Funny / My Adventures with Superman

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

The Man of Steel!^* No, not the guy with the immovable scowl, the guy with the donuts.

---

Season One

General

• Clark breaking things. Clark lying very poorly. Clark failing spectacularly at being "normal". Rescuing cats from trees on occasion.
• Jimmy being a conspiracy theorist. Lands even with people who hate conspiracy theorists because he is just listing things that are completely plausible in the world of DC, the world just doesn't know it yet!
  • In point of fact: you can recognize specific things he's referencing from the comics depending on how many shows/comics you've consumed
• The contrast between Lois and Clark. She's confident and brash, generally acting like she's invincible. He's timid and shy, despite actually being borderline invincible.
• The way Clark's so casual and constantly using his powers whenever he thinks he's unseen, with his parents, or after he, Lois and Jimmy are all on the same page is very entertaining.
• Steve.

Adventures of a Normal Man, Part 1

• Clark is first introduced as a child struggling to get his kite out of a tree, jumping up and down to no avail. Suddenly, he gets a determined look, positions his legs as if he’s about to take a titanic leap, or even take flight… but nope, only gets a couple of feet high.
• Clark struggling with his Super-Strength in the morning. Breaking the alarm clock by accident, breaking the faucet while practicing handshakes, and crashing through bodega doors in a rush.
  • In contrast, Lois repeatedly hitting her alarm clock fails to turn it off.
  • Judging from Jimmy's comments, Clark passes off the destroyed alarm clocks as them randomly exploding.
• Clark and Lois's Meet Cute being followed up by the donut shop lady unwittingly piling on the Cringe Comedy, revealing that he ordered three dozen donuts to eat for himself (in actuality he bought them for the Daily Planet) and climbing on the counter to tie a specially made bib around his neck. Clark is understandably embarrassed and rushes out with the donuts, promising to never see Lois ever again.
  [Sounds of glass shattering]
  Clark: Ah! Uh, sorry I'll fix the front door later!
  • To be clear, it’s presented as… THE BIB.
• The trio’s first official meeting: Lois and Clark are in full sync on the military base robbery while Jimmy is positing outlandish^note Or maybe not. This is the DC Universe and mermen do exist here… theories… and then they realize they are literally talking over Perry. Clark sheepishly offers a donut.
• Lois bringing Clark to meet her "important and very serious journalistic source" .... who turn out to be a bunch of literal children. Flip, the leader of the group, introduces herself as a "Woman of Business" despite her young age and hands Jimmy one of her business cards, which was very obviously made by a kid.
• Seeing Lois and Jimmy chased by a robot, Flip rushes over to Clark for help and frantically asks who they should call: Perry, the President, or her mom.
• Lois's realization that she used kind-hearted Clark for her own ends? Sad. Clark, with genuine guilt, agonizing over if he wouldn't have helped Lois if she had asked? Pathetically sincere.
  Clark: Would I have helped her if I had known the truth? I-I don't think I would! And what does that say about me?!

Adventures of a Normal Man, Part 2

• Lois brings Jimmy and Clark into work early so she can show them her "murder board" in their new "office", which is actually the Daily Planet's dilapidated newspaper morgue ^note place where they store old papers and documents and boiler room.
  Clark: Wait, did you ask Mr. White if we could be in here?
  Jimmy: She definitely did not. SHOW US THE MURDER BOARD!
• Jimmy’s conspiracy theory stream, Flamebird, which only has five subscribers and features Jimmy failing to do an anonymous video when Clark comes stumbling toward him in the dark.
• As Clark digs up his childhood spaceship, Martha voices her displeasure. Jonathan responds with "What's not to like about a boy digging up his childhood spaceship? It's the most natural thing in the world!" When Martha shoots him a Death Glare, Jonathan fakes an illness and runs.
  • The fact that Clark also used the same illness excuse earlier to Lois and Jimmy shows that Clark really is Jonathan's son.
• While Lois and Jimmy go out to find Leslie Willis, Lois immediately assigns herself as Jimmy's boss, the sole reasoning being that she's been at the Daily Planet for longer than him (about a year, going by episode four).
• Jimmy immediately catches on that Lois likes Clark, and teasingly pushes her to open up to him, which includes him doing things like sending her Clark's contact (with a bunch of hearts next to his name) and later sending Clark cute (yet possibly embarrassing) pictures of her, much to Lois's chagrin.
  Jimmy: (evil grin) "Smile for Claaarrrk!"
  (quickly sends snapshot to Clark's smartphone)
  Lois: (nervous laugh) "Um, wait — You just sent it to Clark."
  Jimmy: "Sure did, "partner."
  Lois: "Well, as your boss, I need you to stop! Or, at least let me approve the pictures first!"
• After turning in their story to Perry, Lois and Jimmy have a touching moment where Jimmy encourages Lois to talk to Clark... forgetting that they're still in Perry's office, leading to them being kicked out by a very irate Perry.
• Clark answers a call from Lois with "Hey-o Lois!" Then he berates himself for saying "hey-o".
  • The way Clark dives for the phone at superspeed when it rings.

My Interview with Superman

• Lois getting a Funbag Airbag moment on Clark, since they're both so distracted while walking down the hallway of the Daily Planet that she ends up with her face right in Clark's chest.
• The introduction of Cat Grant, Steve Lombard, and Ronnie Troupe. Cat and Steve give themselves a big hammy, self-aggrandizing intro with a spotlight from nowhere shining down on them. Ronnie initially refuses to join in until Cat prods her into it— to which she just quickly says her name and job title before moving on (with the spotlight briefly returning as she does so).
  • Steve thinks that "scooping" means stealing and gleefully shouts "Scoop!" as he swipes Lois' coffee.
• Intergang is...pretty bad at robbery. They robbed a store without masks, didn't notice the camera. And Roughhouse keeps using their real names.
• When the squad runs past the breakout site during their escape from the Warden's office, Lois insists they investigate. It's subtle, but when Clark points out that they have no way in, since it's locked, Jimmy rolls his eyes since he already knows Clark could break through the wall, much less the door, if he wanted to.
• Lois and Jimmy's over-the-top imitations of their coworkers when introducing themselves to the warden. Followed up by Clark's... less-than-enthused performance.
  Lois: Oh-ho-ho-ho! [imitating Cat's accent] We're the Daily Planet's star news team! Cat Grant, human interest. If it's not real news, then tell me all about it!
  Jimmy: Ronnie Troupe, investigative journalist. A little patronizing, but mostly professional.
  [Camera pans out to reveal a very morose Clark]
  Clark: [flatly] Steve.
  [Lois nudges him with her foot]
  Clark: Sports.
• Clark’s reaction to Lois and Jimmy’s plan to get captured by Intergang so they can interview Superman.
  Clark: 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: [freaking out] You did that on purpose?!
• After spending a whole episode plotting, Lois finally gets her interview with Superman. It doesn't go the way she expected.
  Lois: Well, let's start with the basics. Where do you come from?
  Clark: I don't know.
  Lois: How do your powers work?
  Clark: I'm still figuring that out.
  Lois: Who are you? What are you?
  Clark: I'm kind of figuring that out too.
  • Immediately afterwards, Lois tells Clark to his face Superman was LYING to her!

Let's Go to Ivo Tower, You Say

• The cold open has Lois trying to psyche herself and her friends up in the paper morgue, only to be suddenly interrupted by Perry abruptly mid-speech telling Clark, Lois and Jimmy to come up to his office, complete with an identical shot of the room to highlight how suddenly he showed up, startling the trio. After the theme song, we immediately see the three in his office, talking over each other, trying to explain why they were there.
  • Note that this means Perry managed to sneak up on and surprise a man known for his ability to see and hear for superhuman distances, even if he hasn't yet quite developed those abilities in full.
• Once the trio makes it to the gala, Clark takes out his interview notes, which Lois immediately disposes of without a second thought and replaces them with really tough questions.
• Jimmy is mistaken for a photographer by a wealthy elderly man trying to get a picture with his grandchildren. At first, Jimmy is unsure, until the man is interested in his gadgets and is in awe with his grandchildren too when Jimmy starts showing off.
• When Lois punches Alex out cold, she apologizes:
  Lois: Sorry! Your life seems hard.

You Will Believe a Man Can Lie

• While talking to Jimmy on the phone, Clark notes that the "train is gonna crash" and hangs up to go stop it.
• Lois calls Jimmy soon after and starts grilling him about Clark's unexplained disappearances, which apparently mostly center around him going to get a bagel. A very confused Jimmy asks whether this is "hungry Lois" talking and whether she wants a bagel.
• Lois finds a package for Steve Lombard sitting on their desk. She tries to pick it up, but it's extremely heavy. Sarcastically, she muses "What's in this, dumbbells?" She opens it up to find that it is indeed a dumbbell. a three hundred pound one.
• Clark then comes into the room, sees the above package, and very easily picks it up without a second thought, which makes Lois lose her focus since it's further proof that he's Superman.
  • When Clark then decides to go get his "murder board"("Investigation board", Clark insists), he casually just tosses the dumbbell box on top of a cabinet, which crushes the top.
• Clark pulls out one of the Planet's old police scanners, which still works. In the middle of their increasingly intimate conversation, the scanner goes off, reporting a runaway bus. Suddenly, Clark forgets his bagel and runs off. Seconds later, she gets an alert on her phone about Superman stopping the bus. As the scanner calls off the alert, Clark pokes his head back in. Before he can even step into the room, an alert comes up about a mugging. "Cream cheese!" Clark leaves again, and the mugging is stopped immediately. Boy works fast.
• Lois has the idea to handcuff Superman so he doesn't get away from her, right when he's about to stop a robbery. The two end up dodging attacks as if they were dancing. The robbers exchange glances before resuming the fight.
  • Prior then, Superman gets a tire striking his face, leaving an imprint of it.
• After defeating Heat Wave, Lois tries to threaten her into coughing up information on the stolen tech and the kidnappings Heat Wave alluded to, only for Superman to keep undermining her attempts to be threatening:
  Lois: Okay, listen up, bud. I hate two things: secrets and liars. So you're going to tell us everything you know about that tech and what you meant about "kidnapping" or I let my flying friend here cut loose!
  Superman: That's not happening.
  Lois: Then I'll cut loose!
  Superman: Ms. Lane, please don't threaten people. It's wrong.
  Lois: Fine! Tell us what you know, or my friend here will...worry excessively about your welfare!
• While the episode closes on a sad/sour note with Lois blowing up at Clark, Jimmy getting kidnapped by a gorilla a few moments after this is such Mood Whiplash that it becomes funny. It's probably not the intended audience reaction, but even Jimmy's absence from the end credits where he's usually walking and the foreboding music over it can be taken as Black Comedy.

My Adventures With Mad Science

• Just the fact that this is probably the only show in the history of DC Animation to make the audience root for Monsieur Mallah and the Brain.
• Jimmy's intended last words to Brain and Mallah before they cut open his brain? Thanks for proving his theories, followed by a long rant about Clark and Lois standing him up. Mallah is weirded out enough to turn off the death machines and ask him if he wants to talk about it.
• Brain still wants to eliminate Jimmy, causing Mallah to complain that Brain wants to eliminate everything, including that time he left the dishes out until they grew mold and claimed it was an experiment. Even funnier, their bickering as Jimmy walks away heavily implies that the dishes were an experiment.
  The Brain: You don't see mold as a part of life! It is a phylum! Well, when we run out of penicillin, don't come crying to me saying "Oh, Brain, we are out of penicillin!"
• Monsieur Mallah saying that they have lived a simple life of peace in the ruins of Cadmus....except for the miniature black hole they're working on. And the army of mutants they made because they were bored.
• After Clark and Lois have spent the episode being on edge with each other and worrying about Jimmy, their reunion with him is surprisingly funny.
  Monsieur Mallah: You know these intruders, Jimmy?
  Jimmy: Yeah! These are the friends I was telling you about! *angry glare at Clark and Lois*
  Monsieur Mallah: Oooooh. The bad ones.
  Brain: *crosses his arms* Hmmph.
  Lois: Wha — what?! No, no, we're, ummm, I... I guess we did forget about camping.
  Monsieur Mallah: Mmmm. Oui, d'accord. We will give you space.
  Brain: *petulant whisper as they leave* Mallah, I want to watch them fiiiiight...!
  • When Clark mentions the robots in the woods, Brain interrupts to say they never made robots. Jimmy instantly calls him out on not giving them space, and he admits that he just loves drama.
• Clark attempts to reveal his Secret Identity to Jimmy, saying he deserves to know. But before Clark can dramatically take off his glasses, Jimmy says in an unamused tone that he knows Clark is Superman and this is not a big reveal.
  Clark: Wait, what?! You know?! Since when?
  Jimmy: We've been roommates since Freshmen year. The day I met you, you ripped the handle off of the door, then tried to play it like the screws had just come loose.
  Clark: [bemused] I mean, it could've been the screws.
  Jimmy: THE HANDLE WAS RIPPED IN HALF!
• Jimmy is still not happy that Clark told Lois first.
  Lois: You've known this whole time!? Why didn't you tell me?
  Jimmy: HOOOOOOOOOLD UP! You told Lois before you told ME, your Best Friend!?

Kiss Kiss Fall in Portal

• When Clark shows Lois and Jimmy his spaceship in the Kents' cornfield and activates the ship's obelisks, Jimmy immediately starts geeking out over the alien technology.
  Jimmy: I can't—it's a ship! Lois, it's a spaceship! Look at the pointy boys!
  Clark: They're obelisks. They project holograms and transport material...
  Jimmy: [clinging to one of the obelisks as it floats behind Clark] This is the greatest day of my life!
• Jimmy walks in on Clark to see how preparing for his date with Lois is going, only to find Clark has laid out a map and two flow charts in an attempt to plan the date down to the very second, complete with bags under his eyes. Looking for a return to sanity, Jimmy leaves Clark to check on Lois, only to find that she has also gone overboard in planning for the date, specifically in finding Clark the perfect gift.
• Clark is going into overdrive planning his date with Lois when there's a knock at the door. He takes one look at Mr. Mxyzptlk and immediately nopes out.
  Mxy: Superman! I'm Mister Mxyzptlk, an interdimensional peacekeeper, and I need your help!
  Clark: (shuts the door in his face...) Nope! (...but Mxy is already behind him and won't be denied)
  • Even funnier is that Mr. Mxyzptlk looks like something out of Dragonball rather than a crochety imp with a bowler hat.
• To prove his powers, Mr. Mxyzptlk transforms Clark into several past animated versions of Superman and then a crab wearing a cape. Clark is very unnerved by this once he's back to normal.
  Clark: How did you—how did you—was I a crab?!
  • Just consider the possibility there IS an alternate universe entirely of crabs, and there is a Crab-Superman.
• Jimmy excitedly asks a young black woman which Lois she is, only to find out that she's an alternate of him, causing him to become even more excited to meet another Jimmy, and the feeling is mutual.
  • In fact, Lois has Jimmy bring out Jalana's geeky factor so the other Loises are distracted while she enters the locked door.
• After Clark and Lois' first kiss, Jimmy butts in to bring them back to reality:
  Jimmy: Not to be a bummer, but could you stop making out before the Chaos God blows us up!
• The first picture we see in the end credits for the episode? Mxyzptlk taking a selfie in sunglasses, behind a burning Metropolis!

Zero Day: Part 1

• White tells Lois she is assigned to assist a special guest, but asks Lois not to freak out when she learns who it is. Turns out it's Vicki Vale, Lois' idol. Cue Lois freaking out.
• Turns out Vale and White knew each other in college. It also turns out that Vicki ran the number one college newspaper in the country, while Perry ran the number two. Perry is not thrilled about it.
• Clark's first experiences with Super-Hearing are as insane as you'd think they'd be. Combine it with a mix of his Chronic Hero Syndrome and drinking too much caffeine, and you have Superman on the brink of madness—and it's hilarious.
  Jimmy: What's super-hearing like?
  Clark/Superman: It's nuts! I can- I can hear, uh, uh, uh... cat in tree. [flies away for a second to save the cat] I can hear everyone! And Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy... They have problems.
  Jimmy: [notices the slew of empty coffee cups and energy drink cans around the apartment as Clark sips his coffee] Uh… you been sleepin' much, buddy?
  Clark/Superman: [eye twitches] Not for a few days.

Zero Day: Part 2

• While a majority of the episode is extremely serious, there is one easily-missed source of levity: the Flamebird stream chat as Jimmy livestreams Lois's Rousing Speech and Parasite's rampage across Metropolis, containing Easter Eggs and internet jokes alike.
  • One user (who may or may not be Cat Grant) speaks on behalf of much of the show's audience:
    FlameTURD: I'm not scared of superman
    Xx_PhatGrant_xX: I'm scared of how hot he is <3<3
  • After Jimmy aims the camera onto Lois, her appearance garners some interesting reactions:
    PeteRoss61: flamebird GF reveal???
    123SUPERMAN321: why won't they hang out with me??
    LanaLang5050: omg i love your hair
    Username01: come to brasil
  • Jimmy aiming the camera at the Parasite Kaiju yields many reactions, from horror to some people doubting whether it's even real. The best reaction, however, has to be this:
    FlameTURD: kekw
    FlameTURD: based ivo
  • While Steve watching Jimmy's stream is expected since he regularly watches Flamebird content (even if only to debunk it), and the Newskid Legion makes sense considering their friendship with the main trio, between the usernames of people watching the stream and shots of Metropolis listening in, numerous other Superman characters are implied if not outright revealed to be Flamebros, no matter how unlikely. This includes: Cat Grant (while she's seen watching alongside Steve, she has not one but two accounts possibly tied to her), Pete Ross (a friend of Clark's from Smallville), Lana Lang (Clark's childhood friend, typically portrayed as his First Love), Lori Lemaris (Superman's mermaid love interest who also has two accounts tied to her), Perry White, and Alex (whose name and anti-Superman bias heavily suggest he's a young version of Lex Luthor).

Hearts of the Fathers

• Clark, Lois, and Jimmy arrive at work and are met with a stare-down from Perry and the entire staff. Perry proceeds to tell them that they're terrible interns...so he'll just have to make them reporters.
  • Cue celebration from the entire staff, including Cat Grant giving Clark a peck on the cheek, and Steve giving Jimmy a "lone wolf" plush, with both crying happy tears.
• Despite a bad first impression, Martha insists that Clark can't hate his girlfriend's father, Sam. A few minutes of needling questions from Sam later, Martha admits to Jimmy that she hates Sam.
• Sam asks Clark if he's ever joined the military, only for the man who's built like a house to say he couldn't because he "didn't have the constitution for it".
• As soon as Jimmy arrives at the Kent home, he's pulled aside by just about everyone needing to confide their current problems in someone: Clark? Lois's dad Sam is the General. Martha? She doesn't care for Sam Lane. Jonathan? The turkey's not at temp yet.
  • He then asks if Sam had any secrets for him...only for Sam to ask who he is.
• After the crisis is averted, the Kents, Lois, and Jimmy finally sit down to Thanksgiving dinner. Jonathan reluctantly admits that the turkey still isn't at temp, and asks Clark for an assist with his heat vision.
• As dinner is about to begin, Jimmy is reminded that he never got to share his news, which is: he sold Flamebird to the Planet for $5.6 million. Followed by asking for the yams.

---