Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for My Adventures With Superman Episodes 1 & 2.The first two episodes of My Adventures With Superman are filled to the brim with Easter eggs and references to DC Comics. This is unsurprising, given the series’ effort to present a new take on the classic Superman mythology. What is notable, however, is how the show also offers some subtle tributes to classic animation and Anime.
The two-part premiere of My Adventures With Superman, “Adventures of a Normal Man, Parts 1 & 2,” establishes a different start to the Superman story than has been presented in earlier media. This Clark Kent is new to Metropolis and ignorant of his alien heritage. He is also an intern at The Daily Planet rather than a reporter, who is pushed into action by his more ambitious co-workers, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. Despite this different take on Clark Kent, who struggles not to break things and maintain a low profile, there is much that will be familiar to Superman fans, including many DC Comics Easter eggs.
19 Starro The Conqueror
The Jimmy Olsen of My Adventures With Superman is a conspiracy theorist who rambles about all manner of unlikely beings hiding on Earth. The irony is that for all of Jimmy’s talk about aliens living in secret on Earth, he is completely unaware that his roommate is an alien. Another point of ironic comedy is that many of Jimmy’s more outlandish beliefs could be real in the DC Universe, such as his mention of a “psychic starfish from Germany.” This sounds like a description of Starro the Conqueror, who was the chief villain of The Suicide Squad and the first villain the Justice League of America faced in the comics.
18 Merpeople and Atlantis
Jimmy Olsen also makes mention of his belief in the existence of merpeople, along with Moth Man and sewer dinosaurs. While he’s probably wrong about these last two, merpeople do exist in the DC Universe. Indeed, there are several varieties of water-breathing humanoids populating the seven kingdoms of Atlantis. This implies that the existence of Atlantis (and Aquaman) is not common knowledge on the Earth of My Adventures With Superman.
17 The Newskid Legion and Guardian
Looking for more information on her tip that thieves robbed a local military base, Lois Lane turns to a quartet of kids, who deliver newspapers for The Daily Planet. The self-dubbed Newskid Legion are also aspiring reporters who print their own paper, with Big Words writing the crossword puzzle, Gabby writing the op-eds, Patti drawing the cartoons and their leader, Flip Johnson, handling the editing. This is an updated version of the Newsboy Legion, who offered their aid to the Metropolis-based vigilante Guardian. The Guardian can also briefly be seen in one of Patti’s cartoons, when Flip shows off their paper.
16 Louise Simonson and Dan Jurgens
Two notable Superman writers, who co-wrote the Death of Superman storyline, are given shout-outs in the first episode of My Adventures With Superman. The military base Lois discovered was robbed is said to be near Mt. Simonson. This is a nod to Louise Simonson, who wrote Superman: The Man of Steel for eight years and co-created the John Henry Irons version of Steel. Later, while running through the biggest rumors in Metropolis, Flip mentions a Mrs. Jurgens eloping with the superintendent. This is a nod to writer/artist Dan Jurgens, who, in addition to writing and drawing Superman for several years, created the time-traveling hero Booster Gold.
15 Monsieur Mallah
While puzzling out the meaning of a patch with the initials “PM,” Jimmy speculates that it could reference Paranormal Meta-Sapiens, which he insists is “the term for the super-intelligent gorillas France has been hiding.” While the DC Universe is filled with all manner of super-intelligent apes, the reference to a French gorilla is almost certainly a nod to Monsieur Mallah. Originally created by the mad genius known as The Brain as a bodyguard, the two became romantic partners, even as they threatened the world and fought the Doom Patrol.
14 Max Fleischer’s The Mechanical Monsters
The action of “Adventures of a Normal Man, Part 1” pits Clark against an army of stolen military robots. The fight sequence seems to have been inspired by Max Fleischer’s second Superman cartoon, “The Mechanical Monsters.” This cartoon is one of the most famous in animation history, and has been repeatedly paid tribute by Anime directors like Hayao Miyazaki, who referenced the earlier cartoon in both his film Castle in the Sky, and the Lupin III episode “Farewell My Beloved Lupin.”
13 Livewire and a Dragonball Z Tribute
The leader of the thieves who robbed the miliary base is revealed as a woman called Willis in “Adventures of a Normal Man, Part 1.” Her full name is later given as Leslie Willis in Part 2. Fans of Superman: The Animated Series might recognize Leslie Willis as the secret identity of the electric supervillain Livewire, who was created for the show before being introduced into the comics.
In the climax of “Adventures of a Normal Man, Part 2,” Leslie Willis goes on a rampage in an armored suit that gives her the power to throw electric blasts. The static causes her hair to stand on end and her eyes to glow. This, coupled with the general design of the armor, makes Livewire resemble a transformed Super Saiyan from Dragonball Z.
12 The Blue Energy Superman
In his battle with the military robots, a battered Clark Kent suddenly finds a second wind when he realizes Lois is in danger. As he charges forward to take down the last robot, blue lightning envelopes his body, and a stylized Superman emblem briefly flashes across his chest. This seems to be a reference to the Electric Superman form, which Clark Kent briefly took on in the late 1990s when he became a being of pure energy with a completely different power set.
11 It’s a Bird…? It’s a Plane…?
In “Adventures of a Normal Man, Part 2,” Jimmy shows Lois and Clark the logo he designed for his streaming series about alien visitors to Earth. The two are immediately confused as to what the logo depicts, with Lois saying it “looks like a plane,” whereas Clark says it “kinda looks like a bird.” This is a joking nod to the people at the start of the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons from the 1940s, which opened with a crowd shouting, “Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!“
10 Jimmy Olsen Is Flamebird
Jimmy reveals that his online handle is Flamebird, proudly noting his streaming show has five subscribers. (Lois follows him to become number six by the episode’s end.) In the Silver Age Superman comics, Flamebird was an alias Jimmy Olsen adopted when he and Superman became non-powered vigilantes in the bottle city of Kandor. Superman would later pass his non-powered alias, Nightwing, on to Dick Grayson when he sought a new name after giving up the Robin mantle.
9 The Sailor Moon Transformation Tribute
Seeking answers to his origins, Clark reluctantly digs up the ship that brought him to Earth and confronts a hologram he realizes is his father, Jor-El. This triggers a transformation sequence, as Clark’s clothes are changed into an outfit resembling the New 52 Superman costume. The sequence is a tribute to the classic transformation of Sailor Moon, with Clark’s street clothes fading away and being replaced with the pieces of the Superman costume, as colorful lights flash and the camera spins around.
8 Superman’s Brief Costume
Upon seeing her son in his new Kryptonian garb, Martha Kent declares that it needs “something more” like a belt or shorts. Perhaps fearing for her adopted son’s modesty, she makes both, transforming her son’s outfit into something resembling the classic Superman costume. This splits the difference between both origins for Superman’s costume in the comics, where it was either presented to him as standard Kryptonian wear by Jor-El, or made for him by his mother.
7 Deathstroke
Leslie Willis is confronted by a government agent in stylized blue and orange armor, whom she guesses is a Marine with Black Ops training based on the way he carries himself. The agent does not reveal his name, but he manages to hold his own against Willis with a couple of batons and a taser, despite her electric power armor. The closed captioning and closing credits confirm this man is Agent Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke the Terminator. Curiously, Slade doesn’t seem to have lost his right eye yet in the world of My Adventures with Superman.
6 AmazoTech
The name of Amazo, the android capable of replicating the superpowers of any being, shows up twice in “Adventures of a Normal Man, Part 2.” It first shows up on Lois Lane’s murder board, in an article reporting a rumored partnership between AmazoTech and the US Military. Later, Superman repairs a billboard promoting AmazoTech, while cleaning up the damage caused by Livewire’s rampage.
5 Cat Grant
To Lois Lane’s annoyance, while Perry White finally agrees to run a story regarding Livewire’s rampage, he hands the story over to three experienced reporters, rather than print Lois, Clark and Jimmy’s work. The first of the named reporters is Cat Grant, who is best known to general audiences as Kara Danvers’ boss in the Arrowverse Supergirl series and founder of CatCo Worldwide Media. In the comics, Cat Grant got her start as a gossip columnist at The Daily Planet, before progressing into serious journalism.
4 Ron Troupe
The second reporter who is given a shot at the Superman story instead of the interns is Ronnie Troupe. In the Superman comics, Ron Troupe was originally introduced as a rival to Jimmy Olsen, when both were looking for reporting work outside The Daily Planet. Ron eventually got hired on The Daily Planet, and went on to form a romantic relationship with Lois Lane’s sister, Lucy.
3 Steve Lombard
The third reporter whom Perry White tasked with writing about Superman’s debut was Steve Lombard. In the comics, Steve Lombard was a former football star, who was hired on as a sports writer and editor at The Daily Planet after he injured his knees and ended his career by saving a baby from falling from a building. While he was presented as a braggart and a bully, who flirted with every woman in the office and picked on Clark Kent, Lombard was also shown to have a basically noble soul, as he risked his life to save his co-workers during various disasters.
2 Task Force X
The final scene of “Adventures of a Normal Man, Part 2” finds Livewire in the custody of the government, being questioned by Agent Slade Wilson. He asks her what she knows about Nemesis Omega, Zero Day and Task Force X. While the meaning of these first two terms is unclear, Task Force X is the official name of the United States government program known as the Suicide Squad, which offers convicted supervillains time off for good behavior after completing a set number of secret missions.
1 Amanda Waller
Two figures are seen with Agent Slade Wilson as he questions Livewire, in the final scene of the My Adventures With Superman premiere. The first resembles Task Force X leader Amanda Waller. The identity of the second one is unclear, but it may be General Sam Lane. The chief reasons to suspect this are that General Lane was the same sort of high-raking military official who might become involved with something like Task Force X in the comics and the character is wearing a US Army dress uniform hat.
My Adventures With Superman releases Thursdays on Adult Swim and Fridays on Max.
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