Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for My Adventures With Superman season 3, episode 2
While the DCU has debuted exciting live-action versions of Superman and Supergirl, an even newer Man of Steel has just debuted on HBO Max. Introducing fresh takes on familiar heroes and villains, the lore of My Adventures With Superman continues to be all kinds of fun. This includes the introduction of a new Superman rivaling Clark Kent himself in the show's third season.
In its first two seasons, the DC animated series has some pretty cool new ways to adapt certain characters and events, while still honoring the original comic book source material. Now, My Adventures With Superman season 3 is kicking off what will likely be one of its most interesting reinventions with its dark new Superman: Hank Henshaw.
At the end of My Adventures With Superman season 3, episode 2, STAR Labs' Hank Henshaw makes his season debut looking nothing like he did in the prior two seasons. Flying in with a new red-and-blue suit resembling Superman's own costume, Hank's suit replaces the classic "S" emblem with an "L", signifying his allegiance to Lex Luthor (who's yet to become follically challenged in this DC continuity).
At the end of My Adventures With Superman season 2, Hank Henshaw's jet was shot down during Brainiac's invasion of Earth. Having embraced Lex's "Earth belongs to Earthlings" rhetoric earlier in the season, Hank's body looks to have not only been restored by Luthor, but also significantly upgraded as a new superhuman likely rivaling the power of Kal-El himself.
Of course, the rise of Henshaw's Superman closely mirrors the character's dark origins as the Cyborg Superman. In the original comics, Hank Henshaw was an astronaut and the sole survivor of his crew after they were all exposed to cosmic radiation. And his body rapidly fell apart, Hank managed to upload his altered and twisted mind into digital systems before eventually creating a robotic body using Kryptonian technology from Superman, all while wrongly blaming the Man of Steel for his accident. Following Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday, Cyborg Superman even posed as the Man of Steel himself.
As such, My Adventures With Superman season 3 appears to be adapting those same general concepts alongside some unique twists (like Hank getting his new robotic body from Lex). Likewise, it looks as though Lex wants to position Hank as a human alternative to Superman while the Kryptonian is still alive, presumably before deploying his new living weapon to take him out in future episodes.
Although Clark Kent is still alive, My Adventures With Superman seems to be building toward its own version of "Reign of the Supermen", the classic DC storyline that occurred in the aftermath of Clark Kent's death fighting Doomsday, and the facsimiles that rose in his place.
Naturally, one of these replacements was Cyborg Superman, while another was Superman's teenage clone Conner Kent aka Superboy (who will also appear in My Adventures With Superman season 3). There's also John Henry Irons' Steel, who debuted in season 2, and the Kryptonian AI known as The Eradicator, also adapted in the second season as the protocol Brainiac used to control Kara Zor-El's Supergirl.
Beyond the established "Reign of the Supermen" roster, BZ-1 aka Bizarro debuted in My Adventures With Superman season 3's premiere, another clone of Superman who was inspired by the Man of Steel's heroics. While this doesn't necessarily mean that the OG Superman's days are numbered, it's going to be very exciting to see how all of these heroes and villains with comparable power levels to Clark all collide in future episodes, especially now that Cyborg Superman is in the mix.
New episodes of My Adventures With Superman season 3 release Saturday nights on Adult Swim and streaming next day on HBO Max.
A young trio of reporters navigate their roles at a major city newspaper while exploring the dynamics of friendship and burgeoning romance. A groundfloor treatment of the Superman mythos, the animated series balances Clark Kent's daily undercover life and the tenuous balance in keeping his secret from the world while protecting it, all while supporting the people closest to him.
