‘Kite Man’ Finale Explained: The Anti-Life Equation and What Comes Next
After the “Harley Quinn” animated TV show proved to be such a success that it survived two streaming services, it got the classic sitcom treatment of having popular characters get their own spin-off series. That’s how we got “Kite Man: Hell Yeah!” an animated sitcom in the vein of “Cheers” starring the titular powerless villain buying a bar with his girlfriend, Golden Glider.
After a season of common, everyday issues like moving in together, managing a business, and finding a time-traveling toilet in your apartment, the season finale paid off the big serialized storyline of the season — the hunt for the Anti-Life Equation, which was hidden at Noonan’s Bar by Lex Luthor. Kite Man and Golden Glider realize that this formula gives the holder control over the minds of sentient beings, and in the finale, they come up with a brilliant plan to pull an “Exorcist” and have Kite Man do like Father Karras, getting possessed by the equation before dying with the evil thing inside him. Why Kite Man? In the words of showrunner Dean Lorey, he was like Frodo taking the Ring to Mordor. “The very fact that he is the least likely person to want to use [the equation] badly or even have it, made him the only person that could do it because everybody else would be corrupted by it,” Lorey said. “The most unlikely person is the only person who’s not corrupted by it.”
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Of course, pulling a Karras is easier said than done when you’re being chased by the entire Legion of Doom, Glider’s mom, and even Darkseid himself. This last one also brought with him an entire choir that follows him around everywhere, which the writing team dubbed “The Ominous Choir.” Right as Kite Man is deciphering the Anti-Life Equation, all the villains — including Luthor’s agents and even the Noonan’s patrons — start fighting on the bar’s roof. Because the equation-possessed Kite Man can’t actually kill himself, the task falls on Golden Glider, but when the time comes, she can’t do it. Even if it means dooming the entire universe to slavery, she can’t kill her one true love. “There’s a sense of hope and karma and fate that plays out at the end of the season,” Lorey said. “She makes what is the wrong logical choice, but the right heart choice, and that pays dividends.”
That’s because Glider did not need to kill Kite Man to defeat Darkseid and Luthor. At the perfect moment, her mom, Rebecca, appears out of nowhere, steals the equation, and runs into Queen of Fables’ fairy tale book after a heartfelt moment with Glider where she says she’s doing this for her daughter. Since we first met her in the time-traveling toilet episode, the character has played out as neither a hero nor a villain. By the final moments, it is clear Rebecca is stealing the equation for herself out of a thirst for power, but she also seems to genuinely want to do one nice thing for her daughter.
This would be a heartfelt way to finish the whole Anti-Life Equation ordeal, except that everyone now jumps at the chance to steal the book containing Rebecca and the equation. Before any of the big players grabs it, Gus the Goon nabs it before revealing himself to be Martian Manhunter. Yes, Martian Manhunter, the shapeshifting member of the Justice League — who was impersonating Gus all day while the goon was at one of his many part-time gigs. Is it silly? Yes. Does it come out of nowhere? Also yes. Is it funny in a dumb way that perfectly fits the tone of “Kite Man?” To quote the titular character, “Hell yeah!” The idea to bring in Martian Manhunter came about early in production, with the writers wanting to reveal one of the characters we’d known for a while had been the superhero all along. “We never found a great way to do it but then we realized that we could fold him into the finale as a big unexpected turning point,” Lorey explained.
In true sitcom fashion, the Martian Manhunter reveal feels like something with zero repercussions. Everyone accepts it and moves on, with Darkseid resigning himself to having to hunt down the equation for the next thousand years while enjoying a drink at Noonan’s. Still, there are teases for seasons to come, like Rebecca taking control of every fairy tale character in the book. The season ends pretty much like it began, with Kite Man and Golden Glider happily flying into the sunset together. Except then we zoom out to reveal a giant Brainiac ship approaching the planet. This is the big tie-in to “Harley Quinn” Season 5 that the co-creators teased, making it clear the two shows are connected.
When asked if events from “Harley Quinn” would impact possible future seasons of “Kite Man,” Lorey merely confirmed that the shows share a timeline, with the events of “Kite Man” taking place “just a little prior to the beginning of [the next season of] ‘Harley Quinn.'” But don’t read too much into that because, as Lorey points out, “we also have time travel.”
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