2025’s Summer Of Superman got an unofficial sequel this year, with the Man Of Steel popping up in his cousin Supergirl’s not-quite-standalone film and returning for a new batch of adventures on Adult Swim. There are even more Super-related projects coming to theaters soon enough, but the return of My Adventures With Superman, which is halfway through its third season, makes one thing very clear: Right now, the small-screen takes on these particular superheroes have their big-screen counterparts beat.
My Adventures With Superman premiered in 2023, nearly two years before James Gunn launched a new DC cinematic universe. Season one was as charming a showcase for Clark Kent (Jack Quaid), Lois Lane (Alice Lee), Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Said), and other Metropolis residents as it was for Superman (also Quaid), who was still fairly green, despite regularly defending the city from all manner of threats. Showrunners Jake Wyatt, Brendan Clougher, and Josie Campbell showed us the iconic hero through the eyes of those closest to—and most envious of—the Man Of Steel, but their biggest ambition early on was depicting Superman, one of the oldest and “squarest” superheroes, through the lens of shōnen anime.
Quaid, who was pulling double comics-series duty as a series regular on The Boys, was able to make both Clark and Superman his own, in part by making them so similar to each other. At this point in his life—their lives?—Superman is the alter ego, and Clark is still very much figuring out how to be a hero while also trying to make it as a journalist, maybe even have a girlfriend. The line between the two is a lot more blurry; there’s no moment quite like this one, where Christopher Reeve effortlessly shifts from mild-mannered to awe-inspiring. That might be why Lois and Jimmy are able to crack Supes’ secret so quickly, but instead of robbing season one of tension, this development just opens up new storytelling avenues. Lois, one of the most driven characters in this world, struggles with feelings of inadequacy in “Kiss Kiss Fall In Portal.” She’s just starting to make a name for herself as a journalist, and dating the competition—who also happens to be a god among men, though she obviously can’t talk about that—quite understandably messes with her head. Jimmy is able to be much more public about his friendship with Superman, but that leads to its own set of issues.
When the show returned in 2024, it was with a more assured second season, one that greatly expanded its world. The first episode pulls back the curtain on Task Force X and Amanda Waller (Debra Wilson), who deposed Lois’ dad General Sam Lane (Joel de la Fuente) as the division’s leader. We learn more about life in the Lane household, and why Lois feels she can only rely on herself. Lex Luthor (Max Mittelman) rears his head (which is still covered in hair), making all sorts of trouble, to say the least, for Superman and his pals. Jimmy squanders a fortune while also confirming more than one of his crackpot theories, befriending a talking gorilla in love with a brain along the way. But the real lightning rod is the arrival of Kara Zor-El a.k.a. Supergirl (Kiana Madeira), who was raised by her “Father,” Brainiac (Michael Emerson), to revive the Kryptonian empire, i.e., conquer worlds, including Earth.
As season three begins, everything’s coming up House Of El—Clark and Lois are closer than ever, and Kara wants Jimmy, who was her initial guide to Earth, to be her “mate.” But, as Brainiac warns her when she’s stashing his consciousness in some liminal space (no, not that one), the past won’t stay in the past. Lois, on the other hand, is far more worried about the future, which is coming at her much too fast: Clark is already looking at listings for farmhouses and playing house with miniatures. Speaking of Clark, he’s feeling the toll of being a city’s (if not the world’s) savior, at one point admitting to Jimmy that it’s much harder being Superman than it’s ever been. (The irony of Clark’s work as a journalist funding his work as a superhero is beyond delicious.) And that’s before the “Reign Of The Supermen” arc really kicks in, opening the door for Cyborg Superman (Mittelman) and Superboy (Quaid).
The latest episode, which was released on July 11, is titled “The Death Of Superman,” and while it and the preceding episodes are clearly inspired by the eponymous storyline from the comics, season-three showrunner Jake Wyatt and his team make some significant departures from the source material. We won’t give any of that away here, except to note just how smart the adaptation is. The episode is melancholy, hopeful, and gripping, as Jon Kent encounters the world he’s fighting for in the future. It’s in keeping with the rest of season three, which has been reckoning with what Supergirl’s place is in a world where Superman is the marquee hero, to much more meaningful effect than Craig Gillespie’s film.
Depictions of Supergirl really have no place to go but up (up, and away—sorry, couldn’t help it), but writers Serena Wu, Angela Entzminger, Jack Sentell, Sari Cooper, and Marguerite Bennett have shown great care with Kara, who is feeling anything but heroic right now, so she distracts herself with an increasingly silly dating competition with Jimmy, who will let himself be turned into a wolf rather than go to therapy ask her out. “The Death Of Superman” sees Supergirl step out of the shadow of other superpowered beings, which is more than we can say for the DC Universe version.
This Superman also has a leg up on the current DCU equivalent—though he’s younger and less experienced, he’s, in some ways, more fully formed. His motivations are clearer, even if they’re more naive (because he hasn’t carried the weight as long as Corenswet’s version), which makes his characterization stronger. We know exactly who this Superman—and Clark Kent—is from one tragedy to the next, from one triumph to the next. The DCU Superman is currently a bit murkier, but he does have one very important thing in common with his small-screen analog: He reminds us that hope is something you practice, not just feel. That’s enough to make us look forward to meeting the Man Of Tomorrow.
New episodes of My Adventures With Superman drop Saturdays as part of the Toonami anime/action block and stream the next day on HBO Max.