S1E7 "Project: Metal-0"

Corben is taken into the infirmary as doctors try to put him back together, even though it seems hopeless. This is when a man enters claiming he has the technology to save his life. The doctors hand Corben over to Lex, thinking that he is trustworthy, and he knows what he is doing. Lex then takes him from the hospital and down to his lab, looking at different ways to store the Isotope-K. Then he looks back at Corben, and his heart injury. He begins work on a metal endoskeleton, more robotic than human, with a containment unit in the middle, which should be able to hold the Isotope. Sending out for the unit, he makes the skeleton himself while he waits, styling it a dark metallic silver.

When the unit arrives, he can see that Isotope-K was misspelled horribly, looking as if it says “Krponite”. This sparks his interest nonetheless. He rushes over to his collection of Superman interviews and finds one where Superman reveals he is from a place far away called “Krypton”. Using this, and the misspelled unit, he forms a new name for his Isotope...Kryptonite.

He then gets to work again, installing the Kryptonite Containment Unit into the skeleton, and then beginning the ending procedure, which is hooking up Corben’s brain and skin tissue to the robot, molding man and machine.

When he finishes, he boots up his creation’s systems, awaking Corben. Corben is out of sorts and confused, as he feels…different. He doesn’t know how to explain it. Then he sees Lex’s notes and remembers something. Corben is an officer in the Navy, and he happens to know a few government secrets, for instance, Project: Metal-0, which was to save a soldier’s life by implanting them into a robotic endoskeleton for redeployment.

Corben gets extremely angered, not wanting to be a monster, a machine. He exclaims how he would rather die than live like this, and as Lex calms him down, he tells him who is “at fault” for his incident: Superman. Corben swears to kill Superman, so that he can finally get vengeance for himself, and then find a way to reach peace for himself.

Lex shows Corben the weakness that sits inside him, the thing that can kill Superman. With pleasure on his face, Corben looks in the mirror at the thing he is now and decides that he is more than part of a project. He is Metal-0…no…Metallo. He is Metallo, and he will stop at nothing until the Man of Steel pays for what he did to him, or, what he thinks he did to him.

Back at the scene of the crash, Superman is helping with cleanup when he gets the message he was waiting for, a message from Batman. Bruce tells him about the contents of the container and that he should stay away from any more at all costs. It contains radioactive material that has a similar energy signature to himself, and in theory, means that it comes from the same place he does. Clark messages back if that was all of it or if there is more. Bruce then says that there is more, for certain, and he will attempt to set up an algorithm to search for more of this substance.

As their conversation ends, and the cleanup is finished, Clark flies off again, curious about this new substance. Is it really made of pieces of his old planet? And if so, what are the different effects of this newfound thing? He thinks back to Mercy, and how she showed him the rock that weakened him, she knew there was more, and she knows where its hidden. If he can find her again.

Mercy is in a far part of Metropolis, in a hiding spot, where she is sure that nobody will find her. She needs time to think to herself, and she just can’t. She can’t think of anything; her whole world was just flipped upside down in a matter of days. But as she gets more and more conflicted, she sees another girl entering her hiding spot, by the name of Leslie Willis.

Clark, ending his search, returns to the Planet to ask Lois about their plans for Lex’s gala in the coming days. She explains to him the whole need for the story, and how he should look respectable, and focused. He takes in all the information but can’t help but just admire her for a second, but then shakes it off. Why did he just do that? That was confusing of him to do, but he did it anyway. Maybe it was just a one-time thing for him, he did not know, but what he did know is that after this weekend, Lois was going to get more of an important role in his life.

## Starring

Henry Cavill as Superman

Mark Strong as Lex Luthor

Olivia Wilde as Lois Lane

Kristen Bell as Mercy Graves

Eric Dane as Metallo

Anne Hathaway as Livewire