Original Air Date: July 13, 2023
Written by: Aman Adumer
Having been "scooped" by a trio of the Planet's top reporters, Lois seeks to recover by getting an exclusive interview with Superman, dragging Clark and Jimmy into an investigation of a dangerous escaped criminal to do so.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Adaptational Origin Connection:
- The members of Intergang all get their powers from the (implicitly Kryptonian) technology stolen by Livewire.
- Jimmy is the one to call Leslie Livewire instead of the woman giving herself the name.
- Adaptational Wimp: Intergang in the comics and other adaptations is a formidable and large-scale gang of high-tech criminals. Here, they are a three-person group focused on small time crimes and not very competent. In addition, Silver Banshee and Mist are both far more powerful and dangerous in the comics.
- Bad "Bad Acting": You can really tell how committed Clark is to impersonating Steve by the dull, monotone, lifeless tone of voice he uses to pretend to be someone else.Clark: Steve. (gets kicked by Lois) Sports.
- Bank Robbery: What the Intergang attempts in the episode with their newly acquired tech.
- Cassandra Truth: Superman struggles to answer Lois' questions since he doesn't know what he is, where he comes from, or how his powers work. Lois, justifiably, believes he was lying about the whole thing.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: As opposed to the professional and capable Livewire, who starts the series off stealing tech from a secret military base and only grows more dangerous as she grows more desperate, Intergang are a trio of small time hoods who are only a threat at all because of the tech Livewire gave them, with the greatest danger they pose being them losing control of the tech and causing a catastrophe.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Clark goes into a monologue about stopping the Intergang before they can cause trouble. Then he realizes he said it with Lois and Jimmy within earshot.
- Didn't Think This Through: As Lois lampshades later, trying to corner someone for an interview goes from difficult to useless when your target has Super-Speed and can fly.
- Easy Impersonation: Using the ID passes that Lois "borrowed", the Super Pal Trio pass themselves as the Daily Planet's top reporters to get easy access to Stryker's Island. However, the warden does catch on while they're investigating the cell, forcing them to flee through the hole in the wall.
- Face-Revealing Turn: After passing by a blonde paramedic and informing him of some people who got injured in the bank, Superman then exits the bank. While Clark is exiting the medic then turns to look at him leave, showing Slade's smirking face. The way he then looks at the incapacitated Silver Banshee, Rough House, and Mist suggests he and his superiors have plans for them.
- Funbag Airbag: Lois walks down the hallway while reading her notebook and ends up landing her face in the dead center of Clark's chest. They're briefly embarrassed but continue conversation.
- Harmless Freezing: The freeze ray is able to freeze anything from fish to humans, but they can all be thawed out with no apparent ill-effects.
- Hypocritical Humor: Rough House chides Mist for using his real name instead of his code name... after Mist calls out in alarm when Rough House's hasty attack on Superman nearly gets him hit by the group's Freeze Ray — and knocks Superman out of the way, wasting the entire blast.
- Lost in Character: Lois not only steals Cat Grant's badge, she impersonates Cat's voice, mannerisms, and word choices, all of which increases the warden's suspicions.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Lois gets this reaction when she realizes that her drive to getting a story on the Intergang placed Clark in danger.
- Mythology Gag: The news program announcing the prison escape is on Channel 52 - 52 being an Arc Number for the DC universe.
- New Superpower: Clark's eyes start flashing red early in the episode, which he represses. When he gets frozen, his heat vision powers awaken, and he uses them to melt the freeze ray into slag.
- No Ontological Inertia: The ice generated by the freeze ray disappears once the machine is turned off or destroyed.
- Oh, Crap!: Clark gets this in the end when Lois declares Superman to be a liar.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Clark, Lois and Jimmy are able to enter the prison the villains escaped from and get an interview with the warden using stolen press badges. Press badges which clearly have the real owners' pictures on them.
- Percussive Maintenance: Intergang are able to stop the freeze ray the first time by Rough House hitting it. It isn’t as successful the second time, largely because he's wearing his gauntlets, releasing the crystal power source from containment and causing it to go haywire.
- Related in the Adaptation: Silver Banshee, Mist and Rough House are all made members of the same gang in this story, with Mist and Silver Banshee being biological siblings.
- The Rival: The Best Friend Squad have to deal with the Scoop Troop, the Daily Planet's top reporters known for their inflated egos and for stealing their stories per order of their boss.
- Saying Too Much: Rough House has a bad habit of calling his teammates by their real names when he’s supposed to use codenames.
- Small Name, Big Ego: All the members of Intergang show signs of this, but Silver Banshee is the worst. Despite being in prison for a series of incompetently-done smash and grabs of convenience stores and the like, she has spent her time there boasting constantly of her plans for "a big score". Said plans are revealed to be a robbery of one of the largest banks in Metropolis that is only remotely achievable thanks to Intergang's new tech advantage, something she of course had no idea about at the time.
- Stupid Crooks: Intergang is comprised of three of these now armed with alien tech that they barely understand. The audience is shown footage of the trio prior to getting the tech, robbing a store and only realizing that there is a camera filming them in the middle of the act.
- Tempting Fate: Siobhan tells a concerned Kyle not to worry, as Intergang has the robbery under complete control. This is of course, followed by things immediately getting out of hand for them.
- Token Good Teammate: Unlike her coworkers Steve Lombard and Kat Grant who are condescending, arrogant and show no mercy in belittling the fresh meat, Ronnie is the only one who is against their showboating and just wants to get the job done, even offering to give Lois credit in the finished piece.
