Calvin attempts to combine all his inventions into one. While doing so, he is zapped by the inventions, and abandons his attempts after that. However, he later discovers that he accidentally transferred all of his inventions' powers over to himself. Calvin is very excited and decides to become a superhero, although he can't find any nemeses until Dr. Brainstorm comes along.
Meanwhile, though, Sherman has discovered something very important about Calvin's new powers. The event that caused him to gain his powers also deactivated a gene that allows him to replenish his store of energy, meaning that as long as he has his powers, he will just continue to get more tired, and eventually he'll die.
Hobbes rushes off to warn Calvin about this, but he doesn't believe Hobbes and is having too much fun being a superhero and beating up Brainstorm. But after one battle, he notices that he's really exhausted, and drops off to sleep...
There's only one thing left that Hobbes can do. He gets in the time machine and returns to the past, when Calvin is still trying to combine his inventions. He warns Calvin where this will lead, and this time Calvin believes him. Hobbes returns to the present, and when Dr. Brainstorm comes along, he's very disappointed to learn that Calvin never had superpowers and never will. He still tries to fight Calvin, but he's defeated in one move by the Atomic Freezer.
Tropes
- All Your Powers Combined: Calvin has the powers from all his inventions.
- An Ice Person: Courtesy of the Atomic Freezer.
- Flight: Presumably the Time Machine.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: From the Scream Horn.
- Time Stands Still: From the Time Pauser.
- Time Travel: From the Time Machine.
- Cassandra Truth: Calvin doesn't believe Hobbes' warning that his powers were going to kill him and that he needed them removed. Fortunately, Past!Calvin was more receptive.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The final battle with Brainstorm. Calvin clips the Atomic Freezer onto his finger and he gets encased in ice.
- Deadly Upgrade: The powers are awesome, but they consume Calvin's energy at a very fast rate, and with the damaged gene, he can't get any of that back. We actually begin to see the "deadly" part kick in when Calvin drops off to sleep as his energy fades.
- Disney Death: Calvin actually dies in this episode when he uses up too much energy, but the death is undone by time travel.
- Fuel Meter of Power: The big drawback to Calvin's powers; once he uses the energy up, he can't get it back.
- Sherman even once shows the characters a 'fuel meter' image showing how much energy Calvin has left.
- Harmless Freezing: Happens to Dr. Brainstorm several times.
- No Antagonist: While this episode does feature Dr. Brainstorm, the real villain is not a person, it's the Deadly Upgrade nature of Calvin's powers.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Both Hobbes and Dr. Brainstorm remember the events of the timeline that didn't actually happen.
- Running Gag: Jack asking for ten dollars before he helps Brainstorm.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Hobbes solves the plot by time traveling to the past and warning Calvin not to combine his inventions.
- Superhero Episode: A rather darker one than the norm, as Calvin's powers will kill him if he keeps using them.
