Warning: SPOILERS for the My Adventures with Superman episode “Two Lanes Diverged” are ahead!
Although My Adventures with Superman’s version of Lex Luthor did appear during Season 1, it wasn’t until Season 2 began that we actually knew this. Initially going by Alex, Max Mittelman's take on the character decided to identify himself as Lex Luthor to Amanda Waller when they joined forces at the end of “Adventures with My Girlfriend.” Then in the final minutes of “Fullmetal Scientist,” Luthor took over Amertek Industries, fired John Henry Irons from the company and admired the Metallo robots he acquired for his and Waller’s schemes. Now with the episode “Two Lanes Diverged,” he’s made his first big move against Jack Quaid’s Man of Steel, and I’m thinking this could lead to one of the DC superhero’s other classic villains being introduced later this season.
How Lex Luthor Made Superman’s Life More Difficult
While Lois and Same Lane were hightailing it from Slade Wilson, Atomic Skull and Damage in “Two Lanes Diverge” (during which time we got flashbacks to what Lois’ childhood with her father was like, as well as met this show’s version of Winslow Schott, a.k.a. Toyman in the comics), Clark and Jimmy attended the 23rd S.T.A.R. Labs Symposium, as the latter was invited to speak at the keynote discussion. What he didn’t realize was this discussion was called The Superman Problem, and Lex Luthor soon appeared on to argue why Superman doesn’t belong on Earth. Jimmy tried desperately to defend Metropolis’ protector while Clark watched awkwardly from the audience.
Eventually the two storylines collided when Lois and Sam ended up at the Symposium, and Superman intervened to save them from their pursuers. Unfortunately, the cutting-edge technology that was on display was all destroyed, and Lex Luthor blamed Super for it, telling the crowd that the Man of Steel is the “#1 threat to humanity.” Many of the attendees found themselves agreeing with him, including representatives from S.T.A.R. Labs and some of the U.S. government departments, who threw their support behind Task Force X. Luthor promised that this decision would make Earth safer than ever before, although he said this as the Kryptonian warrior affiliated with Brainiac from the Season 1 finale looked at our planet from space.
The Classic Superman Villain Who Could Show Up As A Result
Once again, we’re reminded that this warrior and Brainiac are on the way to wreak havoc on Earth, but let’s table further discussion about that for another time. You may recall that in the My Adventures with Superman Season 2 premiere, “More Things in Heaven And Earth” (which ended with the deletion of the Jor-El AI program), Clark, Lois and Jimmy went to S.T.A.R. Labs to meet with Hank, the company’s PR guy and Lois’ old college classmate. What I didn’t realize when I first watched that episode was that Hank was Hank Henshaw, better known to comic book readers as Cyborg Superman.
Hank Henshaw returned in “Two Lanes Diverge” as the S.T.A.R. labs representative who told Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller that he and the others of his ilk were behind Task Force X. So now the show’s Hank already has a bone to pick with Superman, and it could get worse. You see, in the comics, Hank became Cyborg Superman after he was gravely injured in a space flight that his wife Terri and two other crew members were on. Hank’s mind was transferred into the LexCorp mainframe and he constructed a new robot body for himself, but when Terri saw this, she jumped to her death. Hank later blamed Superman for his death, as well as his wife’s and other crew members from the shuttle, and while he initially pretended to be the Man of Steel during the “Reign of the Supermen” era, needless to say he ended up joining the hero’s rogues gallery.
Since My Adventures with Superman’s version of Hank Henshaw is now allied with lex Luthor and Amanda Waller, it’s not a stretch to wonder if he’ll become Cyborg Superman too. Now, that doesn’t mean we’ll get an exact recreation of his origin story from the comics. In fact, now that Luthor has the Metallos, if Hank’s body is practically destroyed, I wouldn’t be surprised if tech from those robots is used to create his new, superpowered body. In fact, I’ll go a step further. Similar to how this series melded Anthony Ivo and Parasite into one character, what if instead of John Corben, Hank is used as My Adventures with Superman’s adaptation of Metallo? Meaning, he’ll still have a robot body, but now one that’s powered by a Kryptonite heart.
It’s also possible that Hank, also voiced by Max Mittelman, will just stay a normal guy. We’ll just have to tune into the rest of My Adventures with Superman Season 2 (which will also see Supergirl flying into action) to see what happens. New episodes premiere Sundays on the 2024 TV schedule during Adult Swim’s Toonami block, and they can be streamed with a Max subscription afterwards.
