Adult Swim’s My Adventures With Superman is finally back, kicking off its third season with the same splendid mix of joy and gravitas that we have come to expect from the show. Episode 1: Into the New World, written by Serena Wu, wastes no time setting up the season’s emotional arc. It asks our heroes who they are and what they want, and it invites us to seek those answers with them.
Who Am I?
As the episode opens, Superman/Clark Kent (Jack Quaid) and Supergirl/Kara Zor-El (Kiana Madeira) arrive in the restored Fortress of Solitude, which Jor-El transformed from the Kryptonite-ravaged spaceship into the more traditional crystalline fortress in season 2. Kara has come to bid her “father” Brainiac (Michael Emerson) farewell, and although Clark and Jor-El said their own goodbyes last season, the Fortress’ robot stewards make it clear that there is still much to discuss about Krypton’s ways. Kara, meanwhile, confronts Brainiac’s hologram – or, more accurately, Brainiac’s hologram confronts her. He challenges her newfound sense of heroism, claiming that she does not know who she truly is. If more is said, it remains for us to watch and discover. She departs from the Fortress to interrogate the stars: “Who am I?” she asks, as though they could answer her.
Family Matters
By this time, Clark has answered that question for himself. He is many things: Kryptonian by birth, human by choice; Superman by necessity, Clark Kent by desire, and that desire is great. My Adventures With Superman, like all well-written Superman media, understands that so much of Superman’s appeal is Clark’s wish to have a normal life.
In this moment, spending Halloween at the Kent Family Farm, conflict arises not from a world-ending calamity, but from two people wanting different things. Clark wants to settle down with Lois Lane (Alice Lee), but she is hesitant. While the Kents raised Clark in stability and sureness of love, Lois is still mending her rocky relationship with her father, General Sam Lane (Joel de la Fuente). Meanwhile, Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Sahid) and Kara are clearly smitten with each other, but Jimmy confesses to Lois his feelings of inadequacy and his certainty that Kara could find a better partner.
Who and What: Enter the Clones
Who is Superman? Superman is Clark Kent. What is Superman? Superman is Kryptonian, an alien with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, and as we have seen across the last two seasons, there are forces that would exploit and replicate those gifts for their own agendas. General Lane arrives with revelations thereof. Project Caliban, he tells Lois, was a biotech program that ran parallel to Project Cadmus and Task Force X.
At Lane’s suggestion, Superman, Supergirl, Lois, and Jimmy investigate, and what they find shakes them. The now defunct Project Caliban was using Kryptonian DNA to experiment with cloning, and the team discovers Bizarro (technically Subject B1Z), a clone who resembles Superman and possesses childlike mannerisms. They discover the body of Dr. George Otto Binder (named for Supergirl’s creator) and the lessons he recorded for Bizarro. It was his intent to protect Bizarro and teach him to appreciate life and kindness. His guidance resonates with Kara, who acknowledges Brainiac’s lack of appreciation for the same.
Identity and Image
The season’s promotional art suggests that Superman’s image and origin will be exploited, and the last moments of this episode confirm it. Lex Luthor (Max Mittelman) is behind Project Caliban, and having failed to capture Bizarro, he turns his efforts to the grievously injured Hank Henshaw, whom he will transform into the Cyborg Superman.
With Superboy still to come, this season promises to define Superman and Supergirl not by the criteria of those who raised them, but by the imitation of those who would be them without understanding them.
