My Adventures with Superman Soars Thanks to Its Excellent Take on Clark Kent
Photo Courtesy of Adult Swim
Near the end of Kill Bill Volume 2, the film’s titular bad guy delivers a monologue that gets at the heart of his character. After incapacitating our heroine, the Bride (Uma Thurman), Bill takes the chance to mansplain about his favorite comic book hero, Superman. He rambles about how for most superheroes, like Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker, their crime fighting alias is an alter ego, a mask they literally put on, but for Superman, these roles are flipped: “Superman didn’t become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he’s Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red “S,” that’s the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears—the glasses, the business suit—that’s the costume. That’s the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent. He’s weak, he’s unsure of himself, he’s a coward. Clark Kent is Superman’s critique on the whole human race.”
Now, this spiel isn’t necessarily meant to be taken seriously; it’s the worldview of a violent sociopath who views kindness and compassion as character flaws, and as such, he sees Clark’s benevolence as a weakness. These words draw attention to Bill’s values and explain why he is offended that the Bride (who he is comparing to Superman) left the assassin’s life behind her.
However, despite Bill’s obvious misinterpretation of Superman as a character, his diatribe gets at an interesting question: which of these personas is the “main” one, and which is the alter ego? Although the villain is wrong about Superman looking down on humanity, there is a marked difference between Clark and Superman in most adaptations. As Clark, he’s an unassuming, mostly regular person (aside from his killer jawline) whose primary concerns are around work and family, while when he’s Superman, he’s a near-unstoppable being who battles inter-dimensional aliens during his lunch break.
Of course, most tellings don’t explicitly label a particular half as the “true” version of this character, but they do usually focus on one or the other, with the opposite role positioned as the alter ego. In many ensemble stories, especially ones centered on the Justice League, the focus is squarely on Superman and his Herculean heroics, while in many origin stories (or live-action series where they don’t want to spend too much on VFX), we get more Clark Kent and his interpersonal drama. Initially, My Adventures with Superman, the delightful animated series that recently wrapped its second season, seems squarely focused on Clark, with Superman as his secondary persona. However, as it goes on, the series delivers a more interesting and holistic take on the character, balancing both personal drama and world-ending threats as it rejects the idea that Clark and Superman are warring personas.
The story begins as our bright-eyed protagonist starts his new job as an intern for the Daily Planet, and throughout the first season, we watch as he comes into himself, both as a hero and a young adult. While a lot of the time, it feels like superhero origin stories are eager to “get through” the mundane so they can arrive at the fantastical, My Adventures with Superman chooses to put equal emphasis on both these facets, investing as much time in building up Clark’s emotional concerns, like his romantic relationship with Lois or worries about his heritage, as it spends building up the next big villain.
As for the more grounded moments, these scenes basically always land, in large part because the banter between our central trio of Clark (Jack Quaid), Jimmy (Ishmel Sahid), and Lois (Alice Lee) is consistently heartfelt and hilarious. Whether it’s the voice actors giving convincing line deliveries, the punchy dialogue, or their greater character arcs, the main cast is the core of the series’ success. On top of this, a great decision around these characters is that it doesn’t take long for Clark’s inner circle to discover that he’s Superman. This further breaks down the wall between the two versions of the character: since his friends know he’s Superman, they can frequently take part in his adventures. Clark acts the same around his buddies whether he’s wearing glasses or donning the cape, and while there’s still an abstract “Superman” to the general public, the blurring of these two figures in private erases the boundaries between the two narratively speaking. As a result, it feels like the show can much more freely maneuver between different modes, seamlessly jumping between big battles and relationship hiccups without these tonal switches feeling jarring.