My Adventures With Superman Season 3 Episode 4 Recap: Who Is The Architect Of Future Crisis?

Alternate doomed timelines have always been a DC comics/media specialty, be it on DCEU, DCAMU, or Arrowverse – nothing seems to convey danger as well as emphasizing how compounded negative events can send entire timelines on a collision course. “My Adventures With Superman” is no exception, of course, as the last episode gave viewers a glimpse of this universe’s dark future, where Metropolis has turned into a dystopic hellscape, a future where Lex Luthor is one of the good guys and has sent Superboy, aka Jon Kent, into the past to prevent the world-ending crisis from ever happening. In the fourth episode of the ongoing season, we learn the identity of the orchestrator of the crisis as Jon Kent arrives in the present. Previously, Cyborg Superman Hank Henshaw’s violent approach to superhero-ing drew flak from the public, causing Lex to chastise him. Hank tried to get the upper hand over Lex and Slade, prompting Lex to torment him using the controller of his cyborg parts. Henshaw’s villainous turn is fully realized in the latest episode, which also turns out to be the foundation of the crisis in the future. 

Spoilers Ahead

With a bouquet in his hand, Clark pays a surprise visit to Lois’ apartment, only to realize she has become quite exasperated thanks to Kara’s exuberance with the dating app and potential suitors. To fix Lois’ jittery mood, Clark decides to take her to their favourite pancake café. En route, Jimmy interrupts a bit by calling Clark and mentioning that he is still connected with the W.O.R.M.S dating scene. Apparently, being turned into a werewolf and tossed around by Giganta wasn’t enough of a lesson for Jimmy, and he is on his way to meet new dates. Jimmy mentions one of them, a scientist by profession who is from Coast City, and apparently, she has some classified intel on something that piqued Jimmy’s curiosity. Lois hangs up on Jimmy before he can reveal her identity. I can assume Jimmy might be talking about Carol Ferris, Michelle Carter, or some other major figure associated with the fictional DC setting. 

Anyway, while munching on sugary snacks in the café, Lois and Clark get the biggest shock of their entire lives when Superboy casually joins them and introduces himself as their son! Both are surprised, but while Clark’s reaction is tinged with a bit of amazement due to how he’s planned their future already, Lois is understandably petrified. As shown previously, she is someone who doesn’t want to rush into the future, and fears that stressing too much about it might ruin the present. She didn’t even imagine what it would be like to become a mother. In that context, the possibility of her son arriving from the future to introduce himself is nothing short of a nightmare. Soon enough, Kara and Jimmy join them as well, and wholeheartedly accept Jon, leaving Lois much more exasperated than usual. The team briefly visits STAR labs to have the porcupine quills that have grown on Jimmy due to his recent dating misadventures removed.  Jon is super enthusiastic about the present and enjoys his visit, and it is pretty apparent at this point that he is not lying about being Clark and Lois’ son. However, Lois, who has not been able to wrap her head around the fact that she is going to become a mother, can’t help but ask Jon the purpose of his visit. Before he can answer her, Jon is taken shopping along with Kara and the rest of the team. If I am not wrong, Jon seems to be avoiding Kara a little bit while trying to connect with his mother the most. In the mall, Jon saves a mother and a child from a falling object, and seeing him act all heroic as his father, Lois is finally convinced that Jon is indeed who he claims to be. 

Lois and Jon finally get some time together during Lois’ break period in the Daily Planet office, and Jon can’t help but notice the sense of disappointment in Lois’ voice. Lois reassures him by mentioning her fear that getting dragged into a predestined future is what’s making her act this  way. Jon assures his mother that he doesn’t believe in destiny; instead, like her, he shares the belief that the future can be shaped by one’s actions in the present. Lois finds comfort in Jon’s words, and asks Jon about the future he lives in. Before Jon can answer, he is again interrupted, this time by the sudden emergence of Subterranosaurii – a dinosaur humanoid species who live close to the centre of the earth and have been fed up by the rampant exploitation of humans, which is destroying their habitat. Jon requests that Kara let him join Clark and handle the situation. The kid wants to spend as much time as he can with his parents. Jon assures Clark that in his timeline, Subterranosaurii are allies of humans, and he can convince these enraged dino-people to come to a truce. However, that doesn’t turn out to be the case as the dino-people cause chaos in Metropolis without paying heed to Jon’s suggestion to maintain peace and harmony. Jon is a bit rough around the edges, perhaps due to his experience as a survivor in the dark timeline. Clark teaches his son to be kind and gentle while going about the superhero routine. As the father-son duo seems to take care of the Subterranosaurii crusade, the leader of the dino-people, Tyrannko, emerges and speaks in fluent human tongue to share the true motive behind their attack. DC fans will recognize Tyrannko and the dino-people from “All Star Superman,” Grant Morrison’s masterpiece, where he retconned a lot of classic Silver Age and Golden Age lore of Superman comics. Jon manages to reason with him and push for a human-Subterranosaurii alliance, and is elated to realize that he himself is the reason behind their future alliance all along. Super impressed with his son’s actions, Clark decides to bring him to his home, the Kent farm.

As the Super-team gathers on the Kent farm, Kara is seen riding a white horse, which acts as a visual reference to Supergirl’s pet horse, Comet, and reminds us of his beautiful, tragic arc in “Woman of Tomorrow” comics. Jon spends some time with Lois, who connects with her son in her own way. Clark can’t help but share his joy at seeing their son upholding their legacy in the best way possible, and Lois is quite relieved as the future doesn’t scare her as much as it did before. 

In the meantime, Hank Henshaw, who is struggling with a sense of powerlessness and public humiliation, facing disdain since the events of the last episode, finally snaps. He used to have feelings for Lois, and at present, seeing her call out Cyborg Superman’s irresponsible, violent action on camera makes Henshaw totally lose it. Feigning subservience to Lex, Henshaw uses his cyborg tech to hack the controller and Kryptonian robots at Lex’s disposal. Henshaw manages to corner Lex without breaking a sweat, who is shocked to realize Slade, who repeatedly warned him not to trust Henshaw, will not come to his aid either. Henshaw blames Lex for his present predicament, although it is Lex’s tech that actually saved his life following his fatal accident in space. To save his skin, Lex tries to redirect Hank’s anger and hatred towards Superman. The xenophobic mind of Henshaw already considers the alien savior as his archenemy, and he doesn’t need much convincing. Before leaving, Henshaw injures Lex by throwing him away like a rag doll. Henshaw causes mass panic by wreaking havoc in Metropolis and decides to draw Superman’s attention by provoking him on live television. Kara and Clark hurriedly live, and a terrified Jon finally reveals the true reason for his arrival in the past to his mother, Lois. 

As Jon mentions, Henshaw’s mayhem caused the deaths of both Clark and Lois in the future, and turned the planet into a dystopian world. As the episode concludes, Lois is shocked to learn that Jon was sent back to the past to save them from Henshaw. Jon’s arrival raises so many questions; we don’t know whether time travel in this universe is affected by the butterfly effect or the grandfather paradox. In that case, things are going to become much more complicated for everyone due to Jon’s involvement. Also, it remains in question whether Lex will be able to find a way to rein in his ‘creation,’ it doesn’t seem that he will ally himself with the Super-team to take down Henshaw, to be honest.