My Adventures With Superman is one of the best adaptations of the Man of Steel that DC has ever made. Audiences and critics agree as the series holds a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an 82% audience score. With the recent premiere of the second season on Adult Swim and Max, and with Superman teases involving Supergirl and Lex Luthor in the episodes ahead, now is the perfect time to catch up with the animated series or to jump back in after the season break. The show is setting up many compelling stories to be resolved by the end of the season.

Superman has had a long legacy in animation for decades, and each series has had its own take on the Man of Steel and his world. With My Adventures With Superman, the most beloved components of each series are combined to create an iteration of Clark Kent and his world that feels simultaneously true to the character’s roots while embodying something new and current. Combining a classic feel with modern sensibilities has crafted a superhero show that is enjoyable for all ages and is on its way to becoming some of the best must-see television airing in 2024 for many reasons.

10

Jack Quaid Is The Most Hopeful Superman Since Christopher Reeve

Superman has had many excellent portrayals throughout the years. Each of these iterations has found different components of the character to work through at different points in their careers and have all generally been successful. However, the heart of the character is one who believes in the good of people and their motivations. Like Reeve before him, Quaid plays a Superman who does not want to crush evil but instead turn it into good. This is a Superman who believes that that is possible.

“I just want to help,” Superman says repeatedly in My Adventures With Superman. With a dorky smile, this version of the character calls to mind the Reeve Superman, who urges Lois not to smoke because of its effects on her lungs. Unlike the Henry Cavill iteration of the character, who found that he had to kill Zod in Man of Steel, Jack Quaid’s Superman is hopeful and believes in goodness at any cost. This is a Superman who would fly around the planet to reverse time to save the love of his life if it came to it, no matter how illogical or impossible that may seem.

9

The Series Creates A Universe That Should Inspire The DCU

James Gunn has spoken about how his Superman film focuses on how Superman embodies kindness in a world where kindness has gone out of fashion. Littered with bright and colorful threats that sparkle through scenes with giant laser guns and outsized performances, My Adventures With Superman creates a world in that same fashion. Intending to integrate animation and live-action in the DCU, the Adventures cast have spoken on crossover potential.

Adventures is built around characters and their relationships with one another while being centered in a big, colorful world full of superheroes and outsized threats. The series includes necessary darkness in its villains and the threat of Task Force X, but heroes like Superman can persist through faith in humanity. Much of what is intended to be in the DCU seems to pull directly from Adventures, and it is worth catching up with the series to be able to see the cues the films are likely to follow.

8

DC Villains Have Gotten Truly Fresh Reimaginings

Characters like Mr. Mxyzptlk are difficult to adapt to any format. An extradimensional imp with powers to shape reality is an unusual feature in any science-fiction story, leading to human iterations of the character in previous series like Smallville. While occasionally successful, the trickster character has generally been portrayed in comic books as of unusual size, shape, and style, which Adventures is able to pull off better than even other cartoon adaptations. Mxyzptlk is made tangible by the series’ tone, which balances real human stakes amidst alien conditions.

Beyond visual execution, with Task Force X as a central component of the series, many characters and their origins and motivations are weaved throughout the series. Parasite, Livewire, and many others are influenced by the anti-Kryptonian task force headed by Amanda Waller and Lois’ father, Sam Lane, giving cohesion to villain motivations and their relationship with Superman. With exciting designs and fun, thoughtful use of these characters, they are features of the overall story.

7

My Adventures With Superman Is An Origin Story That Doesn’t Feel Like One

Superman has been adapted many times, and there is no need to cover all the same ground again with each successive adaptation. This is why shows like Superman and Lois have been made to focus on underseen, later parts of the hero’s life. With series like Smallville and the original 1978 film Superman’s origin has been told many times and is familiar. Despite this, My Adventures With Superman has presented an inexperienced version of the hero meeting his supporting cast originally and uniquely in a way that feels fresh and human.

My Adventures With Superman is set at a time when the weight of the entire world does not yet burden Clark Kent. Even in the face of terrifying threats like Deathstroke, the series is punctuated with light-hearted relationship moments between Clark and Lois that are full of heart and hope. Taking the time to contrast both sides of the Man of Steel’s story, nothing is sacrificed. The show knows that audiences already know most of Superman’s origin and has decided instead to take that for granted, opting for urban life and relationship complications over rural Kansas and the weight of his abilities.

6

My Adventures With Superman Takes Care To Adapt More Ignored DC Characters

With an extensive library of heroes and villains, Superman stories have a lot of material they can choose to include. Many of these find the time to introduce new versions of the same popular characters, including Lex Luthor, General Zod, and even Brainiac and Bizarro. With the animation medium behind it and a team that clearly cares about the source material, Adventures has done a great job at giving lesser-known figures like Steel and Livewire opportunities to shine. With hints of the series’ future, this will likely continue as underused DCEU characters like Cyborg have been teased to appear.

With notable appearances by Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, then Silver Banshee and Mist, each of the adaptations in this series tends to draw lines between the characters and their impacts on the story. Banshee and Mist are both part of the Intergang group of metahumans assigned to Task Force X and are empathetic, relatable villains with complex characterizations, unlike their Arrowverse counterparts. Meanwhile, Mallah and Brain serve as gay representation that coincides with Jimmy’s obsession with conspiracies. The show finds ways to integrate underutilized DC characters in ways that make sense and improve the overall stories told.

5

The Love Story Between Clark And Lois Is Sweet And Compelling

From charming co-workers to friendship to a crush to a relationship that becomes intertwined with the superpowered action the series has shown, the relationship between Clark and Lois is the heart of My Adventures With Superman. Fiery, dedicated, passionate, quick-thinking, and intelligent, Lois Lane pulls from the Margot Kidder iteration with her rash actions, such as throwing herself off the Daily Planet to have Clark reveal his identity. Clark is the yin to her yang, as the somewhat under-spoken, thoughtful hero. Even physically, the two are opposites, making their onscreen pairing so fun to watch.

They complete each other, and seeing their relationship be fostered and grow throughout the series has been one of the main reasons to keep coming back. With his blushing sincerity and her violent passion, the interactions between the two are always sweet, whether between Clark and Lois or Superman and Lois. They appreciate one another and are clearly building a unity that will last for the rest of their lives.

4

Jimmy Olsen Is The Most Fun He Has Ever Been On Television

Jimmy Olsen is a character that seems to face massive reinterpretations based on the series or film he appears in. In Supergirl, he is a handsome vigilante. In Batman V Superman, he is a government spy. Few of these takes, however, seem to pull from the strange and humorous comic book Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen more than Adventures. In “My Adventures With Mad Science,” the character is kidnapped by a gorilla named Monsieur Mallah and the Brain. Still, the character experiences no fear; instead, he is only excited to confirm conspiracy theories he believes in.

In recent episodes, the photographer has come into a fortune and has been spending it recklessly. These zany antics can set the character apart from some of the more generic iterations in the past, instead drawing from the spinoff comic book series where the character has grown porcupine quills and become a genie. There is a status quo for Jimmy as a jovial and reliable friend of Superman, and it seems that the animated series will allow him to have all of these strange and wild stories without lasting impact.

3

The Anime Inspired Animation Is Fun And Distinct

Pulling from Shonen influences, Adventures is colorful, bright, and pleasing to the eye. Character movements and reactions are exaggerated, and the action is fast-paced in a way Superman stories have never been adapted before. In this, the animation replicates the kinetic movement of the comic books. The unnatural storytelling that occurs through quick frames and long pauses in paneled images is realized with these distinct iterations of the characters.

Beyond the fight scenes, the character designs integrate diverse characteristics into various inclusions and are simple and sweet. Superman’s smile can be enormous, and the contrast between his character model’s size and Lois’s makes the delicateness of their connection that much sweeter. Using the images to their fullest, the animation style presents a unique take on the character and world, whether with a flamboyant Deathstroke design or the spacey, new S on the titular hero’s logo.

2

My Adventures With Superman Isn’t Afraid To Set Stories Up Slowly

Lex Luthor has been a fundamental component of the Superman mythos, but his stories have not been the most immediate in Adventures. It is only in recent episodes that the season 1 character known as Alex has revealed himself to be Superman’s most iconic foe. Now, the series is working toward a power-suited version of that character but is in no rush, taking 13 episodes to set up an iconic Superman showdown. Adventures is a series that is willing to take time to set the pieces up perfectly.

The buildup of Task Force X in the first season was an excellent example of this, using monster-of-the-week stories with Parasite and Deathstroke, among others that stood on their own as episodes. These contributions show that there is a longer plan in the works for the series and that each hinted piece will be realized in time. Audiences can trust the series to provide weekly entertainment, with each episode slowly building toward bigger and better things.

1

It Feels Like A Spiritual Prequel To Superman: The Animated Series

Superman: The Animated Series was created as a companion to Batman: The Animated Series and, in many ways, resembled that show. However, Superman brought more color and hopeful spectacle to the universe inhabited by the Dark Knight and contributed to the science-fiction feel with its fun, colorful characters. Many of those same characters are included in Adventures through different ideas and interpretations, but they still feel true to the same spirit of the stories.

In many ways, with its color, charm, worldbuilding, and humor, My Adventures With Superman is the perfect followup to The Animated Series. Twenty years later, these younger iterations of the characters feel like they could grow into the same Superman, Lex, and Metropolis with time. Many audiences grew up watching The Animated Series, and it has influenced their perception of Superman and his associated DC Universe characters. Following up as a prequel or reboot, My Adventures with Superman gives the same flavor a new, modern, fulfilling, and joyful twist.