Two Superman Shows Reinterpreted Intergang - But Only One Is Comics-Accurate

Superman & Lois and My Adventures with Superman both recently featured Intergang. One of them, however, takes the criminal team in a wild direction.

Superman is enjoying an elevated moment of television right now, with the live-action Superman & Lois wrapping up its three-season run in June, only to hand the baton off to the animated My Adventures with Superman. Both series have enjoyed high praise among the fans. Both also bring a breath of fresh air to a Man of Steel rather desperately in need of one.

That includes a double presentation of Intergang, one of Superman's perennial foes in the comics with a long history to draw upon. Both series have their own take on the organization, yet Superman & Lois delivers a very comics-accurate take, while My Adventures with Superman ranges far afield. And they're both still undeniably Intergang, reinterpreted for the needs of a specific project. They're a great example of how such characters can thrive despite such diverse incarnations.

Superman & Lois Strip Intergang Down to Its Basics

Intergang first appeared in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133 (Jack Kirby, Al Plastino, Vince Colletta, and John Costanza). In the comics, they began as an old-school crime syndicate under the command of founder Boss Moxie Manheim. When he dies, he's replaced by Morgan Edge, who has deep ties to Apokolips and uses the gang to help Darkseid complete the Anti-Life Equation. Accordingly, Intergang often sports high-tech alien weaponry from their sinister benefactor: unwittingly performing Darkseid's will on Earth and going from a mundane criminal mob to a genuine challenge for Superman in the process.

Edge is eventually replaced by Manheim's son Bruno, who continues to run Intergang in a manner similar to his predecessors. Lex Luthor takes control of it in The Adventures of Superman #552 (Karl Kesel, Tom Grummett, Denis Rodier, Glenn Whitmore, and Albert DeGuzman), while reboots and capital "c" Crises have thrown the specifics for multiple loops. Superman & Lois uses them as major villains throughout its run, starting with the pilot when Morgan Edge buys out the Daily Planet. Lois and Clark return to Smallville with their family, only to find Edge and his forces setting their sights on the town. The series belongs to the larger Arrowverse continuity. Darkseid and the Apokolips connection have been completely eliminated.

Instead, Edge turns out to be another Kryptonian exile, with a plan to resurrect his dead planet by using humans to house Kryptonian consciousness. That simplifies the narrative and ties Intergang more closely to Clark's past. Yet at the same time, it sticks remarkably close to many of the group's core notions, including Bruno Manheim, the use of high technology, and the fact that they are very dangerous for Superman and his family.

My Adventures with Superman's Intergang Is Almost Entirely New

Ironically, My Adventures with Superman's version of Intergang may be far more closely connected to Darkseid than Superman & Lois, depending on the as-yet-unrevealed origins of the tech they use. It's surprising because the series starts from the bottom up, showing Intergang's humble origins as a trio of stick-up artists who luck into some big-time gadgets. They include The Silver Banshee and The Mist -- a DC stalwart villain and a holdover from The Golden Age, respectively -- who nonetheless had no connection to Intergang before now. Superman & Lois interweaves its version of the group with plenty of pertinent details from the comics. My Adventures with Superman takes only the bare-bones concept and the name.

Neither way necessarily works better than the other. Both have their advantages: greater accuracy gives Superman & Lois more ready access to comics storylines, while My Adventures with Superman has a lot more freedom to do its own thing with Intergang. But their proximity demonstrates that good storytelling renders accuracy a superfluous detail. The comics are the comics, and as long as creators approach them with respect, how they're used becomes a matter of what the particular project needs.

New episodes of My Adventures with Superman stream every Thursday on Max.