Characters / My Adventures With Superman - Superman

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Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman

"I'm still piecing together who I am and what I can do. But at the end of the day, I'm here to help the people of Metropolis. That's what matters."

^{Click here for his civilian identity}

Voiced by: Jack Quaid, Kari Wahlgren (child)

An intern for the Daily Planet newspaper and the biological son of Jor-El. Honest, kind, and altruistic, Clark Kent uses his powers to fight crime as Superman while finding answers to his mysterious past.

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A-L

• Adaptational Dumbass: Downplayed; while far from being a brainless buffoon, this version of Clark is really bad at keeping his secret identity under wraps, often displaying his powers in the most obvious ways and making up very unconvincing lies when he needs to leave and put on his Superman costume. Lois very quickly deduces that Clark and Superman are the same person once she knows what to look for, and Jimmy reveals that he figured it out a while ago thanks to Clark breaking things and coming up with very unbelievable excuses.
• Adaptational Job Change: In the comics and most other adaptations, Clark works at the Daily Planet as a reporter. This show depicts Clark as a new intern along with Jimmy and is just expected to perform duties like scanning papers and getting coffee.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • This Clark starts off as significantly less powerful than prior incarnations of the character, being nearly overwhelmed and even bruised by a single Humongous Mecha that other versions of him would easily handle. Along with being younger and less experienced than most incarnations, it's implied that he's subconsciously reining in his power because of his uncertainty about his origins and his place in the world, since in his desperation to save Lois, he "unlocks a power-up" with an energy field manifesting around him, his injuries heal instantly and he totals another one of the robots with a single Megaton Punch. He has a better showing against the robots in Episode 5, helped by the fact that his heat vision is capable of one-shotting them, though having to deal with them alongside Heat Wave and Deathstroke quickly wears him out to the point that Slade only doesn't kill him because he's ordered to back off so Superman can save civilians endangered by their fight.
  • Episode 7 also reveals he's not The Needless or immune to the effects of caffeine, as his newly developed super hearing combined with an unhealthy amount of coffee and energy drinks keeps him awake for several days and leaves him both physically and mentally exhausted.
• Adoption Angst: He's brought to tears after finding out that he's an alien and wondering if he's really Jonathan's and Martha's son. His parents assure him that he is their son, but they don't know what to say when he asks them if he isn't human. He seems to have gotten over this by the present day, as he clearly loves Jon and Martha and still considers them his parents even after learning they adopted him.
• Affectionate Nickname: Lois continues to refer to Clark as "Smallville" as her prior comic book and television series incarnations have done. Except this time, she reserves it strictly for moments of intimacy.
  Lois: You know, when I was getting ready, I kept wondering if this counted as a date.
  Clark: [drapes his jacket over Lois' shoulders] Aand... what did you decide?
  Lois: [pecks Clark's cheek] Walk me back, Smallville.
• Afraid of Their Own Strength: Clark has moments of this, particularly when he wonders where his powers came from and doesn't want to crush someone's hand the way he can crush a sink faucet. When Lois asks him to pick her up so she can look through a window, he very gingerly lifts her in the air while looking away because of how nervous he is. In "Hearts of Our Fathers", it's revealed that Clark started drifting away from other people after discovering his powers because of how afraid he is of hurting them.
• Age Lift: Clark is normally portrayed in his late 20's/early 30's, whereas here he's about 22-23 years old (based on information given in Episode 6 about when the alien tech fell to Earth).
• All-Loving Hero: Naturally. From saving cats to saving Livewire as her powersuit overloads, Clark's first inclination is always to help others. He even does this despite trying to hide his powers, as shown when he saves a cat from a tree on his first day to work in spite of insisting he was trying to be as normal as possible.
• Badass Adorable: He's the mighty Superman, and is cute as a button and quite the awkward dork.
• Bad Liar: Clark continually makes bad excuses to leave and change into his Superman uniform. He fakes illness or claims that he needs to go get a bagel or that he forgot the cream cheese. While his friends take him at his word at first, it becomes increasingly obvious that he's hiding something and won't tell them. In fact, Jimmy has been well-aware of Clark's superhuman abilities ever since Clark destroyed the door handle to their room in college while trying to pass it off as faulty screws. He just kept quiet for Clark's sake.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: In Episode 6, all of the clothes on his upper body are burned off by laser fire, leaving him shirtless, he has no visible nipples.
• Beta Outfit:
  • The first episode has Clark grab an emergency disguise in the form of a hoodie to hide his face and wearing no glasses in order to save Lois and Jimmy, and he leaves it behind but Lois recovers it, hoping to meet this "superman" again.
  • Jor-El's hologram gives Clark a Kryptonian suit that will become the Superman costume, but Martha feels there's something missing and adds trunks and a belt.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Clark is a kind, gentle man who wouldn't hurt a fly, but people — particularly Task Force X — are terrified of him because of the sheer amount of power he has. It's also heavily implied that Clark is constantly restraining himself so he won't seriously hurt his opponents; each member of the Suicide Squad caused him serious trouble in their debut appearances, but when they push him far enough he's able to knock them all out with ease.
• Big Eater: Implied; while he has yet to be seen eating onscreen, his mom mentions that with him around leftovers won't be a problem, and a bakery owner believes he wanted to eat three dozen doughnuts himself (he actually ordered them for the Daily Planet staff). In an interview from some promotional material before the show aired, he admits he likes to eat but tries to downplay how big his appetite is and claims he's "a normal man" who eats "the normal amount".
• …But He Sounds Handsome: With both of his identities.
  • After Superman has a short interview with Lois, he comes back as Clark and asks Lois what she thought of the superhero. He calls Superman a "pretty awesome guy" and is taken aback when Lois calls Superman a liar.
  • In Episode 5, after Lois asks Superman if he knows Clark Kent, he describes him as "quiet, but thoughtful, upstanding" and that he likes him.
• Blessed with Suck: In the eighth episode, Clark develops his Super-Hearing. Great for figuring when people are in trouble, awful when it turns out that so many people are in trouble. Clark quickly runs himself ragged responding to every single call for help due to his own Chronic Hero Syndrome, not sleeping for days and staying awake solely because of an unhealthy amount of caffeine.
• Cannot Spit It Out: In the fifth episode, he declares that he likes Lois and wants to tell it to her face. But when they're alone together, he can't bring himself to say more than he "cares" about her. And his confession comes too late, as the reveal that he's been hiding that he's Superman destroys Lois' trust in him. Finally subverted in episode 7.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome:
  • Despite his desire to live a "normal life", Clark instantly jumps into action when others are in trouble, despite the risk of other people seeing him. The first scene of the show has a young Clark discovering his powers when he races after a car spinning out of control to try to stop it from crashing. Even while trying to be a "normal guy", he gets a cat out of a tree on his way to buy donuts, while the store owner thanks him for repairing her back door the other day. The compulsion to save others really becomes an issue when his super-hearing starts to develop in "Zero Day, Part 1"; constantly hearing people in distress leads Clark to become a nervous, exhausted wreck as he tries to respond to everyone that he can.
    Clark: I can do this... I'm gonna hide my powers and be a normal man having a normal day, starting... now. [sees a cat stuck in tree and rushes it to its owner] Okay, I had to save the cat. I had to save the cat. I'm a normal man, having a normal day, starting... now.
  • There's also the implication that Clark has been helping people for years even before he arrived in Metropolis. Tabloids in the Daily Planet's newspaper morgue mention the intervention of an "angel" saving a professor four years prior to the story (when Clark would have been in college).
• Clark Kenting:
  • As is typical for Superman, nobody seems to recognize that Clark is the mysterious hero who's going around saving the city, even when the only major differences aside from his outfit are that he loses his glasses and sweeps his hair back. The trope is discussed after he gets his Kryptonian outfit from Jor-El's hologram (along with shorts and a belt from Martha), and he wonders if people really won't be able to recognize him with this outfit on; Martha tells him that she hardly recognizes him because of how audacious the outfit is compared to his normal wear. The hair in particular is more than just a stylistic choice; Clark takes a moment to manually mess up his hair when meeting with Lois after defeating Intergang. The end credits of "Let's Go to Ivo Tower, You Say" have Lois use a red marker to draw glasses over a picture of Superman and drawing similarities to Clark, having begun to realize Superman's true identity at the end of the episode proper.
  • Clark makes a point of not using his normal voice when acting as Superman, dropping it lower and taking care not to refer to the people he knows with familiar terms, such as addressing Lois as "Ms. Lane". His posture is also significantly different — he tends to scrunch up or slump his shoulders meekly as Clark, but stands upright while trying to project confidence as Superman. Just like with Christopher Reeve's portrayal, "Superman" is more than a change of clothes for Clark, and requires him to act in an entirely different manner than his actual self whilst in costume.
  • The entire concept is lampooned thoroughly in "My Adventures with Mad Science", when it's revealed that Jimmy figured out years ago that there was something going on with Clark thanks to his freakish bursts of strength and realized quicker than Lois that he was Superman. Those who interact with both Clark Kent and Superman can swiftly see through his subterfuge, and the primary reason nobody else has figured it out yet is that Clark is currently Beneath Notice to Metropolis, being a newcomer to the city. Even The General, having only interacted with Superman before, finds something suspiciously familiar about Clark Kent within minutes of meeting him at the Kent farm, questioning him if he's always worn his glasses before getting interrupted.
• Clark Kent Outfit: Clark's typical clothes include baggy sweaters and hoodies that hide his chiseled physique. While dressing himself in the bathroom, the viewer gets a brief glimpse of his six-pack abs. When Clark's blazer is torn, he takes it and his dress shirt off so Lois can sew them up. She's immediately stunned by how buff Clark is when she sees him in a t-shirt.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Clark is skittish, prone to anxiety, and struggles with his insecurities about his alien origins, but he's still Superman. Absolutely nothing will stop him from saving people, and he'll always do what's right.
• Cover-Blowing Superpower: Clark's first flight was spotted by photographers in Smallville, with the story reaching tabloids as the "Flying Boy of Kansas". Finding this article and tying it to other instances of miraculous rescues in the Kansas area lets Lois deduce that Clark is Superman. She then proves her theory by stepping off the roof of the Daily Planet, forcing Clark to fly after her to save her.
• Cowardly Lion: Due to being inexperienced and unsure of himself, Clark remains skittish in both his superhero and personal lives. He's initially terrified of having an interview with Lois and typically tries to "be normal" and toe the line. But when the chips are down, Clark will risk life and limb for others without a second thought.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Gender-inverted. Due to his inexperience-based Power Incontinence, Clark is prone to breaking things by accident. Just by getting up in the morning, he accidentally crushes his alarm clock, breaks the faucet in his bathroom sink, and tears his sneakers while trying to put them on. He's also so stuck in his head in Episode 3 that he bumps into Lois in the hallway and nearly spills coffee in the process. This clumsiness contributes to Clark's Dork Knight personality.
• Detrimental Determination: In "Zero Day, Part One", Clark runs himself into the ground (literally) trying to respond to every call for help and use his new super-hearing to find the General and foil his plans. Even though he clearly needs rest, he continues to fly around doing things until he makes some destructive mistakes and is too tired to avoid being captured by the entirety of Task Force X and its Boxed Crooks.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: The first episode sees him accidentally break an an alarm clock, one of the faucets in his apartment, his sneakers, and a door handle without meaning to because of how nervous he is about his first day at the Daily Planet. While rushing out the door of a bakery, it's implied that he bursts through it by accident and promises to fix it later. In the fifth episode, Clark casually picks up a box that Lois was struggling to move (not knowing it contained a 300 lb dumbbell) before tossing it on top of the filing cabinet, crumpling the cabinet in the process.
• Dork Knight: Moreso than most incarnations, especially since unlike most cases, his mild-mannered civilian personality isn't just an act to keep people from realizing he's Superman. This Clark is much less sure of himself and more socially awkward than previous versions of the character, being a stammering mess when flustered and running from Lois when she tries to interview Superman. His uncertainty and unfamiliarity with his abnormal abilities also contributes to him being much weaker in a fight than past incarnations, as he subconsciously suppresses the full extent of his strength because of his fears of accidentally hurting/killing others, even enemies attacking him.
• The Dreaded:
  • Double Subverted. Clark has the exact opposite temperament for a being of this category, but the fact that he has the powers of one (and powers that become more varied and stronger as the series goes along) is never glossed over. When Deathstroke uses a suit of Powered Armor to capture and detain every criminal using the stolen technology, the criminals automatically assume that the mysterious, unstoppable red-eyed blur after them is Superman, rather than questioning if it is something else based on the ruthlessness it displays. People are constantly wary of Superman's potential for widespread destruction, especially since Alex points out that his nice temperament is the only thing restraining such a catastrophic rampage, without any possible countermeasures.
  • Task Force X in particular is adamant that Superman is a dangerous threat that requires every resource at their disposal to stop, even allying with the super-criminals he faces against him out of fear for what he's planning under the "act" of being a hero. It's later revealed that the heads of Task Force X were first-hand witness to the devastation a being with all of Superman's abilities and none of his moral restraints can bring, and mistakenly believed he was said being in a different disguise, giving further context to their antagonism towards him.
• Endearingly Dorky: The owners of his favorite donut shop make special mention of how Clark gets sprinkles all over himself when he eats there and make a bib for him. They also pinch his cheek and congratulate him on being a Big Eater when he orders three dozen donuts for the Daily Planet. He's clearly embarrassed the entire time and Lois has to stifle a laugh, but it's clear she finds this endearing about him.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Clark is such a Nice Guy that he shows respect or at least basic decency to everyone he meets. He'll never assume the worst in anyone, and will always try to talk down the villains he fights even as they attack him or subject him to torture. There is just one exception—Dr. Ivo. Tellingly, Ivo is the first and so far only person to outright make Clark mad, with Clark being so incensed by his disparaging comments towards Lois he immediately starts grilling Ivo about his criminal actions. While he initially tries to talk Ivo down in their first fight, by the time Ivo threatens the entirety of Metropolis out of sheer spite towards Superman, he has come to consider his foe too far gone, and near the end of the fight declares to Ivo that while he may be inhuman by birth, Ivo is inhuman by choice.
• Eye Beams: Heat vision is as usual his main energy emission attack.
• Flying Brick: This is Superman, the Trope Codifier. He's super strong, super tough, super fast, and can fly.
• Gentle Giant: Clark is tall, built like a brick house, and strong enough to send a Humongous Mecha flying with a single punch. He's also a teddy bear of a man who loves his parents, cares about his friends, and buys donuts for his co-workers. Even when he's confronted by a villain, he always tries to talk them down first and will only fight back as a last resort.
• Happily Adopted: Regardless of his apprehension about being an alien, Clark clearly loves his Muggle Foster Parents Jonathan and Martha with all his heart and the feeling is mutual. As a child, his first reaction to learning about his origins is fear and grief that he's not really their son, and that thought reduces him to tears. After returning from his spaceship in Episode 2, the first thing he does is fly back into Martha's arms and assure her that he is still himself and her son.
• Heroic BSoD: Clark is heartbroken and horrified when the General shows him footage depicting what looks like another alien like Clark wiping out a military camp. This convinces Clark that he's nothing more than a Living Weapon and saps him of his will to fight, not even bothering to move while Parasite is beating him into the floor.
• Heroic Build: Clark is built like a house. While he usually wears baggy clothing to hide his physique, his Kryptonian outfit displays his muscles for all to see. Lampshaded by Lois, who tells him to pick her up so she can peer through a window because he's twice her size.
• Heroic Resolve: Clark is initially barely a match for one of the robots Leslie stole, tiring himself just to stop some of its attacks and rip out its core. He's soon overwhelmed when Leslie unleashes the rest of them to buy time for her escape, suffering a bruised eye and barely withstanding the rest of their attacks. But when Lois is about to be attacked by them, he forces himself to get up and his eyes glow white, healing away his bruise as he throws himself at the robot to punch it down with a single hit.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: In Part 1 of "Zero Day", Superman ends up alienated by the public after saving an invisible Mist from being hit by a truck, in the process getting hit himself—while nobody is harmed, the truck coming to a sudden halt causes a massive accident; with nobody able to see Mist, the public believes that Superman was actively endangering other drivers and begins to fear him. This is rectified in Part 2 after Superman saves Metropolis from Parasite.
• Hide Your Otherness: Clark actively tries to suppress and hide his powers out of fear of being ostracized by his peers for being an alien.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Clark is visibly the tallest member of the cast and towers over just about everyone he interacts with. Lois is visibly the shortest member of the cast and is dwarfed by every other adult character they interact with. Makes for quite the visual when they're together, as he's visibly hunching over every time they interact and still visibly two heads taller than her.
• Hunk: Clark is square-jawed, buff, and handsome by every measure. He even tries to play the cool guy in front of Lois when they first meet before quickly falling back into his Endearingly Dorky mannerisms. While ranting about Clark's refusal to help her after being ordered back to the office by Perry, she calls him "[Jimmy's] dumb, beautiful coward of a friend."
• I Am Not a Gun: Appropriately enough, given how the Trope Namer was inspired to his mindset by Superman comics. When Clark learns about the invasion on Zero Day, he comes to the conclusion that his immense and varied powers are because he's really a Living Weapon sent by his people to destroy Earth, aided by the fact he can't understand Kryptonian so Jor-El's hologram has to improvise with a flashback that is devoid of important context. Lois helps snap him out of this mindset with a Rousing Speech to the city and a Love Confession to Clark in private afterwards, and he chooses to remain as Superman, the protector of Earth regardless of his (perceived) origins.
• I Am Who?: After learning that he's not from Earth, Clark becomes confused about who he is and his place in the universe. At first he tries to hide his powers so he can be "a normal man having a normal day", but his better nature soon forces him to use his abilities in front of others. Lois' pursuit of "Superman" and desire to find out what kind of person he is convinces Clark to return to his spaceship and find some answers.
• I Just Want to Be Normal:
  • The two-part intro has Clark expressing a desire to be "a normal man having a normal day", with the story itself even being named "Adventures of a Normal Man". As one can imagine, his Superman duties interfere. After his Secret Identity is revealed to Lois and Jimmy by the events of Episode 5 and Episode 6, Clark admits to them that he just wants to feel included and not ostracized for being an alien.
  • Exploited by Mxyzptlk in "Kiss Kiss Fall in Portal". Clark is so fixated on giving Lois a normal, perfect date that he doesn't think twice when Mxyzptlk claims she's in trouble. In his rush to return to normalcy, Clark falls for Mxyzptlk's suspicious claims. To kick Clark while he's down, Mxyzptlk tells him that he will never be normal.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Whether as a kid or as an adult, Clark's blue eyes are particularly emphasized by the animesque art style. They emphasize his naturally kind and idealistic outlook, to the point of even trying to save his enemies.
• Instant Costume Change: Clark's Super-Speed lets him instantly change his outfit once he's out of sight. In Episode 2, he changes back to his civilian clothes in a second while rushing to hide his outfit and clean up his apartment before Lois walks in.
• Keeping Secrets Sucks: He had intended to tell Lois about his identity as Superman, but her dismissive comments ended up making him choose to keep quiet until Lois realized the truth and put a strain on their relationship.
• Kryptonite Factor: In Episode 7, he receives a first exposure to kryptonite that causes the shards fired at him to sprout from his body, causing green Tainted Veins in the process. In Episode 10, momentary exposure to the crystalline form of Kryptonite causes anaphylactic shock and he drops to the ground near-instantly.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Versus most other incarnations of the character. Going into the show, the only thing Clark knows about his origins is the fact he's probably an alien, and his access to his spaceship doesn't help much because he can't speak Kryptonian and the Jor-El hologram in turn can't speak English (although context and the translation captions in episode 10 confirm that he does at least understand Clark), so the hologram can only relay information visually without context. This particularly presents a problem in episode 7, as Mxyzptlk and the League of Lois Lanes readily exploit the fact they know far more about Clark - including his weaknesses - than even Clark himself is aware of. Hell, the only reason he even knows the name of his birth planet is because Mxyzptlk made an offhand reference to Krypton - Clark simply had no way of finding out otherwise.
• Love at First Sight: Clark is immediately smitten with Lois the second he lays eyes on her at a donut shop. He can frequently be seen with a Crush Blush when their faces are close to one another. He later tells his mom that Lois is "amazing" and he gushes compliments on her after the Livewire incident.
• Love Confession: Done near the end of episode 7, when he and Lois mutually confess their feelings for each other.

M-Y

• Mr. Fanservice:
  • He is ripped. The viewer can see his six-pack abs when he gets dressed in the bathroom in the first episode, while his form-fitting superhero outfit clings tightly to his arms and shows off just how broad his chest and shoulders are. According to one of the animators, the production team deliberately sought to make him as attractive as they could in every scene.
  • In Episode 6, all of the clothes on his upper body are burned off by laser fire, leaving him shirtless for the rest of the episode with all of his muscles on display. Furthermore, the lasers burn off all the dirt on his body, leaving his skin gleaming like he was freshly oiled.
• Mundane Utility: Super-Speed is great for dodging attacks, saving people, and getting to the scene on time. It's also great for when Clark's apartment is a mess and he needs to tidy up in the literal second before guests walk in. Tellingly, despite his Power Incontinence issues in the beginning, it's the one power that Clark seems to fully have a handle on, because it's just so useful in letting him perform his small heroics whilst staying out of sight.
• Nice Guy:
  • He wouldn't be Superman if he weren't the nicest guy in the world. Whether as a hero or not, Clark is a Gentle Giant of a man who is always going to do the right thing. This puts him at odds with Lois when she thinks everything Clark did can be compared with her lying to try and help people, but Lois recounts that Clark did all the nice things he did with no expectation of personal benefit or reward.
  • This sadly begins to become Deconstructed as the series goes on, as numerous individuals from Task Force X, to villains like Dr. Ivo to even Lois herself at first are so cynical and suspicious of others that they believe Clark must have an angle or a hidden agenda behind his heroics, fuelling the opposition he faces despite his good deeds. On the flip side, Alex points out that him being a nice guy is the only thing holding back a potential destructive rampage from a being with such immense powers, and all it would take is "One Bad Day" for him to decide he should stop being nice to others, further feeling concerns about Clark's destructive potential.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: While he starts out with the standard Flying Brick powerset, Clark gradually discovers his other powers, classic and esoteric, as the plot needs them. For instance, he starts developing Eye Beams just as Intergang starts using a Freeze Ray. Justified because of his inexperience and willful suppression of them for years.
• Official Couple: With Lois (big surprise, right?) by Episode 7.
• Older Than They Look: Inverted, and a major plot point. Clark is exactly as old as he looks, but it's eventually revealed that the "Nemesis Omega" moniker applied to him by Task Force X actually referred to a mysterious masked being that lead an attempted Alien Invasion of Earth on Zero Day 22 years ago, with both the General and Amanda Waller believing Clark was said being due to the similarities between their abilities and outfits. On seeing Clark's crestfallen reaction to learning about the truth of Zero Day, the General wonders aloud if Clark's kind ages the same as humans, as that would make him too young to be involved, showing task Force X thought this trope was in play.
• One Head Taller: Clark is over a full head taller than his love interest, Lois Lane, and their relationship forms the emotional core of the series.
• Only Sane Man: Between Lois' recklessness and Jimmy's eccentricity, Clark typically serves as the main voice of reason among the main trio.
• Pedestrian Crushes Car: When Clark pushes Mist out of the way of an oncoming truck, he is unable to dodge the truck due to a lack of sleep and ends up causing a massive traffic accident.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Clark first discovers his powers as a young boy when he races after a car spinning out of control to try and stop it from crashing. After helping to bring the car to a stop, he discovers his ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound just before outright flying.
• Power Glows: Occasionally his eyes glow white and his body is surrounded by lightning energy akin to a Battle Aura, when he unlocks his powers further and when Jor-El's hologram gives him his Kryptonian suit. The energy even manifests a glowing S-shield on his chest.
• Power Incontinence: Clark spends much of the first episode struggling to control his strength, accidentally breaking door handles and sink faucets. He also experiences sudden bursts of power when trying to save someone, such as in "Adventures of a Normal Man Part 2" when, after getting beaten up by the first robot, he sees Lois in danger and suddenly heals, able to knock the robot out in one punch. Played for Drama in "Zero Day, Part 1", where sleep deprivation leads to him accidentally causing all sorts of property damage while trying to deal with the episode's plot.
• Primary-Color Champion: As per standard, Clark's superhero outfit features deep blues, reds, and yellows that make him stand out in the crowd as a hero.
• Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Downplayed. Clark is much more durable than an ordinary mortal would be, but he doesn't have the Nigh-Invulnerability other versions of Superman do. A combination of his fears with accidentally hurting others in a fight and lack of actual combat experience means that Clark's main tactic is to position himself between civilians and danger whenever he's fighting villains and tank the hit instead, but this often results in him getting winded and allows his opponents to press their advantage, despite said villains being way below the weight class of most Superman opponents.
• Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Clark has worn glasses even as a child before discovering his powers rather than wearing them purely as a disguise. But at no point is he ever shown needing them, as he hides his glasses while acting as Superman.
• Relationship Upgrade: After a rough patch over him hiding his identity as Superman, he and Lois get together at the end of Episode 6, indicated by them holding hands.
• Secret Identity Vocal Shift: Downplayed since it's not immediately noticeable, but he drops his voice slightly lower as Superman in order to hide his identity.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: A recurring theme throughout the story is how people are unwilling to accept that Superman doesn't have some kind of ulterior motive for his actions. Reporters like Lois and Vicki try to dig up dirt on him to reveal his secrets to the world. Task Force X believes he's a scout trying to soften up Earth for an Alien Invasion. Alex openly espouses a Beware the Superman philosophy in an interview. No one save for Clark's parents and Jimmy can wholeheartedly believe that Superman is exactly who he say he is: someone who just wants to help.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Helping people is instinctual to him, as demonstrated by his introduction where he tries to stop an out-of-control car just before he gains his superpowers. When it comes to mundane socialization, whether it be being involved with interviews or just talking to Lois even as Clark, he trips over himself constantly.
• Super-Hearing: He awakens to this power in "Zero Day, Part 1". It is acute enough to be used as echolocation to pinpoint Kyle/Mist's exact location when he is invisible.
• Super-Speed: Clark can move faster than the eye can track, rendering him virtually invisible to all but the most careful viewers when he's in a hurry save for a streak or a blur where he once was. He can also get from Metropolis to Smallville with ease and back in time to save Lois and Jimmy from Leslie/Livewire.
• Super-Strength: Being Superman, it's only natural that he'd have one of the Man of Steel's most well-known abilities. He's able to knock out a giant robot with a single punch, and at one point he picks up a box containing a 300-pound dumbbell without breaking a sweat. Being younger and less experienced than most incarnations, however, he tends to have difficulty controlling his strength, especially when he's nervous or distracted.
• Sweet Tooth: He's a regular at a donut shop in Metropolis, to the point that the owners know him by name and make a bib for him because he gets sprinkles all over himself while eating there. Martha is also delighted to see Clark home in Episode 2 and is ready to pull out pie for him.
• Taking the Bullet: Clark is prone to using himself as a shield for others given his nearly unbreakable skin. Even when his powers are on the fritz in Episode 6, he throws himself in front of a laser gatling gun to protect Lois without hesitation. He later reveals he didn't know he was bulletproof, he just knew Lois wasn't.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Just like in most versions, Superman doesn't kill. He even saves his enemies when their misuse of their powers and technology overwhelms them. Episode 5 shows he doesn't even like it to be implied he would hurt someone, telling Lois, who was using him as a threat to get Heat Wave to talk, that it's wrong to threaten people.
• Token Non-Human: Since Clark is from planet Krypton (as usual), he is the only Kryptonian out of the main trio, the rest of whom are humans.
• Tranquil Fury: Though Clark doesn't back down whenever he disapproves of something, the first time in the series he displays outright anger is when Dr. Ivo trash-talks Lois behind her back. Clark, who had previously attempted to be professional while covering the Ivo Tower gala, proceeds to badger Dr. Ivo over allegations of criminal dealings (something he'd previously told Lois not to do), all while keeping his usual calm tone.
• Transformation Sequence: Is first given his Superman outfit through a magical-girl-esque transformation sequence.
• Twice Shy: It's obvious that he fell for Lois the moment he laid eyes on her, and it's equally obvious that she sees him the same way, but both are too shy to act on their feelings.
• Unskilled, but Strong: One of Superman's defining traits is his overwhelming physical strength, and he certainly has that. Unlike previous versions of Superman however, this version of Clark is less experienced as a fighter and tends to break various objects in his daily life accidentally. This lack of control and experience is why he acts Willfully Weak when he gets into a fight.
• Uptight Loves Wild: Part of his attraction to Lois stems from this; while Clark tries to toe the line and be "normal" so he won't be ostracized for his alien origins, Lois is much more confident and willing to break the rules in order to pursue leads for a story. In "My Interview with Superman", Clark is initially uncomfortable with Lois' constant rule-breaking in order to find Intergang, but it eventually becomes clear that he's still impressed by her determination.
• Used to Be More Social: As a child, Clark was an ordinary, outgoing kid until he discovered his powers. After this, he became so afraid of hurting people that he started distancing himself from others. Some framed photographs at the Kents' house in "Hearts of the Fathers" show him standing far away from his Little League teammates and there's no sign of a girl he posed for pictures with (implied to be Lana Lang) at any point afterward. Then he stopped inviting others to his birthday parties by the time he turned 12. This pattern didn't break until he shared a room with Jimmy in college. Even after this, Clark isn't shown going out of his way to interact with anyone his age other than Jimmy (his Best Friend) and Lois (whom he's immediately smitten with).
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • He calls out Lois for lying to him and Jimmy about being given the okay to pursue the stolen robot story. He would have been willing to help anyways if she'd only asked, though he wonders if he actually would later on.
  • Clark is aghast when Lois reveals her plan to get herself and Jimmy taken hostage by Intergang in order to summon Superman and demand an interview from him. He doesn't have much time to call her out on it as ice erupts from the bank.
    Clark: [to Jimmy and Lois] This was your plan the whole time? To find trouble, then ambush Superman when he flies in?
    Jimmy: I mean… it worked when we did it with Livewire.
    Clark: You did that on purpose?!
• Willfully Weak: This incarnation of Superman doesn't have perfect control over and awareness of his super strength and other abilities yet, meaning he often ends up restraining himself too much during fights where his full strength is actually necessary. For example, during his first battle with Slade, Slade's Powered Armor gives him a decisive advantage against the Man of Steel (having two giant mechs as backup helped), but when Slade's reckless attacks threaten to collapse a freeway and kill dozens of people, Superman effortlessly punches him aside so he can focus on saving everyone.
• Worf Had the Flu:
  • In Episode 6 he's affected by the Brain and Monsieur Mallah's cloaking field, which is based on red sun radiation, weakening his powers to the point where the leftover OMAC patrols from Task Force X pose a threat to him.
  • In Episode 8, he's been running around saving everyone for a few days without rest when he confronts Task Force X. He almost wins anyway, but his exhaustion combined with the Parasite suit draining his remaining strength lets them capture him.
• You Monster!: After Ivo accuses him of having turned him into a monster, Superman bluntly tells him that he is and calls him out on his refusal to take responsibility for his own actions.
  Superman: You chose to be a monster, Ivo.

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