Last week’s My Adventures With Superman was a light affair that brought in Jon Kent, Clark and Lois’ time-traveling son from the future. Now we’re at a major junction of the season, so it’s time to get serious and kick things up a notch.
“The Death of Superman,” named after the 1992 comic event broadly inspiring the overall season, sees Clark, Kara, and Jon go blow-for-blow against Hank Henshaw, aka Cyborg Superman. Having broken himself out of Lex Luthor’s control, Henshaw’s free to wreak havoc and unleash all his anti-alien anger on the three Kryptonians. If they lose, Jon’s present is set in stone: Henshaw will destroy the planet, create an army of machines to rule over what’s left, and eventually kill Clark, Lois and Kara.
Unlike its predecessors, this is the first Adventures season to be specifically picked up by Adult Swim instead of just airing on Cartoon Network’s late night block. As small of a difference as it sounds, the show gets to carry itself differently and deliver an action-heavy 22 minutes with not much in the way of levity. Henshaw is really gunning to kill the Supers or anyone else in his way here, and gets some enjoyment out of pummeling them or watching Kryptonite cover Clark and Kara’s bodies like an infection. The escalation makes for a darker episode, but not in a way that betrays what the show is.
“Our first two seasons were made for families, but when Adult Swim picked us up, we knew we’d have a bit more freedom,” explained co-showrunner Jake Wyatt. When io9 interviewed Wyatt and Brendan Clogher, the series’ other showrunner, the pair noted that freedom included getting to indulge in more modern romance tropes (like apps and self-sabotage), and do a tone shift they considered inevitable.
“We didn’t get orders to make the show more adult, but this was always the journey we wanted for our characters,” continued Wyatt. “As we broke and wrote the season, we knew our heroes would struggle with their future and fear, and be outgunned in a way they’ve never been. We had to write [the season] from a genuine, emotional place, and that throughline became more real and grounded.”
If the previous seasons of My Adventures With Superman were about love, Clogher said this season’s about “fear of the future.” Once the writing team settled on that thread, they used it to guide them on who to include, particularly those from the adapted “Death of” and “Reign of the Supermen” arcs. “We wanted anyone who could make [our core cast] feel threatened in a specific and personal way, or who would have the most severe effect on them,” Clogher said.
Henshaw definitely fits the bill, but that “severe effect” the showrunners mention cuts both ways. After Superman rips the Kryptonite out of him, Hank sets his heart to explode in the hopes that it takes his enemies and the city with him. It’s only when he learns Jon is half-human that he’s stopped, shattered by the revelation that he truly won’t be the man who bridges the gap between humanity and space.
“I’m supposed to be the future. But they chose you, the aliens,” Henshaw says in shock. “They made peace with you. Fell in love with you. You’re the future now.” His imagination of history moving on without him is enough to make him cry, and more importantly, shut down just seconds before the countdown finishes.
Henshaw may be gone, but the Super-family isn’t out of the woods yet. Since he maxed out his powers during the last leg of their fight, Clark’s now powerless. That’s already a problem, but it doesn’t help that the dark future isn’t fully averted—the episode ends with a look at Jon Lane (instead of “Kent”) captured by Lex, who’s taken over the world in this timeline and is controlling an army of robots.
You’ll have to watch the rest of My Adventures With Superman to see how that all unfolds. The second half of the season hasn’t been in any of the promos before now, but it probably goes without saying that Clark and the others are in for some tough times in the weeks ahead.
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