Review: Fleisher Superman Part 2

 The 40s were weird.

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Review: Fleisher Superman Part 1

 Dude has been flying around for almost 100 years and it shows. 

So, I needed something to pick me up after the week we’ve had (deaths of Sir Patrick Stewart and Eric Bauza) and I figured that nothing could do that better than a good old fashion Superman story. So we’re going all the way back to the 1940s with the Fleisher Superman movie. This movie is a compilation of short films that Fleisher directed across the 1940s. So, there will be a couple stories included. This movie also came out WAY before Superman’s canon got really established, so be prepared for some “Wait, that’s not right…” moments. Let’s watch.

 

Oh, and I’m breaking this into two parts, just because there are a LOT of shorts and it’s just a lot of Golden Age Superman to watch in one go.

 

The Mad Scientist

 

We open with a brief history of Krypton, it was a beautiful green planet that was destroyed by tectonic upheaval, and the lone survivor was a baby fired from a rocket to Earth. The baby was found by a passing motorist, who dropped the child off at an orphanage. Ya, guess we’re skipping even the Kents in this story. He eventually grew into Superman, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and capable of leaping over a tall building in a single bound. All that jazz. He created the identity of Clark Kent and started working at a “Great Metropolitan newspaper.” It’s WEIRD not hearing the usual names.

 

Clark and Lois Lane are called in by Mr. White, their editor to cover a story. He shows them a ransom note from a ‘madman’ that is going to use an “electrothenasia” death ray at midnight to destroy the city. Mr. White wants Clark to back Lois up on this case, but Lois takes a grunt of thought as approval to cover the story on her own and then runs off before they can stop her. Clark points out that this is a rather dangerous mission before the scene cuts. We see Lois get in a flight suit and take off in a plane… kay.

 

We cut to an evil lair somewhere where the mad scientist prepares his death ray along with his pet crow. He’s interrupted by Lois’ plane touching down right in front of his front door and Lois knocking. The scientist and his crow immediately kidnap Lois and tie her to a chair so she can watch him destroy the city. He powers up his death ray, and we see him fire it from his mountaintop lair and strike a bridge. The bridge is destroyed. Clark hears about the destruction on the radio and says, “This looks like a job for Superman.” He then calmly walks into the stockroom and changes his clothes before carefully sneaking out and leaping from the building.

 

Before he can get very far, the scientist uses the death ray on the News building, so he has to quickly circle back and stop the building from toppling. After straightening the building, all the while holding off the ray, Superman turns his attention to the ray specifically. He pushes it back for a bit before the scientist increases the power. Superman is briefly brought to his knees, but then he rallies and starts punching the ray back. He punches it all the way back to the cannon and then bends the cannon to block the flow. The ray is destroyed; Superman grabs Lois and they all flee the building. The scientist tries to escape, but Superman grabs him and he leaps back to town. He throws the scientist in a jail cell and Lois publishes a story about it. Mr. White congradulates Lois on the story, Lois says it’s all thanks to Superman, and Clark winks at the camera before the screen fades out.

 

The weird sidekick crow just kind of disappears after they escape the evil lair. I’ve no idea why he was even there.

 

The Mechanical Monster

 

After a quick recap of Superman’s powers and secret identity, we get on with the story. A mysterious flying robot is stealing from a bank for a new mad scientist. The robot initially looks like a plane but once is lands we see that it’s a pretty traditional giant robot with a propeller it grows from its neck to help it fly. It drops off the money, and we see that it’s one of dozens of robots.

 

We then see a newspaper front page touting a gem exhibition that is going on in (City). It boasts the show will have 50 Million dollar’s worth of rare gems. There’s also a line that special precautions are being made to combat the mechanical monster.

 

Clark and Lois are at the event. Clark is reporter in charge, but Lois sneaks in to try to scoop him. Before they can do anything, though, the Mechanical Monster attacks. The robot is immune to bullets, and it breaks in to steal the jewels. Lois pulls Clark away asking if he wants to get trampled. The robot loads up on gems while Clark calls the story into Perry White. Lois takes the opportunity to slip away and get inside the robot’s pack. Clark sees Lois is gone, so swaps into his Superman suit. He flies… sorry, leaps and glides after the robot. He uses his X-Ray vision and sees Lois inside the robot. He tries to save her, but the mad scientist gets an alert that the robot is being tampered with, so he hits a button that makes the robot throw Superman off and accidentally drops much of the loot. Not Lois, though. Superman falls on some electrical wire and is stunned temporarily by the current.

 

She is dropped off at the secret lab and sees the dozens of robots. The mad scientist threatens Lois, demanding to know what happened to the jewels. She says he can read about it in the paper tomorrow, and he threatens her.

 

Superman frees himself from the cables and goes after Lois. The mad scientist puts Lois in an elaborate death trap, lowering her into a liquid hot vat of metal, when Superman busts down his door. The mad scientist activates all of his Mechanical monsters, and they menace Superman with fire and metal fists. Superman takes out the robots one by one until they’re all destroyed. The Mad Scientist flees into the lower chamber where he’s lowering Lois. He tries to cut the cable and drop Lois into the vat, but Superman is too fast and he saves her. The mad scientist tries to drop the boiling metal on Superman, but he is, ya know, invincible, so it doesn’t work. He grabs Lois and then the Scientist and leaps away. The scientist is jailed, Lois writes the story, but thanks Superman for it, and Clark nods at the camera.

 

Billion Dollar Limited

 

Recap on Superman, and then to the story. We see a newspaper article about a billion dollars in gold being moved to the mint. This is 1940, so that’s an even more insane amount of money that it would be today.

 

We see the gold get loaded onto the train as Clark says goodbye to Lois. He apologizes for not being able to come with her, but he’s got another story to cover. She says it’s fine, she’ll see him at the office. We cut over to some thugs in a car. They mask up and hit a button, turning their normal car into a high-speed racer. Clark waves goodbye to Lois and is nearly hit by the car as it drives by.

 

Lois works on her story as the masked men attack the train. They separate the main engine from the car with most of the security and then try to stop the train. Lois gets up to the front of the car, and when the goons fire on her, she grabs a machine gun and fires back. Lois can’t stop the train, obviously, but news of the runaway train spreads until Clark hears it, so he Superman’s up and goes to save the day.

 

The crooks set up a plot to stop the train, send it toward a car full of explosives, but Superman arrives and he pulls the tracks up and moves the train to the other line. They then try to blow the bridge, but Superman catches the train and puts it back on the tracks. They then throw a rocket on the train. Superman is too slow to stop it, so he grabs Lois and leaps off the train. The rocket explodes and the train starts hurtling backwards. Superman puts Lois down and he grabs the train, pulling it forward. The thugs throw tear gas grenades at Superman, which does cause him to slip and almost lose control of the train, but he recovers. They try shooting him… but when has that ever worked? He speeds up, rushing past them and bringing the train all the way to the mint. Rince and repeat the ending, Lois writes a story, she compliments Superman, and Clark gives a knowing grin at the camera.

 

The Arctic Giant

 

Rather than a newspaper article, the narrator tells us that some scientists discovered a huge creature in the depths of frozen Siberia. They bring it out from the ice and bring it to (City) to be displayed. It is the first time the creature has been seen by man as it is from the Mesozoic era. The monster is labelled a Tyrannosaurus… but that’s a dragon.

 

We move over to the Daily Planet (Hey, it’s named this time!). Mr. White gets a call warning him that if the monster defrosts, it could come back to life. Because. Mr. White calls up Lois and tells her to get on this case. Clark offers to go with Lois, but she turns him down, saying that he scares so easily he might pass out if he sees the monster. Clark shrugs and says “Superman hasn’t fainted yet.

 

An engineer shows Lois the refrigeration until, but accidentally leaves an oil can in the wrong place. It falls, breaking the refrigeration unit and the monster thaws. “Boy what a story!” Lois says. Everyone but Lois evacuates as the monster thaws, because Lois. The dragon frees itself and starts rampaging. After some panicked cop calls, Clark suits up and goes to save the day. He frees the trapped civilians before finding Lois and freeing her. He tells her to return to the office where it’s safe. She agrees, but then says “And miss the best story in years? Fat chance.”

 

The monster breaks through a dam as it heads out to sea. Superman grabs a mountain and blocks the hole. The monster walks through a bridge. Superman grabs the end and fixes the bridge. The monster heads toward a stadium, just as Lois pulls up to it. Superman grabs some cable and hurls it at the beast, catching it like a bola. Lois gets grabbed by the creature and almost swallowed. Superman saves her and tells her to stay put this time. “Yes Milord,” god, this woman has ALWAYS been sarcastic, I love it. Superman captures the monster. Lois writes a story about it, Clark compliments the story, she asks where he was, and he gives the camera a knowing look as he says, “Me? Well, I must have fainted.”

 

The Bulleteers

 

We open on the Police Headquarters of (City) as it’s hit by a mysterious rocket car. The news gets to Mr. White, who calls in Lois and Clark. Mr. White starts to tell them that he wants them to cover the story, when the rocket car owners do a broadcast saying that they’ll destroy the whole city with their rocket car unless they get the city’s entire treasury. Lois and Clark interview the mayor, who says that Law and Order will stand. They set up a lot of national guards, barricades and weapons and prepare for the worst. Lois prints the story about how the city is ready for the bullet car and the Bulleteers say “bet.”

 

They launch their fabulous rocket car and destroy the powerplant. The city grinds to a standstill and Lois races off to get the story. Clark, left behind, switches to Superman and leaps into the air. The Bulleteers head for a building, Superman gets in the way and punches them out of the way. The Bulleteers race around the sky, destroying buildings and covering Lois’ car in rubble. Superman saves her, leaps up and throws oof the Bulleteers flight path. They throw him of and hit another building. Superman tries to stop them but is buried tin the rubble. Lois follows the Bulleteers to the treasury, sneaks into their rocket car and starts smashing the controls. They get back in as Superman frees himself. He leaps onto the car and starts bending the wing of it. They retract the wings and try to go faster. Superman climbs onto the top of the car, rips open the top, grabs everyone and leaps away. Lois writes a story, Clark compliments her, and she says, “It was easy, thanks to Superman.”

 

The Magnetic Telescope

 

We open on a mountain side where a giant U shaped magnet is pointed to the sky and powered up. We cut to the Daily Planet where Perry white asks Lois and Superman what they think. They think it’s dangerous and hope that nothing goes wrong. The magnet pulls something from the sky, and it crashes through the city and into the bay.

 

The Mayor orders the professor in charge to shut down the experiment. The professor refuses, saying that he is going to use his mighty magnetic telescope to capture a comet, study it, and then send it back out into space. The cops try to stop him, but he seals off his chamber from them. He powers up the telescope and draws the comet towards them. The cops, being idiots, attack the power supply for the magnet, shutting it down and giving the professor no way to send the comet back. Rocks start raining down on the city. Lois, who’d been there the whole time, calls Mr. White to let him know what is going on. Sensing that’s his cue, Clark heads out. He’s driven in a cab towards the telescope, but a falling meteor stops the car. Clark changes into his costume in the backseat and flies out. He saves Lois and then leaps up to try to knock the comet back. It’s too powerful, though and he gets knocked aside. More fragments fall and destroy the city. Superman recovers and flies at the comet again and is once again thrown off. He falls into the power chamber and uses his powers to fix it, giving the magnetic telescope power again. He tells Lois to use the controls and she fires it up. She sends the comet back into space. In the dark, she runs over to Superman and calls him wonderful before giving him a peck on the lips. Clark, because he’s a bit of prankster, swapped back to his normal clothes and says that she’s pretty wonderful herself. Lois asks how he got there, and he says it’s thanks to Superman, winking at us.

 

Electric Earthquake

 

We open on (City) bay where we drop into the water and see cables stuck to everything. We follow the cables to an underwater pod that sends a tub upward. A man gets out and takes a boat towards the city.

 

At the Daily Planet, the man has an interview with Mr. White, Lois and Clark. He tells them that he demands that Manhattan be vacated as it belongs to his people… ohhh, he’s an evil Native American. Weird. They tell him he’s crazy and he walks off in a huff, saying that modern science will prove his point. Lois, being Lois, sneaks after the man and gets into his boat. He drives to his lab, notices Lois and tells her to follow him, as she wouldn’t want to miss this story. He takes her into his lab and straps her to a chair, as a precautionary measure. He powers up his device and extends a periscope. He tells Lois to prepare for the biggest story of her career. He flips a switch, and it sends energy through the cable and causes a massive earthquake.

 

Clark and Mr. White evacuate the Daily Planet, Clark says, “This looks like a job for Superman!” and switches into his costume. He flies into the bay, follows a flow of electricity through the cables and tries to stop it from detonating. It doesn’t work, but he keeps trying. He rips cables free, but the electricity keeps exploding. He follows the cables back to the lab and starts ripping them free, destroying the machine. The mad scientist fleas, leaving Lois trapped. Superman tries to go after him, but he’s briefly trapped by the suction of the water flowing into the lab. He escapes, grabs the scientist, but he warns him a girl is still down there. Superman goes down to free Lois, and the scientist sends a bomb down after them. He frees Lois, escapes the bomb, grabs the villain and sees him arrested. Clark later says that the island looks as good as ever, and Lois says, “Yes, thanks to Superman!”

 

Volcano

 

We open with exposition about a volcano called Monokoa that three hundred years ago erupted and destroyed a city. In the centuries since, a new city has sprung up, and they’re now detecting new seismic waves. Clark and Lois are sent in to interview the scientists. Mr. White gives Clark and Lois their tickets and tells them to try to work together for once.

 

They head to the volcano, Lois is able to get in, but Clark “lost” his press pass, so he has to go back for a new one. Lois obviously has it, she’s just being cheeky. Clark heads in to get his new pass as Lois gets the rundown on the plan to protect the city from the lava. Unfortunately, the Volcano erupts early. They try to set off the explosives to create a path for the lava to drain into, but the machines are damaged. Clark sees all of this and goes, “This looks like a job for Superman.” He changes and flies up to stop the eruption. He hurls balls of magma into the ocean as Lois tries to scale down the volcano on a cable car line. Superman is briefly disabled by the heat but recovers and saves Lois. He grabs the cable car full of explosives and hurls it at the volcano, blocking the lava. He returns Lois to the docks and then flies up to set off more of the explosives. When the trigger doesn’t work, he forces the lines together, setting them off. The lava flows into the water, ending the danger of the explosion.

 

Clark and Lois head back to the mainland. Clark compliments Lois on her writing, and Lois makes a snappy come back about how it’s a shame he wasn’t there. He notices his press pass in Lois’ purse and laughs that he might have been if he had that pass. Dude is a good sport about these things.

 

Terror on the Midway

 

We open on, obviously, a midway. We see carnival games and sideshow attractions as Clark and Lois take photos of the circus for a story. Lois heads into the big top for the show, and a large gorilla seems to pay special attention to Lois. The woman can never have a normal night out. Clark leaves… because.

 

As the show starts, a misbehaving monkey pulls a cable and frees the gorilla. The gorilla enters the big top, interrupting an elephant conga line and other performances. The gorilla snarls and everyone starts to panic. The Gorilla, Gigantic, gets tangled in ropes by the circus security, but he breaks free and destroys more of the circus.

 

Clark sees cop cars racing towards the midway and heads back that way. In a taxi. I swear this man is always forgetting he can FLY!

 

Lois stays behind to take pictures of Gigantic and helps a little girl escape. Clark arrives and forces his way through the panicking crowd to try to get ot Lois. He stops to help calm a rampaging elephant. Bullets start flying and it’s only then that Clark suits up. He wrestles a panther into submission and puts it in its cage. He catches more animals as Gigantic chases Lois. The Gorilla almost gets Lois, but Superman leaps to her aide. The struggle with the gorilla causes a fire to break out. Superman beats the Gorilla with a good sock to the jaw and throws him in the acrobats’ safety net before grabbing Lois and then putting out the fire. Lois types up the story, Clark compliments lucky Lois, and thanks Superman she got to write it.

 

I think we’ll stop there for tonight. There’s still another hour worth of shorts on the Complete Superman Collection movie, but again, it’s just a lot of Golden Age Superman to digest. It’s not bad, really, it’s just… 1940s. It was interesting to see how elements of the character developed as the shorts went on. By the time the third short aired, they’d finally named the Daily Planet. And as Superman was animated flying more and more, we see the classic, “Faster than a Speeding Bullet, More Powerful than a Locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!” updated to “Able to fly higher than any plane.” I don’t know why the plane line is less impressive than super leaping, but it is. There’s really not much to say about Lois and Clark in these shorts as they’re not really doing much in terms of character. Just about all the shorts involve Lois getting in danger covering a story, Clark saying, “This looks like a job for Superman!” and then saving the day. This isn’t a bad formula, especially for shorts, but it leaves me little to work with in terms of analysis. They’re both well-acted, they’re played by Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander, their voice actors for the Superman radio drama. As the series goes on, they’ll be replaced by Lee Royce and Barbara Wilcox, due to some behind the scenes issues and funds drying up. It is also weird to see all of the mad scientists and villains that Superman battles throughout the shorts run. Almost all of them are nameless, and most of the villains could be swapped out for any other. But this was in the early days of Superman, I suppose, so a lot of his more iconic villains simply hadn’t been made yet. It made me laugh to see how much Superman’s power fluctuates between stories. Sometimes he’s strong enough to hurl mountains, other times a Gorilla is more than a match for his strength. Just some fun, Golden Age inconsistency. It’s still a fun set of stories to watch, and I highly recommend them. Next time, the second half of the shorts. Have a good night and stay safe. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Review: My Hero Academia: You're Next

The only thing worse than a toxic fan is a toxic fan with superpowers.

So, I’m gotten some contradicting opinions on where this one falls in the timeline. My Hero Academia: You’re Next is supposed to fall somewhere in the week leading up to the final battle with Shigaraki. The kids are all training for most of that time, so ya, a sudden movie villain that they have to face could fit in there. But I’ve seen folks claim it could happen between the third and fourth, fourth and fifth, or fifth and sixth episode’s run time. Kind of a wide gap. The most compelling evidence I’ve seen is for the fourth episode though, as that’s the point where Izuku and his friends are broken into teams in order to try to find Shigaraki and the League of Villains. So that’s what we’re going with. Here’s My Hero Academia: You’re Next! Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

The movie opens with a large man sitting in a room covered in Photos and watching the final battle between All For One and All Might. Considering this is suppose to be news footage, the orchestral score is impressive. The man suddenly stands and applauds All Might’s victory. He speaks with an Italian Accent and a suspiciously familiar voice. We only see a little of his head, but it’s clear that he’s got All Might’s hairstyle and is wearing an iron mask over his face. When All Might makes his famous, “You’re Next!” declaration, the man bows and promises that he will be the one to take All Might’s mantle.

 

We cut to a man with an eyepatch and a possible prosthetic arm preparing coffee in the middle of the street. He has a picture of a blonde girl on his makeshift table. A pair of refugees from across the street see him and scoff at his search for this little girl, saying that she’s probably dead. Before Eyepatch can sip his coffee, a siren goes off warning of a potential villain attack. Eyepatch packs up his gear on an armored motorcycle and rushes to the scene. The Villains in question attack a truck and one of them uses his Quirk to merge with the truck, turning it into an evil version of Mater from Cars. Another villain bounces around like a bouncy ball and another throws explosive daggers. They escape by bursting through a wall. Izuku’s team, consisting of himself, Jiro, Sero, Uraraka, Hagakure and Ojiro are the ones to start the chase. Jiro is riding up front in an armored vehicle driven by a UA robot and is the one to pick up on the disturbance. It’s weird to remember that these kids are all around 16 and thus would definitely need a driver. Izuku does some quick stretching to limber up and power up his Fa Jin shift power before floating out the back of their truck and fling off. He rockets towards the truck, using his Air Force flick attack to speed up. The criminals see him coming and immediately panic when they recognize the Jailbreak Hunter. Izuku catches the truck with Blackwhip, and while holding it dodges the other two. He pulls back hard and flips the truck. The other two try to attack him, but he binds up one of them in Blackwhip and the rest of his team catch the other. Jiro compliments the power of One For All as Sero asks that he save some fighting for the rest of them. Izuku looks up and sees Eye Patch watching them before driving off.

 

There’s an opening credit montage for the movie that serves to catch everyone up on the situation if you haven’t followed the show. It’d be weird to watch this if you haven’t, but whatever. All For One and the League of Villains Orchestrated a massive breakout from the hero prisons, the US hero Star and Stripe was killed battling Shigaraki, and Izuku and co are doing their best to help. It also foreshadows the man that looks like All Might and an army of what looks like Mobster style Nomu mobilizing and shows us Eye Patch and the blonde girl a few more times.

 

After that, Izuku and co turn over the criminals they captured to the cops. Sero radios the others that Team 3 captured three villains. Bakugo scoffs at that, saying that his team, consisting of himself, Ashido, Tokoyami, Koda, Sato and Kirishima, brought in four, therefore he wins. And three, two one… Team 2 consisting of Shoto Todoroki, Kaminari, Mineta, Iida, Yaoyorozu, Tsu, and Shoji brought in six jailbreakers. Bakugo screams that its not a competition, and Iida chides him for being so focused on the numbers, this is about helping people. Izuku’s team gets an alert about a Jailbreaker named Genji. His quirk lets him attack with a second mouth on his stomach. Izuku’s team moves out, with team 1 and 2 in route.

 

Genji runs through town cackling madly as he drags along the blonde woman from Eye Patch’s photo. He cackles again, saying that no one can stop him with her. She yells at him to let her go, as he promised to free her, but he tells her to shut up and keep moving. Genji sees Izuku’s truck incoming and uses his shoulder mounted mouths to rip open a hole in the wall and change direction. Team 3 detects this change and realize he’s headed for a shelter. Izuku leaps from his truck and Floats after them. He catches up quickly and notes that the two mouths mounted on stalks on his shoulders are new. The girl keeps screaming at him to free her, but he refuses. Izuku rushes in and tries to grab the girl’s hand, but she screams and tries to pull back. Izuku brushes her arm and has a weird vision of rose petals floating around them. He gets a headache and drops, hitting the ground hard. Genji keeps running with the girl. Izuku tries to get up and follow but whatever happened when he touched the girl rapidly drained his stamina.

 

Genji breaks into the shelter. Some guards shoot at him with lasers, but he grabs them with his stomach mouths and crushes them. He reaches to try to grab another hostage, but Izuku arrives and uses Blackwhip to grab him. Genji shrieks that he’s going to make this hurt, as he does, he mutates, more arm tentacles growing from his body and his body at least doubling in size. A rose also starts growing near his waist. The man’s strength increases by a lot and he thrashes around, actually overcoming Izuku’s impressive strength. Izuku is thrown through a wall out of the shelter, but he keeps Blackwhip on Genji. Suddenly, we’re looking down a sniper scope. Eyepatch has pushed up his eyepatch, revealing a bionic eye. He takes a shot with a sniper rifle at Genji, causing the monster to drop the girl’s hand. She falls and flowers bloom around her. Eyepatch stows his rifle and drives towards them. As he pulls up, he transforms his robot arm into a rifle and he takes a shot at the blonde girl. She sees the bullet coming, closes her eyes and seems to prepare to take the hit, but the bullet hits a weird field around her. A man in a fancy suit apologizes for being late. When Genji tries to attack him, he expands the field, freezing Genji as well. Izuku takes a close look and realizes that the field is slowing things, not stopping them entirely. Eyepatch takes several more shots at the girl, but they all hit the slow field. Izuku Blackwhips the gun and tells him to stop shoot. Eyepatch reloads his gun, and weirdly Izuku notes that his Danger Sense isn’t going off. The suit guy walks through his field towards the girl, touching her and placing a localized slow field around her. He lifts her and walks away. Once he’s a few steps away, the slow field collapses, Genji stumbles forward and is hit by Eyepatch’s bullets.

 

Team 3 pulls up and they ask what the heck is going on. Izuku says it’s complicated. Hagakure looks over and tells everyone to look up. They see a ship approaching them. It’s a literal yacht, lit up with neon lights. The ship touches down and we see more mobster looking guys standing aboard it. A cackling man in a white suit steps up and we see that it’s the man in the mask. He announces that they need not fear because “I am here!” He takes off his mask and reveals himself to look a lot like All Might. The animators are able to get this uncanny valley look to the dude by essentially just drawing All Might without the added shadows around his face and eyes so you can see everything. He basically looks like All Might when he was in his 20s, but with thicker eyebrows, shorter hair points, and a mean looking smile. Izuku notes the differences immediately, but is still shocked by this Temu All Might. His Danger Sense is going crazy as he looks at him. Eyepatch calls him Gollini. The slowmo guy brings the girl to regular speed and she immediately freaks out and tries to escape. A woman on the yacht uses her power to put the girl in a trance. Gollini says that she must have been scared and that she’s lucky he arrived. The girl, clearly under mind control, says that he was very brave for coming to save her. The woman of the goons chastises a rat faced guy named Bruno for letting her escape and Bruno says it won’t happen again. The goons bring the two on board via telekinesis. Eyepatch tries to go after them, but Izuku holds him still with Blackwhip. He begs for Izuku to let him go and says he needs to make this right. Genji runs and starts smashing buildings, which distracts the heroes from getting involved. Izuku and co capture Genji but then have to contend with falling buildings. Eyepatch rides his motorcycle after them, and takes several shots, but the mafia guys slow his bullets and him, and another smacks him with debris into a wall.

 

Genji tries to run, saying that if he’d kept the girl he’d have gotten away, but is met with Gollini. Gollini chastises Genji for betraying him. Genji tries to attack, but Gollini knocks him back with an energy punch that sends him flying. Genji crashes next to Izuku, shrinking down as he passes out. Gollini meets up with Izuku, saying that it looks like the young man wants to be a hero. Izuku is clearly freaked out by this. Gollini offers him a chocolate bar, which he refuses, which confuses the man. Gollini claims that he’s going to be the new symbol of peace, and his aura must be confusing this young man. Gollini heads for his boat and tells Izuku that he’s going to explain this so even a child could comprehend him. He flicks out several gold coins, and as they land, they turn into energy and manifest dozens of cameras, lights and flying drones. The cameras hack every TV screen that they can reach and Gollini broadcasts himself to the world. Everyone is surprised to see this guy, not the least of which being All Might. Gollini declares himself the new All Might. He says that All Might is viewed as the greatest hero due to his overwhelming power, and plans to use his own immense power to take his spot. He announces that, “From now on, It’s MY Turn!” Izuku isn’t standing for that, floating up and saying that Gollini use unnecessary force and put innocent people in danger. He’s nothing like All Might. Gollini says that when he shows off what he can do, Izuku will eat his words. He leans on his ship, takes off his cloak and grabs the girl. As he does, the girl’s hair darkens and roses sprout all around them. Gollini scatters coins, and as they land they spread out that weird liquid light. The light starts drawing people in.

 

Back at UA, Iida radios the teachers and asks if they’re seeing this. They are and everyone is confused by what’s happening. All Might runs in and asks if they’ve got any news from the kids on the ground. Team 3 watches as the light expands and Mineta asks if anyone can stop this. Shoto throws his ice at it, and it temporarily stops the wall, but it then springs forward, engulfing Team 3. Team 2’s truck tries to drive away, much to Bakugo’s irritation, but the robot driver tells him to not be stupid. Unfortunately, the light catches them as well. From the UA office we see that the light resolves into a giant citadel with an All Might, or maybe Gollini, statue in the center. All Might is in awe of what is happening and asks if this is really all one man’s doing. Hawks tells All Might to look at their files, and reveals that this is the Gollini family. All Might is visibly angry to hear that name. He explains that the Gollini Family is made of villains and that they’re the largest criminal organization in Europe. We see Gollini flick another coin and vegetation starts to form.

 

Izuku is woken up by his team and he’s shocked to find that they’re in the middle of a forest. No one knows how they got there. Izuku knocks on one of the trees and hears that it is hollow. He dubs the whole jungle is an illusion. He wonders if his power is like Yaoyorozu but on a grander scale. They can’t get a signal, so they’re on their own for now. Izuku tells his team that they need to find the others and then get in contact with UA.

 

We cut to Team 1 and find that they’re in the middle of some kind of evil amusement park. Bakugo screams “where are we?” And when the others tell him an amusement park, he tells them, “I can see that!” and then he yells at Ashido for riding the carousel. Team 2 find themselves on the outskirts of a city, which, ya know, is weird. Shoji tells them to look at the town and they see a giant All Might Statue at the center. Mineta says that whoever is running this place has a weird All Might obsession. I’m surprised no one says something like, ‘Ya, worse than Midoriya’s!’ They run towards the town to check it out.

 

Gollini creates a ballroom and asks the girl, Anna, what she thinks of the place. Anna, still in a trance, says that it’s exquisite. Gollini snaps his fingers and is brought a phone. Back at UA, Cementoss says that All Might’s doppelganger is on the line and will only speak to him. They pull up the call on the video screen. Gollini is happy to see his predecessor, saying that he didn’t know All Might would be at UA but he must be lucky today. All Might demands to know what happened to the students. Gollini says that the ‘specimens’ are safe for now. Gollini swears to All Might that he’s going to take up All Might’s mantel and use his great power to live up to and surpass All Might. He will ‘unify’ the fractured county. All Might demands he release the hostages, and Gollini refuses, saying that he needs them as part of his plan. All Might refuses to call this man his successor, saying that he sounds heroic, but he’s got a heart of darkness. Gollini likes the sound of that and dubs himself Dark Might on the spot. All Might says that Dark Might is his opposite and that he could never accept him. He has a successor and the next generation of heroes are coming to stop him. Dark Might says that the next time they’ll talk it’ll be with those students kneeling at his feet. He hangs up, though before he does loudly announces that that was a fun chat. Gollini sits down and pulls up several video screens. He’s sure from that chat that All Might’s successor must be among the students they abducted. They see Eyepatch on the video screen, and Paulo demands the chance to fight this guy in order to make up for letting Anna get stolen by that ‘compatible’ Genji. Dark Might allows this, tells him that this is his last chance, and demands that all his people call him Dark Might from this moment onwards. Paulo kneels to Anna, kissing her hand, which causes the rose on his lapel to grow bigger and causes Anna’s blonde hair to darken further. The rest of the Golinni’s do the same, the darkness spreading further on Anna’s hair. He dubs himself a legend as they finish powering up. The fortress like ship they’re inside starts to move, it rains down the same liquid light, sucking up people and objects into itself as it moves. The UA team watches the ship move, and All Might asks why Dark Might referred to the hostages as ‘specimens.’

 

Izuku and his team run through the woods, until Izuku hits something and falls to the ground. They hit a super lifelike wall. Hagakure finds a manhole that they open. It’s creepy looking, but they need to check it out. Izuku and Uraraka use their powers to float down, Izuku in the lead. As they float down, someone says “Erasure Spot” and that disables Izuku’s powers. He drops, but he catches himself on the walls. He calls up to Uraraka and tells her to get Sero to tape pull him up. Izuku slips and falls crotch first down the tube. He ends up flying out of a mountain and into a lake at the end. Uraraka tells the others what happened and Sero starts feeding tape into the tube to try to save their leader.

 

Izuku pulls himself from the lake and says, “I thought I was going to die.” He starts walking, realizing that he still can’t use his powers. He finds Eyepatch and goes to speak with him. Eyepatch pulls a gun on him and demands to know where the exit is. Izuku says he doesn’t know, and Eyepatch dismisses him. He turns to go back to his coffee. Izuku demands to know why he shot at the girl, but Eyepatch refuses to answer. He pulls another gun and shoots, not at Izuku but at a goon that rose up behind him. Eyepatch says it’s a shock bullet. More goons start shooting at them and the two duck behind a rock. Eyepatch asks Izuku why he isn’t helping. Izuku admits he doesn’t have access to his powers. Eyepatch sighs and shoves Izuku out, he draws the fire from the goons allowing Eyepatch to get around and shoot the guards. He demands to know where Miss Anna is, but they refuse to talk. He shoots them with stun bullets and then goes to lift his motorcycle. Eyepatch struggles to lift it, but Izuku helps, saying that he’s pretty strong even without his powers.

 

Team 2 enters the city and find at trail of comatose civilians laying among rose petals. They head farther in and see the woman member of the Gollini and Anna standing before a crowd of people. One man grabs Anna’s hand, and passes out. The woman sees Team 2 head toward them and she zaps them with her power. This puts them all in trances. Mineta and Kaminari have a vision of being fawned over by bikini babes, Shoto turns back into a child and is playing ball with all three of his siblings as his parents watch, Yaoyorozu enjoys a cup of team, Iida races along with his brother Tenya, Tsu has relaxes with her frog family on a bridge, and Shoji is walking with a little girl for some reason. We pull out to see them all just sitting around, Iida running into a wall. The woman says that she’ll let them enjoy their daydreams for a while. She turns back to her work, saying that she hopes they can find compatibles among the masses, but she’s not holding her breath. The Gollini only had six from their 20000+ family after all. Anna keeps on touching people and knocking them out.

 

Team 1 breaks into the castle and rush inside. They find Dark Might waiting for them. He changed his look a bit and is now sporting a black suit with like peacock feathers. Bakugo tells him that he’s going to regret impersonating All Might. He flexes as he offers to have the students face his challenge to see if they’re worthy of being knights in his new world order. Bakugo asks if he realizes how stupid he sounds. Dark Might calls them brats and tells them to put on a good show. He uses his powers to open a hole and drop them all into a dungeon. Team 1 power up and prepare to fight the monsters within. Thankfully they’re a very combat heavy team so this shouldn’t be too hard. As they fight, a man in a wizard costume asks if any of them will survive this.

 

Izuku and Eyepatch ride on his motorcycle. Izuku thanks him for bringing him along, and Eyepatch shrugs, saying that he’s practical and right now Izuku is doing the practical job of being his human shield. He gives Izuku a device and says that he took it from a goon. He rationalizes that if Izuku’s powers don’t work here, they should try to find a different area and see if they come back. Izuku hits the button and reveals a secret tunnel in the mountain that they drive through. Izuku wonders why the goons attacked them, and Eyepatch says that they’re after him and that they’re probably wondering why he’s seeking Miss Anna’s death. Izuku says he wants to know that too, but they’re distracted by missile fire. They dodge around the missiles and pull out into a costal area. They’re up against Paulo, the slow time guy and a dude with a rocket launcher for a head. Eyepatch leaps from the motorcycle and leaves it to a panicked Izuku. It crashes and Izuku rolls off. He notes that they can use their powers while the last batch of guys relied on guns. Paulo asks who he is and why he wants to kill Anna, and Eyepatch says that he made a promise. Paulo says that he must be “Scervino’s pawn.” Eyepatch begs them not use Anna’s quirk anymore, saying they don’t understand how it works. They say they’ll use her as they see fit. They say she’s going to play an essential role in their boss’s ascent. They start fighting. Eyepatch hits the rocket launcher head guy, his head morphs back into normal and he pulls a minigun on them. Izuku is pretty sure Paulo is the one blocking his power after realizing that he’s the only one not moving at all. He tells Eyepatch to help him take that guy out and that’ll get his powers back. Eyepatch uses his motorcycle, remote controlling it from his arm, and uses it to distract the goons long enough to allow Izuku to rush them. He figured out that Paolo is creating an anti-Quirk field, but also a buffer within that field to make sure his guys can use theirs. Within it, he can use OFA and he quickly dispatches them. He turns to look at Eyepatch, who pulled a gun on him. He turns upward and shoots at Dark Might who is watching from a balcony. Dark Might realizes that since Izuku has multiple Quirks that he might be All Might’s successor. Izuku demands to know what he’s doing and Dark Might says he’s going to take his rightful place as the new Symbol of Peace. Izuku tries to rush him, but Dark Might uses a power enhanced punch, knocking him aside. Eyepatch run over and pulls him from the crater he made in the wall. Dark Might throws a pair of coins and causes two monster guys to manifest. They grab Paulo and Dark Might chastises him for failing. Paulo begs for his life, and Dark Might considers it… but says he’ll try mercy on Paulo in his next life. He drops Paulo into a pit. He then yells at Eyepatch to tell Izuku that he’ll gladly accept more of Izuku’s challenges until he submits to Dark Might. He walks off and into a hall that seems to manifest as they walk. A cut opens on his face from Izuku’s kick, and he is visibly angry at the kid marring his perfect face.

 

The rest of team 3 have climbed down the pipe and found the mountain. Thankfully their powers are still working, with Hagakure mentioning that losing their powers would have been awkward for her. I’ll be honest, I hate that she’s canonically naked all the time. Uraraka is gung-ho about finding Deku, but they’re stopped by falling into a crater and appearing before the woman and Anna.

 

The wizard guy is still watching Team 1 battling the monsters. He thinks that they’ve been beaten and is a bit bummed that they’ll not see his costume. Then Bakugo blows a hole in the wall and asks if he’s the final boss. The goon is furious that Bakugo made a shortcut and says they’ve broken the game. Bakugo Howitzer blasts him and says that he’s a walking Cheat code. Dark Might drops him into a pit, congratulates them, and then says that was just the first act. He then summons more of his monster goons to attack them. Bakugo tells the ‘extras’ to do their worst.

 

Izuku wakes up on the back of Eyepatch’s motorcycle. It’s lacking its armor now since it used up all its weapons in that fight. Izuku introduces himself to Eyepatch, who reciprocates and we learn his name is Giulio Gandini. Izuku thanks him, and Giulio says that he saved him because Izuku could be useful. He says that Deku is an unusual name, but Izuku says he likes it. They pull out of the tunnel and see the town in the distance. They pull up and Izuku finds everyone including his friends knocked out. Izuku wonders what happened and Giulio says they’re incompatible with his lady’s quirk. Izuku asks what she has to do with this, but they’re interrupted by Ojiro’s scream of pain. They find Anna standing with the lady Gollini. Izuku asks what’s going on. Giulio says that those that are compatible with Anna’s power are being made into soldiers against their will. Giulio pulls his gun arm on her and says that she must be the one controlling his lady. She confirms this, saying that normally she can only hypnotize one person at a time, but with Anna’s power she can trance out tons of people. She says she’ll put them in a pleasant dream and mindblasts them. Izuku is a child in his room full of even more All Might merch than normal. All Might in his prime arrives and says that they’ll save the world together. Izuku is super excited… but then Shigaraki the younger appears in Izuku’s mind and reminds him that this isn’t real. Izuku breaks out of the dream and is pulled into another mental plane. The other former wielders appear, explaining that behind them is everyone else trapped in the dream. They say he needs to find another way out, as he can’t just break out of this illusion. We see all of Izuku’s friends trapped in what looks like a mental doll house, each of them living out the dreams they were placed in. Izuku wonders what that can mean and looks around, seeing Giulio’s dream in the distance. His body is whole without any cyborg parts. He’s serving Anna tea, who offers to have him drink tea with her. He refuses, saying they have to be proper. She says that he’s always mean to him and goes to drink her tea when she starts seizing up from her Quirk. Giulio grabs her shoulder and seems to siphon off the excess energy from her. She apologizes for being a burden on him. She thanks him for always hoping her, and saying that he’ll always be with her. She asks him if he means it, and when he says yes, it’s my duty, she looks depressed. The Gollini, Deborah, watches this from the outside and deems that Giulio could be problem so has a puppet grab him by the throat. From his perspective it looks like Anna is choking him. Izuku tries to run at them, and screams that its an illusion. Giulio realizes it’s an illusion when he sees he’s still got his right arm. He uses his bionic eye to sight on Deborah and shoots her. This breaks her hold completely. She demands to know how he did that. Anna breaks free and tries to run to him, but Giulio pulls his gun on her. We hear the promise he made to kill her to stop her from losing control and he tries to fire, but Izuku knocks the shot aside. Before he can try again, Deborah escapes, pulling Anna along through a sky balcony.

 

Sidenote, I hate that Deborah has the same name as my mom, but am glad it’s a different spelling.

 

Izuku tries to say they’ll find another way, and Giulio runs over and yells at him for meddling. He says that Izuku is meddling in things that don’t concern him. Izuku says that he did it because aiming at Anna put him in agony. He thinks Giulio really wants to help her, he says “OF COURSE!” but killing her is the only way to do that now. He explains that her quirk is Overmodification, she temporarily boost Quirks to a level they could never reach. But if you’re incompatible with her power, it causes them pain. He says that he thinks she’s afraid of human contact, he says that when he met her, she was locked away in a room like a fairytale princess. Giulio’s quirk is nullification, he touches someone with their right hand and that temporarily stops her power, keeping her from feeling the pain of stockpiling her power too much. Anna’s father thanks Giulio for helping Anna have something of a normal life now. Giulio thanks him for taking care of him as well. Anna’s father is worried her power is growing and that there may come a time when he can’t repress it anymore. We see Giulio helping Anna by repressing her power in the night and she asks him to kill her if it gets out of control. The Gollinis eventually found out, attacking the family, killing Anna’s father, and everyone else there. Giulio is hurt badly in the fight, losing his right arm, left leg and right eye. Izuku says that he could stop him, but Giulio screams “have you looked at me!” and gestures as his missing arm. He says that if Anna’s power keeps being abused, she’ll mutate the power of whoever is using her until they’re unstoppable. Izuku says that he saw how Giulio looked at Anna in the dream and that they obviously care about each other. He’s not sure that Giulio could do it if he tried. Izuku promises to save her and bring back both their smiles, but Giulio says to shut up, they need to do what she wanted. Uraraka joins them, recovering Anna’s picture and says they can help. The others agree and promise to help him save Anna. They’re interrupted by team 1 joining them and Bakugo saying that they have a fake All Might to stop.

 

Dark Might reveals to his family that he eliminated the other failures, but he’s sure Deborah won’t fail him. Dark Might remembers All Might’s declaration, and that he’s indominable even in retirement. He says that if the students want to survive the coming days they’ll need to submit to him. The giant fortress turns in it’s movements and heads toward UA high. The heroes gather and prepare to hold him off. The students help make the hostages comfortable when Dark Might makes another announcement. He says that he’s going to destroy previous society to make a new world, and that he’s planning on destroying UA to rebuild it and start a new legend. Metaphorically killing All Might to build anew. Bakugo is furious and orders the other students around. He orders most of his classmates to help the civilians, but him, Izuku, Shoto, and Tokoyami are going to stop him.

 

The heroes prepare for the Dark Might attack. They’re impressed by the size, even Mt. Lady and she’s an actual giant. Endeavor starts the opening attack, using a huge fireblast to burst a hole in it. They heroes cheer, but the building immediately regenerates. All Might says that this’ll be harder than they thought, and Hawks says that he sent in an ace to help out. The ace turns out to be Lemillion, who takes over leading the civilians to safety.

 

Izuku and co head toward Dark Might’s fortress. Giulio pulls up as well, and Bakugo tells the “cool side character” to beat it. He refuses as he needs to save Anna. Dark Might watches their approach and he’s ecstatic. He welcomes them inside with open arms. They head in and are attacked by more monster goons in a colosseum. Tokoyami tells the others to go on ahead as he can handle them all with Dark Shadow. Izuku tells him to be careful, and Tokoyami says back at ya.

 

The others are attacked by more monsters, and Class 1A heads to face them, giving Lemillion, Tsu, Sero, Koda, and Hagakure to lead the evacuees away. They rush the monsters.

 

The lead team hit another pair of goons, a guy with a huge nose and a bruiser. Bakugo and Shoto stay behind to face them, Izuku lifts Giulio’s bike and they head into the inner sanctum. Shoto tries to take the two out in one blast, but they teleport out of his range.

 

Izuku and Giulio immediately find Dark Might waiting for them with Anna. Giulio rushes in to save her, and get caught in the time manipulators bubble. He shoves Giulio over and walks toward Izuku to try to catch him in the bubble. Izuku uses his quirks combined to rocket towards the time manipulator, moving so fast that the slow field barely affects him. Dark Might runs off with Anna and they rush after them.

 

 Bakugo and Shoto have trouble with their pair. The big guy teleports and the little one has telekinesis. The others are able to handle the various monster goons pretty well. Overall they’re stronger than the monsters, but there’s just so many of them, Iida tells them to keep fighting and protect the civilians. Outside, Lemillion pops out of the ship and signals the others to attack that spot and free the civilians. The heroes unleash an all out attack to break into the fortress and save the civilians. Endeavor blasts a hole in it and everyone else use their powers to catch them as they fall. Lemillion gets the last of them out and then runs back into help. Endeavor is exhausted from all of this, but he intends to keep blasting to give the heroes a chance to break in as well.

 

Izuku and Giulio enter a dark room and Dark Might turns it into a field. Giulio explains Dark Might’s quirk, he uses Alchemy. He’s able to make any matter he wants with a catalyst. He used this power to reshape his face to match All Might’s and to mimic his power as best he can. We see how he originally looked and Valdo Gollini is an incredibly sour looking man. Izuku asks why he’d change his face to look like All Might. Dark Might answers, saying that if he’s going to take All Might’s place he should take his face as well. He reveals that he’s in All Might’s Golden Age costume. He takes a hit of Anna’s power and the fight begins. Giulio tries to stop him as he knows Anna is hitting her limit, but Dark Might’s power is insane. He knocks Izuku back and rushes Giulio. Giulio fires a dozen rounds into Dark Might’s chest. This stops him for a moment, but not for long. He admits that unlike All Might, he can’t take damage like he could, but he’s Plus Ultra, so that doesn’t matter. He morphs the bullets into lances and he attacks them all with his full force. He tell Giulio that he’s trying to have a heart to heart with a real hero, so but out nobody. He tries to crush Giulio with a golden hand, but Izuku blocks it. He realizes that Alchemy seems like multiple quirks, but it’s just one overcharged power. Giulio gets up, and Izuku tells him regardless of Dark Might’s power, saving Anna is their priority. He uses a maximum smokescreen and they start running around in the dark. Izuku clashes with Dark Might as Giulio runs to Anna. He tries to reach out to her, but then stops and drops, he’s hit by Deborah’s power, who announces that she’s not going anywhere. Izuku gets knocked into the ceiling.

 

Bakugo and Shoto figure out the mechanics of the teleporter’s power, realizing he can only move short range and within line of sight. So they use their combined powers to set the whole area on fire and force them to where they need. Bakugo blasts them and then Shoto freezes them in place.

 

Izuku tells Giulio to get up, and Dark Might captures him in a binding. Deborah orders Anna to kill Giulio. Dark Might tells Izuku to sit there and watch. Once he’s fallen into despair, he’ll accept Dark Might as the new Symbol of Peace. Izuku refuse and he keeps yelling at Anna to wake up.

 

Outside, Endeavor hits the fortress with a full power blast and Mt. Lady rips a hole open. The shaking it causes makes Anna drop her knife, buying Giulio more time. Izuku shouts at Giulio to fight for Anna, and that causes his support items to start reacting. He tries to shoot Deborah, but his arm is out of bullets. She laughs at him… but then Giulio’s leg rockets him forward and into Deborah, knocking her out. Anna wakes up and tries to run to Giulio, but Dark Might grabs her. Bakugo and Shoto join Izuku and they prepare to battle. Dark Might absorbs more of Anna’s power and the fight begins. UA’s three Musketeers work well together, they dodge around Dark Might’s attacks. Dark Might powers up and expands into a giant. The heroes make it inside, Hawks backs up Tokoyami and the others reach class 1A. The monsters merge into a super mode, which look like sea anemone. Iida tells everyone to keep fighting.

 

Giulio gets up and limps towards Anna. Dark Might keeps blasting everyone around with his megaton punches. Dark Might reiterates that he is the future, and that pisses off the boys. They each shout about how much All might meant to them and unleash their full power on Dark Might. The three heroes quickly overwhelm Dark Might. Bakugo hits him with so much force that it forces him to revert to his original face. They leave the last attack to Deku, who uses his slingshot move to rocket to Dark Might and hits him with about fifteen States of Smash. Dark Might flashes back to when he was younger, he faced off against his father who told him that he’ll never lead their family to greatness. Dark Might says that All Might became great due to his power, but his father said that All Might’s focus was Strength, not Power. Dark Might shot and killed his father. In the present he passes out and all his monster’s crumble. Dark Might’s butler tries to flee, but Lemillion catches him and knocks him out.  The fortress crumbles and everyone cheers.

 

Izuku helps dig out Giulio, who is badly hurt, but says he’ll survive. He lips towards Anna, whose hair is almost entirely black now. He runs to her as her power overwhelms her. She causes monster roots to sprout and is encased in them. Giulio is launched into the air, Izuku catches him and Giulio begs him to get him close to her. Izuku tries but he’s blasted back by her power. Anna’s power rages and she rebuilds the fortress. She wraps up Dark Might in threads of her power and turns him into a black Hulk. So I guess we’re into round two. Dark Might announces that he’s the new world and they all start fighting. Giulio drags himself to Anna and grabs her with his robot hand, but his power can’t work through it. He tries to will his nullification to work. Bakugo and Shoto blast mega Dark Might, who forces Anna to enhance him even further. He throws Bakugo and Shoto back. Giulio reaches Anna and holds her to his chest. Giulio remembers promising that Anna would always be normal with him around. This seems to trigger his power as it’s revealed that he’s compatible with Anna. She super charges his nullification, which causes her power to retract. Izuku, Bakugo, and Shoto do a combo attack on Dark Might. The two blasters super heat him allowing Izuku to do a Super Mega Ultra Kamen Rider kick, knocking Dark Might through his All Might statue and shattering the fortress to dust.

 

As the sun sets, we see Giulio cradling Anna in his arms. He falls as she wakes up. She begs him not to leave her, and he tells her to not label him a corpse anymore. He explains that she super charged his quirk and he effectively rendered her Quirkless. He thanks her for everything that she’s done for him, and says that without her quirk, they’re contract is over and she’s free to go wherever she wants. … I think that he honestly doesn’t get that she’s in love with him. Thankfully, she stops him from walking off, hugging him, telling him to call her Anna, and asking him to stay with her. Izuku swears that they’ll move forward and find a way to make everyone smile. And then the credits roll.

 

In an after Credit scene, we’re shown Tomura Shigaraki waking up from the coma that Star and Stipe put him in as AFO watches.

 

I’ll try to keep my thoughts short as you’ve already read my fourteen-page summary. I find it funny that ultimately the best villain we’ve had for a My Hero Academia movie was a version of All Might. I think that each of these four MHA movies has improved with each entry on its villains and heroes. Wolfram from Two Heroes was a generic bad guy that wanted to increase his own power. Nine from Heroes Raising was slightly better since he had an actual ideology and plan that he was working towards. Was it a generic ‘might makes right, therefore I rule because I’m mightiest’ situation? Yes. But it was helped out by Johnny Yong Basch’s performance. Flect Turn from World Heroes Mission was better still, with his anti-quirk ideology and self-loathing. And finally, we’ve got Valdo Gollini, the disturbed fan that wants to be the villainous version of All Might. He’s every toxic fanboy. Those guys that think they love Superman but say it’s unrealistic that he doesn’t use his immense power to rule the world. Or think Batman is all about beating up criminals and the mentally unwell, ignoring that Bruce Wayne is forever fighting the corruption in Gotham in other ways. He thanks All Might is all about Power, and because he has the most power, in his eyes, he needs to carry the mantel. I also appreciate that he’s so delusional that he thinks this is all him when he explicitly needs to constantly take power from his hostage to perform at this heightened level. Like, bro doesn’t at all see the contradiction here, does he?

 

The heroes of these films, the ones that get to have longer arcs because Izuku and co need to go back to the main story and get character development there, are also improved with each entry. Melissa in Two Heroes is a fun character that’s like Izuku, Quirkless and trying to find how she fits into hero society in her own way. She works hard and gets to help the next symbol of peace, Izuku, as her father did with All Might. The two kids, Mahoro and Katsuma, from Heroes Rising had to learn to grow. Mahoro had to accept that she couldn’t protect her brother from everything, and Katsuma learned that he could be a hero in his own right with his healing power. Rody from World Heroes Mission was a man that society failed that needed to find hope to try again. He was forced into Izuku’s orbit, and was dragged along, learning that his father didn’t abandon him, and in fact fought to the bitter end to protect him and his siblings. He had to learn to stand up again, and as the movie ended, he was on a better path. Giulio is the best yet, being a man that is trying desperately to perform the final request of the person he loves most. I genuinely think he didn’t realize that Anna was in love with him, or he was with her, and that he thought he was just doing his duty. Man lost an eye, arm, and leg, but still thought he was just doing a job chasing his boss. He wanted to perform his duty and see Anna’s request fulfilled. But he NEEDED to find the strength to save her so she could live a life and do as she please, which incidentally involves being with him. I also like that, like with Rody, he was involved in the final battle. And, like Rory, his job is arguably more important than Izuku and co beating up the bad guy. Rory had to stop the doomsday weapon going off, and Giulio had to stop Anna’s power from rampaging and destroying everything. He saved the girl, did his duty, and got his reward. It’s a nice little arc. This was a crazy day and a half for Izuku and company, weird how they probably won’t mention it again. Lol

So ya, overall, liked this movie. I think it’s the best of the four MHA movies thus far, and if it’s the last one they ever make, they ended it on a high note. The action was great, the art stunning, and our one-off heroes and villains were all entertaining. Next time, back to the main story. Have a good night, and stay safe. 

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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social

Review: Superman (2025)

 Dust off your cape and trunks, Superman takes flight once again.

Alright, let’s do this.

 

Superman (2025) opens on a stretch of Antarctic ice as we get a text crawl explaining this universe. Three Centuries ago, the world became aware of Metahumans, humans with amazing powers. Three Decades ago, an alien pod crash landed on Earth and was discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent. Three Years ago, Superman introduced himself to the world and was hailed as the most powerful Metahuman. Three Weeks ago, Superman interceded in a war between the countries of Boravia and Jarhanpur, stopping the Boravians from invading. Three Hours ago, Superman was attacked by a man calling himself the Hammer of Boravia. And Three minutes ago, Superman lost his first fight. And our first image of Superman (David Cornswet), Kal-El, last son of Krypton, is him crashing into the Antarctic ice, looking like he was beaten to hell and back. He whistles, summoning Krypto the Superdog to help him out. After, well, being a dog for about a minute (play fighting, licking his face, dragging Superman’s leg around etc), Krypto grabs Superman by the cape and drags him the few hundred yards to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude as it raises up.

 

Inside the Fortress, Clark is met by several Robot servants, the leader of which appears to be Four (Alan Tudyk) who gets him set up in a chair designed to maximize the sunlight his body can absorb. This is to rapidly heal Superman, but the process is painful as hell from the look of it. Four plays the message that came with his pod from his parents, Jor-El (Bradley Cooper) and Lara Lor-Van (Angela Sarafyan) telling him about where he comes from. The message is damaged, though, and cuts off halfway through. Superman gets healed and immediately prepares to fly back to Metropolis. Four advises against this, as Superman is only up to about 83% of his full strength, and the Hammer beat him when he was at 100%, but Superman’s gotta Superman. He stops when he notices that Krypto had smashed up the place a bit since he’d been there last. He tries to chastise the robots for not keeping an eye on Krypton, but Four points out that they had. They feed him, but he’s unruly. Four thinks it’s because he knows they’re robots and thus are incapable of actually caring about his wellbeing. Superman makes Krypto sit when he tries to come with him and flies off.

 

Unbeknownst to him, he’s being tracked by the Engineer, Angela Spica (Maria Gabriela de Faria), a cyborg working for Lex Luthor. She wants to try to get into the Fortress, but Lex tells her to wait.

 

 Superman flies to Metropolis at top speed and we get our first look at the Hammer of Boravia. Personally, I think the Juggernaut is going to sue if he ever saw this design. Anyway, Superman battles the Hammer, but we learn that the Hammer has got tech support. Billionaire industrialist and all-around scummy dude Lex Luthor (Nicholas Holt), and a team of LuthorCorp tech guys are monitoring the fight via drone cameras, and imputing commands to send to the Hammer to counter each of Superman’s moves. One of the techies tells the other that Lex has been obsessively studying Superman for years to learn his attack patterns and program these counters into his super weapon. Anytime Superman moves, Lex calls out a command like 18A, 34B, or 98Z and the Hammer applies the appropriate counter. The Hammer drops Superman into the concrete when Lex announces 44T. A falafel salesman named Malik Ali (Dinesh Tyagarajan) and other bystanders gather around and help Superman to his feet despite his protests. He gets ID by Lex’s drones, which can’t be good. Meanwhile, the Engineer tries to get to the Fortress, but it drops back into the ice. Lex orders her back and for the Hammer to finish up. The Hammer finishes spouting anti-Superman rhetoric and says that if he interferes with Boravia again, he’ll be back. Superman tries to go after him, but he’s too hurt. One of the civilians says that maybe he shouldn’t have done that thing in Jarhanpur.

 

The Hammer flies to a base outside of Metropolis, enters a pod of some kind, enters a weird cave-looking area and then steps out into the LuthorCorp control building, revealing something that we all knew already, that he’s working for Lex. The Hammer is really “Ultraman,” Lex’s minion and personal bodyguard. The LuthorCorp goons all cheer for this great victory.

 

Later, a much less bruised Superman heads into work as Clark Kent, news reporter for the Daily Planet. Inside, his boss Perry White (Wendell Pierce) complains that he’s late. Clark apologizes and does his best to play down Superman’s defeat at the hands of the Hammer, despite his coworkers like Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) and Steve Lombard (Beck Bennett) are constantly bringing it up. As he walks to his desk, Pa and Ma Kent (Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell) call him. Well, Ma calls and Pa occasionally grunt to make it clear that he’s there. She wants to congratulate him on his front-page story. He has to brush her off a little as he’s busy, but it’s clear his parents love him. Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) comes over and pokes holes in Clark’s story about the incident, asking if the Hammer really did just fly in out of nowhere and deck Superman, to which Clark insists that it’s true. Jimmy wonders if maybe Superman did overstep with this Boravia thing, but Lois rightly points out that they don’t know if this guy is really from Boravia. When Jimmy says that’s what he called himself, Lois counters by saying she doubts that’s what his parents named him. The reporters shift focus to an interview with Boravian President Vasil Ghurkos (Zlatko Buric) also denying any ties to the Hammer. Clark says that “Superman” said that he thought the Hammer was faking the Boravian accent. Lois seems skeptical as hell about how he’d heard that, but Clark insists he interviewed Superman right after the fight. She points out how funny it is that he keeps getting these interviews with Superman, but he brushes it off. Ghurkos goes on to complain that the alliance between the US and Boravia has been ironclad for 30 years, until Superman came along.

 

We cut to the Pentagon, where Lex is in an interview with the Secretary of Defense, and several top generals including Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo). He’s pitching them his latest ‘defensive products’ Ultraman and the Engineer. He explains that the Engineer gets her powers from Nanites in her blood and that coupled with her former spec ops experience makes her the perfect weapon. He’s much more vague about Ultraman for some reason, just saying that he’s the most powerful being on the planet. He also has his armored flying soldiers he calls Raptors. They’re all included in his PlanetWatch program. He’s trying to convince the joint chiefs to hire his PlanetWatch to capture Superman after this whole incident with the Hammer. Flag points out that Superman stopped the war, that he’s naïve but well intentioned, but Lex keeps on poking at this idea that Superman needs to be held accountable.  Director Crawley (Tinashe Kajese-Bolden) points out that LuthorCorp has sold nearly a trillion dollars’ worth of arms to Boravia over the years and points out the conflict of interest here. Lex insists it’s not about business, saying that they’ll die if Superman keeps going half-cocked like this. He tries to use the fact Superman has his secret fortress in the Antarctic as proof of possible wrongdoing, but they aren’t going for it. Partially due to his popularity, and because of the fear of what would happen if they went after him and failed. You don’t swing at Superman if you’re not positive it’l hit. One of the others asks about Kryptonite, and we learn that that material has been scoured from the planet, but Lex claims he has a work around. They’re still not going for it.

 

Lois returns to her apartment and hears someone in her kitchen. She grabs a bat to defend herself, only to learn it’s Clark, he’s over to make her breakfast for dinner to celebrate their three-month anniversary. That’s right, she’s been in the know about Clark Kent being Superman for a while now. He says Breakfast for Dinner is her favorite, but she points out that it’s actually his. She still kisses him, though, so it’s clear she appreciates the thought. They start to have a sort-of fight about Clark’s interviewing tactics. He treats it as more playful, but it’s clear Lois isn’t exactly happy that Clark keeps interviewing Superman from an ethical standpoint. To prove that he’s good at interviews regardless of who is doing it, he offers for her to interview him. We’ve all seen the scene, but to speed through it, Lois asks Superman some hard questions about his actions in Boravia and he gets more and more upset about how protecting civilians isn’t a good enough reason to stop a US ally from declaring a war. There are several asides about what is on and off the record, something Clark is really bad at calling, and Lois just keeps poking the tender spots. Oh, and he reveals that he took Ghurkos out into the desert and put him up on a cactus to get him to swear not to do this again. She shifts to how Superman is getting a lot of heat on Social Media lately. Clark says that “Superman doesn’t have time for Selfies,” and Lois teases him for talking in the third person. Lois asks about where he comes from, and he says he’s been upfront about being an alien and that his home planet was destroyed. He says that all he has is the video of his parents telling him to help people and that he cherishes that more than anything. Lois then points out that there is a growing sentiment online that he’s here for not-so-good reasons, pointing to the hashtags Superspy and Supershit, which really upsets Clark. He actually starts to storm off, but Lois stops him, and they try to talk things out for a little longer, but don’t make much headway. She mutters about how she ‘knew this would never work,’ and Clark asks what she means. She just says she’s not good at relationships, and Clark leaves.

 

We cut back to the Antarctic as Lex touches down with the Engineer, Ultraman, and his airhead girlfriend Eve Tessmocker (Sara Sampaio). The Engineer asks how they’ll get inside, and Lex just says oh ye of little faith as the fortress raises up. They go inside and are greeted by the Super Robots. Lex has his goons take out the Robots in a very impressive fight scene to show off their powers. Krypto attacks and damages the Engineer, but she just throws a ball of nanites onto his face to disable him. Lex goes to Superman’s computer and says that hopefully something on there will give him the evidence he needs to get the joint chiefs to act. He goes into his hatred about Superman, insisting he’s an It not a Man, how he’s got a stupid costume and stupid grin and yet somehow, he dominates the world conversation. He has the Engineer begin to hack the system. She asks what they’ll do if Superman comes back and Lex reveals he has a plan to keep Superman busy for a while. As the Engineer works, she’s able to repair the damaged message from Superman’s parents.

 

 The plan, as it turns out, is to have his minions, one of them being Otis (Terrance Rosemore), unleash a small monster into downtown Metropolis. Well, it starts small. By the next morning it’s full-on Kaiju sized. Superman is doing his best to fight the creature without killing it and to protect the civilians around it, including their pets and a squirrel that almost gets squished. He’s eventually joined by the Justice Gang (Name still up for debate), consisting of Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi). They’re a privately funded superhero team funded by Maxwell Lord and his LordTech industries. They help fight the monster but also inadvertently cause more damage as they’re overall less careful than Clark. Lois, meanwhile, is watching the report from the Planet. Fun fact, the reporter doing the story is in real life the youngest son of the late great Superman actor Christopher Reeve, Will Reeve. Terrific comes over to Superman and asks for details. Superman reveals that he’s been doing his best to get the creature out of here alive, which doesn’t impress Mr. Terrific. He tells the others to go for its eyes, as its hide is too tough. Ultimately Mr. Terrific throws his T-Spheres into the creature’s stomach and detonates them, killing it. It falls backward, but Superman catches it before it can crush anything. The report Lois watching says that there were no casualties thanks to Superman.

 

After the fight, Guy tries to get the crowd to cheer for them all, but no one seems to be noticing. Why? Because Lex Luthor is on the big screen, revealing that he’s got proof that Superman is here for nefarious intent. He plays the full message, revealing that Jor-El and Lara sent Clark here to conquer the planet. They tell him to rule the people, to dispatch anyone that goes against him, and to take as many wives as necessary to breed a new generation of Kryptonians. Jor-El explicitly tells him to rule without mercy. Superman is shocked to learn this part of the message. On the talk show, Lex claims that Superman’s actions have been to lull humans into complacency and get them prepared to serve him. Lex goes on to say there’s no telling how large his ‘secret harem is already.’

 

Superman walks away from the angry crowd around him into a Stagg Industries building nearby. The Justice Gang follow him, Guy making a force field around the building to keep people out, and Guy straight out asks Superman if he has a harem. Superman denies it, saying that he’d never heard that part of the message. Mr. Terrific unfortunately confirms that the message is real, he knows the people that confirmed the message and says they wouldn’t say it’s legit if it wasn’t. Hawkgirl asks where they got the footage, and Superman races to the Antarctic.

 

Lois confirms with her news source, as it turns out Generals Mori and Rick Flagg, that they’re considering taking Superman in for questioning. Rick asks if Mori is buying it, and Mori says he’s not putting anything past Luthor, but that the message is authentic so they can’t ignore it. Ghurkos uses the reveal to drum up hate for Superman, joking that Superman wants to add Boravian women to his secret harem. After the interview he goes to his office and tells them not to disturb him. It’s revealed he has that same portal device behind a portrait of him that Ultraman used, confirming he’s in on whatever Lex is doing. He meets with Lex in that weird space and Ghurkos celebrates beating Superman. Lex says not to celebrate just yet, and reveals that as part of whatever deal they worked out, he’s getting half of Jarhanpur when the dust settles.

 

Superman arrives at the Fortress to see his robots in bad shape. Four is stabbing himself repeatedly in the head. Superman sees his computer is wrecked. He asks how Lex got into the Fortress as the door is DNA coded, but Four doesn’t know and shuts down. Superman whistles for Krypto and panics when he doesn’t come running.

 

Superman flies to LuthorCorp, kicks down the door and demands that Lex give him the dog. Lex has Eve record and post the whole interaction. He comes across as calm and collected as the angry alien spouts nonsense in his office. But he makes sure to take a dig at Superman to make it clear he does have Krypto by whispering that it’s an ugly dog in a cape.

 

We see Clark watching the Cleavis Thornwaite show that night as he spins Superman as the only rabid animal here. He has Peacemaker (John Cena) on, and he also talks shit about Superman. He missed 22 calls from his parents while all this is going down, so it’s clear they’re worried too. In the window we see the Justice Gang fighting some sort of giant energy creature. Lois, who’d been waiting for him, asks “you have a dog,” and Clark says that it’s a foster situation. She asks if he’d been helping with the creature, but Clark says it’s just an energy imp and the Justice Gang can handle it. He was looking for the dog. He explains that the message was damaged, and he only ever heard the first half of it, and he believed he knew how it ended. He says he’s not here to rule over anyone, and Lois says that she never believed that for a moment. He apologizes for their fight about the interview. He asks what she meant when she said she knew this would work, but she says she doesn’t know. Clark says that he’s going to turn himself into the DOJ in the hopes they’ll take him to where Krypto is. She says it’s just a dog. Clark agrees, and even says he’s not a very good dog either, but he’s alone and scared, so he has to help. They hug and Clark says he loves her before leaving.

 

Superman is violently thrown to the ground by Ultraman as he’s arrested. He says no one reads his rights and Rick Flag tells him the courts decided rights don’t apply to aliens. He goes on to say that due to the difficulties in detaining someone like Superman, they’ve outsourced his imprisonment to PlanetWatch. Flag does apologize for all this as the plane touches down to take him away.

 

We cut to that beach from earlier. Superman is taken through to the Portal device and taken in. He’s put into a cell cube with Rex Mason aka Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan). They call him Element man, but that name is less fun. Lex is waiting for him, and Superman says this obsession with him is getting creepy. We learn that this is a pocket dimension Lex created, it exists outside this universe. Clark whistles for Krypto but the dog doesn’t come. Lex explains that Rex can reshape his body into any element, even ones not naturally occurring on Earth, and as he says this Rex turns his hand into Kryptonite.

 

While Superman is gone, we learn that Ghurkos and Boravia are preparing to invade Jarhanpur less than a day later. Lois is distracted from the news, though, saying that she’s looking into how Lex fits into all this. Jimmy points out the arms deal angle, but Lois doesn’t think that is the case. She says that she’s got a contact with the bank that does the deals between LuthorCorp and Boravia and they say that Lex is charging next to nothing for the weapons. Jimmy asks why and where they’re holding Superman, Lois calls it the 78 billion dollar question. Jimmy, deciding to help, goes into his contacts and looks at someone he has labelled “Mutant Toes.” He messages her, despite the unhinged message, and gets told within 30 seconds that Superman is being held in a pocket universe. He says he doesn’t know what that is nor does his source, but she’s sure he’s there. He says Lois owes him big, as Mutant Toes starts messaging him some more asking to meet up.  

 

In the pocket universe we learn that Lex has largely manufactured the Superman online hate, using a literal farm of monkeys on Computers to message how much they hate Superman 24/7. He sees Krypto as they travel, he’s being held a pod and they’re beaming the images of Super Squirrels into his brain so he’s forever chasing them. Lex says they’ll examine Krypto, learn what they can, and then put him down. They arrive at Lex’s private holding cells. He says they’re mostly rented out to governments to hold their political prisoners, but he’s got some personal prisoners too, like his petty ex-girlfriend. Dude is unhinged. Lex says that he’d have killed Superman already were it up to him, but the Government insists that Superman answer some questions first. We also learn how Lex is keeping Rex under control, they’re holding his son Joseph hostage. Lex leaves and says they’ll be back tomorrow for answers.

 

Jimmy meets with his contact in a back alley. She’s actually Eve Tessmacher, who is obsessed with him. She apologizes for having to meet him in such a shady place, saying they have to because Lex follows her on traffic cameras. Jimmy asks why she stays with him, and Eve tells him about all the exes Lex has in his pocket universe. Damn. Jimmy tries to get Eve to tell him about the connection between Lex and Boravia. She’s disappointed at the thought that he’s just trying to get information out of her. He swears that getting info out of Lex is to just get rid of him so they can be together again. He begs her to get info, and she says she’ll see what she can do.

 

Superman tries to talk to Rex, offering to save Joseph if he’ll just let Superman go. Rex refuses, telling Superman to not talk to him and that there is no way out. When Superman tries to talk more, Rex hits him with a bigger Kryptonite dose and he passes out.

 

We cut to the Hall of Justice, home base of the Justice Gang. Lois has stopped by to get them to help her save Superman. Guy asks how she even knows Superman. They feel each other out, and we learn that in universe Superman wears hypno-glasses that make him look different when he wears them. When Guy confirms they also know Superman is Clark Kent, Lois throws up her hands in exasperation that he’s this trusting. Guy says that he only trusts them as they’re “of the cloth.” Mr. Terrific reveals that he put trackers into Superman’s blood, but they’ve disappeared. Even if he was dead, the trackers would work. He disappeared at a supposedly defunct army base and agrees with Lois article that Superman is in a pocket universe. Lois wants them all to go to Fort Kramer to get Superman, but the others aren’t comfortable fighting the US Government. Well, Guy and Hawkgirl aren’t. As Lois storms off, Mr. Terrific joins her and offers to take her to the Fort. Good guy, Michael Holt. They take his T-Ship, as Lois vents about their relationship, revealing she was going to break up with Clark before all this shit went down and he said he loved her.

 

Lex wakes Superman up, saying that they have a special guest to talk to him. Superman thinks he means Ghurkos and so makes fun of how Ghurkos pissed himself when he flew him to the desert. But no, he’s just there to watch. The person he brought is the falafel guy Ali. Lex puts a gun to Ali’s head and demands Superman tell him who he’s working with. Ali tells Superman not to answer, saying that he has no family and no one will miss him, begging Superman to protect himself for once. Lex asks who raised him as a child. When Superman doesn’t answer right away, he pulls the trigger and kills Ali. Superman screams in agony at his death. Lex admits he thought that that would go on longer. He promises to bring someone else Superman knows here next and they’ll keep doing this game of Russian Roulette until he talks, suggesting he’ll Clark Kent next. Beside him, Rex is also crying.

 

Mr. Terrific and Lois land at Fort Kramer. He uses his T-Spheres to map Superman’s movements, ignoring the Talon soldiers as they order they leave. Next comes one of the best scenes of the movie, where Mr. Terrific solos the entire camp using his T-Spheres and Lois watches from inside a force field to the tune of “Five Years Time” by Noah and the Whale. Never underestimate the smart guy. They find the pocket universe portal, Mr. Terrific saying that using that device has huge consequences. Namely that if your math is off even a little, you risk making a blackhole, and that risk goes up every time you use it. He has his T-Sphere’s hack the system, saying he’s only helping because it’ll piss off Guy.

 

Rex finally breaks after processing what happened, realizing his son is in danger even if he cooperates. He stops making Kryptonite and Superman starts to recover, but slowly because he doesn’t have sunlight to power him up. He tells Rex he needs one to heal.

 

Lois and Terrific get the portal device working and make their way inside. Beneath them is an anti-proton river, and we see weird growths on the portal on their side. Mr. Terrific says it’s too dangerous for them to go themselves. He sends the T-Sphere to check things out.

 

Rex says that he can’t make a sun, but he can make something like it. He makes a small star between his hands, even as the other prisoners try to rat them out. The mini son flashes bright, blinding everyone. Superman rockets over and knocks out the goon holding Joey. Rex flies over and tells Superman that he has to be the one to carry Joey as Rex can’t hold him while he’s in a gaseous form. Superman frees Krypto next, and they make their way to the portal. The portal starts to flash and break, Mr. Terrific says it’s been open too long.

 

Talon guards jump Superman and knock him into the Anti-Proton River. The guards try to grab Rex, but he splashes them with a powerful acid that definitely kills all of them. Mr. Terrific’s T-Spheres find Krypto and the dog immediately starts chasing him. Superman holds Joey out of the anti-protons as they hurtle towards a blackhole. He whistles for Krypto and tries to get him to help them, but he doesn’t get the danger. Rex arrives and grabs Superman, doing his best to pull them out of the blackhole. Superman uses his Super Breath and pushes them all free. Mr. Terrific’s remaining T-Sphere leads them back to the portal, which is basically squished by the rock of the other universe. Superman knocks them all through right before it’s destroyed. Superman tries to go back through to save the others, but he’s too weak. Mr. Terrific tells Lois to take the T-Craft somewhere where Superman can rest for a bit, he says the controls are intuitive. He’ll do his best to secure the portal. Rex flees with Joey into the night. Lois can think of only one place to take Clark, and that’s Kansas.

 

Lex’s learns of the jail break and throws a fit. He orders Eve out of the room and demands to know where Superman went. Eve calls Jimmy and tells him she has everything he needs to ruin Lex. She mutters that the straw that broke the camel’s back was Lex throwing a pencil at her a moment ago. She makes Jimmy promise to spend the WHOLE weekend with her in exchange for her info, which he begrudgingly does. She uploads a bunch of pics for him, just as Ultraman bursts in and grabs her. He’d heard her screaming from the other room. Unfortunately, it seems like all she did was send him selfies. Hundreds of Selfies.

 

The T-Craft Lands at the Kent farm and Martha and Jonathan introduce themselves as they drag Clark inside. He passes out in his old bed, muttering to his ma that his bio parents sent him to earth to hurt people. John asks if Clark’s going to be okay, and Lois says he will be. Martha tells her not to mind John, saying that he’s a big old pile of Mush when it comes to Clark. Jimmy texts Lois to tell her to call him. She looks over Eve’s pics and is weirded out by how much game Jimmy has. That is until she takes a closer look at the selfies and realizes in the background of every single one is incriminating evidence. The big one being a picture of Jarhanpur split in half, one side labeled new Boravia, the other Luthoria. She tells Jimmy she’ll be right there and they need to talk to Perry.

 

At LuthorCorp, Lex is crashing out hard, demanding they open the dimensional rift at Fort Kramer. The device might be gone but the aperture is still there. He insists they’ll be able to close it; they just need it open long enough to lure Superman in. Mr. Terrific does his best to slow him down on the Fort Kramer end, because he’s Mr. God Damned Terrific. Unfortunately, the rift gets bigger and opens a canyon into the pocket Universe.

 

In Kansas, Clark wakes up to find Krypto watching him while laying on him. He goes outside to eat breakfast and watch Krypto play with the cows. Jon joins him and they have a heart to heart. Clark is still upset about the message, and Jon tells him that what he thought the message said is infinitely more important than want it actually said. Clark wanted to be a hero, that’s what matters. Jon says Parents aren’t for telling what their children are supposed to be. They’re guides, tool givers, not directors. Jon says that he couldn’t be more proud of Clark and starts tearing up. Martha comes out and tells him there’s something on the TV to see. On the news we see the Boravian military about to invade Jarhanpur, the villagers preparing to face them. We see all the characters reacting to the villagers raising a flag with Superman’s S on it and chanting for him. Martha tells him that he cleaned his boots. Mr. Terrific’s T-Sphere arrives and he tells Clark that he needs to get to Metropolis now. The rift is growing and it’ll consume the whole world if he doesn’t stop it.

 

In Metropolis an evacuation is underway. While everyone is trying to flee, Lois and Jimmy explain the plot to Perry. Saying that Lex sold the weapons to Boravia for pennies on the dollar in exchange for half of Jarhanpur. Perry summons his best people to come with them to take the T-Craft, grabbing Cat Grant, Steve Lombard, and Ron Troope. They get onboard and prepare to post the story as Lois does her best to take off.

 

So Clark must choose between saving a country and saving the world. Hell of a choice. Guess you’ll have to see the movie to find out.

 

Okay, so the good. This is a perfectly cast movie. Everyone from David Cornswet to minor characters like Anthony Carrigan’s Rex were spot on for what I know of the characters. David looks damn good in his cape and trunks. I love the behind the scenes story that he came up with the justification for the trunks, telling James Gunn that the fact the look silly is the whole point, to make him seem nice and approachable. You believe him when he screams in pain, and you believe him when he’s giving a heartfelt speech. Perfect. Nicholas Holt is great as Lex Luthor. He perfectly fits the insane hate energy that Lex is supposed to have for Superman. I especially liked his speech in the finale where he makes it clear he knows he’s envious as hell of Superman. It always come back to how badly he wants to be the center of attention, of being the person everyone talks about. Is it petty? Hell yes, but Lex is petty when it comes to Superman. Edi Gathegi is the standout performance though. He’s extremely cool as this basically unknown to the general populace hero Mr. Terrific. His fight scene at the fort was amazing, and I loved all of the nerd flexes he had throughout this story. Rachael Brosnahan is great as Lois, capturing her “I’m a cynic but I want to be proven wrong a good percent of the time” attitude. I could list offal the actors who did great, but there’s not a bad performance in the bunch. I liked the effects, it made me believe a man could fly again. The look of the pocket universe was cool too. I loved the colors and textures of that other dimension, it’s very James Gunn’s style. Speaking of, he’s great as director and screenwriter. I loved this whole thing. And how Lex is finally beaten, chef’s kiss.

 

My negatives are minimal. I hate that I now know details about Mr. Terrific. … Let me explain. Mr. Terrific is a character that has appeared as a minor character in several DC projects I’ve watched including Justice League: Unlimited, despite knowing of him since I was a teenager, until this movie came out I couldn’t have told you what his powers or backstory were. He was just the guy with a T on his face for me for nearly 20 years. But now I know he’s Michael Holt, that his powers are tech based and that he’s a legacy hero, taking up the mantel from Terry Sloane. It’s the end of an era. Yes, this was mostly a joke negative, but otherwise this section would be tiny. Overall, I think the movie is a bit too fast pace. It takes a bit to get going, but when it does it goes at a breakneck speed. Think like 20 to 90 in zero seconds. But other than that, nah, I loved it.

 

This was a great reintroduction to Superman. The story perfectly captures his best qualities, that he’s first and foremost an agent of kindness and shield for the weak. He inspires those around him to be better people. He’s the hero that other heroes look up to him and try to emulate him. That while he’s an immigrant that was brought to our world, that he is as human as anyone. He does what he does because it’s right and he protects people. He is, in short, Superman. I had high expectations when I heard James Gunn was taking over the DCU and starting over with the big blue boy scout, and he met every single one. I am super excited to see what he does next (the Clayface horror film is what I’m most anticipating, but Supergirl should be great too). So, ya, this is my favorite Superman movie of the last two decades by a mile. Hope you enjoyed it too. Have a good night!

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Bluesky: ‪@basicssuperhero.bsky.social‬