[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bogjhnty0mwetytrkmc00ogm1lwjiytityjfiogrkymm4ytuyxkeyxkfqcgdeqxvymji4otg3mtc_v1_fmjpg_ux600.jpg]]
Released from captivity, Karkull, an ancient monster, holes up inside the ''Planet'' building and begins to transform the workers. Superman goes to retired hero Dr. Fate for help. Can the Man of Steel convince the combat-weary Fate to resume "the never ending battle"?

!! This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
* AirVentEscape: {{Defied|Trope}}; the ''Planet'' employees check the air vents along with every other possible exit during their search for an escape route, but all of them have been sealed off as well.
* BackInTheSaddle: Fate returns to hero duty at the end of the episode.
* BodyHorror: After a shoggoth attacks and invades [[Characters/SupermanJimmyOlsen Jimmy Olsen's]] body, his stomach starts to bulge and twitch as though something inside is struggling to get out.
* ChangedMyMindKid: Fate decides to help Superman after all.
* CurbStompCushion: Karkull is unimpressed by Superman and dismisses him as a nobody since he doesn't have magic. While he does kick Superman's ass, Superman lands a bunch of hits on him.
* DefiantStoneThrow: Jimmy grabs a canister and throws it at a shoggoth trying to attack him. It passes right through it without injury.
* {{Determinator}}: Superman himself. Becomes a plot point when this is what convinces Fate to return and help him.
-->'''Dr. Fate''': Till then I thought it was only the forces of evil that wouldn't give up. I was wrong.
* DwindlingParty: Played pretty quickly with the ''Planet'' staff trapped in the building. Once Karull decides to unleash his power and opens the gate to the dark dimension, he sends his spirits after them. One by one they end up possessed till only Jimmy and Lois are left. Jimmy tries to fend them off but it's useless and he likewise ends up possessed. Lois gets distracted watching this, allowing one of the creatures to catch and possess her as well.
* DoomedMoralVictor: Superman looks like he'll die doing the right thing, but Fate turns the tables.
* EldritchAbomination: Karkull, or so it's hinted.
* HonorBeforeReason: When Fate refuses to help him, Superman goes back to fight Karkull and to try to save the ''Planet's'' employees, in spite of not having a snowball's chance in a blast furnace. Played with when this very attitude is what causes Fate to come after him.
* InvincibleHero: Averted. Karkull could actually kill Superman, and both of them know it.
* LovecraftLite: You didn't think that it would be full-on Lovecraft in a ''Superman'' episode, did you? Karkull is eventually stuffed back into his can and everything returns to normal.
* MorphicResonance: The demon that turns Lois into its body decides to keep her hair.
* NewAgeRetroHippie: Rainsong whom Superman and Turpin encounter while outside the Daily Planet. She doesn't really play much of a role other then tell Supes what they're dealing with is magical in nature, which prompts him to go seek out Dr. Fate. Though humorously she and some of her wiccan friends show up to try and break the barrier to Turpin's annoyance.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Unusually, Superman gets this from an ally. When he goes to Doctor Fate for help, Fate explains that he has retired from superheroics, weary from the endless battle. He tells Superman that the two of them are similar, both masters of their own fate, and Superman should join him and likewise leave behind the petty conflicts of humanity. Superman, of course, explains that they are nothing alike.
* RecycledAnimation: When Karkull blows up a police car, the ensuing explosion is reused footage from a scene of "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS1E11MyGirl My Girl]]", in which Mr. Eelan blows a vat of hot lead off its support.
* RememberTheNewGuy: While this is Dr. Fate's debut, Superman does have a history that we don't know about prior to the episode.
* RestoredMyFaithInHumanity: Doctor Fate has his faith in humanity restored when Superman refuses to give up in a fight against an EldritchAbomination.
* RetiredBadass: Dr. Fate until the end of the episode.
* SealedEvilInACan: Karkull, at the beginning of the episode.
* ShoutOut:
** A shop called "[[Literature/TolkiensLegendarium The Dancing Hobbit]]" appears.
** One of the artifacts stored in the warehouse in the opening scene looks a lot like [[Film/TheExorcist the Pazuzu statue.]]
* StoppedCaring: Dr. Fate, due to the unending nature of the battle against evil.
* TransformationHorror: The shoggoths have some pretty nasty effects on the ''Planet'' staff. The first human to be possessed, Ron Troupe, drops to the floor, crouching and clutching his head as his eyes begin to glow. Later, it looks almost as though the shoggoth shreds the skin of its human host as the transformation completes itself.
* TransformationOfThePossessed: Demonstrated on the ''Planet'' employees.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The episode starts with a burglar stealing a tablet from an antiques store and reading its inscription out of curiosity, unwittingly letting Karkull possess him and causing everything that follows.
* WhatTheHellHero: Fate gives one of these to his wife when she gives Superman something that will allow him to go back into the fight. She fires back one of her own at her husband for letting him go back alone.
-->'''Dr. Fate''': You've just sent him to his grave.
-->'''Inza''': What do you care?
* TheWorfEffect: The VillainOfTheWeek actually manages to make [[NighInvulnerable Superman]] bleed.