Warner Bros. Axed 2 Huge Villains In My Adventures With Superman For Good Reason

"My Adventures with Superman" took a different approach with its villains, leaving behind the heavy hitters, like Lex Luthor, General Zod, and Brainiac, and giving lesser-known villains the spotlight as it detailed a new take on the Man of Steel's origins. Naturally, the anime-inspired superhero series wanted to include some of Superman's biggest nemeses, but Warner Bros. ultimately prevented them, for a good reason.

Speaking to The Comics Cube, "My Adventures with Superman" producer Josie Campbell reflected on studio interference that altered what villains they'd include in the series, saying, "Our big execs on Warner Brothers were like, 'Well, these are the big hitters that everybody's seen, and everybody's expecting. And we've seen this a million times, so we want your twist on things.' And I think it was Sam Register... and Audrey Diehl, who were doing notes for us, were like, 'These characters take up the whole screen. They kind of suck the air out because they're so famous, and there's so many expectations, so hold off on them. Hold off on these characters, and build the story how you see fit.'"

Although studio interference has previously plagued DC productions, the notes for "My Adventures with Superman" ultimately worked for the better, allowing the production to focus on its version of the beloved hero. Instead of featuring the Man of Steel's big bads, the series instead concentrated on developing its story, keeping the attention on Superman (Jack Quaid), Lois (Alice Lee), and the other characters that make "My Adventures with Superman" unique.

While Warner Bros.'s interference helped "My Adventures with Superman" narrow down its focus, starting small with Superman's origins, it didn't stop the series from featuring iconic villains. However, they weren't the ones anyone expected, and the production wanted to surprise fans with who they included.

With Season 1 in the books, we now know that Deathstroke (Chris Parnell), Amanda Waller (Debra Wilson), and Livewire (Zehra Fazal) all played significant roles in the episodes. However, given the characters' usual comic book settings, no one expected them to appear in a Superman show, and that's exactly what the production wanted. "With everything, we wanted to subvert expectations," Josie Campbell said in her interview with The Comics Cube. "We wanted to pick things that were surprising, and we wanted to showcase different characters and villains and things that like we thought would be fun to pair up."

As for how they chose those villains, Campbell said it all boiled down to who she and her fellow producers were fans of. "Some of that also is me being a Deathstroke fan, and Brendan [Clogher] being a Deathstroke fan, and Jake [Wyatt] being a Deathstroke fan," she said, throwing Waller in as another favorite among the producers. The studio interference led them to include some of their favorite villains without taking the spotlight away from Superman while still teasing that Brainiac is on the way.