Welcome Suicide Squad fans to our latest thoughts and recap of My Adventures with Superman. This week we are treated to the best battle yet, which is saying a lot because the action on this show has been consistently good. Read on, but beware of spoilers!
1. The Suicide Squad for Kids
The general and Amanda release the prisoners they’ve been gathering all season from their cells. Silver Banshee, Rough House, Heatwave, & Livewire are now tasked by the general to work with the Parasite to take down Superman. Since this is a kid’s show they are going to stick with the code name Task Force X, but DC fans know what’s up. Rather than exploding chips in their brains this Suicide Squad has electric shock collars.
There is one thing that doesn’t make complete sense with this line up. None of the members actually have any special skills or abilities. The Intergang members were famously inept; barely able to rob convenience stores. They could have given the tech to well trained soldiers to take down Superman. The only benefit of using this crew is they have all fought Superman before. Maybe it’s this motivation that makes them a good choice; that and plot purposes.
2. Super Hearing Sounds Rough
Clark wakes up to voices that aren’t in his apartment calling for help. He pinpoints on one of them as a man and a child in a burning building. Clark now has super hearing.
We’ve seen super hearing development adapted before. Most recently on Superman & Lois where a young Jordan Kent is dealing with being able to hear everything going on. It’s not adapted as being painful here, it’s more of a nuisance. It’s not a problem that Clark can hear everything. It’s a problem that he can hear everyone that needs help. Even cats stuck in trees. Have I mentioned that every good Superman adaptation should have a cat stuck in a tree?
The moment with Jimmy is hilarious. Really paints the picture for us of what it’s like hearing all the cries for help and Clark’s desire to help them all. All the Superman activity has really bumped up Jimmy’s Flamebird followers. Jimmy is at first concerned that Clark hasn’t slept in a few days, but the new found notoriety makes him happy.
During his super hearing escapades Superman hears the general which gives him a newfound motivation to stop him. While Superman is looking for the general, we know the general is plotting to take down Superman.
3. Vicky Vale
Clark fills the teams storage room/office with flowers as a gift for their one-week anniversary. Lois starts to appreciate it, but her mind goes back to Overman. She pulls out the orb from the League of Lois Lanes and watches Overman attack the city. She doesn’t believe her Clark would do that, but we can see the the cracks in her belief start to form.
Perry wants Lois to assist a guest editorial writer he’s brought on. He wants to make sure Lois doesn’t freak out because of who it is: the famous Vicky Vale. Perry is hoping to get the award-winning reporter to write for the Planet full time since she is thinking about leaving the Gotham Gazette. It’s an interesting reversal using Vicky Vale for this, since Lois was clearly the template for her rather than the other way around.
Lois gives us the full rundown of Vicky’s accomplishments including breaking the Queen Industries inheritance scandal (wonder what Oliver is trying to do with his parents money) and taking down the Falcones. Lois even has a poster of Vicky in her bedroom! I wonder if young journalists in the 70s had pictures of Woodward and Bernstein up in their rooms.
Lois isn’t too happy when she learns what story Vicky wants to investigate. The number one danger to Metropolis: Superman. Vicky has the same distrust for Superman that we saw in Ivo’s episode. Can anyone with that much power be good? It’s a good question and one of the most remarkable things about the character of Superman in the first place. If absolute power corrupts absolutely, every Clark should be an Overman. But as Mxy said last week Clark is Superman in almost every universe.
Continued belowLois and Jimmy set up interviews with people they know are Superman fans. It’s easy to find people in Metropolis that Superman has saved like Captain Immonen and Flip Johnson.
Meanwhile, Superman hears the general mention that he’s missing someone. Superman makes the connection to an invisible man on a crime spree. Mist, the 3rd member of Intergang hasn’t been caught by Task Force X and could be Superman’s key to finding them. When Superman catches up with the reporters, Jimmy says that a Flamebird follower has posted about a break in at Morrison’s Pawn Shop. Must be Mist. Side note here; is this alley the only alley in Metropolis or is reusing this location a subtle nod to the stock footage alley used in many episodes of Adventures of Superman for the change from Clark to Superman?
4. Lex Luthor
Vicky isn’t impressed with who Lois and Jimmy have set up for interviews, but she has someone in mind: Ivo’s former assistant Alex. I know there has been some internet speculation that Alex is the one and only Lex Luthor, greatest criminal mind of our time. I didn’t pay the speculation any mind until this moment.
Alex tells us Superman is a criminal. Superman bankrupted Amazo Tech and put people out of work. Superman showed up at the same time as the crazy tech and turned the city into war zone. Superman is not normal like you or me. What happens when Superman decides having powers means he doesn’t have to follow our rules. If these aren’t the words of Lex Luthor I don’t know what is. Maybe less important, but I’ll note it for posterity Alex is wearing a purple shirt.
Vicky is eating it up because it feeds into the narrative she wants to portray for her story. Lois on the other hand thinks about Overman. Again, I think we are pushing for the confrontation with Lois and the general (her father) about Superman. Which side will Lois and her Kryptonite end up on?
Superman finds Mist, but his lack of sleep and the new distraction of super hearing is giving him a hard time. In his pursuit he stops a truck from hitting an invisible Mist. To the crowd this looks like a Superman out of control. Even people he saved earlier in the episode are afraid of him.
Superman meets Lois and Jimmy on the roof of the Planet building. Superman is in rough shape, but he believes finding Mist is his one opportunity to find the general. Lois wants to know what will he do once he finds him. Will he fight the military? Jimmy shares what the people have been saying about him. Superman is dangerous and that he should go back to where he came from. Superman knows he has scared people and wants to fix that, but he is hyper fixated on finding the general now.
Remember last week when we talked about the major themes and driving motivations for Superman and Lois? Superman wants to be normal. He feels strange and out of place as an alien and wants to be accepted and fit in. When Lois tells him he should take a break from being Superman and be normal I could feel the pain Clark felt. He had finally felt accepted for who he is by Lois and Jimmy last episode. He could be his full self without hiding. One week later Lois breaks his heart.
5. Battle in the Sky
Clark focuses his super hearing to find Mist again. He tells Mist he’s here to talk and not to hurt him. Mist explains that he is looking to save his sister Silver Banshee. Mist got word the general is moving the prisoners today and if doesn’t get to Silver Banshee now he may never see her again. Superman won’t let him do that… alone.
They arrive at the airfield just as the plane takes off. Mist thinks they are too late, but Superman flies after the plane. He opens the side of the plane and lets the prisoners know he’s there to save them.
Unfortunately for Superman, these prisoners are on a work release program and the fight begins. I think this fight works really well in the air. Because attacks could come from any angle it makes everything feel really dynamic. Plus taking on Silver Banshee, Rough House, Heatwave, and Livewire all at once is no easy task even for Superman. Throw in Parasite and Deathstroke and Superman is at a serious disadvantage.
Continued belowLois and Jimmy discover that Vicky has already published her article in the Gotham Gazette and used the story to get a promotion. She was never there to work for the Daily Planet, she just used their resources to write about the Metropolis Menace. They don’t have time to deal with Vicky because Jimmy is notified user Bibbo87 is streaming a live video of Superman’s fight in the park. Bibbo is a favorite Superman support cast member of mine so I hope we get more than just an Easter egg reference to him. Internet commenter Lemaris04 would definitely be a Flamebird fan, she knows about Sub Diego.
The fight isn’t going well for a weakened Superman, but he musters his strength and is able to take out most of his attackers. That is until Parasite Ivo lets loose on him. Ivo won’t stop even when the general tells him to stand down. The general eventually has to resort to the electric collar. The general tells Superman as he brings him in “You’re no hero; you’re the end of the world”.
Lois and Jimmy arrive just as Task Force X leaves. We get our first ending credits without any photos.
Heavy way to end an episode. Faith in Superman at an all time low, Superman in the custody of Task Force X, Lois and Jimmy too late to help their best friend. We still haven’t learned what Zero Day was, I imagine that will happen next week. We’ll also see if my predictions are correct. Join us then for Zero Day Part 2!
