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My Adventures With Superman S3 Ep 10 Review

It’s all come down to this. The Eradicator is a threat to the entire multiverse and Superman’s family and it needs to be stopped! But the only way to stop is for Clark to get his powers back. And while we all knew he would get them back, I can’t help but feel like he had to sacrifice something that’s going to come back to haunt us in the future. That is, if MAWS has a future!

That is what makes Superman strong

When we last left off, the Kryptonian android known as Brainiac was trying to kill Clark in a fit of rage over his refusal to conform to his people’s brutal ways. But then Bizarro stepped in and saved him, and actually managed to put the fear of death into Brainiac. And then, Clark managed to calm his cloned cousin down, stunning Brainiac, who can’t understand why Clark would risk his life like that. But that moment makes him finally see what Clark’s real strength is: the strength of mercy and compassion.

It sounds corny when I write it, I know. But it’s the truth. Superman’s not the greatest hero because he’s the strongest or the smartest. He’s the greatest hero because he’s willing to help anyone, even if they’re his enemies. And while the heel-face turn feels a little rushed, I’m not complaining. Especially since we learn that the Fortress is powered by the living offspring of Rao, Krypton’s sun! It’s Rao Jr. that has the power to restore Clark’s powers, but there’s no guarantee that it will do so if it doesn’t consider him worthy.

To make a long story short, it does. But that’s the thing: we never actually see how Rao restored Clark’s powers, beyond a brief scene of him being covered in its flames. In addition, at the end of the episode, Clark says that he had to give something up to get his powers back. He plays it off like it’s no big deal, but…I can’t help but fear the worst. What if he had to give up a huge chunk of his lifespan or something else? Something that will come back to bite him in the future? Lois and Jimmy would be heartbroken about that.

The House of El Stands

Meanwhile, the House of El and Task Force X’s last stand against the Eradicator is…well, it’s a massacre. The Eradicator tears through them all like it’s nothing. The Kryptonians are barely able to put a dent in him or his clones. And to make matters worse, the monster (voiced by the incomparable Steve Blum) boasts about how he’s done this across multiple timelines. Who knows how many versions of Superman and his family he’s killed by now?!?! And the best reaction that we get out of him is that he’s irritated that someone always gets away.

And the reason why the Eradicator is doing all of this? Why he’s so driven to kill Clark and his family? Because he’s afraid. He’s the living embodiment of Lex’s fear of that which he can’t control. In fact, fear and dealing with it seems to be the main theme of this entire season. Jimmy’s afraid of taking the next step with Kara. Lois is afraid of the future and how that will change her. And Lex? He’s afraid of something he can’t control or trust. But at least Lex tries to redeem himself by stopping his creation. It’s no use, though. No one is strong enough to stop him.

No one, that is, except for Superman.

Well, just like people on Reddit said, if MAWS was fighting it before, they can’t now: the show’s staff took inspiration from Dragon Ball. Because what’s more Dragon Ball-esque than for the heroes to have to wait for Goku? Or in this case, Superman. He shows up clad in this new golden armor, and just starts beating up the Eradicator. It’s glorious. In fact, the fights in this episode are all glorious. Even more glorious, though, is how Clark calls the Eradicator out for having such a lame motivation! It’s just so pathetic! And in the end, the Eradicator chooses to die rather than accept help from the one he fears the most.

So lame.

Darkseid has to be coming.

So, I’m just going to come out and say it: I don’t think that this season finale was as amazing as the one from Season Two. The Eradicator felt less like a foe that needed to be stopped and more like a reason for Clark to want his powers back. The fight against Brainiac was personal because he destroyed Krypton and killed Clark and Kara’s parents, and it made for an epic final battle. This wound up being not as bad as it could have been, at least for this timeline.

But even now, MAWS is sewing the seeds for what comes next. As Lex is put in prison, Waller asks him why he did all of this. The answer: after Kandor’s destruction, he saw something out in space. Something that terrified him. It’s not confirmed, but with all the hints that have been dropped throughout the show, most fans have guessed that he’s talking about Darkseid and his hordes. Considering what Darkseid can do, I don’t blame him for being scared. Sadly, we may not see what happens if MAWS doesn’t get renewed. Or it might not happen anyway and end up being the focus of a future series in the same universe. Come on, DC! Give us the second coming of the DCAU!

OMG, CLARK AND LOIS ARE GETTING MARRIED!

With that, everything goes back to normal. Jon and Lara return to their time to await the future. Oh, and Kara friendzones Jimmy. She decided that as punishment for what he did to her, she’s going to make him work for a relationship. Honestly, I think it’s for the best. Neither of them was ready for a romantic relationship yet. If we get another season, maybe that will be the payoff. But that means we can focus on the real OTP of the series, Clark and Lois.

Having come to accept what the future may or may not hold, Lois isn’t afraid of settling down anymore. And, in a moment that I wasn’t expecting but is totally in character for her, she’s the one who asks Clark to marry her! SQUEE!

To the people in charge of this show at DC, I swear to all that I hold holy, if you do not give us another season with Clark and Lois’ wedding, I WILL RIOT!!!

Seriously, DC. Just give season four. I don’t care when. I need more of the House of El!

I Give “The Return” a 4/5

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My Adventures With Superman S3 Ep 9 Review

Well, this is quite the mess, you guys! Thanks to Lara and Jonathan, the children of tomorrow, and Lex, there is a MENACE to the space-time continuum now loose in the universe. Kara is in a coma, the kids have PTSD, and everything is going to hell. The one good thing is that Clark has returned to the Fortress of Solitude to try and regain his powers. The bad news? He has to go through a trial that will have him go full barbarian warrior to do so. Well, that’s not bad in and of itself, but it’s the lesson he’s supposed to learn.

Oh, and Brainiac is back.

How did it Get to this?

In the aftermath of the Eradicator’s escape into the timestream, Amanda Waller has taken charge. I didn’t touch on it before, but we got to acknowledge the fact that Waller is now willing to see the Kryptonians as allies and protectors of Earth. She’s finally learning from her mistakes. However, she’s still Amanda Waller, a no-nonsense soldier. And even though she doesn’t know where Jonathan and Lara come from, she doesn’t hesitate to draft them into her anti-Eradicator plan. Except Lois isn’t happy about that.

Lois has spent this entire season trying to come to terms with her future with Clark. She accepted that she’ll be a mom one day, and now she’s learning that she could become the kind of parent her dad was to her, and it scares her. She also makes things worse when she rightly calls Jonathan and Lara for making Luthor wake up the Eradicator before it was ready. And for Jonathan’s disrespect to her in general. He tried to shame her for not actually fighting. WHAT DOES HE EXPECT?!? Unless there’s some tech lying around that can give Lois Kryptonian powers, or some power armor, she can’t do much!

She at least has better luck with her daughter. Through Lara, Lois learns that her future self does care about her kids enough to give her a pep talk. But it’s ultimately Kara who has to talk some sense into Jonathan.

KARA! YOU’RE OKAY!

Thank heavens, Kara is not dead. She’s left in a coma for several days, and when she wakes up, Jimmy is asleep by her side. He stayed there the entire time because he cares that much. I know that their relationship has been a problem this season, and we only have one episode left. But I hope they become an item in that time. And if we get a fourth season, I would love to see them act like a couple.

So, Kara finds Jonathan moping on the Moon, angsty about how he can’t live up to his dad’s reputation. So Kara tells him the truth: he’s not perfect. Everyone sees him like that because he never gives up. So Jonathan reconciles with his family and agrees to help. But, honestly? I don’t really like this version of Jon that much. I get why he is the way he is, but his personality gets a little grating. Hopefully, when Lois and Clark do have kids, they’ll have a better life.

So, everyone comes together to fight the Eradicator. The Kryptonians, Steel, Slade and the other agents of Task Force X. Even Luthor.

Yeah, when Luthor tries to duck and hide like a coward, Jimmy calls him out on it. He was the one who set Lex on his current path, and he is so disappointed in how he’s turned out. Especially since he’s seen that Lex can be a hero for himself. So he tells him to either shape up and be a hero, or just admit that he’s the bad guy. And it works!

But where does this leave Kal-El the Barbarian?

Kal-El the Barbarian

So, as many of us probably guessed, Brainiac is technically not dead. The version we met in season two is dead, but the version that helped run Krypton remains active in the Fortress of Solitude. And he is unimpressed with how Clark lost his powers and seeks to teach him a lesson on strength. Thus, to get his powers back, Kal-El has to relive Krypton’s ancient history and the start of their Empire. He has to be a barbarian conqueror.

From the second I heard what Brainiac was telling Clark, I saw the red flags. It’s obvious that that ship of invaders was just people who crash-landed. The Kryptonians told themselves that lie to justify their tyranny. And despite Brainiac trying to force him to give in to Krypton’s past, Clark isn’t playing his game. He stays true to himself, choosing to befriend the aliens and help them, because that is what real strength is like.

And Brainiac just loses it as we get the big twist. It turns out, Brainiac was one of those stranded aliens, forced to serve the Kryptonians until the day their empire collapsed while being converted into an AI. And he’s justifying the entire thing like it was right for Clark’s ancestors to do that! This was some insane levels of Stockholm Syndrome at work, and it made me sick to my stomach. How broken do you have to be to justify your terrible lot in life like that?!? Even worse, Brainiac takes Clark’s sympathy for the Coluans fate as an insult! He cannot compute the fact that things could’ve been different, and so tries to kill Clark. Thankfully, Bizarro is able to save him, but…what now?

Oh, no! He’s Voiced by Steve Blum!

The Eradicator returns from the timestream, and now looks like an anime version of General Zod, more dangerous than ever. We only have one episode left of the season, and possibly the series, and we have no clue how Kal-El can get his powers back, let alone stop the Eradicator! Can we please get a happy ending for the final episode? Please!?!

Hopes aside, I liked the barbarian aspect of this episode and I hope that we get more seasons of the show. That, and I think Lois would love the outfit!

I Give “Vae Victis” a 4.5/5

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My Adventures With Superman, S3 Ep 8 Review

So, the second we saw what the future looked like in “The Death of Superman,” we knew we were in for more time-travel shenanigans. Cyborg Superman may have been stopped, but that only led to an even worse future where Lex Luthor ruins everything. Granted, Lex Luthor tends to do that a lot, but this future is even more messed up. Not only does another version of Jon come back to the past with a sister, but they were there to basically…pull a Terminator. And…I think it may have cost everyone everything.

There’s two of them now?

Picking up right where we left off, Clark and Lois are stunned, not only by the apparent return of their son, Jon, but the fact that he is not alone. He now has a sister. In most iterations where Clark and Lois marry, they tend to only have the one son, so having a daughter is a big surprise. At any rate, her name is Lara Lane, emphasis on Lane being her and Jonathan’s last name.

The Kids were asked to Re-enact Terminator?

Right off the bat, the show confirms what many of us were afraid of: that by stopping Hank Henshaw and altering the future, Clark and the others overwrote it with an entirely different future. And, depending on whether multiverse theory is in effect for time travel here, that means the Jon Kent we came to know no longer exists. That alone is enough to scare Clark and Lois, but it’s nothing compared to how their kids are. Firstly, this other Jon goes by Jonathan and acts like he’s a 90s anti-hero, abrasive attitude and all. Even worse, though, is why they came back in time in the first place: to kill Lex Luthor. They were ordered by General Lane to go back and pull a Terminator on Lex Luthor. The scariest part, though, is that the “General Lane” in question is future Lois. She sent her own kids back in time to go Terminator on Luthor.

This revelation naturally has Lois shaken. She had just learned that she could turn out like her dad in the last episode. Now, a future version of her did turn out like that. For someone who’s just come to terms with the future, that is a scary prospect. And that’s not including the fact that her future self sent them back in time to kill Luthor.

The reason why Luthor is now marked for death is simple: he didn’t learn his lesson with Cyborg Superman. Instead, he’s decided to double-down on creating a Superman clone by creating an even bigger, badder, and meaner one called the Eradicator. In this bad future, he uses them to conquer the world. However, in an ironic twist, the siblings mission may not have even been necessary. In strolls Amanda Waller, who’s apparently no longer a fugitive and working for the Government again. Except this time, she’s actually learned her lesson about Superman being a good guy. Thus, she tells Luthor she’s shutting his project down, as well as Lexcorp.

Part of me wants to feel sorry for Lex in this scenario. All he wants to do is prove himself to the world, but he keeps being the worst version of himself. He’s the architect of his own undoing, hence why it’s ironic future Lois sent her kids back in time to kill him. All that manages to do is make Lex panic and wake up the first Eradicator before he can establish control over it.

What happens next feels like a nightmare.

Is this DOOMSDAY?!?

In keeping with MAWS Dragon Ball inspiration, this version of the Eradicator feels like an expy of Cell mixed with Doomsday. He’s smart, can regenerate at an alarming rate, and is just plain stronger than the Kryptonians. Lara and Jonathan are barely able to hang on in their fight against it, forcing Kara to step in. But not even she, a full-blooded Kryptonian with years of combat experience, is able to put a dent in the Eradicator. And then we get that moment where she recreates that iconic scene where Piccolo takes a ki blast to protect Gohan!

She doesn’t wake up after that. There is the very real chance that Kara may have just been killed, and that almost left me in tears! She and Jimmy were starting to patch things up, with Kara reiterating how she wanted to be more than friends. I haven’t liked how the show has handled their relationship this season, but now? Now it may never happen since Kara might be dead. And to make matters worse, the Eradicator steal’s Jonathan’s Time-Band thing and escapes into the timestream. In other words, there is a monster capable of causing castrophic damage to history loose in the space-time continuum! All because future Lois wanted her kids to pull a Terminator!

Ultimately, seeing what happens to his family proves to be the last straw. Clark needs to get his powers back to stop this madness! Which means he has to return to the Fortress of Solitude to do so.

No Terminator, You Guys! It Never Works!

This was a very dark episode, you guys. Brainiac invading the Earth was one thing, but now we have someone who could destroy history altogether on the loose. Which means that Clark is going to have to become Superman ASAP to stop this. That, and he needs to make sure his future kids don’t turn out like what they are now. No Terminator!

I Give “It’s Reigning (Super)Men!” a 4.5/5

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