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library-commoner · 4 months ago

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My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Easter Eggs

WHAT A FANTASTIC FINALE! HOLY SHIT! I TEARED UP SEVERAL TIMES AND MY GOD WAS THIS SUCH A GOOD FINAL EPISODE FOR SEASON 2!!!! This may be the last Easter Eggs post, episode wise, but we still have the other 4 issues of the comic so come back here each month for that and also at the end I'll give you some recommendations to keep you occupied til season 3 gets a premiere date.

My Easter eggs lists for season 1 is here if you haven't seen it!

My season 2 episode 1 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 2 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 3 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My season 2 episode 4 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 5 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 6 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My season 2 episode 7 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 8 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My season 2 episode 9 Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

Spoilers if you haven't seen the episode

Starting things off the episode title is My Adventures with Supergirl. An obvious nod to the show title, but also good way to acknowledge the journey we had with Kara whether its seeing her past, what she did under Brainiac's control, and what our trio will do to help Kara be free from Brainiac.

Makes sense that Henshaw is part of the Human Defense Corp (or Squadron in this case) and it looks like the fool dies so maybe Cyborg Superman in the future who know, but I talked about the Human Defense Corp here and Hank Henshaw here.

As Superman and Kara lie on the street thanks to the Metallos and Brainiac's control over them, we see them get saved by the Intergang and Livewire and Heatwave! I talked more about Intergang here and Livewire and Heatwave here and here respectively.

Later in the scene Roughhouse makes a subtle reference to Lobo, but "the Main Man" in this case is referring to General Sam Lane. But if Lobo shows up in a future season, I'll talk more about him, and god I want to see him show up so bad!

Over where Lois, Jimmy, and Steve are, the Metallos chase after them and are saved by Dr. John Henry Irons a.k.a. Steel! I talked more about him here. I'd love to see him wear the helmet like his comic counterpart and the red cape in a future episode.

Later in the episode Superman, Kara, Intergang, Livewire, Heatwave, and Steel attack Brainiac's station and were able to break though his defenses and as they enter Brainiac's chamber, Brainiac activates Kara's brainwashing saying "Eradicator Override"

If you know your Superman comics, the Eradicator was first mentioned in Action Comics Annual #2 (1989) [W: Roger Stern, Jerry Ordway, George Perez, P: Mike Mignola, I: George Perez, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: Bill Oakley] where it was a weapon that was used to kill the Cleric on Krypton who was spreading his message about peace and the unethical uses of cloning on Krypton.

The weapon would later be found by Superman and it caused more problems for him until he threw it away in Antarctica where it created the Fortress of Solitude.

Later during the death of Superman, the Eradicator would emerge as an energy being who takes on the visage of Superman, take Clark's body back to the Fortress so he can heal, and would be one of the four Supermen who took over for Superman at that time. This version of the Eradicator first appeared in Action Comics #687 (1993) [W: Roger Stern, P: Jackson Guice, I: Denis Rodier, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: Bill Oakley]

When we see Kara fight Superman under the control of Brainiac later, she has red eyes just like the Eradicator in the comics as shown here in the panel from Superman #82 (1993) [W&P: Dan Jurgens, I: Brett Breeding, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: John Costanza].

Later in the episode, Clark, Lois, and Jimmy try to calm Kara and help her fight against Brainiac's influence and they succeed (also had me tear up in that moment too) and shout out Kara's Canary Cry! Black Canary would be proud AF!

After pushing back on Brainiac's station Clark and Kara battle Brainiac in space and Brainiac monologues about Krypton's destruction and his excuse of existing. He activates the weapon that destroyed Krypton, the Black Zero Protocol.

The first and only known version of Black Zero that destroyed Krypton was in Superman #205 (1968) [W: Otto Binder, P&I: Al Plastino] where the saboteur was hired to destroy Krypton by accelerating the internal planetary stresses that caused the planet to explode. He was planning on doing the same to the Earth before Superman stopped him. Other iterations and uses of the Black Zero name include, a Kryptonian Terrorist Group that created a computer virus of the same name that infected the Fortress of Solitude, a clone of Conner Kent, and a Kryptonian military group.

After Kara took the hit and plunged into the sun, she and Clark are saved thanks to their Kryptonian physiology because they get their powers from the Sun. You notice their Kryptonite scarring/veins glow a gold color bringing to mind...

Superman Prime One Million from DC Million #4 (1998) [P: Val Semekis, I: Prentis Rollins, C: Pat Garrahy & Heroic Age] who is OG Superman after outliving all his family and friends traveled throughout the DC universe and absorbing the Sun's radiant energy for like hundreds of years where his powers are now near infinite levels giving him this gold look. This version of Superman according to Grant Morrison is the same as the one in All-Star Superman.

In a Kryptonian religious sense, you could argue that Rao, the sun god of the Kryptonians, saved his last two people from death and giving them power to fight against Brainiac.

The MAwS crew really love their DBZ cuz the sun aura Clark and Kara give off is the same vibe as what Super Saiyans have when they power up.

We then see Kara and Clark glow a red and blue aura respectively which, I might be reading into it a lot, could be symbolic of Nightwing and Flamebird, the Kryptonian gods/heroes/dragons and the identities that Clark and Kara took up at one point in the comics with Clark taking up the Nightwing name and Kara taking up the Flamebird name. Also maybe its Superman Blue and Superman Red sorta deal who knows. It was cool though.

By the end of the episode we see people tuning to the aftermath of what happened and we see Channel 52 on display. I talked more about that here.

We then see Lex and Slade looking up on the LexCorp building. I talked more about LexCorp here but its first appearance in the comics is in The Man of Steel #2 (1986) [W&P: John Byrne, I: Dick Giordano, C: Tom Zuiko, L: John Costanza] as shown below:

Shout out to Clark still wearing the Stussy S/the cool S

and finally we close out the episode with Clark and Kara going to stop the fire at Perez Plaza, named after legendary artist George Perez.

George Perez is well known for his Wonder Woman run and being the co-creator of the Teen Titans in the 80s with Marv Wolfman. He helped design Lex Luthor's iconic battle suit (I really hope to see it in MAwS someday). Perez also had a run on the Superman comics too. He worked on Action Comics for a short while as penciler and did some breakdown work on the title. He also wrote and inked on the Adventure of Superman comics. Perez wrote, did the layouts, and drew the cover art for the 2011 Superman run. If you love the Teen Titans/Titans, like me, you gotta give thanks to this man.

DC in 2022 did a really tribute to him by collaborating with other DC artists to show how much of an impact his career was on the DC universe give both images a look cuz its beautiful and you can see which artist did which character. Also check this video out and see George Perez work his art magic:

youtube

And with that our episodic look at the Easter Eggs and references come to an end, but we still have the other 4 issues of the My Adventures with Superman tie-in comic so come back here again in August for that.

In the mean time when we get a date for season 3 I highly recommend reading the My Adventures with Superman comics, read The Man of Steel (1986) limited series because a lot of pop culture's understanding of the Superman mythos and characters comes from that limited series, read the Death of Superman, A World Without Superman, and Reign of the Supermen because you will see how much of an impact Superman made defending Metropolis from Doomsday, his death affecting everyone he met, and his glorious return. Also give the DC Rebirth era of Superman comics a shot too because you get to see Lois and Clark raise a son. The DC Infinite Frontier Superman run that came after the Rebirth era is just as good that I highly recommend reading too. Out of continuity wise definitely check out Superman: Secret Identity, All-Star Superman, Kingdom Come, the current World's Finest run, and Superman vs the Amazing Spider-Man.

In terms of watching highly recommend watching Superman the Animated Series because that series is equally good to MAwS and it helped build out the DCAU which I also highly recommend everyone to dive into. Shin Ultraman (and hell basically all of the Ultraman media) because like Superman its an alien who defends the Earth, hides amongst the population and actually thinks human beings can live up to their potential. Tsuburaya's Ultraman and Superman would be damn good friends. If you need some goofy fun, the Super Friends is a fun watch if you need light hearted cartoons.