Back in 2003, FOX aired the first season of Arrested Development, featuring Will Arnett as Gob Bluth, a member of The Alliance of Magicians. While Gob was relatively normal (looking, at least), the rest were dressed like absolute freaks, which contrasted wildly with their slogan: “We Demand To Be Taken Seriously.” It’s a motto that, without irony, often spills out into superhero fandom, and has played out with fans of DC’s Snyder-verse, which took a dead serious, mythological approach to the comic book heroes.
Shockingly, while many likely expected James Gunn’s rebooted DCU to go in the other direction, with rare exceptions it’s been more extreme, more violent, and far more sexual than the previous iteration, catering to an aging fanbase that craves what they perceive to be the trappings of adulthood while grasping desperately at the last vestiges of their childhood. The antidote to this disparity between source material and fan desires? My Adventures With Superman, which returns for its third season on Adult Swim and HBO Max, and shows exactly what all of James Gunn’s DCU should be; yet decidedly is not.
First airing in 2023, My Adventures With Superman stars Jack Quaid as Clark Kent/Superman, initially introduced as an intern at the Daily Planet. Along with fellow interns Lois Lane (Alice Lee) and Jimmy Olsen (Ishmel Sahid), the Shonen anime-inspired series rebuilds the Superman mythos from the ground up (where else can you find Chris Parnell as a dangerously sexy Deathstroke?), expertly mixing heart and humor with big action sequences, reinvented villains and origins, and even new powers for Superman that draw heavily from Eastern comics and animation instead of Western. The result is something that feels fresh, new, and decidedly modern, while not ignoring the core of what has made Superman one of the most popular and recognizable characters in the world since 1938.
It’s on, like Krypton
To loop this back to the Alliance of Magicians, there’s a reason this show airs at Midnight during Adult Swim’s Toonami block… It doesn’t take itself seriously, featuring wall-to-wall jokes ranging from recurring audio cues (every time Jimmy says the name of his startup news app Flamebird, a bird cry is heard in the distance) alongside deeply felt twists and epic action beats as Clark discovers his darker-than-in-the-comics origins. My Adventures With Superman knows how to be both silly and earnest, often in the same scene; and the whiplash of tones works because of how well modulated the scripts are, and how razor-focused they are on the main trio of characters – now a quartet in season 3, thanks to the addition of Kara Zor-El (Kiana Madeira).
Contrast that with Superman on the big screen from James Gunn, a hyperkinetic ode to Silver Age comics that has its charms, but also features oddly modulated commentary on the modern world alongside superheroes gleefully murdering people. Or to talk about an upcoming release, how about the My Adventures With Superman version of Supergirl, who spent most of her life brainwashed and corrupted by Brainiac (Michael Emerson) and now spends season 4 obsessed with hot dogs and dating, singing and dancing, and still brings a mean punch. Meanwhile, the big screen version of Supergirl played by Milly Alcock is a drunken mess who – spoilers for the book by Tom King and Bilquis Evely – goes on a mission of revenge after Krypto the Superdog gets shot with a poisoned arrow and seems likely to die. Hot dogs or dead dogs… Which would you rather watch?
In fact, to dig deeper into Gunn’s DCU, most of it is for the “We Demand To Be Taken Seriously” fans to the exclusion of nearly anyone else. The Suicide Squad featured sex scenes, profanity, and massive amounts of violence. Creature Commandos highlighted nude, animated monster sex. This fall brings Clayface, a likely R-rated body horror movie. Lanterns is on HBO, and while we don’t know the exact content yet, it is intended to be True Detective with superheroes; i.e. dark, twisted, and potentially also full of nudity and sex. And Peacemaker? Full frontal nudity and orgies, alongside wall-to-wall profanity and graphic violence.
Blue world order
None of this is an aspersion on the quality of Gunn’s productions – and for a point of clarity, My Adventures With Superman is also produced by Gunn’s DC Studios, so it’s not like he’s in a battle for control of the future of DC superheroes with a rogue animated series or anything. But the carefully curated nature of the DCU that has Gunn not producing any scripts before they’re 100% done, while laudable, has front-loaded the rebooted franchise with fare almost exclusively appropriate for adults that does not open the door for new fans, or those who are superhero-curious. Superman came the closest, but any DCU follow-ups – with Supergirl potentially included – aren’t appealing to the same crowd.
My Adventures With Superman, technically classified as an “Elseworlds,” so not connected in any way to the live-action shows and films (or Creature Commandos and the upcoming, also likely extremely adult, based on the source material Mister Miracle), lays out the welcome mat that the DCU eschews. It feels exceedingly dumb to say, “hey did you know anime is popular,” but it is, and taking the characters of Superman and his amazing pals to where the non-aging audience lives means these stories can continue for another generation, and perhaps more.
Add in the upcoming My Adventures With Green Lantern spinoff – another direct contrast with the blunt instrument of Nathan Fillion’s bowl-cut Guy Gardner, and the adult shenanigans of Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) on Lanterns – and you have a path forward that Gunn should have taken, but instead he walked backwards.
It’s not too late, though, for Gunn to look at the approach My Adventures With Superman has pioneered and adapt that for the big and small screen of the DCU. And all it would take is for Gunn to embrace another Gob Bluth catchphrase: “I’ve made a huge mistake.”
My Adventures with Superman season 3 is streaming now on HBO Max. For more, here’s everything still to come in DCU: Chapter One, or here’s our rundown of the best anime to watch in 2026.
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