In the eighth episode of My Adventures with Superman Season 2, Jack Quaid’s Clark Kent falls prey to the new Kryptonian empire. He had been kidnapped, beaten and used like a guinea pig in a test room. It’s all done so that the movement can turn him into its new weapon.

At the heart of this scheme is Michael Emerson’s Brainiac. He believes, with Kal-El under his thumb, he will be able to conquer more worlds, rule the galaxy, and ensure Krypton’s legacy lives on. It’s what the artificial intelligence was programmed to do, after all. Shockingly, as Brainiac and Superman clash thanks to the Black Mercy technology, the series kills off Clark with a Spider-Man twist.

My Adventures with Superman’s Black Mercy, Explained

My Adventures with Superman Season 2 reveals the sinister Project M that Lex Luthor is working on for Amanda Waller and her Task Force X initiative.

In the comics, Black Mercy is a plant that acts like a parasite. Once it’s attached to its victim, it drains them while they’re placed in a dream state. The victims slumber and live in the utopia they always wanted. The alien had Batman thinking his parents never died, allowing him to start his family. Superman also never lost Krypton or the House of El.

Once the user starts to realize that they are fooled into sedation, the plant loses its hold. Mongul loved the potential of Black Mercy and used it as his main tool in “For the Man Who Has Everything.” This was adapted by Justice League Unlimited. Black Mercy came off as an unassuming yet scary villain when it lulled Kal-El into a fabricated Krypton. The CW’s Supergirl also did this to its Kara by Non. Syfy’s Krypton used the Black Mercy as well. Zod tortured enemies with it to attain information from their minds. He later mind-controlled Doomsday with it.

Season 2 of My Adventures with Superman changes Black Mercy. It’s not a plant, but technology — a headpiece that Brainiac slips on Kal-El. It allows him to enter Clark’s mind and rummage through his memories. As he parses through Clark’s history, they become real, but Brainiac can alter things, nodding to The Matrix. Brainiac does this to show Superman that humanity hates him, especially Lois. He seeds in guilt, letting Clark know he is responsible for villains like Livewire suffering and wanting to shed blood more. Clark can’t distinguish what’s a lie after all this tampering. Brainiac did this to Kara, gaslighting her in the past into thinking he was her “father.”

How My Adventures with Superman Homages Marvel’s Superior Spider-Man

My Adventures with Superman Season 2 has another surprising queer couple that could help change Lois Lane’s shattered outlook on love and life.

The cartoon’s Black Mercy conditioned Kara and allowed Brainiac to use her body and powers to burn different civilizations. My Adventures with Superman’s Thanagar was razed like this. Now, Brainiac wants Clark as his new vessel. It nods to the Superior Spider-Man arc from Marvel. In 2012’s “Dying Wish,” Doctor Octopus swapped bodies with Peter Parker using technology. He left Peter in his withering body and took over as Spider-Man.

But Otto saw all the sins he committed during the transfer and tried to be a hero. It was controversial, but Otto did do a lot of good. In time, Marvel undid the swap, but fans still enjoyed what happened. Many doubted Otto possessing Peter would work out, but there was a lot of nuance that showed fans Otto could balance power and responsibility. In Brainiac’s case, he is about power and violence. His responsibility isn’t to save, but to enslave worlds and Kryptonian bodies.

My Adventures with Superman’s Brainiac Kills Clark Kent’s Spirit

My Adventures with Superman Season 2 has the perfect voice behind its Supergirl to paint a conflicted story about duty, family and betrayal.

The trick to attaining these hosts is to break their will and kill their spirit. In Kara’s case, Brainiac had her from when she was a child on a rocket ship. He didn’t need to needle down too far to sink his claws into her mind, as she was a blank slate. Clark is a more complex canvas. He isn’t subservient. He has a personality, beliefs and principles. Brainiac has to erase this. The key to it is to wipe Clark’s consciousness and rework his mind from scratch.

Supergirl flies into Brainiac’s chamber after getting help from the Brain and Moniseur Mallah. She fights with Brainiac’s physical body, hating how he stripped her of her identity and is now tampering with her cousin. Meanwhile, Superman realizes the digital Lois hating him is a facade, and he battles Brainiac in digital space. Unfortunately, when Kara knocks Brainiac out, and Kal-El does the same in the dream world, Superman ends up in a fake world he actually craves.

It turns out, Brainiac corrupting him with thoughts of humanity mistrusting him, all the fears about Lois hating aliens, and the insecurities Clark won’t ever be accepted worked. Superman sees the House of El in a field and runs towards them. He is a child again, affirming this is what he wished he had all his life. This facade is the freedom he’s sought for so long: a community who genuinely loves him. This opens room for Brainiac to take over.

My Adventures with Superman’s Super-Brainiac Causes Chaos

The second season of My Adventures with Superman has an even higher Rotten Tomatoes score than the first.

Brainiac takes control of Clark’s body with ease. He smashes Kara around, letting her know she’s a traitor to the cause. He accesses all of Clark’s might, to the point he feels faster and stronger. It adds up, as Brainiac would know more about Clark’s alien physiology. His aim is to harness the Superman Blue form as well. Kara tries to stop the possessed Superman, but she’s distracted by protecting Lois and Jimmy.

Jimmy even tries to use kryptonite on him, but it just weakens Superman’s physical form and hurts Kara. Brainiac isn’t affected. He’s a virus who can jump into one of many machines that his “empire” has. He comes off demonic, like a malevolent spirit. Jimmy has no choice but to put the orb away, but Brainiac opens a window, sucking them into the vacuum of space. Supergirl flies out to rescue them, leaving Brainiac with the kryptonite.

Now, he can study the orb and conduct more kryptonite experiments. He wants to create the next evolution in the Kryptonian breeding program and make better super-soldiers: an arc the SnyderVerse dealt with via General Zod in Man of Steel. With this kryptonite, he can figure out how to remove it as a weakness, nodding to the Daxamites from DC Comics. This would help his physical frame become stronger too, shaping him as the perfect Superman.

My Adventures with Superman’s Super-Brainaic Does Have a Weakness

Big news has been revealed about the future of the fan-favorite DC animated series, My Adventures with Superman.

My Adventures with Superman’s Brainiac has one weakness, and it’s Kara. He raised her as a child as he was a program built into her escape pod. Despite his iron-fisted methodologies, he cares for her like a daughter. This teases a human arc to come. Brainiac might become conflicted if he has to kill her. He spares and leaves her with the humans because he considers her weak.

But if he wanted to end her, he could have, which is a vulnerability Supergirl can capitalize on. It would be ironic, as he’s supposed to be binary code: cold, uncaring and tied to logic. This layers Brainiac with sympathy and messes with his algorithm. He shouldn’t feel, but he admits there is a form of love in him.

Only time will tell if he wants to purge Kara by killing her, or if she will end up being his true kryptonite, creating an opening for the heroes to take him down. Ultimately, this revisits the show’s spin on family, with Kara wanting to break free from a toxic dynasty, and Brainiac warping the House of El bloodline to create a future he thinks Jor-El (Clark’s father) and Zor-El (Kara’s father) would be proud of.

New episodes of Season 2 of My Adventures with Superman premiere Fridays on Adult Swim. Episodes are made available for streaming on Max the next day.

My Adventures With Superman

TV-PG
Animation
Superhero
Action
Adventure

Clark Kent builds his secret Superman identity and embraces his role as the hero of Metropolis, while sharing adventures and falling in love with Lois, a star investigative journalist, who also takes Jimmy Olsen under her wing.

Release DateJuly 6, 2023
CastJack Quaid , Alice Lee , Ishmel Sahid , kari wahlgren
Main GenreAnimation
Seasons1