Plot summary: Edward Lytener is back with a new costume, new powers and a crazy plot to rob Superman of his powers.
Notes and Trivia
Episode: 24 (S2.E11)
Original Air Date: September 26th, 1997
Directed: Kazuhide Tomonaga (2)
Written: Robert Goodman (4)
Animation: TMS-Kyokuichi Corporation (9)
Music: Kristopher Carter (7)
Edward Lytener returns from ‘Target‘ with a fancy new supervillain costume and alias,: Luminus. He is an STAS original who hasn’t made it over to comics outside of the direct tie-in ones for the show.
Turning the sun red would not turn the sky red but more of a dark blue/purple. Also the water would turn whatever colour the sky is. Sorry comic book dorks, science has spoken.
The hologram of the trainyard is re-used from the BTAS episode ‘It’s Never Too Late‘
Recap
On Stryker’s Island, Edward Lytener (remember him?) uses hidden tech cobbled together during his incarceration to render himself invisible and steals a helicopter.
Lois defies advice to keep a low profile until Lytener is apprehended, pursuing a lead… in a cable car! Metropolis rules. Clark becomes concerned and races off after her.
Good thing too, as Lytener attacks the car, telling her she’s just bait this time around as he’s after Superman. Sure enough, our boy in blue catches the falling tram, but struggles to hold the weight.
Lytener reveals a funky power suit and is now going by ‘Luminus’, mocking Supes for feeling under the weather. He flies away, leaving Superman to grab Lois and drop the tram.
Superman’s powers continue to fail him, and it soon becomes clear Luminus has used LexCorp satellites to create a forcefield that is turning sunlight red. Ya know, because a Red Sun robs Clark of his powers.
Luminus calls Clark out and runs rings around him with a a series of holograms and lasers. While our hero is able to drive him off temporarily with a burst water pipe, Luminus promises to kill him next time.
Meanwhile Lois and Jimmy Olsen head to a LexCorp satellite facility, discovering the building has been rendered invisible by Lytener… who promptly captures them and uses them as bait. Again.
Superman is subjected a variety of holographic illusions including a saloon, train tracks and a pirate ship, with Luminus tailoring his attacks to the aesthetic. Cute.
When Supes bumps into an invisible wall he’s able to trick Luminus into stabbing it, cutting a path out of the illusion room where he confronts the real Lytener.
Diverting a laser toward the satellite equipment, Superman destroys it and promptly regains his powers allowing him to easily take down Luminus and save Lois & Jimmy.
Best Performance
It’s short and sweet (an unfortunate trend), but Clancy Brown is so, so good. He plays the phone call with Lois as profoundly bored by the line of questioning, while giving it a subtle edge of ‘you’re god damn right I’m jeopardising the safety of the planet and costing myself millions to settle my grudge with Superman!’
Robert Hays is much better this time around, possibly because Lytener is fully cutting free as a villain and constantly taunting Superman. It’s mostly one-note, but that note is fun throughout and he does a lot more talking than Brown so I feel I have to give it to him. His final emotional outburst when he realises Superman is about to get his powers back seals it for him, as there’s a definite sense of desperation.
Episode Ranking
Superman losing his powers is as tropey as any Superman story. I wouldn’t go as far as to say this is a bad ‘one of those’, but it also didn’t really add a lot to the conversation, particularly in comparison to the trio of Parasite episodes. I suppose the difference is in those instances his powers come back on their own after a while, versus this situation where they’re slowly fading and won’t come back until he undoes Lytener’s work. That does give you the element of ‘oh no, Superman’s dying!’ and seeing his powers falter in real time… but the end result is broadly the same: He proves he’s more than just his powers and outsmarts the villain to win the day. It is satisfying for him to do that against a purported genius, but his improvisation has been better in other episodes. There are some cool elements which I’ll get into in a moment, but overall it’s extremely run of the mill.
Visually it’s one of the better episodes in the series to date, predominantly due to Lois puzzling out the invisible building thanks to a pigeon sitting on nothing, opening a door out of thin air and then closing it behind them. Likewise the various illusions let them mix things up a bit, from the saloon and pirate ship to the mostly re-used train yard. The constant red sky is unpleasant, but that’s by design. Also it reminded me of how much I hate the red sky in The New Batman Adventures. Luminus’ powers in general end up looking pretty great, with a slightly different representation of invisibility than you typically see, as well as all the lasers and copies. I can’t really articulate it properly, but there’s something extremely clean about the way Lytener was punching Superman right at the end when he thought he could finish the Man of Steel before his powers came back. See below.
It’s also a decent episode for character beats. Clark lifting up his desk with one hand when he thinks nobody is looking is wonderful flavour, on top of teasing the reveal that he’s slowly losing his powers as his arm is sore after. Lois gets slightly more to do than the average episode, which is never enough, and similarly Lex’s single scene is a solid one.
Solid is an appropriate word to describe the episode overall. There’s absolutely nothing ‘wrong’ with it, but it’s definitely not one I’d be tempted to revisit. I’d actually slot it below Lytener’s debut episode which was just better written. So it’s in the bottom half for now, but by the end of the show I’d expect it to be middle of the pack.
- Livewire
- Double Dose
- Fun and Games
- The Last Son of Krypton
- Stolen Memories
- Action Figures
- The Prometheon
- Tools of the Trade
- The Main Man
- Mxzypixilated
- Blasts from the Past
- Target
- The Way of All Flesh
- Solar Power (NEW ENTRY)
- My Girl
- A Little Piece of Home
- Feeding Time
- Speed Demons
- Two’s a Crowd
- Identity Crisis
Rogues Roundup
Luminus (Robert Hays) (second appearance)
Opting to dump any sense of character beyond generic evil inventor who taunts Superman and instead going all-in on fun powers isn’t something I want to reward… but I can’t deny he was far more engaging than the incel inventor who targeted Lois before. His new abilities are a smidge over the top. Invisibility and holograms are all well and good, but I’m less enthused about him figuring out how to make hard-light holograms that can punch Superman. “The proper use of lasers” indeed…
Still. I like his new costume. I like his new name. I like his methods of attack, particularly having a series of holographic clones fly in circles around Superman while shooting him with lasers. He ends up falling into Mirror Master rip-off territory at times, but hey, Mirror Master is fun!
Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown) (ninth appearance)
It’s an interesting beat to have Lex provide Lytener with a bunch of tech while he’s in prison given last time around they were on opposite sides to an extent. The obvious subtext is he caught wind that Lytener’s inventions had allowed him to effectively fight Clark so he wanted aboard that train, just like how he paid Livewire’s medical costs.
Tiny thing, but I also enjoyed him engaging in archery while talking on the phone with Lois. I think it’s important to remember he’s not just a physically pathetic egghead and is meant to be in good shape and generally great at most things he tries. Plus he’s talking on a bluetooth headset in 1997 so that’s pretty fun.
- Livewire
- Toyman
- Lex Luthor (–)
- Metallo
- Parasite
- Brainiac
- Mr. Mxyzptlk
- Lobo
- Luminus (↑)
- The Preserver
- Bruno Mannheim (and Intergang!)
- Kanto
- Mala & Jax-Ur
- The Prometheon
- Bizarro
- Earl Garver
- Mercy Graves
- Darkseid
- Detective Bowman
- Weather Wizard
The Matt Signal 
Leave a comment