My Adventures with Superman has completed its first run of episodes, and by all accounts, the latest animated shenanigans of the Man of Steel and company have flown high for fans and critics alike. It may not pack the same type of punch that Superman: Legacy will when it releases in 2025, but there seems to be very little to dislike about this delightful little series, least of all the fact that this particular take on the Last Son of Krypton is nothing short of refreshing.
And the best part about animation, as Netflix’s Skull Island discovered, is that you don’t have to spend egregious amounts of money on CGI, meaning there’s a whole lot of room for countless wacky villains with even wackier superpowers, and My Adventures with Superman took full advantage. Here’s every villain that tried to ruin Clark Kent’s day in My Adventures with Superman.
Brainiac
Brainiac, voiced by Arrow alum Michael Emerson, rolled up in the closing minutes of the My Adventures with Superman finale, teeing up some markedly foreboding stakes for the gang to deal with next season, chiefly in the form of Earth being targeted as the next big theater for Brainiac’s conquer-hungry ego.
Indeed, as the occasional culprit of Krypton’s destruction in some DC stories, it’s hard to imagine emotions not running high when Brainiac decides to descend upon Metropolis in the future, and any future episodes involving him will likely see the biggest departure from the show’s more feathery ethos.
Dr. Anthony Ivo/Parasite
Jake Green voices Dr. Anthony Ivo, a mad scientist supervillain and apparent billionaire playboy, in My Adventures with Superman, and he’s packing a brand new rendition of another supervillain as part of his arsenal.
In episode four, “Let’s Go to Ivo Tower, You Say,” the gang infiltrates a gala for Ivo’s company AmazoTech, only to come face to face with Ivo’s Parasite 1.0 armor, which Ivo tries to kill Superman with. The armor, of course, is a reference to the DC villain Parasite, who has the ability to absorb energy from his opponents, much like how the armor absorbs Superman’s attacks during the fight.
Suffice to say that the Ivo/Parasite combo is one of My Adventures with Superman‘s more creative reimaginings, and a quick glance at this cast of characters will tell you that that says a lot.
Heat Wave
Despite normally being an adversary of The Flash, the fire-wielding villain Heat Wave decided to cause some problems for the Man of Steel in My Adventures with Superman, this version being a gender-swapped iteration of the character who gains their powers after swiping some special military technology.
Her role is a small one, causing a bit of chaos in Metropolis before fleeing from Supes, fearing that he’s the one kidnapping all the technology users around the city; a misjudgment that ultimately results in her own kidnapping by the true culprit.
Siobhan McDougal (Silver Banshee)
Silver Banshee is usually one of the spookiest members of the Man of Steel’s rogues gallery, but My Adventures with Superman brings her into the fold as the youthful leader of Intergang; a ragtag team of criminals who happen upon some special tech that gives them superpowers.
Voiced by Catherine Taber (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Silver Banshee was powered down quite significantly for My Adventures with Superman, boasting just a sonic screech ability as opposed to her comic book powerset that includes spirit possession, fear projection,, and the ability to drain one’s life force by screaming at them. Of course, given how relatively bright and cheerful My Adventures with Superman is, that change was more or less necessary.
Rough House
Another member of the Intergang, Rough House serves as the crew’s oafish muscle; an asset for bank robberies and prison breaks, but not so much when you have to go toe-to-toe with a superhero of Superman’s caliber.
Mist
Also known as Kyle thanks to Rough House’s complete disregard for secret identities, Mist is another member of Intergang and the brother of Silver Banshee, and is, without spoiling anything, probably the most reluctant member of the My Adventures with Superman rogues gallery.
As his name suggests, he has the ability to transform into mist, allowing him to float through the air, pass through otherwise inaccessible spaces, and become intangible.
Mr. Mxyzptlk
David Errigo Jr. loans his voice to Mr. Mxyzptlk (don’t worry, we can’t pronounce that either), and anyone who knows anything about DC’s answer to Bugs Bunny knows that he’s the source of some of Superman’s most egregious headaches, and his antics in My Adventures with Superman are no exception.
For those of you not in the know, Mr. Mxyzptlk’s schtick is that he’s a nigh-omnipotent being from the fifth dimension who has the power to warp reality and generally ignore the laws of physics as he sees fit.
Luckily, he’s less a power-hungry villain and more a depraved, manipulative scumbag, and so without any immediate threat in play, the devious imp proved to be no match for the power of friendship (with the help of the League of Lois Lanes, of course).
Slade Wilson (Deathstroke)
There’s out-of-place, and then there’s Deathstroke in My Adventures with Superman out-of-place. He’s voiced by Rick and Morty‘s Chris Parnell, and the cold-blooded mercenary sporting the voice of Jerry Smith of all people is exactly the fever dream it sounds like.
Suffice it to say that he was one of the more controversial villains in My Adventures with Superman, but perhaps this divisive rendition of the cold-blooded mercenary made his status as one of the show’s more complex villains all the more impactful.
Leslie Willis (Livewire)
Zehra Fazal swapped her many Young Justice voice roles for Livewire, a maniacal, electrokinetic adversary of the Man of Steel, in My Adventures with Superman.
Livewire proves herself as one of the biggest thorns in Superman and company’s side, being chiefly responsible for the heist on the US Army’s high-tech, power-gifting weaponry that kicked off most of Clark’s problems, and going on to be a key player in assembling the group of villains who sought to capture him. Indeed, in the context of My Adventures with Superman‘s character iterations, Livewire undoubtedly got the trophy for Best Villainy Glow-Up.
Amanda Waller
Last, but certainly not least, is the one and only Amanda Waller, who hasn’t changed a bit in her jump to My Adventures with Superman sans Debra Wilson stepping in as the voice of the Task Force X leader in lieu of the otherwise-perennial Viola Davis.
Indeed, even in My Adventures with Superman, Waller still seems dead set on accomplishing her tasks as unethically as she can muster, and let’s just say that she’s not the sort of person you want calling you a threat to humanity – as she did with poor Clark Kent – because, chances are, she’s going to do something about it, and that something usually involves strong-armed criminals and a whole lot of bloodshed.
Published: Sep 26, 2023 05:33 pm