Superman The Animated Series: Born on a Monday (Unused Plot #1)

BACKGROUND: When we worked on the animated Superman series we pitched a number of proposals for episodes, none of which got past the pitch stage. When we started writing for the Superman Adventures comic we pitched most of these plots to the editors. Unfortunately, our schedule never allowed us to work on any of them. We wrote four issues of the comic, but the actual TV plot pitches never got touched. 

I've just accessed a very old file with all the plots and will be posting them here. First up is this one proposed to bring Solomon Grundy into the animated DCU for the Superman series. The drawing above was done for the pitch back in the day.

BORN ON A MONDAY (Tentative Title)

This is our Solomon Grundy "revival" bit, which we'd like to do (if and when we do it) for  Halloween. We want to re-introduce Grundy with some overt horror elements (he IS a zombie, after all) to add some mood to the superheroics, and we have a new origin for Sol to give him some dimension and make him more interesting than Mr. Strong Dumb Deadguy. The actual story needs some plotting logistics worked out  -- mainly how exactly to reveal the exposition concerning Grundy and Mercy so it has the best impact -- but here's the pitch as it stands right now in the primitive stages:

It starts with Mercy Graves about to get rid of a Lexcorp snitch who has been talking to Clark Kent and Lois Lane about Lexcorp's illegal dumping of chemicals and toxins in the swamps outside Metropolis (we'll try to downplay Mercy's murderous ways as much as possible, implying rather than showing a la the show). Luthor has ordered Mercy to "take care" of the man, and under pretense of a dumping run she takes him out in a truck to the swamps. But the snitch is wary, it's unusual for Mercy to accompanying anyone on a dumping run. Before Mercy can take care of him he panics, and the truck is sent careening into the swamp. Mercy is able to escape the burning rig before it explodes, and realizing the job might attract some attention, she hightails it to Lexcorp.

Unbeknownst to Mercy, the snitch survived the explosion as well, a broken leg his main injury. As he plans on revenge against Luthor, he doesn't notice that a massive form has risen from the smoldering bog. lifting the remains of the truck with incredible strength. It's Solomon Grundy, of course (we have a few ideas on how he gets his name, we have to cover that in a credible way since we're re-introducing him) -- who hears Luthor's name uttered by the snitch, and in a rage tosses the hapless man out into the swamp. Grundy utters Luthor's name in an unearthly tone...and shambles towards the bright lights of Metropolis in the distance.

Clark and Lois arrive at the swamps to investigate the explosion and fire, finding the snitch --  who babbles incoherently about Grundy like a victim from an old Universal monster movie. Suddenly panicked reports come over the radios of the emergency and police vehicles at the scene -- reports of mass destruction at the hands of a hulking monster. This of course causes Clark to do his clothes-changing routine to become Superman, who tries to stop Grundy -- who slowly, and inexorably, keeps heading through Metropolis with some goal seemingly in mind, fending off the Man of Steel and leaving terrible destruction in his path.

While this is happening, Mercy arrives back at Lexcorp, where Luthor advises her to look at the events being played out live on the news. Mercy is shocked when she sees the creature caught by the cameras. "But it's impossible", she says, watching Superman's seemingly useless struggle to keep the mysterious monster under control.

Filled with hideous strength and single-mindedness, Grundy reaches Lexcorp where he begins to tear the structure apart (several reasons Lex and Mercy don't merely escape -- Lex isn't a coward, for one thing, he doesn't want his building threatened, Superman IS present after all, etc -- and Mercy is too stunned to think about running). Lexcorp security proves as ineffectual as the police against Grundy. Superman realizes he'll need to treat this creature as such and go full-out against it -- even though it obviously once possessed intelligence and was human. They fight furiously, until finally Grundy knocks Superman out and confronts Luthor. The zombie points at Luthor, "You..." he says to a shaking Luthor, "You did this to me...". Grundy attacks Luthor, grabbing him by the throat and lifitng him into the air. But Mercy puts herself between the creature and Lex and tells Grundy that he's wrong -- because she's the one he wants.

The upshot of our tale is that the creature that is Solomon Grundy is a former Lexcorp employee -- in fact, he was Luthor's former head of security, chauffeur...and "fixer" -- the job now held by Mercy Graves. Mercy worked under Solomon, and he had trained her as part of Luthor's security team. He was also her lover. But when Luthor found out that Solomon had been leaking Lexcorp information to another munitions company, Luthor made Mercy an offer -- she was to "take care" of Solomon to prove beyond reproach her loyalty to Luthor, and in return she would assume Solomon's position. Mercy cared for Solomon but she was also appalled at his transgression against Lex, who she revered for reasons even Solomon was unaware of. She also knew that refusing the order meant that someone would probably "take care" of her. Solomon disappeared, and the next day Lex Luthor had a new chauffer.

Unfortunately, Lex didn't know where Mercy's favorite spot to take her clients was -- the Metropolis swamps where he's been dumping dangerous and experimental chemicals. The swamp, the chemical cocktail and the explosion somehow resurrected Solomon as a superhuman being a la Swamp Thing -- and in the dim recesses of his memory he wanted to exact revenge against the man responsible for his pain.

Seeing Mercy and learning of her betrayal stuns the pitiful creature. As Superman recovers (having heard none of the incriminating backstory) Grundy drops Luthor and moves as if to attack his ex-lover. Mercy stands still, as if she welcomes whatever happens to her. But Grundy is unable to harm her, and as a tear runs down his face he turns and leaves  to return to the swamp, where he disappears into the murk beneath a smoke-filled dawn sky -- leaving behind a perplexed Superman, a shaken Lex Luthor -- and a devastated Mercy Graves.