The Planeteers arrive to deal with another of Dr. Blight's schemes, this one involving smog, and Wheeler gains a fan in the form of Jason, a young local boy who desperately wants to become a superhero himself. This desire messes up the mission when Jason steals the Fire Ring to prove he's capable of saving the day.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Easily Forgiven: Despite Jason having caused a lot of trouble, including stealing Wheeler's ring and thus delaying the team's ability to solve the problem, the group and Captain Planet are all very accepting. The latter tells Jason he can be a hero by doing his best to protect the environment where he lives.
- Fan of Underdog: Jason, who thinks Wheeler is the coolest of the Planeteers. It would be a stretch to call Wheeler a "loser," but he is usually the least knowledgeable and biggest screw-up of the team.
- Green-Eyed Monster: When Dr. Blight calls the smog monster a pet name, MAL gets jealous.
- Heroic Wannabe: A young boy named Jason is obsessed with becoming a hero and saving the day. Since he keeps charging forward without thinking and trying to use things he knows nothing about (from the controls of a school bus to the Fire Ring), he just keeps making things worse.
- Jerkass Has a Point: The bullying kid mocks Jason when he talked to the Planeteers about wanting to be a hero, bluntly pointing out Jason was the one who endangered them all in the first place by letting the smog inside the bus.
- Make My Monster Grow: Dr. Blight creates a smog monster that grows as it consumes more smog and lets it loose in a city. By the time the team manages to summon Captain Planet to get rid of it, it's bigger than a bus.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Jason steals Wheeler's Fire Ring and tries to use it to stop the smog monster. All he wound up doing was blow up a train, which released a lot of smoke for the smog monster to eat, making it grow even bigger. Dr. Blight mockingly thanks the boy for the accidental assistance.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: When Wheeler gets injured, Jason takes his ring, thinking that he can use it to prove he can be a hero. The ring senses that Jason isn't its chosen wielder, and its firepower goes wild.
- Shout-Out:
- Dr. Blight creates a pollution-eating monster called the Smog Blob. As if the similarities to the Godzilla franchise's Hedorah weren't already obvious enough, it even grows from a tiny thing to a giant humanoid form and has scenes sucking up the smoke from smokestacks.
- While trying to act as a hero, Jason gives himself the name "Superkid."
- Stupid Evil: While explaining her plan to MAL, Dr. Blight expresses her distaste for clean air, saying that it makes people so healthy. It flies completely over her head that she is "people" and will eventually suffer the effects.
- Unwanted Assistance: Jason is obsessed with becoming a hero and constantly screwing up. When his school bus is caught in smog and everyone panics, he yells, "Turn on the headlights!" and tries to do it himself, but opens the door instead, letting in the smog and choking everyone. When Wheeler gets injured, he steals his ring and charges into battle, despite Wheeler warning him that only a chosen one can properly use the ring. Sure enough, when the kid tries to blast the villain, he can't control the fire and blows up random stuff. Wheeler has to rescue him and take his ring back before coordinating with the others to get rid of the smog.
