My Adventures with Superman has been showcasing a new anime-influenced take on Superman with Adult Swim for two seasons now, but Season 3 is the best season of the series to date. My Adventures with Superman first began by introducing fans to a much younger take on Clark, Lois and Jimmy when they first began their careers at the Daily Planet. More importantly, it was a Clark who was just beginning his full tenure as Superman. The show offered wholly new angles on the DC Comics icon, and added a bit of anime influence to give it that much more flavor.
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The second season then took things further with other major aspects of Superman’s wider lore with major mainstays like Supergirl and Brainiac thrown into the mix. My Adventures with Superman Season 3 goes even further beyond to the next level with even more major introductions, and tons of surprises that even the most stalwart DC Comics fans won’t be able to see coming. This season goes deep, and the many differing influences within it help to shake things up even further.
Rating: 5 out of 5
| PROS | CONS |
| Reign of the Superman is the most ambitious adapted arc yet | Lots of characters to balance so your favorite might not get a lot of attention |
| New heroes and villains fit right into the world | |
| Great balance of core main cast with cool looking action |
My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Introduces Way More Supermen
My Adventures with Superman has not been afraid to add multiple characters across a number of different arcs and timelines in seasons past, and sometimes there are even characters fans wouldn’t normally associate with Superman. But the third season shakes this up even more with an overarching story that is the most ambitious in the series to date. As teased by the promotional materials, the third season adapts the famous Reign of the Supermen arc from the original comic releases. Without giving too much away, My Adventures with Superman finds a very unique way to go about it.
This arc famously comes after the Death of Superman event where Superman dies at the hands of Doomsday, and My Adventures with Superman is somehow able to both incorporate these major events into the third season but also skirt expectations in a way that they also don’t ruin the flow of the world already set in motion. So fans are able to see new renditions of characters like Cyborg Superman (Max Mittelman) and Superboy (Darren Criss), but it also all flows with the current iterations of Clark, Lois, Jimmy, and Kara that fans fell in love with before.
Clark (Jack Quaid) is interested in settling down with Lois (Alice Lee), and is even thinking long term about their relationship, but Lois is afraid that her future is coming too quickly. Meanwhile Kara (Kiana Madeira) has become a full member of the main crew after the second season, and wants to pursue a romantic relationship with Jimmy (Ishmel Sahid), but Jimmy is afraid he’s not enough for her. These core dynamics are at the center of every major development despite how wild it gets throughout the season as whole. Every major event is character driven at its center, and the season never loses sight of that even with all of the new pieces in play.
Though some fan-favorites aren’t on screen for as long as you might want. That’s kind of the only flaw when looking at the season on a whole. There are so many characters in the mix that it’s impossible to highlight all of the side characters that you might have been a fan of in the previous seasons, but My Adventures with Superman is always sure to have its core four characters at the center of all of its ongoing stories. Even if Jimmy’s is as wacky as it was in previous seasons, it still makes sense for the role he plays in the show. He gets the best side plot of the whole thing.
My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Goes Next Level With Action and Set Pieces
My Adventures with Superman Season 3 on a whole just feels much more confident in itself after two seasons of world building. Although previous seasons had already gone as far as introducing time travel, a multiverse and more, this season utilizes all of these elements to the fullest extent for what feels like the true first time. It’s able to play upon all of these ideas at its disposal to offer a new take on events like the Reign of the Supermen arc without feeling like it’s throwing everything out of wack. Every advancement feels like a natural move forward.
Therefore it’s able to take its events even further beyond. That’s felt in its action set pieces especially that are all on a bigger scale than seen before. The first two seasons had a Clark who was just starting to get used to his power, and facing off against opponents who were a bit stronger but something he could overcome naturally. This third season raises the stakes much like an action anime series would and pits Superman against godlike opponents that he won’t be able to beat through normal means. Thus it’s ultimately very satisfying when he’s able to go beyond his limits in that very anime-esque way.
These sequences are all incredible looking as well, and even draw influences from major franchises like Dragon Ball Z for their efforts. When everything is in full motion and all characters are at the peak of their respective abilities, it’s such a great thing to watch as it feels like the culmination of everything that has come before. By the time that the final battle wraps and it’s both visually satisfying and narratively satisfying when it comes to Clark’s own growth, there’s a chance you’ll want to see it all immediately again.
My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Is Peak DC Studios
My Adventures with Superman Season 3 is the best season of the series on Adult Swim to date, and is the peak of what DC Studios has to offer right now. It’s setting a very high bar for future projects that is going to be very hard to overcome, and gives fans a Superman that feels entirely lived in yet still stands out from the live-action Superman efforts on the big screen.
There’s enough here for fans of Superman’s legendary comic stories to be surprised by, enough for anime fans to love when it comes to its action, and enough for Adult Swim fans to want even more of it when it’s all said and done. My Adventures with Superman feels like it’s just getting started with Season 3, and this is the mark of a whole new era for Superman in animation.
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