Kara arrives and Clark's other relationships get complicated.
Last time on My Adventures With Superman,
relationships are tested. Lois discovered her dad attempting to disappear and
followed him. The Lanes are attacked at Sam’s safehouse by Damage and then
later Atomic Skull of Taskforce X. While they’re dealing with that, Jimmy and
Clark go to the STAR Labs Expo, as Jimmy was invited to do the Keynote Speech.
They have fun seeing all the new technology at the expo and reaffirm their
friendship. Jimmy claims to have saved Clark’s life twelve times, since he
counted every time that he covered for him in college and dragging him to
parties. Clark updates that list to thirteen, saying the first time Jimmy saved
him was when they first met and he said they were going to be friends. Things
take a turn though during the keynote when it turns out the topic of it was if
Superman is a threat or not and Jimmy is debating Lex Luthor. Unprepared, Jimmy
tries to defend Clark but Lex twists his arguments back around at him
constantly, boldly saying Earth is for Earthlings. Lois and Sam burst into the
expo at this point, Sam’s contact had turned them in and now all three
Taskforce X agents were hunting them. Superman super speeds and helps the Lanes
hold the agents off until Lois can get some invisibility harnesses on her and
Sam and they escape. In the aftermath, Lex uses the damage Superman caused to
the cutting-edge weapons test as proof that humanity isn’t safe from Superman.
He also thanks Jimmy for giving him the speech that got him here. Superman
flies away. After hearing part of Lois conversation with her dad while floating
outside her apartment, the part that said he was weird but not the part where she
said she loves him, he hits his lowest point. Depressed and lonely, he chooses
to use the beacon to signal Kara wherever she is. Sam, meanwhile, waited until
Lois was distracted before slipping out in his invisible harness. While he’d promised
to stick around, seeing the bruises and cuts she got during the scuffle made
him break that promise. Lois tries to find him but resolves to just make it on
her own when she can’t. Lex gets the backing of STAR Labs, the Mayors office
and the rest of the Military for Taskforce X’s anti-Superman plans. And the
Kryptonian Warrior working for Brainiac enters Earths orbit. Oh no. Enough
recap, lets get to it.
We open with Clark and Lois running
into each other at work. They’re clearly awkward around each other after the last
few days, but before they can really talk about it, they’re grabbed by Perry
who tells them to be quiet and come into his office. He closes the blinds,
checks that it’s clear and then whispers to Clark and Lois that he wants them
to cover Metropolis’ most eligible Bachelor/Bachelorette contest. Impressively,
Cat Grant was able to hear that whisper and will the blinds up from the other
side of the glass to protest Lois and Clark getting her beat. Perry says that
the event is going to have Superman there, and since Superman only talks to
Lois, Clark and Jimmy, he needs 2/3rds of that trio to cover the event. Cat
forces herself into the office and explains that the event is one of the
biggest social events of the year. It’s largely just to talk about pretty,
young, successful people… but it also raises money for a children’s hospital,
so Lois and Clark know Superman is going. Perry orders them to bring him gossip
on Superman. Outside the office, Clark and Lois have a good laugh at that whole
thing. Perry text them that the events start in 20 minutes, so he’ll find
Jimmy, meet Lois there, and then they’ll talk. She agrees and he gives her a
goodbye kiss. When alone, Cat comes out
of the office and demands Lois bring her along. Why? Because they both know
Superman’s “secret.” Oh, how ominous.
We find Jimmy walking the street,
trying to think of a way to apologize to Clark for what happened at the expo.
He’s distracted by a pretty blonde almost getting hit by a truck. She looks
like she’s getting ready to punch it, but he pulls her aside at the last
minute. He introduces himself as Jimmy Olsen, one of the leaders of the Daily
Planet, head of the Flamebird division. She understands that means he’s the
leader of Earth and wants his help finding someone. She introduces herself as
Kara. She doesn’t say it, but I think we all have picked up the hint her last
name is Zor-El at this point. Jimmy agrees to help her. He sees Clark across
the street, and because he still hasn’t figured out how to fix things, he grabs
Kara and says they’ll start their search over this way. Clark sees them and
uses his supervision just in time to see Jimmy ignore his call. That’s a bummer.
At the contest, Lois tries to nonchalantly
get Cat to explain what she meant by Superman’s secret. Cat says that it’s
obvious. Superman isn’t single, and he’s dating… one of the other contestants! She
says that they are contestants isn’t an ordinary person, so Superman is
obviously dating one of them. And Cat says that they’ll be able to figure out
Superman’s secret identity from this. Lois tries to throw her off by saying
maybe he’s always Superman, but Cat’s not buying it. She says that uncovering Superman’s
identity is the story of the century. As she’s talking we see Clark come in and
wave at Lois, and then see Lois’ uttered panicked face as Cat keeps talking.
She goes to ‘tell Clark.” Lois pulls Clark aside and lets him know that Cat is
trying to know who Superman is dating, and if she realizes that superman and
Lois are a thing she’ll figure out Superman is Clark Kent. Lois tells him to
act super single when he gets on stage. Clark teases her by asking if that
means he shouldn’t bring up the brilliant reporter he’s in love with. Lois
blushes but quickly adds ‘no, don’t do that.” He promises not to mess this up.
Outside, Jimmy is happy to have
lost Clark to avoid conflict. Kara is distracted by Ice Cream, a concept that she
clearly doesn’t know what that is. Jimmy takes this to mean she has strict no
sugar parents, to which Kara says that, yes, she has a strict dad. She says Ice
Cream isn’t important, but Jimmy says she’s only like that because she’s never
had it. Taking it as a challenge, they get ice cream and Kara is immediately in
love. Jimmy asks about who she’s looking for. She says that she’s looking for a
man, a warrior, the only man who can understand her. Jimmy is disappointed to
hear this until Kara adds it’s her cousin she’s looking for. She thought he’d
be easier to find. Shame that this is the one day in Metropolis that Superman
isn’t flying around. Jimmy offers to help her find him, but also to show her around
the city and get some food.
We cut to the most eligible
contest. The finalists include Hank Henshaw (who either went through a divorce in
the last few in universes months or got on the list despite being married),
Chandi Gupta, Dr. Bryna Brilyant (a genderfluid Wonder Woman villain who also
goes by Blue Snowman), Silver St. Cloud, and Superman. Who the host admits they
don’t know how to get a hold of but are hoping that he’ll just show up. Clark
slips out to ‘fill the meter’ and then Superman flies in. They start the
contest, the host asking if there are any questions for the human finalists. When
no one does, he switches to Superman questions. Superman does his best to lie
about who his ideal partner is when asked, saying she’d be a ‘tall surgeon’ to
throw Cat off the Lois Lane sent. Cat gets the next question and asks if he’s
into any of his fellow finalists, to which Silver St. Cloud starts flirting
with Superman hard. She asks if he’d be willing to help out a Metropolis
Charity fund, which Superman is 100% down to do. Lois is clearly annoyed in the
crowd, but obviously can’t say anything, even if her eyes are screaming “That homewrecking
hoe!” Superman tries to say he thinks of himself as a normal man, which sets off
Hank Henshaw, who demands to know when Superman will stop endangering Metropolis.
Silver defends Superman, pointing out that Superman saved the city from
Parasite. Hank says that the masses may love Superman, but the people who matter
have their eyes on him. He repeats Earth is for Earthlings and storms off. Cat
says that she’s got what she needs and she and Lois both know who Superman is
dating.
Outside we see Jimmy taking Kara
around Metropolis. I don’t think she understands what a date is but that’s
clearly what Jimmy is treating this as. They go around town, eating hotdogs and
various forms of Ice cream (Kryptonians have a sweet tooth it seems), Kara and
Jimmy get a bunch of photos together and he shows her this butterfly park. We
also see her kick a ball into the stratosphere by mistake, in case you missed
she’s Clark’s cousin. He pulls her aside and says he wants to show her
something.
Back at that contest, Cat is
putting the pieces together to figure out who Superman is dating and deduces it’s
Silver St. Cloud. And, considering that Silver is a young, successful
philanthropist that does a lot of charity work and quickly stood up for him,
can’t fault her logic on this one. Even if the logic hurts Lois. Sidenote, I enjoy
that Cat Grant didn’t immediately rule out Hank Henshaw or Bryna Brilyant.
What? I enjoy that she considered that Superman might be on the LGBTQ+ spectrum.
Lois, stressed out and angry at hearing how this other woman is perfect for HER
boyfriend, shouts that why can’t she be the one dating Superman. Cat,
misreading this situation as Lois having a crush on someone unattainable, tries
to give Lois advice. She says that people like Superman and Silver live in a
world apart, and that while reporting on Superman might make her feel close to
him, she should remember to keep professional distance. She also says that what
Lois has with Clark is cute and she should focus on that. In any situation
other than the one we’re in, with Lois secretly dating Superman, this would actually
be good advice. Cat goes back inside and as the doors open we see Superman talking
with the other contestants, including Silver, and then Lois looking distraught.
We jump over to Jimmy showing Kara
the view from the top of the Daily Planet building. He says he loves coming up here
with Lois and ‘his best friend.’ Kara notices that he said that weird, and asks
if this friend is now his enemy, and vows to make his enemies hers. I love how
intense she is. Jimmy says no, and explains that he messed up on a grand scale
and that he’s been avoiding Clark ever since because he didn’t know how to fix
it. Kara says she knows what avoiding things is like. She admits she came here
against her father’s wishes. He wanted to come with, but Kara wanted to do it
on her own, to see a new world and experience new things. They bond over
wanting to see the unknown. Jimmy realizes that he shouldn’t avoid Clark and he
should talk to him. He apologizes for using Kara to avoid doing that and asks
if she’s ready for one last trip.
Back at the studio they’re
preparing to announce the winner as Kara and Jimmy arrive. Jimmy is distracted
by not being able to get a signal to find Clark and Lois, and so doesn’t notice
that Kara’s getting overwhelmed by the noise, smells and crowd of people. Or
that she bent a handrail with a bare hand. Kara finally sees Superman on the stage,
and she announces that Jimmy found him. Jimmy looks back at her in shock, sees
the bent railing and then just goes “ohhh.” The blind squirrel finally found
his nut. Kara hurries to the side of stage as Superman is announced the winner.
Kara is distracted by the balloons falling and the noise. Silver gives Superman
a kiss on the cheek and Lois realizes she can’t take this and runs off. Superman
sees her go and tries to go after her. Kara blocks his way, saying she’d been
looking for him. He assumes this is another come on or something and brushes
her off to superspeed after Lois. This seems to infuriate Kara.
Superman rushes over to Lois and
asks her what’s wrong. She spills about everything that’s been going wrong, the
contest, her dad disappearing, and her job offer for the Gotham Gazette. The
two start arguing, realizing that they haven’t really talked in weeks and how
that’s been making their relationship harder. Clark says he’s been trying and
that he wanted her there when he set off the beacon. Lois is clearly shocked to
hear that. Clark says this isn’t coming out right and Lois says because of this,
they aren’t working. In her pity spiral Lois says that she’s not good enough
for him, and that everyone always leaves her in the end, so why are they even
trying? Clark asks if she’s breaking up with him, but before she can answer,
Kara kicks down the door. Apparently being snubbed by her cousin touched a
nerve. She announces that he’s Kal-El of Krypton and how dare he ignore her
when she followed his beacon. She calls the contest a sickening display. Clark
asks if she’s his cousin, and she confirms that and calls him a disappointment.
She says she came to find a warrior, but found a joke. A lapdog to a weak
world. She says that his world is full of temptations, looking over at Jimmy
who’s trying to catch up as she does, but they shouldn’t give into them. A true
Kryptonian pushes through. She gives him two choices, join her in conquering
Earth or kneel before the new Kryptonian empire. She flicks her wrist and the charm
bracelet she’d been wearing morphs into her armor, turning her into the Kryptonian
warrior we’ve seen before. Clark tells her that the empire is gone. Through her
armor, Brainiac Primus says that the Empire is eternal, and that Kara is
ordered to kill the weakling.
Kara and Superman clash, the force
of them hitting into each other knocking Lois back. She throws Clark back onto
the stage. Seeing the crowds milling about, Superman flies through a window,
saying he doesn’t want to fight her, but he won’t let her endanger other people.
They fly off, Kara beating Superman across the Metropolis skyline. Superman
tries to talk her down, but she insists this is what Kryptonians do. He uses
his heat vision to destroy the head of her armor, stripping her down to a suit more
like Clark’s. Brainiac Primus senses her hesitating and asks if she’ll comply
or not. Kara says she will comply and charges her heat vision. Superman, knowing
she’ll hit the civilians with her attack sparks with energy and then unleashes
his freezing breath to stop Kara’s attack. Brainiac Primus, watching from Kara’s
armor I assume, notices Clark’s display of power and tells Kara to take him
alive instead. Superman flies off and leads Kara away. Jimmy and Lois try to
follow but are too slow to keep up with people that fly. Jimmy tells Lois to
follow him and they’ll catch up. Superman leads Kara to the outskirts of town
where they have a heat vision beam struggle. Kara’s armor amplifies her attack,
blasting Superman back. They slug it out for a bit, Superman telling her that
she doesn’t have to do this. Kara says she’ll do anything for the empire, knocking
Clark out. She traps Superman in a hard light coffin before flying off as Jimmy
and Lois watch horrified from a helicopter.
Well, that was certainly a roller
coaster of emotions. I liked the set-up of the most Eligible contest. Pulling
Clark into what was obviously a publicity stunt for charity was an excellent
way to put him into an awkward situation with Lois. Nothing pisses off a superhero
significant other like seeing the hero be flirty with someone else, even if
they were 100% behind the idea as cover before they saw it. It was good to
finally see Clark and Lois talk even under this extremely stressful situation. Anyone
who’s ever been in a relationship can tell you that the “it’s fine” and “we’ll
talk about it later’ comments always build up and up until they come spilling
out. I don’t think Lois would have actually said yes, they should break up if
Kara hadn’t interrupted them, I think she’d have said “I don’t know what I want
but I hate feeling this way,” or something along those lines. Relationships are
messy and jealousy mixed with anxiety is a combo that just rots one’s gut. And
it was fun finally getting to know Kara. This is a fun spin on some of the
classic character tropes. In most other continuities Kara is chronologically
older than Clark, but physiologically younger than him given she spent several
years either in ice or at light speed. The result is someone who remembers
Krypton but is incredibly naïve as to Earth customs. They obviously shifted
this slightly, with Kara being raised by Brainiac, so she has ideas about
Krypton, but as she was also an infant when it was destroyed also didn’t get to
really experience the planet either. She just knows what is expected of a
Kryptonian warrior and that’s conquest. Conquest and now ice cream, I guess.
Props to Jimmy, he spent like three or four hours with Kara and ended on as a ‘temptation’
for her. Due has got game even when he’s trying to avoid an awkward
conversation. But not much money left, according to the tracker he’s just over 2
million. I appreciate that they included Jimmy in the drama this time. I know what
it’s like to screw up and fail to be there for a friend and that can get extremely
awkward. I get the impulse to want to avoid dealing with things, that’s like my
whole deal, and I like that Jimmy did conclude on his own that that tactic isn’t
a good long-term strategy. Shame he didn’t get a chance to talk to Clark before
the kidnapping. So, Clark finally met Kara, Kara and Brainiac found him wanting
in warrior spirit, but Brainiac is interested in Clark’s power. It’ll be interesting
to see how this goes. See you next time.
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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