Review: My Adventures with Superman “It’s Reigning (Super)Men”
OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Jonathan seemingly returns to the present with his sister Lara, tasked with the murder of Lex Luthor, but it’s not the Jonathan that Clark and Lois know. Meanwhile, Lex tries a last ditch effort to keep his work after the mess with Henshaw.
OUR TAKE
Oh good, Jonathan is back! With his now existing sister Lara! Except this isn’t the Jonathan we met last time, as what changed his future has now wiped that one from the timeline, leaving this embittered and cynical (and frankly more insufferable) one, now tasked with killing the new source of his time’s suffering: Lex Luthor. Also there’s Lara, who is certainly present. As for Lex, he is unsuccessfully fighting to not be arrested, as expected after Hank Henshaw made a big destructive show using his tech and wearing his company logo. What’s even funnier about this is who has come to put him in cuffs: Amanda Waller, who decided it was a fantastic idea to put the whole city under martial law last season, but I guess the government has a short memory when there’s a different super science embarrassment happening at the moment. Said super science embarrassment is Lex’s last ditch effort experiment, The Eradicator, which is a Kryptonian clone with a bit of his own DNA in there for good measure. “Eradicator” is another reference to a fake Superman from just after Superman’s death in the comics, along with Cyborg Superman and Superboy (the one both Jons get their design from), as well as the suspiciously absent John Henry Irons. Eradicator is also, incidentally, the override phrase Brainiac used on Supergirl last season to turn off her memories and make her a soulless killing machine. Does that mean Brainiac is involved with this somehow? Him manipulating Lex does have precedent, but here…seems unlikely.
The second introduction to Jonathan is very emotionally charged though mainly to its detriment. Lois and Clark are understandably confused and trying to word things carefully about how they already met A Jon before, while this Jon and Lara are understandably surprised that the thing they’re trying to do has been done before when they, technically, didn’t exist yet. That’s going to be a tense situation no matter what, but what makes it annoying for me is how both parties talk about it. Jon and Lara mention “General Lane” sent them there but only reveal later that this is actually their Lois, while Lois worries about not being there for them when it wasn’t actually her, or at least not the present version. But the two future Supers quickly move into action, leading to a fight with the uncontrollable Eradicator (good job defending your job, Lex), who is somehow smart enough to identify the thing on Jon’s wrist as a time machine (despite no way of possibly knowing that) and vanishes into the time stream. Sure, fine, whatever. Kara is seriously injured defending Jon and Clark gets another vision showing that he might be able to get his powers back at the Fortress of Solitude, which he gets to with the help of Bizarro, leading us into the penultimate episode of the season. Hopefully better than this one.
