NOTE: Some minor spoilers from throughout the debut season of, “My Adventures with Superman” may be present in this review. That said, the review is written to accommodate those who haven’t yet watched the season, and as such, will avoid discussion of major plot developments.
Even as DC Studios and the (confusing) rise of the new DCU begins to take effect in the live-action space, it still seems like Warner Bros. Discovery is a bit non-committal about new DC Studios co-head, James Gunn’s claim that even most animated DC projects to come will be placed firmly within the new DCU’s continuity. Max’s animated Harley Quinn series at least, which will be welcoming a spin-off, Kite Man: Hell Yeah! early next year, seems to have been confirmed by Gunn as being part of the privileged few ‘Elseworlds’ catalogue of ongoing DC TV, movie and video game continuities that will be allowed to exist outside of the DCU’s canon. Harley Quinn however has the advantage of being grandfathered in, with three prior seasons at the time, and now four at present. The rest of Warner Bros.’ animated and live-action DC content that was in development before their merger with Discovery has embarked on a bit of a stranger journey.
Most of DC’s proposed live-action TV shows and movies formerly being made for Max were simply killed in the crib by Discovery. Only paranormal drama series, Dead Boy Detectives survived Discovery’s purge of DC’s former live-action slate, ultimately being moved to Netflix, and re-developed as a spin-off series to The Sandman. DC’s in-development animated projects meanwhile proved to be more resilient. Similarly, however, DC’s upcoming animated Batman Family projects, including Batman: Caped Crusader, a spiritual successor to beloved 90’s series, Batman: The Animated Series, and Bat-Family, a series centering around the supporting members of Batman’s team, were sold to Amazon, to eventually be hosted on Prime Video. It’s new animated Superman Family series, My Adventures with Superman that proved to have the strangest development period however, which makes it even more curious that, among Discovery’s ‘outsourced’ DC content, it’s the series that has debuted to the public first.
I suppose it also helps that My Adventures with Superman weirdly didn’t leave WBD’s stables in the end, despite clearly being another ‘Elseworlds’ project that doesn’t take place within the new DCU canon. Instead, the series was simply shunted over to WBD’s Adult Swim channel, with new episodes premiering on Max barely a day later. This is despite My Adventures with Superman being an openly family-friendly series, one that’s completely out-of-step with Adult Swim’s usual crop of, you know, content made for adults. The situation is especially strange here in Canada, where Harley Quinn is also hosted on our Adult Swim channel, only Harley Quinn is a hard R-rated cartoon that absolutely belongs there! My Adventures With Superman meanwhile feels like it got lost on its way to Cartoon Network. Hell, even most of DC’s Cartoon Network shows, from Young Justice to Teen Titans, feel more raw and intense than My Adventures with Superman does. What gives?!
Once you get past the utter strangeness of it all though… My Adventures with Superman does prove to be a solid watch, if you’re a superhero enthusiast that’s open to said strangeness. This show also marks a perfect complement to The CW’s more mature-minded Superman & Lois, presenting a much brighter, more universally optimistic take on the Man of Steel, namely by featuring variations of Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen that are in their early 20’s. Starting as well-meaning, but highly inexperienced interns within news organization, the Daily Planet, My Adventures with Superman showcases this lead trio functioning as best friends that are desperate to break a big story, and become real reporters, all while Clark secretly struggles with his hidden superpowers, and burgeoning secret identity as caped hero, Superman.
So, we’re going through a lot of familiar narrative motions here, and that can sometimes work to the detriment of My Adventures with Superman’s debut season. Clark’s secret identity drama is a particular nuisance in this first season, as he does such a terrible job of hiding his secret that the people closest to him finding out feels inevitable. One of the funniest moments during this first season in fact comes after Clark decides to reveal his identity to someone, only for that person to directly call him out and say they’ve always known, because he’s bad at hiding his true nature among friends. This does lead one to wonder how more people don’t notice who Clark really is though, since he truly is bad at hiding his identity throughout this series, hilariously so! It almost makes me feel like I was too hard on the eponymous heroine in The CW’s Supergirl!
“The series makes a deliberate effort to shun (at least, for now) major, well-known Superman Family archenemies like Lex Luthor and General Zod.”
Still, perhaps making Clark’s identity issues the occasional butt of a joke helps to soften the blow that the Superman Family mythos is still relying on people being a bit generally oblivious in My Adventures with Superman. I imagine that part of this comes down to a very surprising choice surrounding this series’ tone and production style as well though; My Adventures with Superman takes heavy inspiration from anime. The ‘Americanime’ visual design meshes with some very recognizable anime-flavoured story tropes here, from the ‘chosen one’ protagonist who can’t piece together who he is, to the flashy, highly destructive powered villains, to the shadowy organization secretly watching everything unfold, desperate to contain the hero. Even the obligatory romance between Clark and Lois feels ripped straight from shonen anime (essentially, Japanese teen media), complete with ‘UwU’ character expressions, and so much comical angst, including monsters and magic ruining the perfect date. My Adventures with Superman is thus a positive cocktail of adolescent anime tropes, though this does manage to mesh surprisingly well with the very American-centric Superman Family mythology.
Naturally, it helps that the DC Universe is chock-full of colourful, ultra-powerful villains to throw at our heroes, even while My Adventures with Superman never makes the obvious choice with its roster of baddies. The series makes a deliberate effort to shun (at least, for now) major, well-known Superman Family archenemies like Lex Luthor and General Zod, who aren’t even mentioned in this first season. Some lesser-known staples of the Superman Family’s DC Comics rogues gallery still make it into My Adventures with Superman’s first season however, including Parasite, Livewire and Silver Banshee, though even they are given significant changes, Parasite especially. This debut season also features familiar DC villains, Mist and Heat Wave in key antagonist roles, despite them both normally being enemies of The Flash, Mist having his abilities completely altered, and Heat Wave now being gender-swapped into a woman.
These characters still lend themselves to some pretty cool, anime-flavoured battles, mind you, both individually and as an ensemble, though the real over-arching threat behind My Adventures with Superman’s first season instead comes by way of Task Force X, DC’s more formal name for a more recognized faction, the Suicide Squad. While they’re never actually referred to as a ‘Suicide Squad’ in this series (possibly for thematic reasons, or possibly because the ‘suicide’ moniker may have been deemed inappropriate for a family-friendly show), Task Force X is nonetheless overseen by some mostly familiar faces, including DC’s resident government thug, Amanda Waller, high-powered cyborg, Slade Wilson/Deathstroke (who is now re-imagined as a younger, ‘anime boy’ U.S. government asset in My Adventures with Superman, rather than an older, grizzled lone wolf merc like in most DC media), and, “The General”, whose identity is kept secret until the end of the season, but it will nonetheless be extremely obvious to anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of Superman’s social circles throughout DC lore.
As much as its debut season doesn’t carry many surprises for avid Superman/DC fans in particular though, My Adventures with Superman is still very easy to enjoy for both children and adults alike, thanks to its lovable sense of heart. This series feels like an important first step in a back-to-basics approach that the Superman franchise desperately needs right now, which is perhaps why DC Studios bosses, James Gunn and Peter Safran likely approved it to stay on WBD’s own TV platforms. Warner Bros. and DC have spent so much time trying to adapt darker, more adult-oriented Superman stories over the past decade or so that they’ve frequently sucked the foundational charm out of the character of Superman in the process, even if some of these attempts, like the aforementioned Superman & Lois, can still be solid adaptations in their own right.
My Adventures with Superman differs by feeling very much like a renewed declaration of intent, even if it doesn’t take place within the still-upcoming DCU; Superman is going to go back to being kinder, more balanced and more psychologically wholesome, without sacrificing potential for heightened action, and occasionally dark storylines. My Adventures with Superman does still manage a few rather harrowing moments during its first season, on that dark note, even if most of these first ten episodes are pretty clean-cut, and the bulk of the show’s stakes are definitely being set aside for an already-confirmed second season. I imagine that this upcoming sophomore season could be the point when more big hitters from the Superman Family’s villain roster may start showing up, even if I’d be equally excited to see more unique takes on unexpected villains from other corners of the DC Universe too.
“This show is also a perfect complement to The CW’s more mature-minded Superman & Lois, presenting a much brighter, more universally optimistic take on the Man of Steel.”
My Adventures with Superman is certainly an oddity, especially as an Adult Swim series, but its debut season still succeeds as a likable and charming crowd-pleaser, especially for those that have been waiting many years for the Man of Steel to lighten up a bit more. The CW has pretty much had a monopoly on Superman Family TV since the turn of the millennium, between live-action offerings, Smallville, Supergirl and Superman & Lois, but at last, we finally have an animated successor to the 90’s’ beloved Superman: The Animated Series, even if My Adventures with Superman is quite different in terms of tone and presentation. Still, even if its storytelling is currently feeling a little predictable, it’s genuinely tough to dislike My Adventures with Superman in earnest, because it’s just such an entertaining, feel-good take on a modern Superman Family, one that manages to stand out enough thanks to its anime inspiration. Even better is the fact that My Adventures with Superman makes for a great introduction to the Superman mythology, and the DC Universe at large, for younger children who are just starting to enter the world of superheroes.
As much as I’ve enjoyed the more adult-oriented, emotionally complex Superman & Lois up to this point, I must admit that it’s nice to see a younger, more bright-eyed take on the Man of Steel again. It goes to show you that sometimes, good, old-fashioned kindness can thrive as its own reward.