stroke up to fly him to jail, Stoke protests that he's terrified of flying. "It's a Rain Man thing."
- It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: Clark's response after being called out by Lois for having a secret identity.
- It's All Junk: Clark surprises Lois with a batch yellow flowers ( "yellow is for friendship". This after the Prankster had been sending her using romantic gifts as Trojan Horses for his crimes, and to make her miserable. Lois assumes the flowers are another trap, and bins them immediately.
- Laughing Gas: The Prankster pumps nitrous oxide through the vents after luring Lois into his trap, causing her and everyone in the building to laugh uncontrollably. He and his partner then take her away.
- Literal Surveillance Bug: A robotic beetle used by Intergang to eavesdrop on nosy reporters. As well as attract heat-seeking missiles.
- Locked Away in a Monastery: Exhibiting peculiar ideas about the nature of love, Lex Luthor believes that he can get Lois Lane to love him by sealing her off from civilization.Lex: My Lois has turned cruel? Well, see, life in this ugly city will do that. You'll be more chipper in the Alps.
Lois: The Alps?
Lex: Yes, I have a wondrous fortress in the mountains. You can scream "Superman" all day long... but it'll get boring. - Magic Brakes: Subverted. Jimmy frantically tries to slow his runaway car, until Superman swoops in and.... simply turns off the ignition.
- Magic Plastic Surgery: The imposter hired to frame Lois.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: Tempus' plot to kill Clark as a baby.
- Mirror Scare: In "The Source", a whistleblower has tried to dodge Lois by faking his death. He's brushing his teeth in front of the bathroom mirror, opens it to get mouthwash, closes it and sees in the reflection something truly terrifying: A very pissed off Lois. Interestingly, this is also a reference to Lois figuring out he faked his death by the fact that he took his toothbrush.
- My God, You Are Serious!: Bill Church's Jr.'s reaction to his father announcing that he wants to dismantle Intergang. That's a good one!
- Never Be a Hero: A diminutive loser gains Clark's superpowers and decides to adopt the moniker of "Resplendent Man" and save people... for money. Usually haggling over the price with the victim while they were still in danger, and seeing nothing wrong with this because, hey, your own life's gotta be worth a lot, right? When Superman shows up and rescues the victim, Resplendent Man berates him for "horning in on his territory". In the end he loses his powers again and status quo is reasserted with an aesop: it takes more than superpowers to make a hero.
- New-Age Retro Hippie: Molly Flynn, a computer genius turned sage-burning Luddite.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: H.G. Wells is guilty of this on two fronts. First, he builds a time machine and travels to the future where the criminal Tempus steals the time machine as part of his plan to kill Superman. After that plot is foiled, Wells dumps Tempus in a Smallville mental asylum in 1866 where Tempus writes down all his knowledge in a journal, including the secret identity of Superman. This journal is found in the present by Jason Mayzik who uses it to blackmail Superman into committing crimes for him.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Perry White dressed as Santa Elvis, in a flying sleigh pulled by Superman himself. ("Season's Greedings")
- No Honor Among Thieves: Following his return, Lex promptly gets backstabbed and usurped by his former butler, Nigel. Nigel defects over to Intergang for little while, but is poisoned by an accomplice.
- Not Himself: Red kryptonite makes Superman unconcerned with doing his job.
- Note to Self: Before losing her memory at the end of "Tempus Fugitive" Lois leaves herself a note reading "CLARK KENT IS SUPERMAN". Clark manages to intercept it, though.
- Off on a Technicality: "Baby Rage", a street punk who happens to share legal represented with Intergang.
- Opposites Attract Revenge: Lois, fed up with Clark's frequent 'disappearances', rebounds by dating Dan Scardino. Clark is left free to be pursued by the screechy Veronica Kipling; he definitely got the fuzzy end of the lollipop.
- Patricide: Jason Mayzik reveals he poisoned his father.
- The Plague: In "Resurrection", a lunatic plans to unleash a bio-weapon on Metropolis as payback for being fired from STAR Labs.
- Race Lift: Winslow Schott, the Toyman in "Season's Greedings".
- Real Men Hate Affection: Perry can only express it toward Jimmy through sports metaphors. Observe.Perry: Clark, if Jimmy calls, tell him I know it feels like the bottom of the ninth with two outs and two strikes against him but that the Planet is gonna mount a full-court press, and we won't stop until it's game, set, match, OLSEN!
- Reset Button: Lois briefly learns Clark's secret identity in "Tempus Fugitive", before an end-of-episode memory wipe.
- Ripped From The Phonebook: Clark complains about people who do this in "Madame Ex." Lois, who isn't listening, immediately rips out the page they need.
- Self-Made Lie: Jason Mayzik's dead father is remembered as a former junkman who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the richest men in Metropolis. In truth, the elder Mayzik made his fortune by reading Tempus's journal and making investments based on the information on Earth history contained within it.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Tim and Amber Lake.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Jason Mayzik only appears in the season 2 finale as the Villain of the Week. However, his plot to blackmail Superman with knowledge of the hero's true identity kicks off the events that lead to Lois learning that Superman is Clark.
- Smoky Gentlemen's Club: Perry White has a membership with one of these. Lois objects to the club as a matter of principle, and manages to sneak in with a wig and mustache.
- The Speechless: Danielle, a traumatized orphan. Naturally, she finds her voice again by the end of the story.
- Subliminal Advertising: Ariana Carlin's newspaper column, in which the first letter of each sentence forms an acrostic ("SUPERMAN IS EVIL").
- Timeline-Altering MacGuffin: Tempus' diary, which reveals Superman's secret identity.
- Time Stands Still: The Prankster's flashy gadget does this.
- Too Kinky to Torture: Diana Stride's henchman, Rolf."Oh. Am I....in trouble? Are you going to...punish me?"
- Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Clark decides to give up on pursuing Lois after her near wedding to Luthor, and soon begins dating Mayson Drake, making Lois extremely jealous.
- We Can Rebuild Him: Johnny Corben, aka "Metallo".
- We Will Not Have Pockets in the Future: Tempus in his first appearance.
- Weird Moon: Big enough to engulf both Lois and Superman. It made in the Title Sequence.
- You Watch Too Much X: Mayson Drake watches too much Perry Mason, according to Lois.
- Your Costume Needs Work: Perry's response to being carjacked by Bonnie & Clyde. He makes the same (mistaken) observation of Al Capone later on.
