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 3rd 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.
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/u2761062/posts/viewer-log-my-ep-168151940
Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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