Take a shot any time someone brings up “the future” in the new season of My Adventures with Superman — but do so at your own risk. The heroes and villains of Adult Swim’s animated super-series are vocally preoccupied with the passage of time: nearly every monologue, heart-to-heart, or teachable moment revolves around their fear of the future. Some fear that it’s coming too fast, while others feel like it’s been wrenched out of their hands. When taken one episode at a time, it’s not terribly noticeable. But if you’re binging the new season (as this writer did), all that handwringing can start to sound like a bludgeon to the head — or Squidward’s “future” meltdown in that now-iconic episode of SpongeBob dragged out across 10 zig-zagging episodes.
That repetition speaks to one of the series’s longstanding issues. My Adventures might premiere within Toonami’s late-night anime/action block, and it might have a more grown-up premise this season to go with it, but it still moves like a show designed for a much younger audience. That, or an audience who doesn’t fully “get” what showrunners Jake Wyatt and Brendan Clogher are trying to set up. Whatever the intent, the third season of My Adventures could have benefited from a little less spoonfeeding. But that doesn’t mean that this series — which has been an underrated bright spot in the struggling DC Universe since 2023 — has hit a new low. In so many other ways, Season 3 is the most ambitious thus far. Its attempts to push these episodic, anime-inspired adventures in a more serialized direction don’t always work, but My Adventures rises above in other ways.
