James Gunn’s Superman rebooted the DC Universe by skipping the well-known origin story of the Last Son of Krypton and picking up after he had already established himself as the Earth’s most powerful superhero. But while Gunn doesn’t show the destruction of Kal-El’s home planet, or how his escape rocket was found by kindly Kansas farmers, he did dramatically change one part of Superman’s backstory by making his parents a lot less benevolent.
In a holographic recording revealed by Lex Luthor, Superman’s father Jor-El encourages his son to start a harem and take over the Earth. Clark Kent grew up imagining his father was a nice guy because he didn’t see the full message. It’s a change to DC canon that resonates with My Adventures with Superman co-showrunner Jake Wyatt, who spoke to Polygon ahead of the Adult Swim show’s season 3 premiere on June 13.
“I loved the different way that [Gunn] subverted the Superman mythos,” Wyatt says. “I think I’m here to do this one thing. I’ve actually been sent to subjugate these people. I now have to reconstruct my identity with my real parents and my real friends and my mean girlfriend and figure out who I am all over again.”
Wyatt and his co-showrunner Brendan Clogher rewrote the story of Krypton in a similar way for their show, which premiered in 2023. In My Adventures with Superman, which exists in its own continuity outside the DCU, Kal-El arrived on Earth as part of a Kryptonian invasion known as Zero Day. Clark learns more about the evils of the Kryptonian Empire in season 2, when he meets his cousin, Kara Zor-El, who has been helping Brainiac annihilate civilizations that didn’t bow to Kryptonian rule. Clark persuaded Kara to help him defeat Brainiac and join him in protecting Earth.
“Everybody has to write their story, everybody has to choose who they are,” Wyatt says. “We like giving them a backstory at odds with their choices because it’s their choices that matter.”
While their version of Krypton is very different from the one Richard Donner introduced in the 1978 Superman, Clogher says the classic film also set up a hero who isn’t defined by his past since he’s a source of hope for Earth despite coming from a world that was destroyed.
“When the world is at its worst, your heroes are going to be at their best,” he says. “You want Superman backdropped against this horrible tragedy. I think that’s true of most superheroes, who have some horrible tragedy that they are living their lives to defy.”
My Adventures with Superman premieres at midnight June 13 on Adult Swim. New episodes air weekly on Saturday through Aug. 15.
