By Drew Dietsch
| Published
It’s Superman week and other than some disingenuous dimwits doing their best to ruin the fun, I’ve been enjoying revisiting some of my favorite Superman media.
One of Big Blue’s cornerstones in my upbringing was Superman: The Animated Series, the follow-up to the game-changing Batman: The Animated Series. While that series had a reputation for darker, more tragic stories, Superman: The Animated Series often exemplified the brightest and best of the original superhero and his world.
But the show was willing to dip its toes into darker material. Though most will probably name the alternate future episode “Brave New Metropolis” as the show’s darkest outing, there is one episode that goes to an even grimmer place than a fascist Superman. And it reminds us why Clark Kent is the most important part of Superman.
“The Late Mr. Kent”
In “The Late Mr. Kent”, the episode opens with the funeral of Clark Kent. It turns out that Clark was investigating a death row inmate’s alibi and discovered evidence that exonerated him. On his way to deliver the evidence, a car bomb explodes and Superman believes he is put in a scenario where he can’t reappear as Clark Kent without giving away his secret identity.
It’s a solid premise for a Superman story that allows reflection on why Clark Kent is such an important part of this world. Not only is he a legitimate investigative journalist trying to do the right thing, but his supposed death also reveals just how much he means to his coworker, Lois Lane.
There is also a small but crucial moment when Clark is back home with his parents. They start discussing how they are going to move forward. Pa Kent says that Clark just can’t be Clark anymore. “But I AM Clark! I need to be Clark. I’d go crazy if I was Superman all the time!”
It’s here where the episode really hits home the importance and necessity of Clark Kent. He’s not some act being put on solely for the benefit of others. He’s not a costume for Superman to wear. Clark Kent IS Clark Kent and needs to be him because Superman is a role he plays. If he had to play him forever, he wouldn’t actually be true to himself.
While that’s all good thematic meat to chew on, the darkness of the episode gets much inkier when the villain is revealed.
Bad Cop, No Donut
It turns out that Detective Bowman on the Metropolis police force is the real killer and has been doing everything in his power to cover his tracks, including sentencing an innocent man to death. Just the idea that an animated series aimed primarily at kids would create such a plot is dark enough on its own. But it gets nastier!
Not only do we have a corrupt, murderous cop as the baddie, but his ultimate fate is one of the most shocking in any superhero cartoon. After Superman stops the execution and saves the innocent man, the ending has Bowman on his way to his own execution.
I won’t go off on the death penalty for this piece, but I will say that even touching on this kind of subject matter is dark material for a kids show, especially since the last moments are Bowman realizing Clark Kent is Superman and the executioner throwing the switch.
“The Late Mr. Kent” is rightly celebrated as one of the greatest episodes of Superman: The Animated Series. It gives more focus than usual to Clark instead of Superman and argues why there is no Superman without Clark Kent. Then, it goes off the deep end with an ending that has to be seen to be believed.
