YMMV / My Adventures with Superman

• Adorkable: The show's version of Clark Kent quickly endeared himself to audiences with his goofy, klutzy demeanor as a Dork Knight and Socially Awkward Hero.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • A pretty drastic example in episode 5, where Slade slices through a highway support pillar during a battle with Superman, then takes advantage of Superman's attempts to save the motorists above them to line up a shot with a ranged weapon before being called off. Does this demonstrate "just" willingness to capitalize on an accident and complete the mission, regardless of the cost, or a deliberate ploy to distract an opponent who would prioritize protecting innocent lives? The former is amoral and cold, the latter ruthless and evil, and both are legitimate interpretations of Deathstroke the Terminator, who has been both over the course of his time in various DC media.
  • With the reveal that Jimmy knew Clark had superpowers since their first meeting, it begs the question as to whether this fed Jimmy's belief in conspiracy theories or perhaps even started it—after all, if one alien existed then, from Jimmy's point of view, there are surely more out there. In a bit of Fridge Brilliance, the reveal also brings into question the first blurry photo that Jimmy took of Superman in episode 1, that being if it really was amateur photography skills or Jimmy purposely messed it up so he won't expose his best friend.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • Following the premiere of "Let's Go To Ivo Tower, You Say", the potential identity of Ivo's Beleaguered Assistant Alex was immediately subject to speculation, with just about the one consistency being that everyone agrees he's going to be revealed as a Canon Character All Along:
    • The most popular theory is that Alex is the show's version of Lex Luthor (whose full name is Alexander Joseph Luthor). His outfit's purple color scheme (which granted, he shares with his boss), his reddish-brown hair ^note Yes, Lex has/had red hair. This was most apparent in the '90s, where he was posing as his own son in a younger body, his knowledge of alien tech, and the fact the show wasn't afraid to give a Younger and Hipper treatment to Deathstroke are all cited as support for this theory. While the show's creators have stated in the past that they were told to stay away from using Luthor for the first season, their remarks were firmly about him as the Big Bad or a major villain in general, which would still hold true if he was Alex given that he's merely a henchman. "Zero Day, Part 1" provided even more fuel to the "Alex is Lex Luthor" fire, where Alex returns and rants about Superman being a potential danger to Metropolis in a manner eerily reminiscent of Luthor. As revealed in the Season 2 trailer, this would be proven true as Alex would have himself be referred to as Lex Luthor in his actions against Superman.
    • Another prominent theory is that Alex is Alexander Allston, one of the many incarnations of Parasite (who is a Legacy Character in the comics), as he has connections to Ivo (the show's incarnation of Parasite) and helped design the Parasite 1.0. With Ivo seemingly arrested for good by the end of the "Zero Day" two-parter, there is room for Alex to take over as the second Parasite.
    • Some instead think he might be Winslow Schott/Toyman with "Alex(ander)" appended to his name for misdirection purposes, since all of the signs that may point to him being Lex could also point towards him being Schott, and also he wears glasses unlike Lex and like Schott. But then Luthor is a much more key figure than Toyman and thus more likely to be built up, but then conversely the show is still making its way through lower-tier DC villains.
  • After "Zero Day: Part 2" aired, fans immediately began speculating over who Nemesis Omega, the masked individual leading the Kryptonian invasion in the flashback, is. The top contenders so far are Brainiac, Eradicator and Zod.
    • Then "Hearts of the Fathers" aired, and Brainiac himself appears alongside the "Kryptonian Warrior," who says "Let them rebel. It does not matter. In the end, they will kneel." Assuming the Kryptonian Warrior really is General Zod, this begs the question as to whether either of them was Nemesis Omega or what their connection to him ultimately is.
  • "Hearts of the Fathers" shows a picture of a younger Clark with a girl around his age that everyone immediately deduced to possibly be Lana Lang. The fact that she was initially listed in leaked cast lists certainly helped.
• Fandom Rivalry: Fans of the 2010s Superman films, already unhappy that an iteration of the character they enjoyed has been discontinued after years of being in limbo on top of the intense negativity in general, often attack the show for its Lighter and Softer atmosphere and feel that it regresses the character rather than moving him forward as said films attempted, while critics of the same frequently hold it up as "Superman done right." Even fans who like both are sometimes frustrated by how much of the positive buzz around the series seems to inevitably involve throwing shade at the original DCEU's incarnation of the character as much as actually praising what My Adventures With Superman has to offer.
• Fan Nickname:
  • "Luz Lane" or "Lois Noceda", due to this version of Lois strongly resembling Luz from The Owl House.
  • "Pretty Guardian Superman" or "Sailor Krypton", due to how his personality can remind people of Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon and the magical-girl-like Transformation Sequence in the first episode many have taken this nickname to Clark. When production notes revealed that his Transformation Sequence was inspired by Cure Mermaid's from Pretty Cure, Clark also received the nickname "Cure Krypton". "Magical Girl Superman" is another alternative nickname for the show.
  • "Shonenman" has also started gaining traction due to the way the show is set up along with the more anime-esque art style, along with the fact that it airs on Toonami, which has been seen for years as the primary home for many shonen series in the West.
  • "Dantestroke" for Deathstroke's younger redesign, particularly since he's introduced before getting his signature eyepatched and masked look.
  • "Guts" and "Casca" for Superman and Lois, due to their similar designs. Jokes have even been made about how "someone wanted them to give them a better timeline".
  • Mr. Mxyzptlk has been nicknamed "Supreme Kai" due to him looking similar to a Dragon Ball character.
• Fanon:
  • Due to a few hints throughout his introductory episode, many fans have stuck with the DC Rebirth explanation that all Mxyzptlks are the same one across all media and thus this show's Mxy is just the original gauging the new Supes. This also implies his radical redesign is just him changing his form at will to fit in with this animesque universe.
  • In the lead-up to the show up to the first few episodes, Lois's Ambiguously Brown redesign made fans assume she was Latina, thus the comparisons to Luz Noceda. This was until she showed up in a episode wearing Korean clothes and Word of God clarified that she was supposed to be Asian-American.
    • It got to the point that some fans used to Korean pop culture assumed she didn't look Korean or East Asian "enough" i.e. with lighter skin if that was the intent, on top of the show being animesque to begin with. But then Reality Is Unrealistic, and plenty of Koreans look browner than their media would indicate, plus Lois is Korean-American not Korean, so her culture, environment etc. would most likely be different.
    • Another shade to this is that the assumption that Lois was Latina helped add to the buzz about her and the show early on due to the Ms. Fanservice stuff Latinas are associated with in pop culture (Spicy Latina etc.) and projecting that on her in fan art, discussion etc. This kind of dropped off later once it was clarified she was instead Asian, to the point that it's a Fan-Disliked Explanation for some.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • The show quickly developed one with The Owl House, despite having only a teaser and a few stills at the time, with many people noting how similar Lois looks to Luz. Some even joke that they're related or the same person. Similarly, Jimmy has been compared visually to Gus and Mr. Mxyzptlk bears a resemblance to both the Collector and Amity. The show's lead art director Jane Bak formerly working on The Owl House certainly helps.
  • Also one with Voltron: Legendary Defender, due to several Voltron staffers working on the show, including one of the lead character designers. Lois' green jacket, hairstyle, and skin color draw comparisons with Lance, while Clark/Superman's design looks similar to that of Shiro, primarily due to the Heroic Build, square jaw, and a few shots appearing to show Clark with a prominent tuft of hair in the middle of his head, similar to Shiro's. In addition, Deathstroke's younger Pretty Boy design has drawn comparisons to Lotor.
  • Another one is with Star Trek: Lower Decks, given Jack Quaid's lead role as Boimler in LD and bringing the same geeky charm to his role as Clark/Superman as he does for Boimler.
  • Superman's Transformation Sequence won over fans of Pretty Cure due to the more Shōjo Demographic approach as well as storyboard notes referencing that they borrowed elements from Cure Mermaid's transformation, specifically for Superman's cape.
  • Due to sharing some staff and Zehra Fazal as a voice actor, there's crossover with She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Bonus points for Clark and Adora both being super-powered beings from different planets with transformation sequences. And Brainiac referring to Earth as a "planet in rebellion" at the end of "Heart of the Fathers" has some reminiscences of Horde Prime.
  • On a minor note, fans of the show and Swifties get along to an extent; mostly because Speak Now (Taylor's Version)^note The re-recorded version of her third studio album had been released on the same day as the premiere episode. Consequently, many fans uploaded social media edits of the show set to the album's 16th track, aka Superman.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The first episode has Jimmy ask Clark why their alarm clocks keep "exploding". In "My Adventures with Mad Science", we find out that Jimmy already knew exactly why.
• I Knew It!:
  • Ever since his debut in "Adventures of a Normal Man, Part 2", the General was speculated to be Lois's father Sam Lane, primarily due to both characters being Ambiguously Brown (Word of God saying Lois is Korean, and both characters having Asian voice actors). This was only exacerbated by the show's frequent mentions of Lois's father, both the General and Sam Lane having the same military rank, and the show going out of its way to avoid revealing the General's name (only going by his rank in both dialogue and the end credits); while his moniker "The General" came from an entirely different character (Wade Eiling), many speculated that this was a Red Herring or at least a case of Composite Character like how Ivo is the show's incarnation of Parasite. "Zero Day, Part 2" confirms that he is in fact Sam Lane.
  • At the end of "You Will Believe a Man Can Lie", Jimmy Olsen is seen being dragged away by a shadowy figure that looks like a gorilla. Speculation immediately poured in as to who the gorilla is, due to DC having several gorilla characters, funnily enough, with the most prominent theory being that it's Monsieur Mallah in light of the fact that he already appeared as part of the voice cast. The next episode would confirm that it was indeed Mallah.
  • The Season 2 trailer would confirm that Dr. Ivo's assistant, Alex, was indeed the show's incarnation of Lex Luthor, Superman's preeminent archnemesis, something fans have speculated about since his first appearance in Let's Go to Ivo Tower You Say.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many viewers have given the show a watch just to see a tomboy Lois Lane. Additionally based on clips circulating the internet, many also see the show just to see her and Clark's Ship Tease moments.
• Les Yay: Lois' idolization of Vicki Vale often seems a bit more than professional.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Lois Lane's new design, with short hair and a more tan complexion, looks superficially similar to that of Luz from The Owl House, thus leading to the obvious fan nicknames like "Luz Lane" or "Lois Noceda", and causing fans to joke that she moved to this series after her old one got cancelled. Her large jacket has also made viewers compare her to Lance McClain. Fans of anime also compare her appearance to Casca from Berserk due to fitting this description too, leading many to joke that Clark is going to become just like Guts... for better or for worse.
    • Comparisons between Lois and Videl have also been gaining traction. Videos and several online forum discussion threads have noted the similarities in their character designs, their personalities, and their outfits. Likewise, Clark has been compared to Videl's boyfriend Gohan for the same reasons.
  • Due to the fact that Chris Parnell voices Slade in this show, jokes are circulating about how either Cyril Figgis or Jerry Smith have finally gone off the deep end and will be pushed around no more.
  • Slade's younger redesign into more of a pretty boy is darkly joked as fitting with his taste for grooming jailbait.
  • Clark's Transformation Sequence in the second part of the first episode had been compared to shows such as Sailor Moon and Miraculous Ladybug, making people joke that Clark now is a Magical Girl. Production notes for the transformation sequence even explicitly refer to the part where his cape forms as "Pretty Cure style".
  • Alex's hair and glasses have led to people comparing him to Pidge and Matt from Voltron: Legendary Defender, and Hachioji from Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro. The latter leads to people joking that if he's indeed Lex Luthor, then Miss Teschmacher or Mercy Graves should look like Nagatoro. And when a trailer for Season 2 revealed him as Lex Luthor in Season 2, people jokingly compared him to Lythero's streamer appearance, joking that the Youtuber had hard fallen off for trying to start beef with Superman, something Lythero himself would joke about.
• Moe:
  • This show might be giving us the most adorable Clark Kent ever put to animation, especially when it comes to his flustered interactions with Lois that seem to be straight out of a Shōjo manga or anime. The contrast between his meek, nervous behavior as a civilian and the more confident image he projects as Superman drives it home even further, and unlike earlier incarnations of the character, his personality as Clark isn't just an act he puts on to hide his identity.
  • It's also definitely giving us THE most adorable Lois Lane, ever. While she's much more confident and outgoing than Clark, she still has a shyer side when it comes to dealing with her growing feelings for Clark and she can get easily flustered around him.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Livewire takes a screaming swan dive across the line in the second part of the premiere when she threatens to level Metropolis just to get Slade off her back.
  • Ivo takes his own leap over the line when he throws a board member out the window to attract Superman and then deliberately endangers party-goers during their battle.
  • Deathstroke and Amanda Waller cross it when they advocate taking Superman out when he's in the middle of saving hundreds of people on a collapsing highway, only backing down under orders from the General.
    • Waller crosses it even further in "Zero Day: Part 2" when she not only proves apathetic to Superman's genuine confusion and innocence and wanting him dead simply because he is an alien, but as a response to the General's sudden reluctance to persecute a captive Superman, enacts a brutal Xanatos Gambit to undermine the General by releasing all of the captive members of Superman's Rogues Gallery (where either Ivo/Parasite killed Superman for her or the chaos caused by the mass escape under the General's watch has the US military demote the General and replace him with Waller as the leader of Task Force X), showing she's not above stabbing her oldest friend in the back to get rid of Superman for war crimes he was far too young to commit.
• Older Than They Think:
  • This is not the first work in which Jimmy Olsen has been Race Lifted to be African American. Supergirl (2015) did so beforehand, and also changed Jimmy's overall appearance and personality much more drastically, that he was practically the character In Name Only, being a tall Mr. Fanservice man even bigger than Clark (Mehcad Brooks, who plays James on that show, is 6'4" and 200lbs; Tyler Hoechlin, who plays Clark/Superman, 6'0" and 180lbs). Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons also had an African-American Jimmy, but he was closer to the classic build and personality, like this series' version seems to be.
  • Some design choices for Superman's suit have precedents in earlier versions, like having a red belt instead of yellow with red trunks (done in the Superman Theatrical Cartoons by Fleischer Studios, granted due to Early-Installment Weirdness) and having a more angular symbol which may look less obviously like an S (various comics have tweaked the S logo for reasons like making it look more alien, like New 52 Supergirl's logo and the alternate future story Kingdom Come where Superman's since switched to a more abstract S-symbol after being disillusioned, though the show's logo is much more blocky and chunky than these).
  • Clark is not the first DC hero to get an anime-inspired Transformation Sequence in animation. DC Super Hero Girls (2019), Green Lantern: First Flight and Justice League vs. Teen Titans also featured classic DC heroes getting the Magical Girl treatment. Green Lantern: First Flight in particular gave one to Hal Jordan the first time he put on the Green Lantern ring, but it was a one-and-done deal, making it the closest parallel to Superman getting his suit here.
  • Having Lois as an ambitious young reporter just starting out was also touched on in Superman: Man of Tomorrow, where she starts the film as a recipient of the Luthor Journalism Scholarship before busting him in front of the world press for fraud and gross negligence. She tries to co-opt Clark's story and get him to tell her his source, so she is not above getting a story by any means.
  • Livewire having a different origin story from her original introduction as an obnoxious radio DJ is nothing new. DC Super Hero Girls (2019) turned her into an internet troll, while Smallville had her as a smalltime criminal, and Young Justice depicted her as a teenage delinquent turned superhero.
  • The concept of a tomboy Lois isn't new and in fact was there since the Golden Age. It's just that the meaning of what a tomboy is has changed over the decades.
  • Lois putting her life on the line to prove that Clark Kent is Superman is nothing new, and her jumping from heights expecting to be caught was a Running Gag for much of comic book history (ending when the comics married them off in the 1990s, as Clark revealed his secret to her after they got engaged). Her most famous prior example is when she threw herself into Niagara Falls in Superman II.
  • The Brain and Mallah being a couple isn't new, as they've been one in the comics for decades. This show is just the first adaptation to explicitly state they are a couple.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Jimmy Olsen has been increasingly ignored and disliked by fans in the comics starting in the 2010s, with his role increasingly being diminished or taken over by Lois or Clark's son Jon. This version of Jimmy makes him an equal to Lois and Clark as well as making him a Properly Paranoid conspiracy theorist to help distinguish him from Lois, all of which has brought more positive fan responses to the character. Additionally, while some fans had been a bit annoyed at his habit of cluelessly playing Moment Killer between Clark and Lois, a lot were won back by the reveal at the end of "My Adventures With Mad Science" that he knew all along that Clark was a superhuman but kept quiet about it because Clark was his friend.
• Spiritual Adaptation: Due to its heavy influence from classic anime, especially Dragon Ball, many fans have happily declared it the closest we'll get to a "Great Saiyaman" show. It helps that Mr. Mxyzptlk looks like one of the Supreme Kais.
• Sweet Dreams Fuel: Some of the most significant praises given to the show concern how it unapologetically embraces portraying Clark and his relationship with Lois as nothing but adorable and wholesome. Combined with a bright and vibrant color palette and an undeniably cute Animesque art style, watching this Superman be a awkward, sweet-natured Gentle Giant while falling in love with a Genki Girl like Lois is nothing short of a cozy experience, especially after some dark and angst-driven portrayals of the title character in recent years.
• Tainted by the Preview:
  • A few fans aren't big fans of Superman's suit, whether it be bringing back the red trunks, having his belt be red instead of yellow or gold so that it blends in with the red trunks, or the angularity of the sigil on his chest.
  • A number of people have expressed worry that moving the series to [adult swim] will result in the show being filled with crude or gross-out humor similar to the block's other programs or be forced to add pointless violence and gore.^note Never mind that this isn't how Channel Hops work. The show wasn't originally made with those things in mind.
  • The reveal image for Jimmy Olsen was severely criticized for Race Lift him without giving him any notable black features due to the art style. In the series, he has a very prominent Afro with undercuts. The teaser image was just at a very bad angle to not show off his hairstyle.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Superman being relatively less powerful than most depictions, akin to the DCAU version particularly in his own show, is a bit divisive with fans disagreeing on whether his depiction as a rookie justifies this. On the flip side, the way he "levels up" anime-style with energy auras and all is seen by some as an interesting new spin, if they don't think it's too off base for Superman.
  • As a bit of a rule of thumb, the reimagined Rogues Gallery are generally a lot less popular than the reimagined leads and supporting cast, with the story generally falling back on making them criminals, mercenaries, and criminal mercenaries misusing stolen alien technology rather than their broader range of motifs, backgrounds, etc. from the source material.
  • This show's depiction of Deathstroke has proven to be slightly controversial. Many people complain that the Pretty Boy look and role as the main field guy for Task Force X just isn't as memorable as the grizzled, eyepatched veteran who was a legendary immoral, homicidal, and remorseless Super-Soldier at all. His later Powered Armor design was slightly better received, although some critics still found it a bit too "movie supervillain" for the character.
  • To a lesser extent, Leslie Willis has also been criticized for being an In Name Only adaptation, lacking the source character's metahumanity, motivation, career background, etc., whose new design, personality, and backstory are much less interesting than her original incarnation's, even after her Superpower Meltdown.
  • This is some people's reaction to the Intergang in this continuity not having any ties to Apokolips; usually being Superman's introduction to Darkseid. Instead of a vast criminal conspiracy, they're a small team of petty, incompetent, Affably Evil criminals who can barely work their own stolen tech.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: People were quick to negatively compare Lois' anger at Clark for keeping his identity as Superman a secret from her to similar plot points in Masters of the Universe: Revelation and Invincible. Considering it wasn't received very well in either of the latter to begin with, this series only served to make people even more tired of the trend.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Nobody expected a version of the Newsboy Legion - or rather, the Newskids Legion - to appear in the first episode as newspaper delivery kids, since they're quite obscure and haven't been in the Superman franchise since the end of Dan Jurgens' iconic run. The (appropriately) Gender Flipped Flip Johnson being the most prominent of them was additionally an unexpected move.
  • Deathstroke's appearance was also unexpected, as he's usually enemies with Nightwing, Teen Titans, or Batman, not the Man of Steel.
  • The Brain and Monsieur Mallah, who are normally villains of the Doom Patrol (and shown in animation as antagonists in Teen Titans (2003) and Young Justice (2010)), also surprised viewers with their appearance. Their Adaptational Heroism also came as a surprise even to people who expected the characters due to having seen the confirmed voice cast.
  • Nobody expected the show to use Heat Wave, who is one of the Flash's Rogues, much less do a Gender Flip so that she is now a loose stand-in for Volcana (created to be a DCAU Superman foe just like Livewire, who does appear) instead of just using Volcana.
  • Not a lot of people expected Vicki Vale to appear, who's known as a supporting character in Batman, and her appearances in adaptations tend to be infrequent.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Lois comes off as this to some fans. While Lois hates it when people lie to her and has a good justification through her father lying about how sick her mother was before she died, at the same time, she doesn't have a problem with lying to get what she wants, like how she lied to Clark and Jimmy on their first day and almost got them fired or when she made them impersonate the Scoop Troop for a story. Lois' What the Hell, Hero? treatment of Clark after confirming that he lied about being Superman takes this even further as while it makes sense for Lois to be mad, Clark had reasons for not wanting to tell her that she simply ignores, and by the time the conflict is resolved, she never apologizes for giving him a hard time. The pacing of the series is largely at fault for this, as Lois' anger is meant to be more understandable because she has romantic feelings for Clark, but as this is only the fifth episode it doesn't feel like Clark and Lois have had enough time to develop deeper feelings for one another beyond friendship, and the show expects the audience to just accept it as a given simply because they're Clark Kent and Lois Lane, a famous romantic pairing across all sorts of other media.
  • Episode 6 does try to add more nuance to Lois' perspective, but the results are mixed. On the one hand, Lois clarifies that part of the reason she's so pissed at Clark for lying about being Superman is because it throws everything else he's said into doubt, including whether his feelings for her are genuine. On the other hand, when Jimmy reveals that he'd known about Clark's secret identity for a long time and reasonably says that he never brought it up because it was Clark's business if he ever wanted to tell him, Lois's immediate reaction is to ask why Jimmy never told her.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Patti of the Newskid Legion is a girl, but despite her feminine name, her appearance and her, along with the rest of the Newskid Legion sans Flip, being The Voiceless makes it easy to mistake her for a boy. She's confirmed to be a girl when Flip states her mom wants the rest of the Newskid Legion to be nice to her.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Inverted. Aside from some PG violence, there's not really anything that would make the show inappropriate for being shown on Cartoon Network proper rather than [adult swim].
• The Woobie: Clark himself definitely counts, being a timid and awkward but well-meaning Nice Guy who still gets put through the emotional wringer as the show goes on. As a child, he's initially excited when he discovers he has superpowers, only to learn that he's an alien and he's not actually related to his Muggle Foster Parents; this gives him major identity issues and leads him to distance himself from others out of fear of hurting someone with his powers and for being ostracized for his alien nature, and it's implied he didn't have any friends for a while until he met Jimmy in college. Things start looking up for Clark when he decides to use his powers for good as Superman, but it's soon revealed that some people are too cynical to accept that someone with his abilities would just want to help people and believe he must have an ulterior motive behind his heroics. Task Force X are especially suspicious of him even though he has no idea why at first, which culminates in the General kidnapping, torturing and interrogating Clark due to believing he's a weapon sent by alien invaders to cause destruction on Earth, which causes Clark to fall into despair and seriously question his own nature.

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