The WORST episodes of The Adventures of Superboy (1988)
Every episode of The Adventures of Superboy (1988) ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Adventures of Superboy (1988)!
Based on the DC Comics character Superman's early years as Superboy. It was renamed The Adventures of Superboy at the start of the third season. The series was brought to the screen by executive producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind, who were the producers of the first three Superman movies and the 1984 Supergirl movie.
#1 - Roads Not Taken (1)
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/3/1990
Luthor steps into an interdimensional portal created by a Dr. Winger and is whisked away to an alternate earth. Darla kidnaps Lana in order to lure Superboy to the lab where Luthor vanished. She tells Superboy that if he doesn't go through the portal to save Lex, Lana will die. Naturally, he goes through and is transported to an alternate earth where his alternate self killed Luthor's alternate years ago. Now the world is in chaos. Lana is homeless, everyone hates Superboy, and ""our"" Luthor, claiming to be that world's Luthor resurrected, is quickly taking over. Superboy finds Luthor, but is held at bay by kryptonite. He travels to the Bureau for extra-normal Matters and there encounters his other self, a Superboy who wears leather and dark glasses and just doesn't care anymore. He explains how he killed Luthor in a fit of rage by cutting him in two with heat vision. After the discussion is over, the Superboy of earth-1 heads to Dr. Winger's lab looking for a way back home.
#2 - The Sons of Icarus
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/17/1990
After a number of flying men are spotted over Capitol City, Matt Ritter learns that the men are part of a group called the "Katia," descendants of African slaves who gained the power to fly. When Matt discovers he is one of them, he quits his job at the Bureau and joins the group. But Clark and Lana find out that there is a connection between the Katia and a series of fires that have broken out throughout the city, and if the Katia aren't stopped, Capitol City could burn to the ground.
#3 - The Lair
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/20/1990
Clark, Lana, and Matt investigate sightings of a creature that was deformed as a result of contaminated water. The creature turns out to be a man that formerly worked for Pat Kenderson (from season 1's Troubled Waters), and is being hunted by his men.
#4 - Out of Luck
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/23/1992
A rare coin seems to bless a criminal with good luck, while cursing Superboy's ability to capture him.
#5 - Into the Mystery
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/8/1991
While trying to save the life of a man whose car just crashed, Superboy encounters an unusual ghostly woman. After the encounter, Clark begins to reminisce about his aunt Cassandra and everything that she taught him as a kid but his reminiscing is cut short as he has to save the life of a young boy, and once again he encounters the ghostly woman. After a third encounter at a fire in a nursing home, Superboy begins to search for Cassandra and locates her in a cabin outside the city.
#6 - The Invisible People
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/21/1989
A large group of homeless people are living in front of a beach club on a Florida beach. They were promised jobs by the wealthy beach club owner, who never gave them anything. The owner of the beach club, Gerald Manfred, is trying to sell his club, but to do so he must get rid of the homeless group. He sets fire to one of their tents, and tries every way possible to get rid of them. When T.J., Lana, and Clark get involved T.J. is nearly killed and the leader of the homeless group, Damon,is kidnapped. Lana searches for him and is kidnapped herself. Now she and Damon are trapped in Manfred's hands, and only Superboy can save them. Manfred prepares to kill them in hopes that when they die, the homeless people will leave the beach. But before he can do anything, Superboy finds him and makes him agree to give all the homeless people jobs as he once promised he would.
#7 - Threesome (2)
Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/16/1992
After nearly being destroyed by the trio, Superboy has to come up with a plan to round them up before more destruction ensues.
#8 - West of Alpha Centauri
Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/2/1992
Superboy is kidnapped and taken aboard a spaceship whose destination is a paradise planet just west of Alpha Centauri. Inside the ship, he finds most of the occupants are prisoners of a deranged captain, and they all believe Superboy is their savior from an old prophecy.
#9 - The Phantom of the Third Division
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/29/1989
Jonathan Kent is being stalked by a man who he fought alongside in the Korean War. As Clark, Lana, and T.J. come to Smallville for a visit, Mr. Kent is lured to the Smallville hospital and kidnapped by the man. He blames Mr. Kent for the torture he went through in a prisoner of war camp. He makes Mr. Kent go through an obstacle course like the one at the camp to torture him and make him feel the same pain he felt. Superboy must now be the one to save his father's life and end the madman's emotional pain. He suceeds in stopping the ""phantom"" and Pa Kent volunteers to return him to the sanitarium.
#10 - Neila and the Beast
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/12/1991
Neila returns to Earth after her race of warriors are destroyed, and summons Superboy to aid her in destroying a creature that is out to kill her. She also gives humans a chance, and asks for Lana's help in finding companionship.
#11 - The Golem
Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/19/1991
When an elderly Jewish man is being harassed by some neo-nazis, he creates a Golem, a creature from folklore. He instructs him to defend him from the neo-nazis but it loses control and is out to kill all neo-nazis.
#12 - The Battle with Bizarro
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/18/1989
Bizarro takes Lana to a closed furniture store and decides it will be their new home together. Meanwhile, Superboy is saved from the kryptonite by Andy, and he and the professor determine that Bizarro will only be affected by Bizarro Kryptonite. Upon learning of Bizarro's whereabouts, Superboy goes to confront him while Prof. Peterson works on duplicating the kryptonite. Superboy and Bizarro battle in a carnival area and eventually Bizarro begins to smoke. He is unstable, and will likely explode if he is not stopped by the Bizarro kryptonite soon. Prof. Peterson arrives at the carnival with the Bizarro white kryptonite, but did he make it in time?
#13 - Troubled Waters
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/10/1988
A buisnessman wants to buy all the farms in the Smallville area during an agricultural depression. Mr. Kent wants to find out why. Kenderson , the buisnessman, has something to hide and tries to kill Mr. Kent but he is unsuccessful. Superboy, who is coming to visit because of the attempt to kill Mr. Kent, checks over the farmland and learns a river runs below it that could be of value. He now must stop Kenderson before he gets what he wants and kills Mr. Kent. Kenderson wants to blow up the community silo when Pa Kent goes to show it to the bank's mortgage department manager. As the two pull up to the silo Kenderson's men attack and prepare the silo for destruction. As they prepare to destroy the silo, Superboy arrives and stops Kenderson once and for all.
#14 - The Road to Hell (2)
Season 3 - Episode 26 - Aired 5/25/1991
After Superboy's near death run-in with Luthor, he is taken to yet another universe, one of which an alternate Dr. Winger, Luthor, who is now a doctor, and Superman exist. Dr. Winger admits that he's repsonsible for Superboy's latest (and dangerous) adventure, and they help him recover. Superboy has to convince his older alternate to allow him to go to the previous universe to save the younger version of himself, so that their paths in all worlds are corrected.
#15 - Roads Not Taken (2)
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/10/1990
Superboy jumps through the portal to escape the kryptonite assault. This time he ends up on a world where his alternate self has taken the name ""Sovereign"" and is the dictator of earth, ruling his people with fear. Superboy encounters the Lana of this world, who is fighting, along with her lover Lex Luthor, to take down the Sovereign. Superboy joins the resistance. Meanwhile, the Sovereign learns of the ""imposter"" who has all of his powers. He sends troops to attack the resistance fighters, and in the assault Luthor is killed. Superboy vows to stop the Sovereign. He manages to get into the Sovereign's headquarters and confronts his alternate face to face. They struggle briefly before Lana arrives with a chunk of kryptonite and a bomb strapped to her body. She backs the Sovereign into a corner and detonates her kryptonite bomb, sending a wall of kryptonite-laced flame directly toward Superboy! WIll Superboy escape this world alive, recover Luthor, and return home?
#16 - Carnival
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/24/1990
A carnival arrives into town, and its owner, a man named DeVille, steals the souls of some of the carnival-goers, and targets Superboy to break his moral spirit and steal his soul as well.
#17 - Lex Luthor: Sentenced to Death
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/14/1989
Professor Peterson comes to Superboy's aid. The two believe that Superboy will, with time, be able to have full use of his legs and powers again. Meanwhile, Luthor's new face has been revealed to the entire world, so he is back in hiding, along with Lana. Luthor goes in search of a new assistant and discovers a woman named Darla at a local club. Back at the hospital, Superboy's rehabilitation is going slowly. Darla, disguised as a nurse, delivers a tape to Superboy which was made by Luthor. Superboy begins to regain some of his powers, and scrutinizes the tape for clues to Lana's whereabouts. He notices Lana's eyes are blinking in morse code, and discovers the address that she is being held at. Superboy arrives at Luthor's hideaway, still in a wheelchair, to bring Luthor in. But Luthor is prepared, and has a new ""mini"" Superboy gun with all of the power of the full sized weapon. Will Superboy regain his powers, stop Luthor, and rescue Lana?
#18 - A Kind of Princess
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/15/1988
Clark falls for Sara Danner a rich and somewhat spoiled student at Shuster, who happens to be the daughter of crime boss Matt Danner . Superboy saves Danner's life when a bomb is set off by members of a rival crime syndicate, headed by a Mr. Casey. When Sara disappears from her 18th birthday party, it is revealed that Casey has kidnapped her. When Casey contacts Danner, Danner decides that his crime syndicate means more to him than his daughter's life. Superboy rescues Sara and stops Casey. Sara, feeling rejected by her father, decides to leave Shuster and Clark behind.
#19 - The Russian Exchange Student
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/29/1988
When a scientist's formula to improve the efficiency of gasoline is nearly destroyed, a Russina exchange student named Natasha is accused of sabotaging the computer that the formula was stored on. Superboy steps in when a demonstration of the formula results in a powerful explosion. Again, Natasha is blamed. She is forced to leave the country within three days. TJ, who is ifatuated with Natasha, and Clark investigate. TJ discovers that Professor Gordon's assistant Jeff is working for a gasoline company that doesn't want the formula to get out since it would cause gasoline prices to drop drastically. TJ is found and dropped from a window high abouve the street by security guards in the company and saved in the nick of time by Superboy. Meanwhile, Jeff starts a fire and tries to kill Natasha and Professor Gordon, but Superboy arrives in time to save them and capture Jeff. Natasha decides to leave the US to assist Gordon, who is moving his research to Russia.
#20 - Bringing Down the House
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/12/1988
A rock star, Judd Faust (Leif Garrett), wants the Boardwalk and baseball amusement park and when the owner refuses to sell the park everyone in it is in danger. Bombs are detonated and sabotage is all around. When Lana falls in love with Judd she is in danger also. Judd takes her away one night and reveals his true nature to her. He puts her in a torture device and begins to try to pull her apart while he records her screams. Superboy arrives just in time to stop Judd and release Lana from the machines deadly grasp.
#21 - The Fixer
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/26/1988
Lex Luthor is taking bets on Shuster's basketball team who are playing against Florida State University in their next game. He blackmails Shuster's star player into losing the game and Superboy takes over the job of the referee to stop Luthor and save Shuster from his scandal.
#22 - Kryptonite Kills
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/28/1989
A Kryptonite meteor falls in Addis Ababa and is sent to Shuster for study. It turns up in one of Clark's classes, a class on minerals. There, Clark feels the pain of kryptonite for the first time. But Lex Luthor learns of it's value as an energy source and takes a piece of it. He uses it to power a machine that can knock out lights all over the city and allow him to loot stores and banks. When Superboy stops him, Luthor gives the rock to his girlfriend on a necklace. When a fire breaks out in Luthor's dorm during a date, Superboy attempts a rescue and is made powerless by the kryptonite. Now Luthor's evil may cause his own death. Luthor escapes the fire leaving his girlfriend there to die. He send Leo back in to get the necklace, and once the necklace is gone Superboy returns to normal and escapes to bring Luthor to justice. Professor Peterson then gives Superboy the kryptonite in a lead box and Superboy throws it into space.
#23 - Black Flamingo
Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/6/1989
Superboy goes undercover in a punk nightclub where a terrorist called Snake-Man is hypnotizing teenagers to turn them into killers.
#24 - Metamorphosis
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/3/1992
A gym owner is using the blood of his younger customers, along with a gold derivative, to keep himself young. This results in an acceleration in the victims' aging process. Lana also falls prey to the man.
#25 - Mutant
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/22/1989
Clark witnesses the kidnapping of Professor Craig Lipcott a famous nuclear scientist. As Superboy, he follows the kidnappers to a rooftop and sees them enter a strange ship just before he is attacked by a powerful ray that leaves him disoriented. When he looks up the ship is gone. Lipcott awakens inside the ship, which is actually a time machine, with two mutant men and a normal woman, Vora. The mutants want plutoinum. They reveal that they are from the 24th century and that they need plutonium to fight their enemies since no more exists in their time. TJ and Clark begin to investigate the kidnapping. TJ is taken by the mutant time travelers. Vora is sent to find Superboy so he can help them break into the installation where the plutonium is stored. Vora reveals to Superboy that she herself is a mutant in her society since everyone else has been mutated by fallout over the years. Superboy agrees to help in order to save TJ and Lipcott. Superboy gets the plutonium and flees with it.