Luthor comes up with a suspicious new invention: a set of mechanical police officers called Defendroids. The robots seem to outdo Superman at every turn, causing the hero to announce his retirement. However, as Superman and the Planet staff thought, Luthor turns out to have something more on his mind than the public good.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- 10-Minute Retirement: Superman announces his retirement so that he can make Luthor think he's won, allowing him to observe the villain's next move. Naturally, he comes out of it immediately when the Defendroids kidnap Lois and Jimmy and try to rob a gold-laden train heading for Fort Knox.
- Appeal to Familial Wisdom: When Miss Morganberry points out that Luthor doesn't need to rob a gold train, Luthor tells her that his father taught him one can never have enough chocolate ice cream, real estate, or gold. He then plays with it by adding that his father is currently fat and broke, but he doesn't intend to end up that way.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: Lois and Jimmy are captured and imprisoned inside a mega-Defendroid to distract Superman while Luthor's other Defendroids raid a train going to Fort Knox. Jimmy and Lois are fine despite the Defendroid taking the fight to space for part of it and entering the atmosphere with no protective measures.
- Convection, Schmonvection: When Superman pushes the mega-Defendroid into the Earth's atmosphere, it begins to heat up. However, Lois and Jimmy, imprisoned inside it, are portrayed sweating but not suffering any major harm before Superman slows down the robot and pulls them out.
- Engineered Heroics: Lois finds it suspicious that the Defendroids are always somehow at the scene of a problem before Superman and suggests that Luthor caused the problems in the first place.
- Humongous Mecha: Lex Luthor's Defendroids can combine into one gigantic robot, with a prison cell tummy.
- Rotten Robotic Replacement: Luthor creates the Defendroids to protect Metropolis, apparently leaving Superman obsolete. Naturally, this is only part of his plan to get the hero out of the way.
- The Rich Want to Be Richer: When Luthor tells Miss Morganberry what crime he plans to use the Defendroids for, she points out he's already rich. Luthor says his father taught him one can never have enough.
- Ungrateful Townsfolk: Subverted. When Superman arrives after a Defendroid at an apartment fire, he manages to save an elderly couple. However, only they show any gratitude for his efforts; the rest of the crowd yells that they don't need him anymore. Luthor, watching this, muses that the actors he put at the scene are doing well.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Even after stopping the Defendroids, Superman can't do anything about Luthor. Luthor claims that his robots went haywire and thanks Superman for stopping them, and no one can prove otherwise.
