Superman: The Animated Series
Episode 7
The Way of All Flesh
Metallo is born. John Corben is living a life of luxury in prison as a thanks from Lex Luthor for not ratting on him. He somehow gets a rare disease and uses Luthor to escape and be cured. Luthor’s scientists transfer his brain into a robot, give him a kryptonite heart, and the name Metallo. The price of this cure, Luthor wants Superman dead.
The twist in the episode is Metallo loses his sense of touch, taste, smell and it drives him insane. One of the more unbelievable moments is when he forces a kiss on Lois Lane. Her smack is justified but pointless. The complexity in that move on a children’s cartoon is profound. Corben’s distraught over his loss of human senses. He demands Luthor scientists fix him, they say it can’t be done.
Corben tracks Luthor down to kill him. The best part is when Corben complains about not being able to have sex ever again. Since the cartoon can’t outright say it, he just says he can’t-dot-dot-dot, looks at the beautiful woman Lex Luthor is on a date with, and throws her overboard. How that got by the censors is pure gold. Luthor talks a good game and calms Metallo down.
Superman shows up and reveals that Luthor is the one who gave Corben the disease. Metallo is all kinds of pissed off. He wants to kill Superman and Lex Luthor. Superman has to keep his distance because of the kryptonite heart. During his rage the boat explodes, Corben sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Superman saves Lex Luthor because heroes don’t discriminate on whom they save.
A pretty good episode. We get a new super powered villain who is a real obstacle Superman. It’s a callback to the first episode where Corben was a mercenary. A nice mini-story arc was created there. We get Luthor showing how great of a foe he can be by pulling the strings from behind and Superman unable to stop him by conventional means.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
