Five Thoughts on My Adventures with Superman’s “Zero Day Part 2”

Welcome back, friends, to the penultimate installment of season one. This week questions are answered, loyalties are tested, and a villain is revealed to the audience. Buckle in for an action packed one and remember spoilers ahead!

1. Superman Thesis

Something the show has been doing well throughout the season is answer the question of why Superman is great. What makes Superman special? They do this by contrasting the cynical take that Ivo and Task Force X have with how Lois, Jimmy, and the Newskid Legion see him. Something that all powerful cannot be all good . . . right? There has to be some selfish ulterior motive to what he’s doing. But throughout the show and especially this episode we are presented with the revolutionary idea that maybe he can be all good. That’s how this character, this idea, has survived all the iterations across 85 years. If he can be good, then so can we. By the end of the episode even one of the main antagonists starts to believe.

So much of our superhero media is all about the fight scene. It’s pretty standard in superhero comics that every issue needs to have a fight. But that isn’t the point of Superman, which he makes it clear in this episode when he has to stop Ivo. He says that he never wanted to fight anyone. He only wants to help. He doesn’t put on a mask to go out at night and beat people up. He puts on a cape to help. He’s the guy who saves the cat from a tree.

Lois and Jimmy start the episode frantically trying to find Superman since he was taken by Task Force X at the end of last week. They run into Flip and the Newskid Legion who insist on joining the search. Flip says that helping Superman like Superman helped her makes her feel less small.

2. The true threat behind Zero Day: Brainiac

Superman is in Task Force X’s custody being interrogated by the general. They are using Ivo’s parasite draining tech along with the Cadmus red sun field to keep him powerless. The general thinks Superman is part of an invading army. He wants to know when they are coming and how many. Superman is surprised to learn that the general has met others like him. He tells the general he’s lived on Earth his whole life.

The room changes to show us a recreation of Zero Day. There are two large pillars floating in the air with the negative space between them in the shape of Superman’s shield. A young version of the general is on the phone (with Lois or maybe her mom I’d bet) during the top secret mission briefing. When Waller confronts him about it he calls her Mandy again and she doesn’t like it. When he first called her Mandy a few episodes ago I was pretty surprised. No one gets that comfortable with The Wall.

At that moment the pillars activate and open a portal also shaped like the shield. Through it a fleet of robots directed by a masked figure attack the soldiers. The masked figure also has a shield on their chest in the same shape. This portal and the armada on the other side have all been seen by Clark in his visions when interacting with the tech.

It’s an absolute massacre and everyone is killed except Waller and the general. Suddenly there is an explosion on the other side of the portal, it closes, and the robots all deactivate. Could this explosion be the destruction of Krypton? The pillars both fall to the ground and the simulation ends.

All the robots have the Brainiac symbol on them first introduced in Superman the Animated Series. The three dots connected by the two lines has become shorthand for Brainiac since then. That series also made Brainiac an Eradicator like Kryptonian artificial intelligence. It looks like this is where this show is going too.

The general tells Superman he sees this every time he closes his eyes. He has sacrificed everything to prepare for their return, which I took as meaning his family. He explains they took the Kryptonian weapons and made them their own. Task Force X was created to prepare for this imminent invasion. He asks Superman again why is he there. Clark begins to cry and says he doesn’t know. At this point the general starts to believe him.

The general admits his doubts to Waller who is not happy about it. He reasons that if Superman aged like a human he’d be too young to be part of the original Zero Day attack. They call the attackers Nemesis Omega. The general thinks that Superman may be innocent. Waller isn’t having it and calls into question his objectivity. Asks if Superman reminds him of “her” which I bet is Lois. The general isn’t willing to do what Waller believes needs to be done. So Waller turns off Livewire’s collar to allow her to escape. Task Force X doesn’t make mistakes.

3. Kaiju Parasite

A freed Livewire busts out Ivo, Intergang, and Heatwave. This gives Ivo the chance to finish getting his revenge on Superman. With the Parasite suit back on he starts his attack. He begins drawing power from the building growing bigger with each drain.

Superman tells Parasite that he doesn’t want to hurt him and that he won’t fight him. The general tells Parasite to stand down, but with the help of the other released criminals they take out all the guards. Superman hears Lois looking for him and uses the chaos of the battle to escape. Livewire juices up Parasite to make him bigger than ever and they escape after Superman.

Superman is found by Flip in the same old alleyway. They bring him to the Newskid Clubhouse to meet up with Lois and Jimmy. Superman tells Lois that he knows why he is on Earth. Because he’s a weapon and alien invader sent to kill everyone. That’s why he can shoot fire from his eyes and rip apart steel. He’s made for destruction. He saw it on Zero Day.

The Parasite, now Kaiju sized, begins to wreak havoc on Metropolis. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Parasite adaptation make him this big. The direct to video animated movie Superman Man of Tomorrow ended the same way. It works really well in this anime inspired adaptation, especially with the design of the Parasite suit being Evangelion influenced. Despite being weak, Superman knows he needs to try and stop Parasite from hurting anyone.

4. The first good use of social media?

Lois wants to help Superman – – and Jimmy knows how. He’s got 5 million Flamebird followers now and that reach can get the word out. He starts a live stream and introduces himself as Superman’s best friend (Superman’s pal would have been so much better here). Lois almost says she is Superman’s girlfriend, but stops herself short and says that she is a reporter for The Daily Planet. They speak to the good Superman has done. How Superman goes out every single day to use his power to help the citizens of Metropolis. Now it’s their turn to help him by turning off all sources of power for Parasite.

During the Flamebird stream we see Bibbo and Lori Lemaris again (two of them in fact) along with Lana Lang and Pete Ross. Plus Lombard joins and two people with Cat Grant inspired screen names. I love these little bits.

Superman hears this all as the buildings around him all start to power down. As Parasite starts to weaken the tables have turned on the battle. Ivo blames Superman for turning him into a monster, but Ivo chose to be a monster. Superman gains his x-ray vision for the first time and uses it to pinpoint where Ivo is in the suit. He flies through the giant Parasite pulling Ivo out and stopping the attack. Soon the sun rises on Metropolis and the Parasite suit goes dormant.

Superman returns to his friends and Jimmy gives him an attack hug. He tells Lois he heard everything she said. Lois tells him the world and specifically her world is better with Superman in it. Lois gives him an shoulder punch and calls him Smallville very reminiscent of the Erica Durance and Tom Welling dynamic from Smallville. They tell each other “I love you” and we get a big kiss.

Jimmy grabs Lois’s bag and leaves to gives them a bit of privacy, but uh-oh he finds the sphere from the League of Lois Lanes. He triggers it and watches Overman’s attack.

5. Checkmate

We get a coda with Waller and the general. His failure to take lethal action against Superman has disappointed their superiors. She has been authorized by the US government and Checkmate to relieve the general of his duties. Waller is head of Task Force X now. She introduces the Omega cannon and gives the general a new job: track down and terminate Superman.

Checkmate is a major part of the spy and covert ops side of the DC Universe. The Task Force X intrigue gets more interesting with deeper ties to other secret organizations. Might we see other Checkmate members? Do they have the same leadership structure of Black and White Kings and Queens like the comics? I am excited to see this adapted here and wonder where they are going to go with it. They could have just said US government, but adding that little Checkmate note makes it that much cooler.

Next week’s finale is titled “Hearts of the Fathers.” Will my prediction come true with Lois and the general? With the general starting to see Clark as not a threat I’m not sure he’s going to come between them anymore. Maybe the general will help Superman take down Waller? And there is another father out there that is still a mystery: Jor-El. What part did Jor-El play in Zero Day?