Contains spoilers for My Adventures With Superman season 2!
My Adventures With Superman saw another take on DC’s multiverse with a fun, short plot point that highlighted just how convoluted The Flash’s version of the multiverse actually was. My Adventures With Superman season 2, episode 7 featured the glorious return of Monsieur Mallah and The Brain, who have been away traveling around the multiverse. They are enlisted by Jimmy Olsen to help steal a spaceship from Task Force X, but spare some time to shed a little light on the animated show’s multiverse along the way.
The DC brand is no stranger to the multiverse, as it has been explored countless times across all mediums, including in the comics, in animation, and in live action shows and movies. One of the more recent uses of the multiverse in live-action came in the DCEU timeline with The Flash, which failed to connect with audiences and bombed at the box office as a result. However, the animated Superman show makes it clear that there are other ways to explore the vast DC multiverse, which sets a promising precedent for My Adventures With Superman season 3.
My Adventures With Superman’s Easy Multiverse Explanation Makes The Flash Look Even Sillier Now
When Jimmy Olsen needs help, he calls upon Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, who have been traveling the multiverse together for the last six months. They explain that they had a great time on their adventure but realized that every universe already has a version of themselves and that having more than one version of themselves was too much for a single universe. Their biggest issue happened when they were kicked out of their last visited universe for causing a black hole, but that is a throwaway joke line in a scene that takes maybe less than a minute.
The multiverse in My Adventures With Superman, as explained by Monsieur Mallah and Brain, is quite simple. This is refreshing given the convoluted nature that multiverse stories usually entail, particularly with The Flash. By keeping the plot simple and humorous, My Adventures With Superman made the multiverse feel fun, which fits right in with the entire tone of the show. Less really is more when comparing the way these two stories approached the multiverse.
Why The DCU May Be Able To Handle The DC Multiverse Better
The upcoming DCU timeline has the chance to utilize the multiverse better than the DCEU did by using the concept to bring variety to stories and plots. They can be significant to the entirety of the multiverse, or on a smaller scale that really focuses on characters and how they interact with the concept. The DCU can also utilize the multiverse to bring characters (and stories) from the previous DCEU that worked, like the upcoming Peacemaker season 2.
Like the recent mention of the multiverse in My Adventures With Superman, not every multiverse story needs to be on a massive scale that features multiple different iterations of iconic characters and has universe ending stakes. The idea of the multiverse should allow the opportunity to have fun with these characters and see them differently. As such, approaching multiverse shenanigans from a different angle could be what allows the DCU to really thrive if they decide to utilize the multiverse concept.
The multiverse will always have significance to the DC brand, as it has historically enabled the franchise to tell amazing stories without having to always be tied down to a specific canon. Of course, with it being used so much, not every idea will land – and, unfortunately for The Flash, the movie appears to be one such example of just that. On the other side of the coin, My Adventures With Superman shows that not every multiverse plot needs to have these massive stakes to be significant.
