REVIEW: ‘My Adventures With Superman’ Season 3 Episode 7 — “The Ex-Games”

If nothing else, My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 7 comes the closest to best emulating the very specific vibe and energy of late ’90s, early aughts Adult Swim / Toonami. But the fun is the fact that there’s an underlying important message for the series and especially Clark (Jack Quaid) dressed up in a whole lot of silliness. A divorce battle, alternate egos, aggressive swimwear, another Dragon Ball reference, and hell hippos can’t distract from the real heart of the episode, or take away from the narrative-obliterating final tag. 

But, for the most of the runtime, “The Ex-Games” lays the humor on thick. This is, in part, due to the reappearance of immortal mischief maker, Mr. Mxyzptlk (David Errigo Jr.). He summons Clark, “fun” Lois (Alice Lee), Jimmy (Ishmel Sahid), and Kara (Kiana Madeira) to take part in a series of battles for a tournament that will decide the fate of his and his beloved soon-to-be ex-wife, Glitzy’s (Erin Anderson), divorce. 

Glitzy has assembled her own team for this nebulous contest. It included General Lane, Good Lex Luthor, the Kryptonian warrior Supergirl, and Jimmy Flamebird. Or, rather, a Jimmy who has been given a super suit in order to fight against the Hunger Dogs that have taken over their alternate world. An alternate world where their Superman loses his powers, and Clark dies. They’re working together because they have no other choice. 

Silliness gives way to personal crisis in “The Ex-Games.”

The last time Mxy showed up, he caused a similar strain of personal crisis. Then, the League of Lois Lane’s showed up and demonstrated all of the different paths our version of Lois might take. In My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 7, he guides the characters on a similar journey of realizing that there’s no one set path to their futures. 

This has become a recurring line of thought in Season 3, first with Superboy (Darren Criss) and now as Clark, Lois, Jimmy, and Kara must all deal with the increasingly unknowable future. Jimmy is bothered by other Jimmy’s seeming disregard for Clark’s death, while Kara worries that other Supergirl is her fate, Brainiac’s parting words picking at her insecurities. Meanwhile, Lois realizes how one more tragedy is all it could take for her to become a colder version of herself.

Clark, meanwhile, continues to struggle with who he is if not Superman. Mxy doesn’t help, either, his frustration when realizing the Superman he summoned doesn’t have his powers palpable, saying, “Clark Kent is useless to me.” And those struggles persist through the increasingly silly games, as he struggles to keep up, making choices based on his loss of powers, prioritizing his and Jimmy’s safety in a crucial moment. 

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 7 earns moments of character growth.

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 7 finds a strong balance between the inherent absurdity of the premise with the overarching narrative. That said, it does fall victim to a heavier hand than the series tends to work with. It works, however, because the nature of Superman is sincerity. In the final battle, the groups must find their one true paths, forcing them to all contend with their past, present, and potential futures, turning to ice when they begin to waver on which way they go. 

It’s Kara who comes to the right conclusion, however. Jimmy apologizes to her, saying he’s been a bad friend and that while he still believes she deserves better than him, he’ll work on bettering himself to be deserving of her. It’s strong and necessary character growth while also giving Kara the push she needs. The one where she realizes that there’s no set path. “The future is ours to shape,” she says, coming to understand that each day offers a new chance to change and become different versions of ourselves. 

The games themselves might be inconsequential, but the realizations they make along the way aren’t. By the end of the last challenge, the two groups realize that this was never a game for divorce, but a date night. They were being used as pawns to collect keys to unlock the Cosmic Anvil, a device that allows the user to gain the power to reshape the universe. 

Mxy is a larger-than-life character matched by David Errigo Jr. animated performance.

To entice the players, Mxy and Glitzy offer to let the winners use the power to reshape their own worlds. And it’s the alternate characters most interested. Because for all that Clark might want his powers back, it doesn’t match the desire that other Jimmy and Lois have in wanting their friend back. Clark manages to convince them otherwise, and they’re sent back to their world. 

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 7 is lean, operating on the objectives of completing the challenges and winning the game to go home, and for the characters to learn more about themselves in the process. It’s a throwback in a good way and a necessary reprieve between the heaviness of the previous two episodes. The animation has fun in spending time in space, the galactic backdrop playing with colors and forms in a way that contrasts with the rest of the series. 

The humor is also strong throughout. While Mxy remains a divisive character, David Errigo Jr. does fantastic work in bringing the chaos imp to life, his misery over his players pushing him into more impulsive decisions. And there’s something hilarious about the fact that he chose the outfits Clark, Lois, Jimmy, and Kara fight in.

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 7 has fun before introducing a destructive new twist.

Their bathing suits stand out like a sore thumb both because of their location and that the other team is fully decked out in their standard battle gear. That whimsy is part of why “The Ex-Games” works. Sure, the plot is superfluous, but it has fun in that regard. 

After all of that, though, after all the ridiculous situations and the grounded foundation of Earth where Clark is beginning to come around to a life without his powers, another shocking event happens. Just as Clark and Lois discuss their future and how they keep being thrown into scenarios where they must confront potential terrible outcomes, Superboy returns, this time with a scar across his face and with another person donned in the Superman colors beside him. What on earth might’ve happened in one of their many, many futures now? 

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 7 leans heavily into having fun, addressing interpersonal and internal issues with silliness. The battle for Mxy is, undoubtedly, an unserious detour. But it reveals enough about the characters, their resolve and insecurities that make them complex to set the stage for the incoming, inescapable drama ahead. The future isn’t set, and that’s as much of a relief as it is a startling reminder as they face down the unknown. 

My Adventures with Superman Season 3 Episode 7 is out now on HBO Max. 

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