My Adventures With Superman is here, with the first episode released onto Cartoon Network to kick off a wild new take on the “Reign of the Supermen” storyline. While the Adult Swim series has been promoting wild new takes on the likes of the Cyborg Superman and Superboy, the premiere has surprisingly introduced another classic DC character. Before season three started, we here at ComicBook.com had the chance to chat with series showrunners Jake Wyatt and Brendan Clogher about a new interpretation of a classic Superman villain.
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Warning. If you have yet to watch the first episode of My Adventures With Superman’s third season, be forewarned that we’ll be exploring spoiler territory. One of the biggest surprises of the new installment for the Adult Swim series is the introduction of Bizarro, referred to here as “B1Z.” Rather than appearing as an alien from the Bizarro World or a twisted clone of Superman with an albino aesthetic, the new take on the DC villain is one where he is far more docile and affectionate. Rather than raised with a hatred for Superman, this new Bizarro is created as a lovable character with all the attributes of the Man of Steel, while being far larger than Clark.
To start, Clogher admitted he wasn’t sure that “B1Z” would work in the series. “I was always leery of Bizarro, but Jake cracked it. I grew up around kids with disabilities, so I always thought that if this is how we were going to approach this character, we have to do it right.” Jake then explained that this new Bizarro got his start thanks to an unexpected source, “I watched a ton of X-Files between seasons two and three! I really admired the higher-end episodes of the series, and I wanted to do an episode of X-Files that focused on Bizarro. We found the take because we were thinking ‘he’s Tarzan.’ Bizarro is still a weapon created as a shadow of Superman, but instead, he will be separated and alone. We gave him this crucial moment with Clark that set him up.”
A Bizarre Introduction
Clogher further explained that “B1Z” worked as an analogue for disabilities, “Bizarro just has this different path, and I related to him because I grew up with ADHD myself. I was at summer camps with kids with autism and different types of disabilities, so I understand how deeply misunderstood neurodivergency is. A lot of people in our world still don’t get it. Like Tarzan, Bizarro has a different way of looking at the world while still having agency.”
Wyatt then dissected the approach as well, “Bizarro looks at Superman and thinks ‘that’s who I want to be.’ That was what I always thought whenever I saw Bizarro, he sees this great thing and wants to aspire to be that. In the comics, he either gets there or it’s always this cruel thing out of his reach. We decided to go with making him Superman’s weird friend here. We wanted to experiment with a different origin story and give Clark his shadow, but we didn’t want him to be evil. What if this went differently, and then Clark’s choices impact him. Also, we wanted him to be super hot.”
My Adventures With Superman airs weekly on Saturdays at midnight, airing the next day on HBO Max.
