Recap / Superman: The Animated Series S2 E11 "Solar Power"

The sun seems to have been partially blocked, and Superman begins to lose his powers as the necessary rays fail to reach him. As Lois Lane investigates, she and Jimmy are kidnapped by the villain responsible - Edward Lytener, who has reinvented himself as a supervillain called Luminus. With his love and his friend held hostage, Superman has to face Lytener in battle. Can the depowered Man of Steel survive?

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This episode contains examples of:

• Batman Gambit: Implied with Luthor; see Not Me This Time.
• Big "NO!": Uttered by Luminus when normal sunlight is restored and Superman starts getting up.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Lytener can't Just Shoot Him; he has to rub it in first.
• Brought Down to Normal: Lytener's scheme. Superman didn't like it, because not only did it hamper his super-heroics, but also he got to experience such things as pulled muscles.
• Brought Down to Badass: Unfortunately for him, Lytener didn't recognize that Superman is no easy target even sans superpowers. Red sunlight only removes his superpowers...leaving Lytener (a former office worker with an average build and Hard Light holograms) having to fight an experienced superhero who grew up on a farm (with all the manual labor that entails) and who is built like a Mack truck.
• Canon Foreigner: Lytener did not appear in the comics.
• Continuity Nod: The trainyard hologram is the same that was featured in "It's Never Too Late".
• Evil Gloating: Lytener could not resist gloating rather than going for the kill after depowering Superman.
• Hard Light: Luminus' superpower; he creates various laser-firing holograms during an early encounter with Superman, and to toy with him at the LexCorp satellite development factory converted into an evil base, his creations are more solid to the extent that a sword-wielding pirate makes a cut in Superman's cape.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Luminus accidentally destroys his own device filtering the sun's rays via satellite manipulation when Superman uses a spare satellite dish to reflect a laser Luminus shot at him.
• I Have Your Wife: Gets Superman to come find him by showing him an image of his hostages.
• Kingpin in His Gym: Lex Luthor is seen practicing archery — for bonus points, he does this while on the phone with Lois Lane and asking her "Do you really think I would jeopardize the safety of this planet just to settle my personal grudge against Superman?". And then hitting a bullseye with a shit-eating smirk.
• Lampshade Hanging: Luminus says he'll have to figure out how Superman always seems to be watching over Lois.
• Mundane Utility: Clark accidentally drops his pen under his desk, does a quick glance to make sure no one's looking, then lifts the desk over his head to retrieve it.
• Mythology Gag:
  • When Lois and Jimmy arrive at what turns out to be Lytener's invisible lair, Lois notices something odd:
    Lois: Look, up in the sky.
    Jimmy: It's a bird.
    Lois: Yeah, but what's it sitting on?
  • When Lytener filters out the yellow rays of the sun, it makes the skies turn red.
• Nothing Personal: Lytener claims that unlike last time, he's not kidnapping Lois out of any grudge against her. Lois is suitably unimpressed.
• Not Me This Time: Lois is quick to suspect that Lytner's doing this on Lex Luthor's order, but Lex is equally quick to defend himself:
  Lois: Come on, Lex! Those are your satellites up there, and Lightner’s worked for you before! How do you expect me to believe you have nothing to do with it?
  Luthor: What you believe makes little difference to me. The fact is, I did provide Lightner resources while behind bars, but only for legitimate LexCorp research. I had no idea he’d escape, and I certainly didn’t tell him to hijack my satellites for his own revenge.
  Lois: Heck, why not? You’d love to see Superman dead.
  Luthor: Oh, please, Lois, forget that I’m losing millions in communications revenues, do you really think I’d jeopardize the welfare of the planet just to settle my personal grudge with Superman?
  • However, Luthor does smirk at the end of this conversation in a way that hints, at the very least, he knew Lytener would come up with his own plot if supplied the proper means of escape.
• Oh, Crap!: This is essentially Luminus' expression when he realizes that the depowered Superman is returning to normal.
• Punch Catch: Lytener gets in a few last hits after the sun starts shining normally... until Superman recovers sufficiently to simply catch and squeeze his fist, rendering him helpless.
• Sequel Episode: Lytener from "Target" returns.
• Smug Snake: Lytener gloats and postures right up until he realizes that Superman has damaged his sun-filtering gadget. Even then, he remains overconfident — instead of prudently fleeing, he continues trying to fight even as Superman's powers begin to return.
• Total Eclipse of the Plot: A variation where only the sun's shortwave radiation is filtered, leaving the longwave red spectrum which gradually drains Superman's powers.
• Trap Is the Only Option: When Lytener calls and tells Superman he has Lois and Jimmy hostage, Dr. Hamilton points out that the villain is trying to catch the Man of Steel at one of his weak points. Superman knows, but because the rogue has Lois and Jimmy, he doesn't feel he has a choice.
• Unwilling Suspension: Luminus ties Lois and Jimmy with a rope from the ceiling.
• Villain Ball: Lytener's tight grip on this is what kept him from winning, as trying to kill Superman with a laser gun leads to a shot reflected in a satellite dish blowing up his light-filtering machine machine, and instead of retreating, he then starts using less-deadly fisticuffs to "finish" Superman off in time as Superman's already regaining his powers from natural sunlight.
• Visual Pun: When Luthor asks "Do you really think I’d jeopardize the welfare of the planet just to settle my personal grudge with Superman?", he hits a bullseye as he practices archery. Such a thing is exactly what he'd do.
• We Will Meet Again: During the initial test where Superman proves weakened, Luminus warns this is just the beginning.
  Luminus: You'll realize what I've done to you in time. See you soon, even if you don't see me.
• While Rome Burns: There's a crisis, it's likely going to hurt LexCorp's PR, and Luthor is losing millions in communications revenue, yet Luthor spends the time practicing archery.

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