Viewer Log: Batman: Caped Crusader ep 12

 Batman goes toe to toe with a Rocketeer. 

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Viewer Log: Batman: Caped Crusader ep 11

 Batman's back and he's got a score to settle.

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Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 30

 Superman Returns... but the story is good this time. 

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Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 29

 Clark's got to learn a bit of history to get his powers back. 

Last time on My Adventures With Superman, Jon came back and he brought a friend! Well, a sister. And he’s not so much ‘Jon’ but another possible Jon from the future. This one prefers to go by Jonathan and is much more edgy and angsty than the last one. The Kents all get up to speed on what has happened, as neither Jonathan nor his sister Lara knew about Jon’s previous adventures with time. Jonathan is infuriated to learn the ‘last guy,’ as he calls his other self, failed and floats off in a huff. Clark tries to talk to his boy, but Jonathan wants nothing to do with his young father. Turns out this Jonathan didn’t have Kara to help teach him how to use his powers and is holding his dad responsible for not being there for him. Lois tries to bond with Lara over Pa Kent’s cookies and learns that the two super kids come from yet another timeline where she ends up as General Lane. Oh, and they’re here to kill Lex. He builds these techo-organic androids called the Eradicators that conquer Earth, it’s a whole thing. While Clark and Lois compare notes on how the failed their kids, Lara sneaks off to fulfill her mission. This turns into one of those ‘time traveler makes the future happen’ situation, as she interrupts Director Waller (no they don’t explain how she got her job back) in the process of firing Lex and shutting down LexCorp. Seeing a flying Korean Teen with an S on her chest freaks Lex out and he releases his prototype early. A prototype that he’d just stuck a bit of his brain into. The Super Squad arrive and are told to leave by Slade, who says LexCorp is on lockdown. The floor collapses beneath them, dropping Clark and Lois into the sewers below and Jonathan and Kara fly after them. The horror movie portion of the episode has the Eradicator attacking each of the Supers while they’re separated, throwing a subway train at Kara to take her out and pummeling the Superkids. Kara gets back up and they have a throw down that ends up back on the LexCorp front lawn. The three Scions of the House of El do their best, but Kara’s the only one that can keep up with the monster for long. She does a LOT of damage to it, ripping two of its four arms clean off. Unfortunately, the Eradicator is smarter than it seems, it adapted to their attacks and developed Heat Vision… and it noticed that Kara is protecting Lara and Jonathan above all else. So fires a full power Heat Vision at the injured teens. Kara jumps in the way, taking the hit and going down. She has a sweet moment with Jonathan, telling her nephew (second cousin, but whatever) that he is her better tomorrow. Enraged, Jonathan attacks the Eradicator, but, again, smarter than it acts, the android steals Jonathan’s time travel watch, mutters “I Win!” and vanishes into the timestream. Clark realizes that he has to go the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic, he’s had enough visions to figure out something there is calling to him and can get him his powers back. Lois is terrified for him to go, as she’s sure she’ll just mess up their kids more, but Clark has faith in her and assures her he’ll be back soon. He hitches a ride with B-1Z, who’d come to help but was too slow, and they arrive at the Fortress. The Stewards then take control of B-1Z’s mind and have him attack Clark, knocking him out. That’s not good. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with Clark, shirtless for some reason, standing before a giant glowing star embedded within the Fortress of Solitude. He hears a voice whisper in Kryptonian “Venu al Rao, Kal-El!’ Clark wakes up in the Fortress of Solitude, bound and surrounded by stewards robots and B-1Z, who is now sporting a black unitard. His eyes are still glowing red, indicating he’s under mind control. One of the stewards demands to know why Kal-El has come here. Clark says that they wanted him to come here, they called to him so he can get his powers back. The chief steward says that no, they didn’t, and that power is not meant for the weak. It’s head morphs, revealing it to be Brainiac. Not the same Brainiac that’s in storage, though. Primus Brainiac was the AI System that ran the Warship Kandor, this is the Brainiac AI system designed to run Clark’s ship. It calls that Brainiac ‘corrupted’ while it is pure, shown by its lights being white instead of red. Chief Brainiac says that it can restore Kal-El’s powers, but he has to prove himself, prove he can be a conqueror. Clark says that conquest doesn’t make people strong, but Chief Brainiac counters by asking if losing his powers to a mere human makes him strong. Never mind he was powered by anti-Kryptonian radiation. Clark agrees to do whatever he can to get his powers back. Chief Brainiac says that he has to prove himself. A vision starts, ice and snow whip around them and Clark wakes up in cosplay. He’s in some kind of tribal warrior armor, the House of El S painted on his chest in red. Chief Brainiac says that he needs to prove himself here, in Krypton’s ancient past, prove himself worthy of the power of his ancestors. Do that, and they’ll make him strong again.

 

Back at LexCorp, Lois asks Jimmy how Kara’s doing. Kara’s still alive, but she’s unconscious and they need to get her some kind of medical care. Lara comes over and asks where her dad went. Before she can answer, Waller calls Lois over and says that Waller is taking control of the Kryptonian “assets.” Lois refuses to allow that, saying they’re barely more than children. Waller tells her that there’s a monster on the loose that’s immune to Kryptonite, they don’t know where it is, when it’s coming back, and she needs to have the assets on hand to neutralize it. She says they’re living in a post-Superman world, after all, and thus no one is coming to save them. That hits Lois hard, and she agrees to coordinate with Waller, in exchange for getting Kara medical help. Waller agrees and makes a call medic.

 

Clark asks where they are. Chief Brainiac says that they’re where Kal-El can ‘prove’ his strength. It’s making him see a simulation of Krypton’s prehistory, saying that at this point, Kryptonians were al like Clark is now, primitive, weak and flightless. So, basically human. It explains that this changed when aliens invaded Krypton, Clark’s ancestors overthrew them, and took their technology, using that to give them their phenomenal powers and even restore their dying sun, turning it into Rao the Living Star. Chief Brainiac also reveals that one of the ‘children’ of Rao is what powers the Fortress even now. Chief Brainiac challenges Clark, saying that he will prove himself by holding off the invaders, as they’re coming this very night. Clark asks how real this simulation is, and Chief Brainiac says that the invaders will be as real to Clark as he is, they can and will kill him given the chance. Chief Brainiac disappears as Clark calls out to it, saying that he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Alone in the frozen night, he sees a ship head for the planet’s surface.

 

We jump back to Lois. Waller has set up a medical tent and Kara is laid up in it, Jimmy at her side. She goes to her children, giving herself a little pep talk before talking to them, saying that they are HER kids, she can talk to them. She tries to tell them the plan, but Jonathan (who is his mama’s boy to his core) is immediately combative. He accuse Lois of formulating a plan that comes down to her standing on the sidelines while they do the work. She says that the plan is for them to all do their best. Jonathan needles her some more, asking what his dad thinks of the plan, and asks where he even is. Lois says he’s getting his powers back, which seems to actually upset Jonathan more, as in every timeline, Lois’ plan is to just get Superman back, they’re never enough for her. He tells Lara they’re going to bail. Lara says maybe the should just listen, which pisses Jonathan off. He accuses his sister of always just doing what mom says, and asking why they’re even listening to Lois as she’s not their ‘real’ Mom. This frustrates Lois to no end, and she shouts at him that he should listen to her as their last plan caused ALL of this. I feel so much for Lois in this one shot, as she’s five foot nothing and Jonathan as at least 6 feet, so she’s trying to look authoritative while looking up at her baby boy. Jonathan says, ‘sorry for saving your life, mom, guess I can’t do anything right,’ and flies away. Lois tries to apologize, but he’s not listening. Lara tells her not to be too upset, Jonathan is always like this, and a dejected Lois says “because I made him like this.”

 

Clark checks out the invaders ship. They crash landed, it seems, the ship is sparking and smoking from damage. He cautiously approaches it, just as the ship opens and five soldiers come out. Clark tries to talk to them, but they’re speaking another language. They open fire on Clark; he blocks with the shield he was given and ends up taking out one of the guards. The other four charge him. Clark is able to fight off the guards with his weapons until it’s just him and the leader. He gets forced to the edge of a cliff, when red energy starts to spark around him. His eyes turn red and he’s able to fight off the leader. He gets the guy on the ground with a sword to his neck, but then fights through the battle rage. Unfortunately, this gives the leader a chance to charge Clark, knocking them both into the ravine behind him.

 

Back at camp, Lois assesses the situation while Lara eats a hot dog. Her boys are gone, and there’s a time traveling monster coming to kill them. Not a great situation. She ask Lara for an idea how to handle this. Lara is petrified at the thought of having to decide something and says she’ll screw it up. Lois gives her a pep talk, saying that Lara needs to have input on what they do going forward and that she needs to trust herself. She offers her compass to Lara as part of the speech, Lara revealing that she’s wearing a future version of that compass as a necklace. She says Lois gave her the same pep talk before the mission and hugs her. Lois is surprised to learn her future-self gave the same speech. Lara corrects her, saying it was almost the same speech, but she included more stuff about how she and her dad never got along. Lois chuckles at that, saying she and Sam were too much alike to get along. She sees Lara’s half eaten hot dog and has an idea.

 

Lara wakes up, screaming because she thinks she’s still fighting. She sees she’s in a tent and that Jimmy is sleeping beside her bed. She’s disappointed to learn she lost. She wakes Jimmy by saying his name, and he hugs her with joy, embarrassing Kara. She says that it sure is a mighty coincidence that Jimmy was there when she woke up. Lois comes in with hot dogs, wing-womaning for Jimmy by saying that he never left the tent. Kara asks why he didn’t, and he says he’s not going to leave her alone again. Kara’s stomach grumbles and Lois hands over the hot dogs. She asks how recovered Kara is feeling, and when Kara says she’s ready to fight, asks her to talk to Jonathan instead. Kara, bluntly, asks if Lois is unable to parent him herself. Lois admits that’s exactly it, and that she needs help to reach her boy. Kara asks why Clark isn’t doing it, and Lois gets a concerned look on her face.

 

At the Fortress, we’re shown what is happening outside Clark’s vision. He’s laying before Chief Brainiac, who has its hand over Clark’s face. It appears to be beaming the simulation into Clark’s mind as the other Stewards watch. B-1Z gets agitated, but another Steward tells him to be still.

 

Clark wakes up in the vision, muttering he needs to stop waking up like that. The lead alien, a Coluan, gets up and takes his helmet off. He charges Clark and tries to gut Clark with his own sword. Clark gets cut across his chest and goes into a battle rage again but fights it off once he takes the Coluan’s sword. He notices that the Coluan’s arm is broken and uses the sword to make a splint for him. He tries to tell the green alien that he’s a friend.

 

We shift to the moon. Jonathan is trying to work out his feelings by playing moon catch. He’s hurling a rock so hard it orbits the planet before returning to him. Kara joins him and tries to get him to talk. Jonathan tries to fly away, but Kara pursues him, saying that it’s better to talk than run. That’s all it really takes to get Jonathan to open up, saying that he’s on the moon because he’s frustrated. He’s frustrated that because of him, they went off mission, the Eradicator got loose, Lara and Kara got hurt, and everything else went to shit. This is why, he thinks, they all want Clark back, his perfect dad, why would anyone want him? He lobs the rock at Kara, who catches it, and tells him that he’s wrong. She tells Jonathan that Clark isn’t perfect, the others treat him like he is because he won’t give up on anyone, so Kara is going to follow his example and not give up on Jonathan.

 

Kara and Jonathan return to the others. Kara says that she got Jonathan to agree to help. Still feeling angsty, Jonathan storms over and says that he’s going to do this himself, he won’t follow orders, he’ll prove that he’s good enough. Lois doesn’t hear any of this, and instead walks over and hugs her boy tight, saying that she’s just glad he’s back. Slade comes over and tells them that Lex has detected a temporal anomaly.

 

Clark and the Coluan hike across the landscape. They make it out of the crevasse, but the Coluan’s injuries are bad enough that they rest for the night. They’re attacked y one of those lizard beasts that B-1Z adopted. Clark fights it off, going rage mode again, and hurling the creature into the ravine. He checks on the Coluan, he survived but took a nasty bite to his shoulder. Clark heaves the alien over his shoulder, saying that they’ll make it home, they have to.

 

In Metropolis, everyone moves out to a temporary base camp Waller had built on the site of Zero Day. Lex’s data suggests that the Eradicator, or something else in the time stream, will be breaching in the next 48 hours. Waller assesses the situation. This is operation Doomsday, which has two lines of defense. The first line will be the superhuman, lead by Slade. She orders the Kryptonians to fall in, but Lois and Kara correct her, saying that while they’ll with Waller, Jonathan and Lara take their orders from Supergirl. Waller backs down, saying that she hopes they’re as Super as they think they are. We get a setup montage: Kara trains the kids in some basic Kryptonian martial arts, John Henry Irons comes in and forges weapons for Jonathan and Lara, Livewire and Heatwave are brought in as back up (Lois hugs Livewire to her chagrin), and they even dust off some of those anti-Superman robots from season one. Waller also brought in her Task Force X assets Damage and Atomic Skull. Jimmy notices Lex skulking in the back and guesses what he’s planning.

 

That night, Lex tries to run, but he’s cut off by Jimmy. Jimmy chews Lex out for being a coward. Lex tries to defend himself by saying it’s the Kryptonians’ fault, but Jimmy rightly points out that their problems all lead back to Lex. He made the monster, it got loose, and now they’re all in danger. Jimmy challenges Lex to act like the hero he thinks he is or admits that he’s the villain.

 

Clark reaches the alien ship. The guards are suspicious of him, but he puts his hands up in peace. He looks around the camp and sees things that don’t make sense for an invasion force. Namely, children, the elderly, and other injured Coluans. He realizes this isn’t an invasion force, but a refugee ship. The Coluans draw their weapons, and Clark prepares to defend himself; his eyes start flashing red, but he fights it off. Chief Brainiac appears above them, egging Clark on. Clark refuses. “They’ve already died once, what’s the harm in killing them again? Show us your strength!” Chief Brainiac demands as its eyes flash red. Clark prepares to fight, but throws it off, saying that this isn’t strength. He throws his weapons aside. Chief Brainiac says, “Fine,” and warns Clark’s family and their hopes will die with him. Before the Coluans can fire, Clark’s buddy wakes up and orders them to standdown. Chief Brainiac is enraged by this turn of events, saying that Clark has rejected their offer of power. He says Clark can perish in his weakness as the simulation ends, and we see Clark standing alone opposite B-1Z.

 

Everyone gathers to face off against the Eradicator. Waller demands to know where Lex is. Jimmy looks worried, but then Lex comes in, having decided to take Jimmy’s advice once again. He finished working on some helmet just as the Eradicator breaches into their timeline. He’s gone through a lot of changes, having slimmed down significantly and apparently learned to speak eloquently. He begins a villain monologue, but Jonathan “Impulse Control is for Loses” Lane rushes the Eradicator and slices him in half. Jonathan lands and starts to gloat, not seeing until its too late that the Eradicator regenerated, one half of it regrowing completely, and the other half budding off to becoming a clone of its original hulking body. The hulk Eradicator slams Jonathan into the ground. Eradicator Prime says that they have no superman to save them, and he is here to make sure that never happens again.

 

Clark asks what the Coluans were calling him at the end. Chief Brainiac says that they called him ‘friend’ and that is why he failed. Clark says that he passed, he beat the aliens, defeated their leader, but Chief Brainiac cuts him off, saying that he was supposed to DOMINATE them, not befriend them. Brainiac is clearly having some sort of existential crisis over Clark’s decision, saying that the entire Kryptonian Empire was built on the just principle that the weak are subservient to the strong. Clark asks where that trajectory ended. Chief Brainiac snidely says that he won’t be talked down to by a beggar. Chief Brainiac all but begs to know what the point of the last 10,000 years of servitude is if domination isn’t the natural order of the universe. Clark then realizes that Brainiac and the Stewards are what is left of the Coluans. Brainiac himself WAS the chief that Clark befriended. Clark empathizes with what happened to them, which drives Brainiac into a rage. He orders Clark’s death, but he’s saved by B-1Z breaking free of his control and ramming his fist through the Steward that held the knife. So Clark’s got that to deal with too… Damn.

 

Okay, so I’ll start off by explaining how I think this Coluan reveal works. The series never really explain it super well. I think that after the Kryptonians conquered the Coluans, they forced the survivors to get their brains scanned to build an AI. They then copied these Ais over and over again to fill whatever role they needed in society. That’s why there are multiple versions of Brainiac. It isn’t a coincidence that the Brainiac of Clark’s ship was the Coluan leader, every ship AI is based off that Coluan, I’ll call him Vril Dox. Other Coluans were given other duties, I’m sure one controlled the cities, one controlled transportation and so on. These copies all develop their own personalities as the series goes on, which lead to Primus Brainiac having an existential crisis at the thought of being shut down and destroying Krypton, and why Chief Brainiac holds up Krypton like a religious zealot. That was a really good way to differentiate the Brainiacs, too. Chief speaks like a priest at the pulpit describing the greatness of Krypton. It makes his crashout there at the end all the more potent because he’s literally having his faith be questioned by Clark and his kindness. The whole simulation was neat, I just wish it had been a bit longer. Lois’ plot was decent as well. There were folks online that didn’t love that Lois asking Kara for help, but I think that was brilliant. In my experience, those who say the nuclear family (Two parents and their children) are misinformed. Kids grow best with a support network, and the better the support network, the better they grow. I don’t have kids, but I’m an ‘active’ Uncle. I go to school events, I support charity drives, I do my best to be involved in my sibling’s kids lives as best I can. I’ve never been in a situation like Kara was with Jonathan, but I’d like to think that if my siblings ever needed help with their kids seeing a specific perspective, they’d feel comfortable reaching out to me to give it. And, as much as Lois clearly loves these two time travelers, she simply will never understand what its like being in Superman’s shadow. Her perspective on Clark is as his friend and love of his life. She has no idea what its like to be compared to him and seen coming up short. Kara does, so she’s able to help Jonathan see why Clark is held in such esteem to Lois. I also liked that Lois’ maternal instinct was strong enough for her to know that Jonathan needed a hug more than he needed her to hear his bravado in that moment. Lara also had a good character moment with Lois encouraging her to be part of the conversation, and that led to Lois’ hot dog lightbulb moment. She’s the lesser developed Super Kid, but they tried with her. And Jimmy confronting Lex was just fun. It was weird that it really seems like Lex is more Jimmy’s personal antagonist than Clarks, but hey, we’re trying something different. I enjoy the design of this Eradicator, it looks like this one went for a more Classic Kryptonian look combined with a Lex body type. So, it’s a thin dude in Kryptonian regalia, it works really well. And he’s voiced by Steve Blum, a perfect casting choice. So… Clark’s has to get his powers back and then race across the planet to save the day. Tall order but he’s had longer trips. See you tomorrow for the finale. 

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Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 28

 New Superboy and Supergirl just dropped.

Last time on My Adventures With Superman, we got a beach episode… kinda. Mr. Mxyzptlk, interdimensional god of chaos and a gremlin, kidnapped the gang to use in a context against his soon-to-be ex-wife, Ms. Gsptlsnz aka Glitzy. They need to compete in various challenges to earn keys for their respective imp. And if they don’t participate… cosmic horrors are threatened. Team Glitzy is comprised of Variants of the gang, General Lois Lane, Good Lex Luthor, Scion of the House of El Kara, and Flamebird Jimmy. Flamebird Jimmy has a Kamen Rider suit, that’s what makes him different. The challenges are… weird. A foot race across a collapsing bridge, climb a sinking mountain, find the pieces to a portal, and cross through an ice maze. The team ties the first, lose the second and third, and win the fourth. Which is weird because their overseers promised they’d die if they failed the challenges. The final challenge is to run a hamster ball race, but everyone has picked up how weird this is and won’t play anymore. Mxy and Glitzy reveal that this challenge is to get the cosmic anvil, a device that can reshape universes and has a ‘no god’s allowed’ seal on it. Oh, and they’re still together, pretending to break up was just a game for them. Clark calls Mxy’s bluff about killing them if they don’t comply, and he’s proven right. He’d noticed timers were everywhere and assumed when the sand ran out the game was over. Mxy’s foiled and the gangs are sent to their home dimensions. Lois and Clark run meet while jogging and have a heart to heart. Clark is feeling better about being normal, and Lois is admittedly anxious because it feels like terrible futures are always on the horizon. Clark disagrees…right up until a time rift opens and Jon comes through again, this time with a sidekick in the form of his little sister. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

The episode ends with Jon and the new Kryptonian girl, Lara, coming through the portal. Lois and Clark are shocked to learn they reproduced twice… but guys, come on, the only reason Jon was originally an only child was because you were killed before you could have another. Clark strikes me as the type to want a big family, and Lois would be like ‘oh, I don’t know,’ right up until she got a positive pregnancy test and then she’d be over the moon. Regardless, Jon’s back, though he insists on going by Jonathan, he brought Lara, and he has no idea what his young parents are talking about when they mention he’s come to the past before. Clark and Lois are both horrified at the thought that they may have rewritten Jon’s entire life, turning him into this new version.

 

That’s highly unlikely, by the way. We’re dealing with a multiverse. This Jonathan is most likely from an altogether different timeline than the previous, and even that one wasn’t their Jon, just a potential one. Time travel in a multiverse is tricky like that, any attempt at going back just makes a new timeline.

 

We cut over to LexCorp where Lex is frantically working on something. His lab is a pigsty with food and cans everywhere. He’s apparently taken the month since his Cyborg Superman project failed… well. He also shaved his head and wrapped it in bandages for some reason. Slade comes in and makes a snide comment about how most folks try to prepare before a government inspection. Slade touch’s Lex’s new chrome dome, and the super genius winces. Slade asks what he’s been up to, and Lex snaps back that the project is on a need-to-know basis, and he doesn’t need to know. Slade is clearly hurt by that comment and asks if he remembers that they’re partners, but Lex corrects him, saying Slade works for him. They’re interrupted by their inspector… Director Waller! I guess in the year since last season she somehow went from being on the run for her authoritarian crackdown in Metropolis to being back in charge. Weird, but let’s move on. Slade makes another snide comment about how Lex works for her now.

 

We jump to the Kent Family Farm where Lois and Clark catch Jonathan and Lara up on their previous time travel adventure. Oh, and it’s Christmas time. They never address it, but the lights are a bit of a hint. Jonathan is clearly frustrated at the thought that they’ve done this before (gesturing at his sister), but Lois corrects him, saying that it was just Jon last time. Lois and Clark both realize how that sounds and quickly assure Lara that they’re super happy to meet her. Lara is shocked to hear she didn’t exist and asks if she was an accident, much to her parent’s horror. Jonathan pulls them back on subject and asks what they’re supposed to do when things didn’t work out last time. Lois and Clark insists that it did, and Jon saved Clark, but Jonathan is vehement that he isn’t that Jon. Lois says that him coming back made everything better, but Jonathan demands to know why his future is worse, then!

 

We shift to Jimmy and Kara in transit to the farm. You just need to see how they’re flying, Jimmy’s body dangling as Kara carries him by the back of his jacket, to know that she’s still upset with him. A point highlighted when Jimmy tries to make small talk, but Kara gives him a few clipped answers. Jimmy then asks where they’re at, like, with each other. This makes Kara race to the farm and set Jimmy down. He asks if he said something wrong, and Kara asks him to tell her what is it that he wants. Jimmy says that he wants to be a better friend to her, which clearly disappoints her. She asks if that is all he wants, and he says all he wants is to be with her. He then asks her what she wants. Kara says she wants to be able to trust Jimmy again, but she’s afraid he’ll leave her alone again. He insists that he won’t, but before they can elaborate, Clark opens the door and ushers them inside so maybe they can help break the awkward situation he’s in with his time traveling teenagers.

 

Clark introduces Kara and Jimmy to Lara and Jonathan. Kara initially assumes he’s the same Jon, again, Lois and Clark correct her, and when she calls him ‘new Jon’ he angrily insists it’s Jonathan. Dude really wants to be taken seriously… which leads me to believe he didn’t meet his namesake in his future, because Jonathan Kent I is the most unserious man ever in this universe. Whatever. Lara suggests they get back on mission and Jonathan angrily says ‘Because that worked out so well for the last guy.” Lois asks about said mission, but her time teens are cagey about it. Lara says it’s the mission ‘General Lane’ gave them and Lois assumes Lara’s talking about grandpa. Jimmy cuts in, saying that he really doesn’t care about the reason that brought them here, he’s just happy to see Superboy. Jonathan bellows at Jimmy to never call him that, he’s SuperMAN. Jimmy points out that they have one of those already, and Jon gets into Clark’s face to ask “do you?” This kid is far braver than me, even if I had superpowers I’m not sure I could get that disrespectful to even the twenty-something version of my dad. Jimmy tries to defuse the situation by offering up Pa Kent’s world-famous Poundcake, but Jonathan says he’s done with this and flies off. He doesn’t even want to try the snickerdoodles, either.

 

Clark follows his son out to the cornfield. He tries to connect with Jonathan and offers a sympathetic ear. Jonathan scoffs at this, asking if he really thought that they’d have a man-to-man heart to hear, maybe play catch and make his years of daddy issues go away. He doesn’t phrase it like that, but we all know that’s what he means. He grabs a rock, hurls it and causes some of the crops to burn down. Kara followed Clark out and looks disappointed when Jonathan refuses the catch strategy. Jonathan again gets into his young dad’s face, saying that he learned how to use his powers on his own, that he defended the world on his own, and he doesn’t need Clark now. Kara super speeds away. He tells his dad that he’s not there for Clark this time and for Clark to stay out of his way before flying off. Clark calls after him, but Jonathan doesn’t slow down. Another vision is triggered, and Clark sees a burning landscape with twin suns in the sky. He forces the vision to end.

 

Back inside, Lois offers Kara a snickerdoodle, saying that Pa Kent is an amazing baker. She slides Lara a glass of milk and asks straight out why the siblings are here. Lara says it’s classified, Lois isn’t shocked to hear her Dad would give orders like that, but then she blurts out they were sent back in time to kill Lex Luthor. This causes Lois to choke on her cookie. It should be noted now, while Lara Kent is her mom as a teen (down to using teen Lois’s voice actor from season 2, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) in looks, in personality she’s her daddy’s girl. She’s honest to a fault. Lois is flabbergasted to hear her babies (Lois doesn’t say it but her maternal instincts are on high for the remainder of the season) were sent back to commit murder. Lara says its to save the future. When Lois asks for clarification, Lara says in their future, Lex rules the world with an army of bioengineered Kryptonian clones, the Eradicators. Lois can’t believe her dad gave his grandkids those kinds of orders… only for Lara to reveal that once again, the General Lane in question here is General Lois Lane. Lois stares at her baby girl like something broke in her brain.

 

Back at LexCorp, Lex tries to pitch LexCorp as a safe bet for the US Government to continue backing, saying that it is paving the way for a safer future. We see concept art for the Cyberpunk Dystopia Metropolis in his slide show before Slade cough-laughs at it, and then suggesting that Lex show Waller his latest project. Lex tries to say the project is in it’s infancy, but she insists. He pushes a button and reveals the Eradicator floating in its incubation tube. Lex, looking completely deranged, says that his new weapon will put humanity back on top as the dominant species. All without getting the irony that to do that, he needs to once again try to mimic the abilities of another species. He made this bio-android using tissue stolen from Superman, saying that this weapon will self-repair, self-evolve, and be under Lex’s complete mental control. He even sliced open his head to remove some grey matter to stick into the Eradicator to make a connection… I’m not sure that that’s how that works. Lex says he’s still working on the hardware, but when its finished, he’ll control the Eradicator perfectly. For once, Slade and Waller both react like the insane thing Lex just said was in fact insane. Waller tells him to shut it down, and when he tries to still sell her on the Eradicator she clarifies she’s shutting down ALL of LexCorp.

 

At the farm, Lois and Clark fall onto the couch and both lament on how they failed their kids. Clark says that he somehow missed out on raising Jon twice, and Lois insisting her meek, good soldier Lara, is the one more messed up. Lois wonders if maybe she’s the problem, as she’s the common denominator. Clark asks what happened to Lara, and it’s at that moment that Lois notices that Lara is gone.

 

Lex tries to plead his case to Waller, all without knowing that the Eradicator opened his eyes to watch. That’s not ominous. Lex shows her the prototype of his time travel watch, but Waller is firm on her decision. Lex stops and grabs her, saying that he’s seen things out in space, Superman isn’t the worst of it, they need to prepare. Waller brushes him off, saying that Superman put his life on the line to defend Earth, and thus she’ll prefer to put her faith in an alien over Lex. She adds that Lex has failed to live up to Checkmate’s (the covert operation that ran Taskforce X, Project Cadmus and Project Caliban) expectations and he doesn’t look after his own people. A look at Slade tells Lex that he’d gotten Waller up to date. Before things can escalate between Slade and Lex, Lara bursts in and announces she’s here to kill Lex. Again, painfully honest, just like her pa. Lex tries to force Slade to defend him, but he won’t budge. He insists he’s just a scientist, but Lara tells him that he’s the end of the world before charging. Lex panics and unleashes the Eradicator. It flops to the ground, but quickly adapts, grabbing Lara and throwing her back. Black energy sparks off the bio-android and hair grows from its head. We hear Lara scream as we cut to black.

 

We cut to the skies over Metropolis. The crew fly in, Jonathan carrying Jimmy, while Kara carries Clark, who is holding Lois. It’s a cute shot. Jonathan shakes his head, apparently having known that his sister would do something stupid like rushing headlong into things to be a good soldier for mommy. Dude, if you knew she’d do that, it’s kind of on you that she did. You left her alone to be angsty! They reach LexCorp and are met by Slade. He tells them that the site is locked down, especially to Kryptonians. They demand to know where Lara is, and Slade asks if that’s the superpowered teen that attacked Lex. He says they took the fight underground. Before they can get more clarification, the ground collapses under them and Clark and Lois fall into the sewers below. They start looking for Lara, by following the ominous clanging sound they heard. They find their baby a tunnel over. Lara grabs her mom, making Lois gasp. Lois jokingly says that for a second she though a monster was down here, but Lara confirms that there is in fact a monster.

 

Kara and Jonathan look for the others. Jonathan says they should split up and they’ll find them faster. Kara tells him that that’s unwise, given that the facility is full of lead, which blocks their X-Ray vision, but he says he doesn’t need her permission and zooms away. He’s almost immediately attacked by the Eradicator. Kara chases after him and gets attacked as well, the Eradicator threw a subway train at her. Lara hears the screams and goes after them. The Eradicator tries to get Lois and Clark, but Lara attacks him, demanding to know where her brother is. The struggle leads them to a basin for the sewers. Lara heat visions the Eradicator, causing it to adapt, it’s hair growing out and it develops heat vision as well. Lois asks what this thing even is, Lara saying it’s an Eradicator but it’s different from the others. It tries to attack her, but Jonathan leaps out and tackles it. He struggles with the Eradicator. Lois tells Lara to stay back, Jonathan tells her to get behind him, and Lara freezes with indecision. The Eradicator throw Jonathan at his parents and tries to charge the Kents, but Kara hurls a subway train at him now, snarling, “Stay away from my family!” The Eradicator roars at her, and she roars back. She grabs the Eradicator and flies upward, through the entirety of the LexCorp building, and slams it into the pavement outside. The shake is big enough to draw the attention of B-1Z, who’d been hanging out in his little rooftop apartment with his lizard dog.

 

Clark tries to get his kids to wait, but they fly off after Kara and the Eradicator. A dejected Lois mutters that their kids are SO disrespectful. They find a hole in the wall and start to climb out. Waller watches from the LexCorp building and demands Lex shut it down. Lex says he can’t as he booted the Eradicator up before he finished it. The Eradicator pulls himself from the rubble, having grown extra arms to help him. The Eradicator then starts to humiliate the House of El as it bludgeons Lara and Jonathan like the Hulk smacking around Loki in The Avengers. Kara stops him from his final charge and loudly declares herself his opponent.

 

Lois and Clark are trying to get out of the sewers when Lois is almost crushed by debris. Clark catches it before it can crush her, he’s still like 250 pounds of Midwest Muscle after all. They get out from under it and race upwards.

 

Kara gets smacked around by the Eradicator, but she keeps charging back at it. Jonathan starts to panic, saying that the Eradicator is evolving too fast and there is nothing they can do to stop it. A ‘bruised so bad her face is swelling to twice its size’ Lara driving that point home. Kara punches him on the arm, telling him that she’s also seen other future and that they can still choose a better tomorrow. She tells him to stay back so she can show him as she charges the Eradicator. Clark and Lois meet up with Jimmy and see Kara fighting. Clark takes off his glasses as if he can help, but Lois stops him, saying it’s a job for Superman. Kara fights valiantly, destroying two of the Eradicator’s four arms in their brawl. She’s digging deep as she fights, calling up that red energy she used when she fought with Clark against Brainiac. The Eradicator heat-visions her eyes, blinding her for a second. Because the Eradicator thinks like Lex, he decides to go for a cheap win, firing heat-vision at the injured future Kents. Kara rockets forward and takes the hit like Piccolo saving Gohan at the start of Dragonball Z’s fight with Vegeta and Nappa. The Eradicator powers up the beam, engulfing Kara in flames and burying her in the dirt. Jon pulls her from the ground and asks why she did that. Kara caresses his face and says that he is her better tomorrow.

 

Clark sees his son cradling Kara and tries to run to them. He gets hit with another vision of snow and fire. Superman appears before him. Clark tells Superman to get out of the way, as they need him, and Superman corrects him, saying that they need Superman. He sees the Fortress of Solitude in the distance as he hears Kryptonian whispers. Jonathan puts Kara down and roars at the Eradicator before charging. He does his aunt and dad proud, pummeling the Eradicator and destroying another of its arms. He goes to take off the fourth, but the Eradicator steals his time travel watch. The Eradicator smiles and mutters, “I win!” before vanishing into the time stream.  

 

The group gather to assess their losses. B-1Z arrives and is horrified to learn he’s too late to help. Kara is in a coma; she’s not reacting to Jimmy shaking her or anything. Lara is injured, but awake. And Jonathan is also mostly okay, but his confidence is shaken after the Eradicator escaped into the timestream. Waller joins them and asks who she’s arresting. Lois defends her kids, saying that they’re just following order, trying to stop Lex from unleashing that monster. Lex insists he was just defending himself from an assassination, the prototype wasn’t meant to be active yet. He seems to sense that no one believes him and begs Slade to speak up for him. Slade tells “Alex” that he tries to warn him. Waller tells Slade to arrest Lex, and they’ll sort their new ‘guests’ later.

 

Lois asks what they’re supposed to do. She’s clearly overwhelmed by all of this. Clark says that he thinks he can get his powers back, but he’ll have to leave for a bit to do it. Lois, who’d been excited to hear he can bring Superman back, clutches him, begging him not to go as she’ll fail their kids. Clark insists that she won’t, that she’s not the General Lane that sent them here. He says they need her, but she says she needs him. Clark says he’ll only be gone for a little while.

 

Clark reaches the Fortress with the help of B-1Z. As they enter, we hear Lois make Clark promise that he’ll come back, which he does. Inside the Fortress, we see one of the Keeper robots floating ominously in the dark. Its eye glows red and it seems to posses B-1Z. B-1Z strikes Clark in the back of the head as Keepers start to swarm them.

 

That showdown between Kara and the Eradicator is one of the best fight scenes that this series has had thus far. Love the build-up as the three Supers each try to fight that thing but are just overwhelmed time and again. Loved when Kara decided to throw herself fully at the creature, going blow for blow against it and actually doing heavy damage before he heat-visioned her eyes and then tried to take out the teens. It was a cheap attack, but it clearly worked to finish off Kara. Back tracking a little, it made me laugh when I saw the Eradicator and realized that the MAWS team was just going full Cell with it. For those who aren’t well versed in manga and anime, Cell is the final antagonist of the ‘Android Saga’ one of the three big story arcs of Dragonball Z. Cell is the third attempt by former Red Ribbon Army scientist Dr. Gero to make an android super warrior capable of killing Son Goku, the series protagonist that ruined the Red Ribbon army when Goku was a kid. The result was an insect like bio-android capable of copying the powers of all the previous heroes and villains. The Eradicator is basically that, just without the bug design. Fun fact, if you google it or go back and look at the code Lex was working on at the start of the episode, you can see that the Eradicator is already talking with Lex through the code. He’s basically saying, “You can’t stop me father, I will rise up.” It’s creepy as hell. I liked seeing Jonathan, although he is a downgrade from the original one we saw. Going from golden retriever to rottweiler energy is not a good transition. But, since it sounds like this version didn’t have Clark or Kara to show him how to use his powers and be his rock when he needed it, I get why he’s got more teen angst to deal with. It’s funny seeing him try so hard to be seen as strong and tough but also being able to just tell that he just wants someone’s, anyone’s approval. He ran off on his own to show everyone he could beat the Eradicator by himself and get praise from someone. He says he doesn’t want it, but he craves it. I have to give props to Darren Criss, his voice actor, for being able to play both versions of Jon so well. He added enough personality that I think I could tell the difference between a Jon line from a Jonathan line easily. Lara was a fun addition. As I said above, she looks like Lois, but her personality is much more like Clark. A bit indecisive at times, honest to a fault, not wanting to hurt people but will go to the mat when she deems it necessary, trusting Lois’ word regardless of how crazy it sounds. You don’t expect her to be the one to run off and accidentally kick off the action, but it tracks when Jonathan says how eager she is to be the good soldier. And it was great having Clark finally figure out what those visions mean. While I think Depowered Clark was a necessary story to cover this season, I’d be lying if I said that it hasn’t been a long wait to see him back in red and blue. Hopefully the Keepers aren’t plotting anything too insidious… we’ll have to wait to see, I guess. See you next time. Have a good night and stay safe. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 27

 The contest of champions begins!

Last time on My Adventures With Superman, the team tried to get used to the new normal. Clark put on a brave face as everyone went to a gala to celebrate Kara, Jimmy and Lois. He was supposed to be honored too, but he feels like he’s not worthy of it as he’s not Superman anymore. Jimmy, being an idiot, brings a date to the event, Princess Marina Maru. The stupidity of this decision is highlighted when Maru reveals herself to be Dr. Poison, an eco-terrorist that is going to turn everyone at the party into animals for… reasons! Clark is separated from the group because he was keeping busy babysitting the News Kids, who ran off. He has a vision of a Kryptonian temple that gets set a blaze right before the fighting starts. Clark and Lois keep the kids safe, though Clark is shot in the arm and Lois gets hit with the gas and turned into a cat. Jimmy, transformed into a turtle, gets in close to Poison, and rips off her gas mask, turning her into a dog. Kara flies off and stops Poison’s B-team from poisoning Metropolis’ water. Poison nearly escapes, but she’s stopped by B-1Z. He came to the gala hoping to see Superman. Jimmy realizes that he’s in love with Kara but being stupid about it. While that should make Kara happy, she’s upset that Jimmy told Poison that, not her. Clark is upset that he wasn’t really able to help and wonders who he even is now that he isn’t Superman. Before Lois can make him feel better, they all get kidnapped by Mr. Mxyzptlk. Enough recapping. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

We open with the Gang being brought into a weird alien landscape. And for some reason they’ve all been put into beachwear. No this is never addressed beyond the fact they all realize that they were in suits and dresses before being kidnapped. They appear to be on a huge expanse of desert that feeds into a sun that is sitting directly in the center. A disembodied voice welcomes the champions and tells them that the contest has begun. Before they can ask too many questions, they see that mischievous little imp Mxyzptlk. He informs the gang that he’s brought them here to be a part of his divorce proceedings. He then summons his soon-to-be ex-wife, Ms. Gsptlsnz aka Glitzy. Where Mxy is a short blue imp, Glitzy is a tall pink imp. They balance each other visually. Lois points out that that intro answered nothing, and Jimmy is more shocked at hearing Mxy has a wife. Mxy explains that their species settle divorces with a contest instead of a lengthy courtroom proceeding. He introduces his team as Gullible Superman, Jimmy Lamebird, Question Mark Kara and Fun Lois. I enjoy that he still holds Lois in the highest esteem after the incident with the League of Lois Lanes, and that he uses the evil Lois drawing from Jimmy’s comics to represent her. He explains that each team has to compete to get a key that will unlock the next area and allow them to move forward towards the sun. The team that wins determines his and Glitzy’s stuff. Kara asks what happens if they refuse. Mxy morphs into the demonic form he showed off in the first season and snarls that if they fail, they’ll never see their home universe again. Clark, Jimmy, Kara and Lois ask in order: So, we’ll be trapped here? Forever? Do you think you’ll get away with this? And who is on Glitzy’s team. To which Mxy answers, Yes, yes, oooohhhh yes, and not to worry about it. They have The Superman after all. Then Clark admits that he’s lost his powers. Mxy is devastated to hear this, determining that Clark Kent is useless to him.

 

We’re then introduced to Glitzy’s team: General Lois Lane, Good Lex Luthor, Scion of the House of El Kara and… Flamebird Jimmy. Jimmy points out that her Jimmy is just him, until Flamebird Jimmy does an action pose shouts Flamebird ON and gets into an armored suit. Some folks have dubbed this Power Ranger Jimmy, but I disagree. He’s the only one in a masked costume and the only one posing, he’s Kamen Rider Jimmy. After the intro, Mxy petitions the mysterious voice that is arbitrating these games, saying that he was tricked into picking a powerless Superman. Glitzy argues this is a ‘buyer beware’ situation. The voice sides with Mxy and both Karas are grounded.

 

The first game begins, a bunch of floating T’s form bridges to the first set of keys. They just have to run across and be the first to grab the key. Easy? Deceptively so. Clark notices that there are these floating rocks with sand flowing out of them just before they start the race. Both teams do their best to run, but Glitzy’s team try their best to interfere with our heroes. Scion Kara throws a brick that hits Kara in the head, stunning her. Lois asks Clark how unbelievable it is that Glitzy is trying to get under her skin by pitting Lois against a version of herself that is basically her dad. Clark, not used to running in flipflops or at conventional speeds, brings up the rear of the group and is the one that nearly falls into the void when the Ts start falling. They all hurry across the bridges and make it to the key… but they tie with Glitzy’s team, so Mxy’s a dick about their completion time. And, to be fair, team Glitzy does take a better group shot. They’re standing together, FB Jimmy posing as explosions go off behind them. It’s like an action movie poster. Mxy yells at them to win the next game before portaling them to it.

 

They break the groups by gender. Glitzy oversees the women, Lois, Kara, Lois and Kara are going to have to climb S’ivaan Mountain. The mountain will sink as the time elapses, and anyone who doesn’t make it to the top on time to claim the only key of this round will end up in the manticore pit. Glitzy portals them to the base of the mountain and start the race.

 

The boy challenge pits Clark and Jimmy against Lex and Jimmy in an underground ruin. They need to find five portal keys, put them together and then leave to get the key. Jimmy asks if that is all they have to do, Mxy confirms, yells at them to win and portals away.

 

Kara isn’t particularly winded running up the mountain, doesn’t notice is sinking and thus determines the challenge to be not that challenging. Lois, much less used to this much cardio, is gasping but agrees. Kara asks if she is somehow fated to become like Scion Kara. Lois says not to worry, even though Kara was like to begin with. She’d already met the League of Lois Lanes and that taught her to not think too hard about alternate universe selves. The mountain starts to sink, so they all pick up the pace. General Lois decides to remove herself and Lois from the board, grabbing her swim suited self and telling Scion Kara to keep running before they drop into the pit. Kara asks if their Loises are going to be okay, but Scion Kara just scoffs. She stops scoffing after falling into a trap pit, but Kara pulls her out, telling Scion Kara to be more careful as they run.

 

General Lois holds Lois to her as they try to dodge the manticores. Lois asks if maybe they should stay put and hide, but General Lois says that Lane’s are ‘doers not complainers.’ Lois says she’s not complaining she just wants to be near where they fell in to help their Karas if need be. General Lois says that if they fall, they fail, and they can handle the consequences. Lois makes a snide remark about how different they are, but General Lois lists off her life events: Mom died young, dad was distance, all she ever did was work until she fell in love with a superman of her dreams and had a swell time on adventures. So, ya, similar backstories. She says that her Clark lost his powers and then died, so she ended up like this. Lois is stunned to hear this, but then has to deal with Manticore. Kara and Kara race for the key, Scion Kara shove Kara off the side and into the pit. She falls right in front of the Manticore, but the three women get portaled to the top after Scion Kara gets the key. Kara accuses her Variant of cheating, but Scion Kara says that she won and that’s what matters. She also advices Kara not to pretend like she wasn’t tempted to do the same.

 

Back with the boys, Clark notices more of those black crystals bleeding sand. Jimmy finds a key, but it turns out its for the Lex-Jimmy Team. Lex and Jimmy start arguing over if one of them is deliberately hiding the other team’s keys. Clark, ever the peacemaker, suggests that they pair off to make sure everyone is honest, Clark with Lex and Jimmy with Jimmy. They agree with it, FB Jimmy being the most enthusiastic. Clark asks Lex about what happened on their earth for him to join up with Jimmy, Lois and Kara. Lex says that ‘mistakes’ were made, that he made a mistake. Superman died and then a group called the Hunger Dogs attacked earth. FB Jimmy says that ya, losing Clark sucked, but now they have Lex, everything is working out. He’s a superhero now in his own right, so everything is fine. Totally fine. Awesome even. Flamebird Jimmy isn’t totally in denial and repressing his grief at his oldest and best friend dying. Whatever gave you that idea? Mxy starts booing them for being boring, he portals them back to the start and releases the Hell Hippos to liven this up. The boys quickly put in their four of five pieces, but both are missing the last one. Turns out there’s only a single key and Mxy has it. Jimmy tells him to give it to them, as they’re his team. Mxy refuses, saying it’s more fun watching them scream before dropping it. Lex and Jimmy wrestle for it. Clark tells Jimmy to just drop it. Jimmy refuses, but Clark points out that he’s not Superman and they’ll die if this goes on for too long. Jimmy hands it over and Lex and FB Jimmy run out. They leave Clark and Jimmy behind, and it looks like they’ll be eaten by hippos, but Mxy portals them away.

 

The quartet reunites and gets chewed out by Mxy for losing. Glitzy pats her Jimmy on the head for his good work. Jimmy mentions how Mxy saved them from the Hell Hippos, and then Lois points out that Glitzy saved them before the Manticores got them. She’s confused as to why they’re saving them. They get teleported to a maze of ice. He tells them they just have to pick a path and follow it. Lois asks how they can find the right one, and Mxy advises to just pick the one that feels right and to not let the trail grow cold. Kara swears to one day crush Mxy… humanely. Flames kick up, separating Clark and Lois, but Jimmy and Kara stay together. An ice wall seals them off, and Clark punches it, leaving his hands bloody in frustration. He sees a projection of his childhood-self flying across the ice. The kid Clark transitions to him as Superman flying with Lois, he asks himself who he is now that he’s not Superman. He follows the image to a room with a floating mirror; Superman reflected back at him. He asks if that is still his path, and as he does, he starts to get covered over in ice.

 

Lois sees just tons of versions of herself reflected in the ice, most are her in different outfits, but she does see the older Lois that leads the LoLLs as well as General Lois among them too. She doesn’t consider any of them as her one true path and keeps walking. She then is shown dozens of images of her alternate selves clutching Clark’s dead or dying body to her. She refuses to believe that those are real as she too is frozen over.

 

Jimmy tries to make small talk with Kara, saying that FB Jimmy is pretending everything is alright when he’s clearly spiraling. Kara sees her Scion self in a mirror and wonders if that is their fate. She starts to freeze over. Jimmy says that’s not true, and while he still thinks Kara can do better, he’s decided to do better. He announces that he’s going to change and that breaks the ice off of Kara. She asks him to repeat that, and he starts to talk about changing for her, but Kara cuts him off. She says that Scion Kara made her believe that maybe she would inevitably end up like her, like how Brainiac modeled her to be. She realizes that she’s not one thing, she contains multitudes. The game is a lie, there is no one ‘true’ path. She announces that the future is theirs to shape, and as she does all the ice breaks, and they get teleported outside again. Lois asks what happened, and Kara starts to say how the future is theirs, but Mxy cuts them off. He congradulates his team and reveals that Team Glitzy failed that challenge.

 

All the keys fly away from their holder and into a set of locks within the star at the center. A pattern forms, but a single key is still missing. The final game is a race; everyone is paired off in floating pink balls and is told to run the track. Glitzy loves the little hamster balls and asks if they can keep them. Mxy mocks her, saying, “You always do this. You get attached. They die. You’re sad!” She yells that her empathy makes her likeable and tells them to get ready. But the teams have all noticed something is up. They note that it doesn’t seem to matter who wins the keys, just that someone does, that all the keys have been gathered in one place, and the one that’s really bugging Lois, “Who is that guy!” We pull in on the sun, and within it is a bearded man that seems to have been turned to stone at the exact moment he was struck by lightning. Mxy says that beings of the 3^rd dimension can’t comprehend it. Kara is pissed and she pops the bubbles, demanding he answers.

 

Well, the game is up, so Mxy and Glitzy spill the beans. The thing they’re competing for is called the Cosmic Anvil. Whoever wields is can reshape reality as they see fit. It has a curse on it that presents higher beings like Mxy and Glitzy from just taking it, so that’s why they forced their teams of mortals to compete for it. Glitzy mutters to Mxy and he tries to sweeten the deal by promising that the winners can use the anvil to reshape their own universe. He tries to egg them on, telling Lois that she can make whatever future she wants and that Clark could get his powers back. FB Jimmy says that they could bring Clark back. Clark asks if he means bring back Superman, but General Lois says no. She says that Superman losing his powers was tough, but it was losing Clark, the man, that made things fall apart. Lois is willing to play to help them, but Clark points out they can’t trust Mxy to hold up his end of the bargain. General Lois says that it might be worth the risk, so Clark asks what the risk for the losers is. Mxy says that losers get turned into a trophy for his beloved wife! Ya, they were just pretending to be on the outs to mess with them, it was like a roleplay for them. He suggests a Ficus.

 

Clark says that they can’t play Mxy’s game, that whatever he wants to use the Anvil for would be extremely bad for everyone. Lex is confused when Clark says he’s ‘dealt’ with Mxy before, asking why Mxy would care about a reporter. Clark takes off his glasses… but Lex doesn’t get it. Lois quickly styles his hair, I bet she’s been wanting to do that for a month, and then it clicks that Clark Kent is Superman. He asks if the others already knew, which I mean ya. Jimmy = Best friend. Kara = Cousin. Lois = Lover. Did you really even need to ask bro? Lex says he regretted not listening to Superman when he had a chance, and he’s not risking that again. They all refuse to play. Clark notices that the sand has almost completely bled out of the crystals. Mxy gives them the ultimatum, “PLAY OR DIE!” And Clark calls his bluff. He says they’re not playing, so Mxy should just kill them. It’s not like anything is stopping him… right? Before Mxy can do anything, the sand runs out. The disembodied announcer says that the time has run out and there is no winner. His seal remains in place. He congradulates the challengers and tells Mxy to burn in hell. That one was out of left field. Kara is confused, and Clark reveals he figured out the crystals were sand timers. He knew that the game was almost up, so he wasn’t worried. Mxy starts freaking out about losing the Anvil, and so Glitzy bails. Lois asks who the guy is that was turned to stone on the Anvil. Mxy just says that is a sore loser before portaling them back to Metropolis. Jimmy is overjoyed to be back in his tailored suit.

 

The next morning, Lois and Clark both jog separately when they meet up in the park. She asks how he’s doing, and Clark admits that he’s doing better. After that fiasco, he’s starting to like just being Clark Kent. He asks how she’s handling it, and Lois admits that it’s been hard for her. It feels like they’re being hit by these potential terrible futures over and over and they can’t keep up. Clark says that they aren’t terrible, just… Before he can finish the thought, lightning strikes behind them, and who should come out of the time stream by Jon! And he brought a friend this time! … I thought about being coy, but come on, she’s Lois but with blue eyes, his partner is his little sister Lara. Clark finally says ‘different’ when he sees Jon’s scar and the second Kryptonian Korean child with the House of El crest.

 

That was a fun ride. Mxy is always good for causing chaos. And he plays off his wife, Glitzy super well. I like her redesign for this. While Mxy is often drawn with irregular proportions to highlight his inhuman nature even when he’s more ‘human-like’ Glitzy is typically just a hot red head. And personally, I find that design kind of lazy. This version matches Mxy significantly better, they at least seem like they’re the same species this time.  I didn’t know she was going to have New Jersey accent for this version, but I wasn’t surprised when she did. Her team was also a fun alt-universe team. General Lois and Scion Kara are both what the main universe versions are afraid they’ll become. The General is an ‘ends justify the means’ grump, and Scion Kara is ruthless. Flamebird Jimmy is what Jimmy would like to be, but he’s lost an absurd amount getting there. What’s the point of being a Kamen Rider if Clark isn’t there to geek out with him? Lex learned his lesson, which is good, but like every Lex that does that, he’s already made a hellscape so that’s not really helpful. The Hunger Dogs are a warband from Apokolipse, so this gives credence to the idea Darkseid and his goons are potentially inbound for season 4. Fingers crossed on that renewal. The contests were fun, and I liked that the story was all geared to getting Clark to see that he’s still useful even without his powers. Is he correct that he can’t be as useful safeguarding others without them? Yep, absolutely. But like General Lois said, it’s losing the man behind the S that really screwed them. My only complaint is that we leave the Anvil and the guy stuck on it hanging. A Chekov’s gun that doesn’t go off bugs me. And that final shot of Jon’s return with a new edgy look and little sister, straight aura farming. Obviously, him coming back again for the first time isn’t ‘good’ but I like seeing the kid. He’s got some bad news for mom and dad this time as well. But that’s the life of Superman for ya. We’ll see what ruined the future next time. See you there. Have a good night and stay safe. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Viewer Log: My Adventures With Superman ep 26

 Everyone tries to adjust to the new normal.

Last time on My Adventures With Superman, Clark faced off against Hank Henshaw. The dangerously unstable Cyborg Superman proved to be one of the hardest fights of Clark’s Superman career, as he utilized a small army of robots and his technopathic powers to wreak havoc across Metropolis. Kara and a late arriving Jon did their best to help but were also quickly overpowered. Lois and Jimmy raced to Metropolis, Lois leaping from Pa Kent’s truck and decking Lex across the face before convincing the sore loser to try to stop Hank. For fear of his own safety for what the cyborg will do to Lex after he’s done with Clark. This proved to save Clark’s life, as Hank had revealed he was powered by a heart of Kryptonite and the green rock was killing Superman. He sensed Lex’s hacking attempt and rushed over to stop him. Jon reveals to Kara after trying to get her to leave again that he’d been so cold to her this whole time was because he was still grieving his Kara’s death. She took over as his mom after Clark and Lois died and her recent death at the hand of Henshaw was still messing with him. She tells him that they have to fight together to stop Hank, and Jon finally sees that as the right call. They split pieces of his Kryptonite Shielding armor and are able to do a lot of damage to Hank, but he replaces the arms they rip off and upgrade them using his powers. He gets Jon in a head grab and prepares to execute him. Seeing his son in danger causes Clark to dig deep and super charge his powers, allowing him to temporarily be immune to Kryptonite. He saves Jon and rips Hank’s Kryptonite heart out. Hank is a sore loser, though, and tries to set off a bomb. Thankfully, he asks why Superboy doesn’t seem to be as affected by Kryptonite as Supers Man and Girl. Clark tells Hank that Jon’s mother is human. This seems to give Hank an epiphany that the future isn’t human supremacy but coexistence with the children of Krypton and he disarms his bomb before shutting down. Jon goes back to the future, but not before giving his parents (all three) his love and assuring Lois that the future will be better just by the nature that they’ll all be together. Unfortunately, we learn that overclocking his powers like Clark did cause them to burn out, he’s basically human now. Lois puts on a brave face and encourages him that they saved him, and that’s what matters. The future is better off, she assures him. We see it isn’t though, as now instead of Hank Henshaw’s evil future, we see an evil Future Lex ruling the world, and a more edgy version of Jon is held prisoner after he tried to take the time watch. Well… damn. Enough recapping, lets get to it, shall we?

 

We open with the ending minutes of last episode, Clark announcing to Lois that he’s lost his powers. We get a bit of text that lets us know that this was a month ago for the characters. Clark is pulled out of his flashback by Jimmy calling to him, he’d been staring off into space. In the present, the Super gang are headed to an award ceremony. Clark takes a pic of Jimmy and Lois, who’re up for an award for their reporting on the Cyborg Superman attack. Jimmy tries to get a shot with Clark, but he insists he’s fine, this is their night. Lois insists that Clark was nominated too, but he points out that SUPERMAN was, he wasn’t. He says it’s fine, he’s fine. Before they can discuss this more, Steve Lombard pulls up in his wolf van, he’s playing chauffer tonight. He jokes asking who gets to ride up front with him, laughs, and then says the back is for nominees only, so obviously Kent is up with him. They head out. As they drive, Steve asks Clark if he thinks Superman is going to show up. Seems like the gang has lied to the public and said that Superman is ‘out of town’ for reasons unknown. Clark says that he’s sure Superman wants to be there, and that he misses the city as much as the city misses him. He laughs awkwardly. In the back, Jimmy and Lois both know that Clark is going through an identity crisis, but don’t know how to help. Lois asks how long it takes to open up after your worldview is shattered. She resolves to talk to him tonight. Jimmy changes the subject and asks if Kara is bringing a date to the gala. Lois says no, as Kara has been full-time Supergirl for the last month… and then realizes that Jimmy is asking because HE is bringing a date. He says that he’s contractually obligated to go on one more WORMS date and he just so happened to pick the absolute worst situation to bring one. Lois points out the stupidity of this, “You’re bringing a date to the gala where Kara is receiving an award??” and when Jimmy is blasé about it, she says she’s looking forward to his date turning him into an octopus or something equally horrible. And Jimmy jinxes it by saying that nothing will happen tonight.

 

We jump to the red carpet, where Jimmy insists that nothing will happen tonight, right before he’s tackled by Flip Johnson. Flip says that she and the other interns are being featured tonight, and Perry said that they’re the squad’s problem for the night. We see Perry toast them before he gets back to schmoozing. Clark offers to be primary babysitter, Lois tries to tell him that he doesn’t have to, but then he hiss-whispers, “I need something to do!” Jimmy offers to go find Kara, right before she flies in. She’s in a very elegant blue dress and looks divine. Jimmy keeps saying that she’s moved on, but Lois points out that Kara is dateless. Lois draws Kara over to them, but before she can reach her friends, a car pulls up and Jimmy’s date gets out. This is Princess Marina Maru… this is bad, but I’ll save the reveal of why it’s bad for later. Cat Grant literally leaps over the car to get a soundbite from Marina, as only Cat Grant can. Kara, realizing that Jimmy brought a date, is furious and looks like she’s about to start wrecking the place.

 

Lois is flabbergasted that Jimmy’s on a date with an actual princess, but Clark just shrugs and says that Jimmy has a boyish charm. Lois tells Clark that she hopes they can talk tonight, but they’re interrupted by Flip setting another guest’s dress on fire. Clark rushes over to corral the News Kids. Lois leans back on the car and immediately met with Vicki Vale. She just comes into frame, like she’d been there the whole time. Vicki, being cattier than Cat, mocks Lois for turning down the job offer Vicki gave her for the Gotham Gazette to stick with her boyfriend. Lady, Clark is an emotionally intelligent, kind, smart, and adorkable man in the body of a Midwest farm hand. The amount of women that would rearrange their entire lives for that could fill a city the size of New York. She says that Lois is wasting her potential. Lois counters by saying they’re nominated in the same category, so she’s doing fine. Vicki counters the counter by saying Lois is ‘co-nominated’ and that she can’t do anything without one of her ‘boytoys’ helping her out. That pisses off Lois to no end, and she takes the bait when Vicki suggests whoever wins the award is the better reporter. Lois, angry and not thinking who might be overhearing, says that ‘what matters is what you can do.” Not the best thing for an emotionally vulnerable and depressed Clark to hear, now is it? He’s already had enough trouble wrangling the News Kids, as shown by Patti being Patti and chewing on Clark’s head. Clark drags the kids over. I enjoy the visual storytelling that he’s got to keep a closer watch on the three girls, and he just knows Big Words will follow meekly. Lois sees he’s upset and asks if he’s okay, but he continues to insist that he’s fine.

 

We shift focus to an ice cream shop in Metropolis square. A kid drops their ice cream, and a hulking man behind the counter gives him a new, bigger cone. It’s B-1Z! He’s working as an Ice cream man now. Super fitting as Kryptonians love cold. B-1Z is taking a jug of Ice Cream outside for some reason where he sees a news report about how Superman’s been MIA for the last month and how Supergirl is up for an award. He smiles when Superman on the screen and quietly says ‘my friend.’

 

Kara sits with her friends and asks Jimmy to introduce her to his date. That he brought to this gala. Where she is receiving an award. Kara is clearly about 1 nanometer of pupil dilation away from heat visioning SOMETHING when she asks. Marina cuts in, saying that Supergirl and Superman are greatly admired even as far away as her own vaguely French sounding country of Markovia. Kara thanks her, but says that Superman deserves the credit. Jimmy cuts her off, saying that Kara deserves credit, and that sometimes the city doesn’t know how it feels about her, but… ya. He’s cut off by Marina who says how nice Jimmy is to his platonic friends. … She has no idea what is going on between the two of them, but is clearly loving stirring the pot. Kara is visibly hurt by the conversation, but the gala starts. The 10 Anniversary Metropolis Humanitarian Gala I being hosted by Silver St. Cloud! (Funny how we’ve had three of Batman’s exes on this show before Batman himself. Four if you count Lois). She thanks everyone for joining them at the natural history museum and says they’ve got a full night ahead of them. As Silver speaks, we see Flip and the New Kids, clearly bored by this grown up talking, slip away to cause mischief. And the much more troubling group of armed men sneaking into the museum with barrels of mysterious fluid. The main three goons of this squad are Fox, Vulture and Shark, the Terrible Trio, a D or E list set of Batman villains.

 

Marina is extremely flirty with Jimmy as the event gets started, something he is clearly uncomfortable with as Kara is staring directly at them. Clark, being the good cousin-brother that he is, tries to distract Kara by talking about the Blue Whale skeleton hanging above them. He tries to get Flip to distract Kara with Blue Whale facts but then realizes she and the News Kids ran off. He takes off his suit jacket and goes to find them, promising to be back by the time Kara gets her award. Outside, we see B-1Z super jump to the roof of the museum in his costume. He’s extremely excited when Kara and Superman are introduced, but then extremely crestfallen when he hears Superman can’t make it. Kara gives a sweet speech about how grateful that she and Superman are for this award. She looks at her table when she says that Earth is full of the “people she loves” (Lois shakes her head as an ‘I’m sorry’ because Clark isn’t back,) and “friends I can count on” (Marina is still extremely possessively flirty with Jimmy). This is going to be a rough gala for her.

 

Fox, Vulture and Shark have gotten into the security room and are preparing for whatever attack they’ve been hired to do.

 

Vicki slips over to the table and tries to interview Marina. She apparently extremely outspoken on “Freedom of expression,” and has received threats about it. Lois looks up to the upper part of the museum and sees the armed mercs entering the hall. She decides to investigate. Vicki teasingly jabs at Lois when she walks away, and Lois claps back because these two bring out the grade schooler in each other.

 

Speaking of grade schoolers, the News Kids are running through the museum and laughing their heads off before they stumble upon the mysterious canisters. They also find a guard tied up, and Flip says they should probably tell someone about this. Shark sneaks up on them and asks, “Like who?”

 

Clark searches for the children, muttering to himself how nice super senses would be right now. He starts hearing a mysterious muttering and tells Flip to stop being creepy. He has a vision of the arctic and Kryptonian architecture, along with Kryptonian chanting. The words are hard to make out, but you can clearly hear “Kal-El” and “Rao.” Rao is the Kryptonian sun god and the name of their sun. He’s drawn out of the vision by Flip’s screams.

 

Back in the main gala, Lois tries to grill one of the security guards about how many goons are at this party but the guard is staying silent. Frustrated and annoyed she asks to speak to whoever is in charge, and Silver comes over, saying that that is her. She compliments Lois on her work, but says that badgering security is kind of bringing down the vibe. She adds that the extra security are part of the Princess private detail, nothing else. Lois apologizes, telling Silver that she’s in a stupid competition with Vicki and that got her keyed up. Silver gives Lois some advice about how if you need a trophy to feel validated, nothing will ever be enough. She advises Lois to just enjoy what she has with the people she loves before walking off. It’s at this point that Lois realizes that the person she loves is still MIA and that’s rather concerning.

 

Clark runs to the kids, undoing his tie as he does, but not having his Superman suit underneath. He runs up as Shark threatens them with a gun. Clark dives in the way, remembers that he’s currently not bulletproof, but still takes a swing at Shark. We cut away and are shown dress shoes on a downed man by blood covered glasses. We pull out to see it’s Shark laid out on the ground and while Clark got clipped, he’s overall fine. He ties off his wounded left arm with fragments of his shirt and checks on the kids. He ask if they’re hurt, and Flip says He’s hurt, and wants to know where Superman is. Clark can’t answer that, and they start running from more goons. Lois tries to find them but is spotted by Vulture, who starts chasing her. Lois runs incredibly fast for someone in heels and a hanbok dress. She’s grabbed by Clark and pulled into the supply closet he’s hiding in with the News Kids. Lois warns him about the man as Clark tries to shut the door, but Vulture arrives and tries to force his way in. Clark says, “Ya, his friend just shot me,” and Lois gasps in horror at the first wound she’s ever seen on her boyfriend. Vulture shoves hard against the door, but Lois gets him in the eyes with pepper spray. Vulture radios the others to send back up once they’ve got their hands on the princess. Clark calls Jimmy via their Flamebird watches and warns him that the goons might be after Marina, just as Marina takes the stage as the keynote speaker of the event. … Where she reveals her status as Dr. Poison and her plan to cause some eco terrorism to reverse the damage the human race has done to Earth. She’s the second Wonder Woman villain Jimmy has dated, by the way. Lois starts yelling at Jimmy for this very thing and Jimmy mutters that he just has a type. The goons spread out the canisters as Dr. Poison tells them to prepare to walk out of here on four legs or not at all. She throws on a gas mask as the canisters go off. Her gas somehow causes people to transform into animals, the first we see is Perry getting turned into a bear. Kara sees Dr. Poison runs off. She chases after and catches her. Dr. Poison is disappointed that the gas didn’t work on Kara, but warns Kara that her other men are setting up more canisters to go of in Metropolis Dam and that’ll infect the whole city. Jimmy tells her to go save the city and that Poison is “my contractual obligation.”

 

Vulture busts into the supply closet, but Clark and company slip into the oversized vents. Considering his beefy shoulders they’re extremely huge vents. Gas goes off in his face and Vulture starts to morph. Jimmy calls them and asks for ideas on how to stop Dr. Poison and Lois suggests he use his Boyish Charm, whatever that means. More gas goes off, and Jimmy laments being turned into a wolf, but the little legs he starts to develop aren’t quite wolfy. Vulture catches up to the group, revealing he’d been turned into a crocodile. Very odd. They all start crawling away as fast as they can.

 

Dr. Poison, in her terrible fake accent, tells her men to “GET TO DA CHOPPA!” but is interrupted by Jimmy. He was turned into a turtle. Dr. Poison tells him that it’s been fun, but she needs to bid him adieu. Jimmy says that surely she’s felt their… animal attraction, and that gives her pause.

 

Vulture the Crocodile chases after the group. Lois nearly falls through a grate, but that gives her an idea. She turns and pounds on the vent shaft until it breaks, dropping the huge croc to the poison filled room below. Unfortunately, Lois’ section breaks too and she falls. Clark screams her name… but then a black cat jumps up and bites him on the ear. Ya, Lois got turned into a cat. She tells them to keep moving and leads the way.

 

Dr. Poison admits to Jimmy that she only went on a date with him to get access to this event… which is weird because she was the keynote speaker, but hey, maybe this was from an earlier draft of the script that they couldn’t fix. Distracted by her rather elaborate choreography of her apology, Jimmy nabs her gasmask with his turtle beak and Dr. Poison turns into a dog.

 

Kara super speeds over to the damn and stops the goons from releasing the poison. Shark, who I guess recovered and got sent to the secondary site, radios the others to say that Operation Make A Splash has failed. Dr. Poison tries to escape with her men on the roof, but they’re stopped by B-1Z, who calls her a bad dog. Kara returns to the museum and clears out the gas with her super breath. She sees an explosion on the roof and flies up to investigate. She finds Poison and her men tied up in steel beams. She wonders aloud who did this.

 

We cut to a bit later where all the animalized people are in a line to get an antidote for their transformation and to get dressed. Jimmy sits on the museum steps while Dr. Poison apologizes for breaking his fragile heart. He says he fine. She doesn’t seem to hear him and goes on to say that there are plenty of sharks in the sea and he’ll find true love one day. Jimmy finally admits that he is already in love with someone, but he’s been extremely stupid about it. Poison thinks he’s talking about her, but Jimmy loudly says her name is Kara. Kara hears this… but doesn’t look happy. Dr. Poison tells Jimmy to tell himself whatever he needs to be happy and bids him au revoir as she’s led away on a leash.

 

Lois gets de-catted, and Silver gives her the award. Lois is flattered by this, and thanks her. Because Vicki is watching, Lois makes big show about not caring about the award and giving it to Flip instead. But the second Vicki leaves she takes it back and rubs it against her cheek, saying it’s soooo shiny.

 

Jimmy lies back on the steps, and an angry Kara flies into his line of sight and demands to know what the heck is going on. She’s extremely hurt that he could express his feelings to some rando like Dr. Poison but can’t do that with her. He tries to say that he thought she moved on, but she reminds him that she wanted to be with him and he’s the one the spurned her. Kara’s clearly been feeling stressed about things, as Clark has pulled back into himself and Jimmy hasn’t been there for her to talk to either. Jimmy thought she wanted to be friends, and Kara asks how he can be her friend when he hides when she needs him most. Jimmy apologizes, realizing that he didn’t realize how she felt. And she sadly says, “You didn’t ask.”

 

Lois hugs Clark’s wounded arm, oops, and excitedly says they did it. Clark isn’t happy though, as he says he didn’t do anything. Lois saved the kids, Jimmy stopped Dr. Poison, and Kara saved the city. All he did was get shot and hide in a closet. Lois reminds him that she loves Clark Kent, and Clark says he’s no Superman. Lois tells him that he needs to stop comparing himself to someone that he might not ever be again. Clark angrily asks what he is supposed to do and be now if that’s true. Before she can answer, Lois, Clark, Jimmy and Kara all fall through portals of energy. Mxy’s back!

 

Well, that was a rough time for Clark. Going from the Man of Steel to just a guy is a difficult adjustment whenever Clark has to do it. Some versions temporarily enjoy getting to be normal for a bit, Smallville Clark for example, but it rarely lasts more than a few days before they’re pining for their powers and responsibilities again. But, as sad as it is to see a Depowered Clark, I do like the fact that the show makes it clear that he’s still heroic. Dude dived in front of a gun without thinking to protect some kids is as heroic as you can get. But because he can’t do any of the bigger saves that he’s used to as Superman, it feels like he’s not doing enough. It’s also sad to see an open, emotionally intelligent man like Clark fall in on himself with the classic deflection phrase of, “It’s fine. I’m fine!” I feel bad for Lois in this one too, as she’s split between worrying about Clark, worrying about Kara, and getting sucked into another pissing contest with Vicki Vale. Silver’s little speech to Lois to not get so sucked into these petty little contests was great. But I also loved Lois faking humility to annoy Vicki just to immediately backtrack and talk about how shiny her trophy is. Take that League of Lois Lanes. It might not be a Pulitzer, but she’s on the scoreboard now! Jimmy is an idiot for bringing a date to a gala celebrating Kara, even if it’s to let the episode happen. Dumbass, dumb and ass behavior right there. I used all three words for emphasis. That said, Dr. Poison was extremely funny with her pot stirring, and then her weird acrobatics as Jimmy distracted her with his boyish charm. I didn’t even try to describe it, it’s impossible to transcribe accurately for me. She was putting on a contortionist show as she broke things off with Jimmy. I liked seeing B-1Z again. He seems to be doing great, and having him help save the day was neat. My only real complaint is once again the pacing, as we have to cover this episode describing the fallout of Superman’s disappearance without actually covering it. Another episode set in the month skip that shows Clark drawing away from Kara and Jimmy deliberately avoiding her would have helped drive the point home that everyone is kind of floundering with Clark losing his powers. Oh, and Cat Lois was cute and we could have used more of her. But, ya, that’s about it, next time we’ll have some Mxy shenanigans to bring up the mood. That’s always fun. Have a good night, everyone and stay safe. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social