My Adventures With Superman Recap: The New Normal — Grade the Adult Swim Series’ XL Premiere
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s My Adventures With Superman!
This week, Big Blue returned in his first animated series in over 20 years, with The Boys’ Jack Quaid voicing the Man of Steel in a heartfelt, bright and anime-inspired take on the DC Comics character.
The series — which debuted its first two episodes on Adult Swim Thursday at midnight and is now streaming on Max (Episode 1 can also be found on YouTube) — follows the early days of Clark Kent (Quaid) as he learns to master his increasingly powerful superpowers while working as an editorial intern at the Daily Planet with the quirky Lois Lane (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist’s Alice Lee) and his alien-obsessed best friend and roommate Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Sahid), who are out to land the scoop of the century: the secret identity of Metropolis’ new protector.
Meanwhile, mysterious forces lurk in the shadows as powerful villains seek to take control of the city, revealing a larger game is at play….
Read on for the highlights of the double-episode premiere, “Adventures of a Normal Man”:
FROM SMALLVILLE TO METROPOLIS | We meet our Clark Kent as a young boy, who, struggling to get his stuck kite from the tree, is clearly unaware of his powers or his Kryptonian heritage. But when a car hits a pothole and goes spiraling towards a tree, Clark shows literal sparks of his power and saves the passengers inside. The young lad then turns his attention back to the kite and, with a great leap, retrieves it from the tree — only, Clark does not fall back to the ground but stays levitating in the air, discovering his ability to fly. With childlike wonder, he soars through the skies of Smallville, basking in the quiet beauty of it all. But in that silence, his joy turns to a quiet and fearful introspection, as he wonders aloud, “Who am I?”
Unfortunately for young Clark, My Adventures With Superman has no time for that question — at least not yet, since, faster than a speeding bullet, the episode speeds forward in time to Clark’s first day at the Daily Planet. Clark just wants to be “normal,” despite the fact that he does not have full control over his powers. (R.I.P., alarm clock, sink and shoes.) And even though he wants to hide his powers on this “normal” day, he can’t help but save a distressed kitten on his morning power walk.
LOIS AND CLARK | Lois, on the other hand, wants to be “extraordinary.” She has a big story in mind for the newspaper and can’t wait to pitch it to editor-in-chief Perry White. But before she heads to the office, she stops at the local convenience store for some breakfast, where she and Clark have their official “meet cute.” (He holds the door for her. She calls him “big guy.” It’s quite adorable.) As Clark tries to formally introduce himself, he gets lovingly embarrassed by the elderly store clerk, who thanks Clark for doing store repairs for her and gives him the three boxes of donuts he ordered for work — along with his donut bib! Mortified, Clark runs out of the store and meets up with Jimmy, who is curious why their alarm clocks keep “exploding.”
As they are walking to the Planet, Jimmy gets lost in his own soliloquy about aliens, unaware of the garbage truck barreling towards him. Clark saves Jimmy without the latter noticing and gets a glimpse at the suspicious-looking driver (more on that later).
At the Planet, Lois pitches to Perry White her story — that someone stole an army of killer robots, as well as other weaponry, from an Army base in Metropolis. But the EIC is not having it, reminding Lois that she is an intern. He introduces her to the new interns, Clark and Jimmy, who are excited by the story, but Perry tells Lois that she does not have authorization to follow her lead. Lois decides to report the story anyway, lying to Jimmy and Clark that she got Perry’s OK. Meanwhile, it turns out that Leslie Willis (the suspicious-looking truck driver who almost ran over Jimmy) is the one who stole the machines, and she is having a hard time finding a buyer.
Lois takes Jimmy and Clark to see her “source”: Flip Johnson, a delivery girl for the Planet who has eyes and ears on the whole city. While much of what she has to offer is unhelpful (“I saw a weird pigeon, it was gross”), she mentions that she witnessed a bunch of garbage trucks run a red light, which reminds Clark of the lady who nearly hit Jimmy. He and Lois decipher that garbage trucks would be the best way to move heavy equipment in plain sight. Flip points them in the right direction, and they head to a warehouse by the dock — but the place is empty by the time they arrive. Luckily, they find another clue that leads them to the Port of Metropolis, but not before Clark gets a call from Perry, telling him that they don’t have authorization for the story and that they need to return to the Planet ASAP.
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SECRETS AND LIES | Clark, upset that Lois lied to him, puts on his anime villain glasses and confronts his fellow intern about her selfishness. Lois storms off with Jimmy, leaving Clark behind, but soon realizes that she was only looking out for herself. But before they can go back and find Clark, they stumble upon the weapons and Leslie, who sends one of the robots after them. Flip witnesses all of this and quickly finds Clark to warn him. Hiding his identity in construction gear, Clark barely defeats the robot, only for Leslie to unleash a whole batch on him! Clark gets beaten down but is saved by Lois, who figures out how to shut the robots off. Alas, she fails to get the last one. And as she is about to be obliterated, Clark shows that spark again and goes Super Saiyan, punching the robot into oblivion and saving his co-worker. Clark then ditches his disguise and reunites with Lois, who apologizes to Clark and tells him about the flying man — whom she dubs “Superman.”
Back at the Planet, Lois and Jimmy pitch their story about the robots and Superman. Luckily for Clark, Jimmy’s pictures are blurry, and Perry wants nothing to do with the story, berating Lois for her recklessness. So, naturally, Lois’ main takeaway is to expose Superman’s identity to prove he is real — and in doing so earn her place among the Planet’s top reporters, which seems to both enchant and terrify Clark.
DO YOU SPEAK KRYPTONIAN? | Flashing back to Clark’s childhood in Smallville, Ma (anime and animation stalwart Kari Wahlgren) and Pa (Veep’s Reid Scott) Kent finally show a young Clark how he came to Earth. But unlike past retellings of Superman’s origins, there is no spaceship to be found — at least not yet. Only a platform that sprouts holograms of Clark’s birth father, Jor-El. The hologram speaks a language Clark does not understand, although viewers listening closely will pick up some familiar terms, including “Kal-El” and “Krypton.” As Jor-El continues his incomprehensible monologue, the platform beneath Clark begins to open, endangering Ma and Pa Kent. Clark quickly rescues his parents and covers up the platform with dirt, proclaiming, “I don’t want to come here again.” Still, this experience leaves Clark with questions, forcing him to ask again, with tears falling down his cheeks, “Who am I?”
ON THE CASE | Back in the present day, Lois and Jimmy continue their investigation into who Superman is, murder board and all. Clark, deciding he needs to know who he is as well, heads out, while the other two interns go to find, in Lois’ words, “the woman who tried to kill us!” But Leslie has got bigger problems than two inexperienced and rambunctious newspaper interns: she is being tailed by goons who are after the weapons she stole. After getting the jump on her stalkers, she uses their radio to invite their boss to a one-on-one meeting.
Back in Smallville, Clark heads to the platform, which has grown since he was last there. This time, Clark is transported below, where he runs into Jor-El again. Clark still does not understand the hologram, but when shown a vision of the destruction of his home planet he deciphers that Jor-El is his father. Suddenly, Clark finds himself going through an anime girl-style transformation, revealing the Superman suit we all know and love. Well, except for the red trunks, which Ma Kent lovingly adds.
LIVEWIRE VS. DEATHSTROKE | In Metropolis, after teasing Lois about her growing feelings for Clark, Jimmy leads her to the salvage dock, where they locate Leslie’s destroyed boat. They follow her tracks into a drainage pipe, discovering a massive amount of explosives layered across the sewer system. Meanwhile, Leslie finally meets with the head stalker — Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke (30 Rock’s Chris Parnell) — but their meeting is interrupted by Jimmy and Lois, with chaos immediately following. Leslie reveals she is wearing a suit that gives her electric abilities (a nod to her other identity, Livewire) and clashes with Slade while Lois secures the bomb trigger.
Superman arrives at the scene and fights with Livewire, but her suit is punctured by Slade, sending electricity coursing through her body and nearly causing her to overload. Superman is able to remove the core of the suit, saving Leslie’s life, but touching it also gives him another brief vision, this time of spaceships in battle… and a portal opening.
Jimmy and Lois bring their photos of the fight to Perry, who “Stops the presses!” to get their story on the front page. Lois then goes to check in on Clark. The two share an intimate moment, which would have become more intimate had Jimmy not ruined it with the disappointing news that Perry gave the byline of the story to his more seasoned reporters.
At an undisclosed location, Slade interrogates and tortures Leslie, who reveals that she dispersed the weapons she stole across the city to all the criminals in town. But Slade is more interested in Superman than the weaponry. Leslie, confused and having thought that Slade was working with Superman, asks who Slade is, to which he replies, “We’re the good guys.” And who is this we, you may ask? As the final shot reveals, Slade’s team includes a mysterious general and none other than Amanda Waller, the leader of the Suicide Squad!
What did you think of the premiere? How does it compare to Superman: The Animated Series? Leave your comments and grade below!
