Tonight on Riverdale we should finally get some answers about whether Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) is really dead or not, murdered by his girlfriend Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) with a rock to the noggin. But the bigger question here is whether the hit CW show will use the opportunity of Jughead’s demise to introduce Souphead, Jughead’s identical cousin who loves soup.

No, I’m not joking.

First introduced in 1943’s “Archie Comics #4,” and created by writer Ed Goggin, Souphead looks and dresses exactly like Jughead. The only differences? Souphead is a little shorter than Jughead, seems a little sicklier (gonna blame that on all the soup), and where Jughead loves hamburgers, Souphead loves soup. Definitely raises the question of why Jughead isn’t nicknamed Hamburgerhead, but I digress. Oh, actually, probably another difference is that Souphead smells like soup, because he loves eating soup; whereas Jughead smells like charred meat and french fries, because he loves eating burgers and fries. However, comic books aren’t really renowned for their ability to emit scents, so that probably got left on the cutting room floor.

Anyway, Souphead hasn’t — surprisingly — been the most popular character Archie Comics ever created. He only appeared in two dozen or so issues (as well as on the Archie radio show from the ’40s), which again is perhaps because he is a man whose main character trait is a love of broth and related products.

However, the seeming death of Jughead has had fans scrambling for theories, and one of the most popular is that Cole Sprouse is not leaving Riverdale, but Jughead is dead — Sprouse will just start playing Souphead Jones, instead of Jughead Jones. This is an interesting theory, because nothing is sexier on a sexy teen murder show than the concept of soup, one of nature’s sexiest foods.

Fueling that fire? Sprouse has been seen pretty much non-stop on social media (particularly Instagram Stories) from set, in costume. Since we clearly saw Jughead lying dead on the ground, and his friend and medical professional Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) declared him dead in the last episode, “The Ides of March,” how is Sprouse on set if Jughead is dead? Is he a ghost? Is it in flashbacks? Or perhaps… Could it be… Souphead Jones, the character who just cannot get enough of a good beef and barley?

Recent looks at Sprouse from later in the season show him with longer hair; and as usual, the actor is pulling weird faces and generally acting like a goofball, leading even more fans to think that he’s channeling new character sensation Souphead Jones.

Is it possible that Sprouse is growing out his hair for a movie role, and not in order to play a character who insanely is named Souphead? And I realize that Riverdale has named characters as recently as this season things like “Dr. Beaker” and “Old Deuteronomy?” But a main character? Named Souphead? In this economy?

I’m going to go with a hard “no” on this one. A mention? Or Jughead pretending to be Souphead in order to, uh, throw his real attackers off track (“Why, that can’t be Jughead Jones, that man is eating soup!”)? Sure. But all of these “clues” don’t add up to Riverdale going hardcore into Campbell’s fanfic territory.

It’s not exactly like Sprouse returning as Souphead would be a step too far for Riverdale, because what could possibly be a step too far? Earlier this season, an organ stealing cult leader tried to escape town in a rocket he built himself . Cheryl Blossom’s (Madelaine Petsch) mother was living in the walls of their house in order to gaslight Cheryl into thinking a doll was haunted by the ghost of the secret brother Cheryl ate in the womb . One time, Archie (KJ Apa) was killed by a bear. But still, there’s something about Souphead that feels weird, even for TV’s weirdest show.

One other clue getting passed around, by the way — that Souphead is the classic comic book character showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa teased back at San Diego Comic-Con — is almost definitely inaccurate. That was most likely pointing to Mrs. Burble (Gina Torres), who appeared in the excellent “In Treatment” earlier this season, and is a recurring character in the comics.

That all said, if we’re totally wrong and Sprouse emerges from tonight’s episode, “How To Get Away With Murder,” with a new appreciation for chicken noodle? Forget it, Soup. It’s Riverdale.

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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