In recent years, I’ve made an effort to lay off trashing the DC Extended Universe. Part of this is because it already came to an ignominious end years ago, but also because all possible criticisms have been leveled by fans, critics, and subsequent works that succeed where the so-called Snyderverse failed.
“My Adventures With Superman” (a.k.a. “MAwS”), which premiered in 2023, stands as a shining example of this paradigm shift. Chronicling the early days of Clark Kent (Jack Quaid), Lois Lane (Alice Lee), Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Sahid), and later Kara Zor-El (Kiana Madeira), the animated series sees our heroes navigating a brave new world of alien visitors and advanced technology—along with the hope and fear those forces inspire.
While Zack Snyder’s take on the Man of Steel was drab, dour, and portentous, “MAwS” is bright and colorful, taking visual inspiration from shōnen anime and playing out as a romantic comedy as much as a superhero epic. The show’s recently wrapped third season reaffirms these strengths, offering fresh takes on classic characters as they contemplate uncertain futures.
One of the biggest knocks against the Snyderverse was its embarrassing failure to give Amy Adams’ Lois Lane any sort of purpose across three movies. By contrast, “MAwS” makes Lois’ burgeoning journalism career, lingering daddy issues, and relationship with Clark Kent central pillars of the narrative, doing justice to one of DC’s oldest and most dynamic supporting characters.
Season 3 begins with Lois in a happy phase of her life, with her career taking off and her relationship stronger than ever (she sussed out Clark’s secret identity by “MAwS”’s fourth episode). Yet she’s terrified when she recognizes Clark’s dream of settling down and starting a family—and it doesn’t take long for her insecurities about the future to manifest in (what else?) a spontaneous musical number.
Lois’ fears may be hyperbolic, but they’re the sort that arise in many a serious relationship. Moreover, her character arc is almost entirely foreign to something as male-centric and action-focused as the superhero genre.
Amid these apprehensions, Lois and Clark’s future abruptly arrives with the appearance of their time-traveling children, Jon (Darren Criss) and Lara (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport), who seek to stop Lex Luthor’s machinations from destroying the world. In a clever twist, we actually meet two different versions of Jon from two different timelines: one a happy-go-lucky youth eager to spend time with mom and dad, the other a cynical brat forced to grow up too fast by a hostile world. The future is never set in stone and it’s incumbent on Lois and Clark to make the best one they can.
Speaking of Lex (Max Mittelman), Season 3 of “MAwS” gives the Bald Billionaire the chance to finally come into his own as a proper archvillain. While the first two seasons highlighted Lex’s ambitions, rising from a lowly intern to a Machiavellian tycoon, Season 3 sees Lex consumed by his xenophobia, convinced the Kryptonians are harbingers of a coming alien invasion that will supplant humanity’s place at the top of the food chain (a “Great Replacement,” if you will).
In a rarity for the mythos, absolutely no one takes Lex seriously—not his underlings, not his government clients, not the parade of living weapons he crafts to subdue the Man of Steel. Part of this feels like a reflection of reality (time has proved that Luthor-esque tech moguls like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Mark Zuckerberg are not the luminaries of innovation they paint themselves as), but also the reality of the narrative.
After two seasons of fighting villains and saving the day, Superman has proved himself an unambiguous force for good. Lex’s crusade can’t help but come off as the work of a power-hungry narcissist with a bruised ego—which makes it more compelling that “MAwS” may in fact validate his fears, teasing the arrival of a hostile alien presence even more terrifying than the Kryptonian Empire.
As for Clark himself, his character arc really kicks in at the season’s halfway point, when a brutal fight against Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman (Mittelman), leaves his powers inert and renders him an ordinary human. Heroes losing their spectacular abilities is nothing new in this genre, but it takes on a new significance with this character in particular.
Richard Donner’s 1978 “Superman” movie was and is a defining take on the Last Son of Krypton that has influenced all subsequent iterations, “MAwS” included. That made it all the more darkly ironic in 1995 when Christopher Reeve, the star who made audiences believe a man could fly, suffered a horse riding accident that rendered him paralyzed for the remainder of his life.
Like Reeve, Clark finds the strength to carry on in the people who love him in “MAwS.” His road to recovery reaffirms what we always knew about him: that Clark Kent is just as heroic as Superman because his real power doesn’t come from alien heritage or a yellow sun, but from his courage, compassion, and steadfast belief that those traits lie in all of us.
Cheesy as it may be, that earnest sentiment is at the core of what makes “My Adventures With Superman” soar as an entry in this well-worn genre. Whatever our uncertain future brings, Clark Kent and Lois Lane can face it together with good humor and open hearts—and so too can we.
