Superman and Co are back in action.
My Adventures With Superman’s
second season dropped so we’re going to talk about it.
Last time on My Adventures With
Superman, the Kent’s had an awkward Thanksgiving. The day started
reasonably well, with Lois, Clark, and Jimmy being promoted to full-time
reporters at the Daily Planet and the whole gang heading out to the Kent farm
for dinner. All except Jimmy, who was held back to talk to Perry White, the Editor
in Chief. Lois, despite her misgivings, invited her dad along as well. Mr. Lane
arrives and is revealed to be the General, the head of Taskforce X and the man
doggedly pursuing Superman this whole season. Jimmy finally arrives and hears
everyone’s anxiety about the day, Clark freaking out about the General, Martha
admits to hating the General and how he’s talking about her perfect son, and
Jonathan tells him that he can’t get the turkey to the perfect temp. Overwhelmed,
Jimmy pulls his friends outside and tells them to tell each other what they’ve
been hiding and thank him for bringing their stuff from the Planet. Lois
notices the Sphere holding the shard of Kryptonite, tries to grab it hastily
and accidentally plays the video of the evil alt-Supermen. When the orb cracks
out, Clark starts having a fit and grows crystals over his body until they seal
it up again. This triggers some protocol in Clark’s ship that causes it to rise
and release drones. A whole fight breaks out, with Jimmy using the Kryptonite
and Sam his anti-Superman gun to kill the robots as Clark tries to handle the
ship. Clark ultimately takes the sphere with him, despite Lois pleading with
him not to, to fly onto the ship and destroy it. The hologram of Jor-El helps
him fend off Robots long enough to get the Kryptonite into it’s core, and then
ejects Clark in an escape pod. Lois finds the injured Clark and when she sees
her dad with a space gun realizes who he is.
She talks him down from hurting Superman, but he vanishes before they
can talk more. The Kents, Jimmy and Lois have dinner, where Jimmy reveals he
sold his Flamebird stream to the Daily Planet and is now a millionaire.
Meanwhile in deep space, a Robotic emperor named Brainiac noticed all the
hubbub and tells his armored warrior that they have a new assignment to handle
a planet in open Rebellion. The warrior promises to make the rebels kneel.
We begin with Superman flying over
the streets of Metropolis, enjoying the cheers of the people as he does so. He
flies to his family farm and sees someone running through their corn fields. He
catches them and finds the person is his child self. They’re suddenly on top of
his buried ship, activating it. The child Clark vanishes, and Superman shifts
into his civilian gear as he turns to see his parents on the rim. He asks if he’s
not their son or human, Lois and Jimmy appear behind him and say No to both
questions. A strong gust of wind hits and Clark is alone in a frozen tundra.
Jor-El’s hologram appears, telling Clark there’s another like him but they’re running
out of time as debris from a crashing Kryptonian ship covers him and then Clark
waking him up. Doozy of a nightmare right there.
We move to the Daily Planet. It’s
been about 3 months since Thanksgiving with things being relatively normal in
the interim. Lois is in the Newspaper Morgue, having fallen asleep researching
something. She wakes up and sees a note from Clark saying that he loves her and
supports her and coffee. She texts him that she loves him back and then checks
her calls. We see that she’s made a bunch of calls to her dad since
Thanksgiving, but they all come up as call failed. She tries to dial him again but it goes straight
to a disconnected message. She asks where her dad could be just before
realizing she’s late for the morning pitch meeting.
We jump to Jimmy kicking the door
into the office and showering the other Daily Planet staff with platonic
Valentines Day cards. He’s decked out in
Flamebird Merch, suggesting he’s really enjoying his new status. The cards read
“My (Heart-Emoji) is A-Flame for you!” with the Flamebird symbol on it. I love
this dork. Clark asks how much he spent on this, and Jimmy tells him it’s no
biggie as he’s now a department head of the Daily Planet and money is no
object. We’re shown a tracker of the net worth of James Olsen and see he’s down
to 5.3 million dollars from his initial 5.6. A decrease but a manageable one.
He asks what Clark’s plan is for his and Lois’ first V day. Clark says he’s
going to pick up her favorite Ramen (Spicy for her, mild for him) and then they’ll
enjoy the sunset on the roof of the Daily Planet. Cat Grant, who had been eavesdropping,
announces she can’t accept soup on the roof and calls the other reporters over
to all pressure Clark to go bigger on the first Valentines Day. Have to say, would
not have guessed Cat would be on team Grand Romantic Gestures. Jimmy offers to
call his card guy, as he does emergencies. Clark tries to defend his idea by
saying he also has a sappy poem he wrote for her, but they’re unimpressed. Cat
tells him it was sweet while it lasted. Clark says that it’ll be fine, right?
Perry appears beside him to say of course it will, because no one is leaving as
he is cancelling Valentines day. Why? Vicki Vale at the Gotham Gassett (his old
friend and nemesis) has been scooping them on big stories for months and he’s sick
of it. He demands to hear a groundbreaking story idea just before Lois runs in
to announce hers, Death From Above! She reveals she has a college classmate,
Hank Henshaw (Oh no) that works as a PR guy at STAR Labs, and that according to
him they’ve been tracking an unusual meteoroid headed towards Earth for the
last 12 hours. Perry is visibly excited by her pitch and assigns Lois and Clark
to the story. Jimmy says he’s going to go to, but Perry tells him that Jimmy
needs to get him a Flamebird story. He offers to assign Jimmy a team, but Jimmy
says Flamebird is a one man show. Perry tells him to post by 5.
The team heads out to STAR Labs.
They see displays for the STAR Labs new prototype, the Amazo Tech jump drive
ship. Jimmy explains that STAR Labs bought the plans for the prototype after Amazo
Tech went under. Jimmy notices Clark looking pale and asks if he’s okay. Clark
isn’t, as he’s freaking out because everyone told him his plan was terrible.
Before they can discuss it further, Lois runs over and grabs Clark for the
interview. Jimmy sees Alex, the former assistant to Amazo Tech CEO Anthony “Parasite”
Ivo, yelling at some STAR Labs scientists for refusing to hire him. He claims he
built that spaceship but they’re not impressed. The woman scientist tells him
that he should have been thinking about his career before he helped Ivo build
the suit that nearly destroyed Metropolis. Valid point. Jimmy walks over to Alex
and gives him a pep talk, telling him to make his own chance, that he should
carve his own path and find people that will give him the opportunity when he
presents it. Jimmy gets called away by Lois before Alex can give his full name,
which is never a good sign.
We meet Hank Henshaw, an extremely handsome
and barrel-chested man in a jumpsuit. He says he’d love to catch up with Lois,
but he’s only got time for a quick interview. He’s flying his wife to Paris, saying
Grand Romantic Gestures are the only way to go. Lois asks about the Meteoroid. Hank
says that the meteoroid had an erratic orbit the whole time they’d been
tracking it and that it disappeared after entering the atmosphere, well after
it should have burnt up were it a normal bit of space rock. He says they got a
picture of it before it disappeared over Antarctica, and we see it’s what’s
left of Clark’s ship. Clark remembers his nightmare and quickly says that they
need to leave, now, to take care of another story they’re covering. The one about
Superman.
Outside, Clark says that it’s his
ship that was being tracked. Clark is now thinking that he wasn’t dreaming
about his ship earlier but having a vision about it. He needs to find it to
make sure it doesn’t open another portal to Krypton and… he clearly wants to
know of Jor-El is his father or not and this hologram is on the ship. Lois asks
if it’s a good idea, and Clark isn’t sure if it his, but he has to do it. Lois
and Jimmy want to come to, to protect him from the Kryptonite and for Jimmy to
charter them a flight. … Not sure why they’re doing that when one of Clark’s
signature powers is flying at high speeds, but what are you going
to do?
They arrive in Antarctica. Lois
says this is where STAR Labs lost it. Clark says that the area looks right but doesn’t
‘feel’ right. He has another vision a moment later of Jor-El reaching out to him.
He flies off after Jor-El when he moves, chasing Jor-El until he spaces out and
realizes he’s inside the ship already. He demands to know how this happened.
Jor-El pulls him into his virtual space.
Jimmy and Lois follow Clark on a
Snowmobile. They weren’t perfectly sure he went that way until they see his
wrecked ship in the distance. They walk towards it and see the debris of the
ship floating around defying gravity. As they get closer, Jimmy notices a big
hole and asks if Clark did that. They climb up to the hole and infiltrate the
ship. Jimmy says that this has got to be the worst for Clark, as he was already
stressing about Valentine’s Day and now this happened. It’s at this point that we learn that Lois totally
forgot what day it was. She must have been so confused as to why Hank wanted to
do a grand romantic gesture on some random Tuesday. The door behind them slams
shut and they end up trapped. Jimmy touches the door and two robots with the
Brainiac symbol on their chest appear. They run as the robots start shooting.
In the hologram Clark demands to
know why Jor-El drew him here, why he attacked Earth, why he saved Clark after Clark
stopped him and most importantly why he sent Clark to Earth alone. Jor-El asks
Kal-El in English what question he’d liked answered first. Clark is shocked to hear
the hologram speaking English, as it only seemed to know a few words before and
otherwise only spoke Kryptonian. Jor-El tells him that the translation program
needed time to learn his language. He introduces himself as Jor-El, scion of
the Kryptonian Empire and his father. Or he was in life. Jor-El explains that this
version of him is a program created from a scan of Jor-El’s mind and that he’s
functionally a ghost. Jor-El says he was trying to explain that to him when
Clark was a boy and first activated the ship, but then Clark buried him and refused
to speak to him for over a decade. There’s a surge of static, Jor-El tells Clark
that the Kryptonite is eating through the Ship, and they only have a little
time left. He reaches out to Clark, Clark pulls back, but then he pleads with Clark
to allow this. Clark let’s his father touch his head and gets the info downloaded
into his brain.
We’re pulled into a vision of the Final
Days of Krypton. Jor-El explains that the expansionist Kryptonian Empire spread
across the stars like a disease until they found an enemy they couldn’t defeat.
This enemy crushed the Kryptonian army and forced them back to their home
world, Jor-El saying they were destroyed by this war of their own making. We
don’t see the enemy, but their soldiers obliterate three of the human shaped Kryptonian
robots like the one that attacked Earth on Zero Day. Clark and Jor-El watch as
Clark’s parents put him in the pod and sent him off. He also claim that he
never intended for Clark to be there alone.
Clark refuses to believe that, as he saw the warship on the other side
of the portal when his ship powered up. Jor-El tells him that was a remnant, an
unmanned Ghost Ship and that Krypton is dead. He confirms that Clark is the
last of his kind, him and his cousin. He reveals that his younger brother Zor-El
also had an infant child that he wanted to save and send off in a pod, Kara
Zor-El. … In Kryptonian tradition, girls don’t get just the house name hyphened
onto their personal name, and instead have either their father or husband’s
name added as a more traditional looking last name. It’s kind of inconsistent as to which, as I believe
Clark’s mother is known as either Lara Jor-El or Lara Lor-Van depending on the writer.
We’re shown a little blonde baby in the pod and Clark is shocked to learn he
might not be alone. Jor-El says that the two babies were sent off mere moments
before Krypton was destroyed, and are thus the last Kryptonians. The hologram
suddenly shorts out, Jor-El saying that they’re running out of time. He says the ship’s Brainiac system (the AI controlling
the ship in this case) is trying to isolate the Kryptonite but is failing. It
keeps cycling in and out of dimensional space, which drains a lot of power, and
it’s wasting energy repelling the invaders. Clark says that must be Lois and
Jimmy and that they’re with him. Jor-El asks about the others… and Clark asks
what others.
We cut to Lois and Jimmy running
from Brainiac robots. They reach a room with a display table and hide behind it;
they’re almost attacked but the robots are destroyed by a soldier on the orders
of the General. Lois wonders if that means her dad, but no it’s General Amanda
Waller. She orders the soldier, Damage, to grab as much tech as he can. Slade Wilson
also walks in and says that with this tech they’ll finally have the weapons to
defeat Superman. Waller complains that if Sam had done his job they wouldn’t need
to go this far. Wilson says they’ll be ready, but Waller disagrees. She says
they aren’t ready for a full invasion, not with the gear they have. She knows
there is more stuff tucked away but Sam won’t tell her where his stash is.
Wilson says that he’ll make Sam spill when they get back to HQ. Lois and Jimmy just
barely escape being spotted, but then a wall comes down in the next shift. It separates
them from Wilson and Waller… but they’ve got Damage to deal with. Crap.
Clark and Jor-El are flying to try
to find the others. Jor-El is flabbergasted that Clark would bring his mate,
his human, no powers mate, to the ship and then lost her. He says that he isn’t
sure what Earth custom is, but if he’d lost Lara that way, he’d have to do some
grand romantic gesture to make up for it. Clark’s getting it from all sides it
seems. Jor-El pulls the ship doors open, saying he can hold off the next shift
for a moment, but he has to go, now. Clark flies off and throws off his clothes
to reveal his Superman outfit.
Superman heat visions his way into
the room, distracting Damage from Lois and Jimmy, saying stay away from his
friends. Damage thanks Superman, as without his people’s technology he wouldn’t
have been outfitted with the weapons to take him down. He flexes and grows,
revealing his Kryptonian upgrades make him bulk up when activated. The two
brawl, Damage using his increased size and reach to toss Superman around before
they crash into the ships heart. Damage asks if that’s all Superman has got
when Superman drops, just before he starts growing green crystals all over his
body. Remember that shard of Kryptonite Clark jammed into the Heart? Yeah, it
grew. Wilson and Waller follow and see the giant heart glowing with green
light. They realize the Kryptonite hurts Superman and Waller orders Wilson to
get it. It seems like Wilson’s suit is made entirely or mostly of Earth tech as
he’s able to get right up to the rock and pry it free. Clark shoots heat vision
at him, making Wilson drop it. Wilson takes shots at Superman while Lois and Jimmy
rush around to get the Kryptonite fragment. They put it back in the sphere and
Superman begins to recover. He says that this is his ship and they’re
trespassing. Wilson rather blandly points out that Superman is outnumbered as Damage
gets back up. But before Damage can attack, he’s electrocuted by Jor-El. Jor-El
enters the heart of the Ship and phases it away, leaving Waller and her
soldiers stranded.
The ship reshapes itself into a bunch
of crystal pillars floating in the air. IT’s a beautiful sight, but Jimmy is
distracted upon learning it’s after five and he forgot to post on Flamebird.
Lois tells him to take the plane and she’ll wait for Clark. Jor-El tells Clark
goodbye, as the Kryptonite is destroying what’s left of him. Clark tells his
father he doesn’t want him to go, and Jor-El says they never have enough time, and
that he’s sorry for that. Clark asks about his cousin, Jor-El admits he doesn’t
know where she is, the ship’s communication beacon was destroyed. But, there
should be another on the dimensional gateway that was sent to Earth just before
Zero Day. Jor-El tells Clark to find it and Kara. Jor-El tells his son that he
has used his powers to be a shield to the helpless and that he’s filled his
life with love and for that Jor-El is unspeakably proud of him. He says that he hopes Clark can one day
forgive him for leaving again as he breaks down into pieces.
Clark and Lois sit on the steps of
the Crystal Tower. Clark asks Lois if it bothers her that he’s not human, and
she asks if it bothers him that she is. They both confirm they love each other
just the way they are. Clark picks her up and flies her through the clouds and
up to the Aurora Borealis. They both say they need to talk to the other about something,
Clark letting Lois go first. She asks him to help her save her dad. She knows
it’s a lot to ask, but Clark says that he’ll do anything for her. She asks him
what he wanted to say but he says it can wait. He says that there’s nothing
that they can’t do together, and they’ve got all the time in the world. As he
talks, we’re shown Taskforce X loading up the equipment they stole from Clark’s
ship, including Wilson’s sword coated with Kryptonite fragments. And then we’re
shown the Kryptonian warrior laying waste to another planet as Brainiac’s ship
hovers behind them. Oh no.
This is an excellent start to the
new season. It seems like that despite things largely going well for Clark that
he’s still suffering from a loneliness unfathomable to your average human.
Really can’t top being literally one of the last of your species. Some of those
Galapagos Turtle species do, but not one of 7 Billion humans. I like that the
first question Clark wanted to have answered was that one, showing how much
being the last son of Krypton has been wearing on him. It was a good call letting
Jor-El finally talk to Clark and explain some of their history to him. I’m not
up to date on every interpretation of Superman, but I’m reasonably confident that
this is the first version of Krypton to be destroyed not by natural disaster but
by an outside force. The idea is that this version of Krypton was more akin to the
Saiyans of the Dragonball series or the Viltrumites from Invincible,
being a race of conquerors. And that is kind of ironic since both series drew heavily from
the Superman mythos for their series. Like... to my knowledge, Viltrumites are literally
evil Kryptonians. Flight, super strength and speed included. I think the only
thing they don’t have is heat vision. The
Kryptonian Empire is a vast departure from the altruistic philosophers of most
series, but it’s an interesting change. I like that Jor-El seems very upfront
that they’re the ones that picked the fight that ultimately doomed their race,
no hiding being ‘we were defending ourselves,’ or ‘we tried to bring them into
our empire,’ for this Jor-El. Plus, loved the bit where he’s browbeating Clark
for bringing Lois to the ship. The fact that even on Krypton grand romantic
gestures are the norm seems to stress Clark out a lot. I liked the expansion of
Taskforce X’s squad this season as well. Before, Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke
was the only career soldier on the team’s roster. That doesn’t mean characters like
Livewire or Parasite weren’t willing to kill Clark, but he was the only one to
do it and view it as a service/need to his country. Adding Damage to that roster
means that Clark has another opponent that he probably can’t talk down from
fighting him. This version of Damage is an incarnation of Ethan Avery, the
second Damage, whom is essentially DC’s version of the Hulk, a man that grows stronger
with anger. And give how hard he smacked Clark around it seems like that name
is extremely accurate. We’ll see more of him in future episodes, but you can
tell from here he’s going to be a pain to Clark. I like the set up here of Lois looking for
her dad. It’s clear despite their estrangement that she loves him and is
worried about him. He’s clearly a difficult man to live with, but she’s loyal
to him regardless. Clark’s a good man for agreeing to save someone that had been
actively trying to kill him without a second thought, all I’m saying. And millionaire
Jimmy is funny. He’s got a swagger to him that I enjoy, even though it’s clear the
show is setting him up to go bankrupt by the end of the season. The bit where
he encouraged Alex to make his own chances and manifest his destiny was sweet…
but that advice will bite him in the ass, but we’ll talk more about that later.
Have a good night, everyone.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/106834859
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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