The Tick Season 2 Ending Explained: Who is in the Spaceship? Is Superian a Fugitive?

Created by Ben Edlund, ‘The Tick’ steps into its second season with the titular superhero and his partner, Arthur, taking on brand new challenges and villains. After the thrilling defeat of the Terror in the season 1 finale of this superhero comedy series, both the Tick and Arthur seem to be enjoying some well-earned fame, but along with that comes a steady load of responsibilities. However, as their patrolling sessions begin, they come across a blend of both new and old enemies, who seem to be connected in strange ways. By the season 2 finale, titled ‘Choose Love!’, decidedly extraterrestrial forces begin to play a greater role in setting the stage for a climax, and as the Duke’s plan comes out in the open, the Tick and company are tasked with proving their worth once and for all. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Tick Season 2 Plot Recap

‘The Tick’ season 2 begins in the aftermath of the Terror’s arrest, following which Arthur and the Tick are heralded as the new generation of superheroes. While Superian briefly enjoys an increase in ratings and public engagement, a series of scandalous revelations about his personal life brings things down just as quickly. Meanwhile, Arthur wishes to hold on to his regular job as an accountant while also serving as a superhero, but when forced to make a choice, he goes with the latter. For his first superhero job with the Tick, Arthur has to battle the Donnelly Brothers and a humanoid lobster named Lobstercules, who have joined hands to rob banks, and their efforts catch the attention of Tyrannosaurus Rathbone, a famous AEGIS agent.

Before long, the formerly disbanded AEGIS is brought to life once again, and with that comes the tracking of all new superhumans, heroes, villains, or otherwise. Both Arthur and the Tick sign up for the heroes’ test, and while the physical challenges prove to be easy, AEGIS shows concerns over the Tick’s amnesia. Nonetheless, they are both allowed to become superheroes on the condition that Arthur personally keeps an eye on his blue-suited partner. However, not everyone is keen about the AEGIS revival, and at the top of that list is Overkill. When he discovers the drones that have begun to spy over all of the city, he attempts to leave, but not before telling Dot about his past as an AEGIS-licensed superhero, who went rogue after the suspicious death of his entire team.

Meanwhile, Lint, who escaped during the fight with the Terror, is able to reinvent herself as the fake superhero Joan of Arc, and together with the Tick, Arthur, and a handful of others, she becomes a part of the new Flag Five. Meanwhile, Superian’s mental health continues going downhill as he struggles for public validation, trying as many extreme methods as come his way. Crime rates rise in his absence, but when Arthur has another chance encounter with Lobstercules, he learns that she might not be in the wrong after all. Defying AEGIS’ blanket orders, he and the Tick rescue Lobstercules’ children, just as Dr. Agent Hobbes, one of the AEGIS scientists, is revealed to be the mind-controlling antagonist, the Duke. Though he intends to take out Arthur and company before word gets out, putting up a fight with the Tick proves to be a challenge and a half.

The Tick Season 2 Ending: Who is in the Spaceship? Is Superian a Fugitive?

‘The Tick’ season 2 ends with Superian contemplating a move that may as well destroy the Earth, before he is intercepted by an alien spaceship that refers to him as an inmate. While we aren’t told anything else about the ship, Superian’s visible look of fear and panic suggests that it is someone, or something, he is quite familiar with. Still, for the strongest character of the show to leave us with such an expression is curious at best, and might be implying that these aliens are at least on par with Superian, if not from the same planet or species as him. Worse, it appears that Superian might be a fugitive who went on the run more than a century ago and landed on Earth, hiding his true identity and reestablishing himself as the first superhero.

Given that Superian seems to be a satire of the archetype best embodied by Superman, it makes sense for his origin story to be wholly subverted as well. From the looks of it, the spaceship appears to be from Superian’s home planet, and there is a chance that it might be employing big bismuth to keep him disoriented and down on the ground. While we don’t know exactly why the spaceship wants to arrest him, the scene that transpires right before is likely as good an indicator as any. For Superian, planets like Earth are effectively no more than a sandbox, and it is entirely possible that he has destroyed entire civilizations prior to this, which would explain why the alien ship is after him.

While we don’t know for sure if Superian is being affected by some countermeasure like big bismuth, it’s unlikely that this will turn into an all-out fight. The ship clearly seems equipped to handle heavyweight threats like him, and it might even plan to touch down on Earth. With Superian’s reputation already dwindling, this is effectively going to be the final blow to his superhero career, but at the same time, that can also mean trouble. A Superian with nothing to lose is a terrifying thought, and it might just be the reason why he’s a dangerous criminal in the first place. While we don’t know how this next frontier might play out, the bottom line is that a much bigger disaster has been averted.

Why Does Superian Want to Turn Back Time? Will He Destroy Earth?

Moments before facing arrest at the hands of what appears to be an intergalactic police force, Superian seems to be preparing for a way to reverse time and wipe his slate clean. The reason for this can be traced back to his season-wide psychological breakdown about not being loved by his fans enough. After trying everything from bravado to therapy, Superian hopelessly determines that the only way to start anew is not for him to change, but for the world to go back to a time when things were in his favor. While time travel isn’t exactly one of his known abilities, he casually estimates that going faster than the speed of sound will likely rewind time itself, placing him back to a world more to his liking. More practically, however, this means that he will be moving far beyond the speed of light, which is almost guaranteed to blow up Earth for good.

Though Superian knows about the risk of destroying Earth, he simply doesn’t value life on the planet enough to ignore his will. To that end, he even likens Earth to a fish in a pond, which puts into perspective how little people have mattered to him this entire time. Rather than this being a sign of pure villainy, however, it’s probable that Superian simply doesn’t have the same scope for life as humans do. Given his extreme strength and near-immortality, humans and other creatures may as well appear insignificant to him.

However, Superian’s conscious decision to wave away billions upon billions of lives means that he’s only been on humanity’s side because of selfish reasons. Superian revels in how people inflate his ego, and in some cases even deify him, but when that is stripped away, it doesn’t take long for him to become a threat of epic proportions, either. This puts a whole new retrospective on the Terror’s plan, suggesting that he may have foreseen something no one could. While his plan is thwarted for now, there might be many opportunities for him along the way, and not as many lucky chances for planet Earth.

Is the Duke Defeated? What Happens to Overkill?

The grand antagonist of the second season, the Duke, is defeated in a rather anticlimactic fashion, with the Tick’s power-of-love ethos winning over whatever malice had started to take root. After the Duke manages to mind-control Lobstercules and engages her in a fight with the Tick, things take a very unexpected turn. Instead of fighting back, the Tick realizes how Lobstercules has been stripped of her agency, and that the only way to bring her back is by reigniting feelings she knows as her own. This entire time, she has been fighting for the protection of her children, and in line with that, the Tick spends the entire fight shouting “Choose Love,” as he repeatedly gets slammed into concrete.

While hilarious, the Tick’s method isn’t exactly the winning strategy that it is meant to be. However, Arthur decides to take matters into his own hands and reconfigure the Duke’s mind control program to free Lobstercules. The process doesn’t take long, and with the flip of a switch, the tempo of the fight gets shifted once again. This time, it’s the Duke who seems to be at Lobstercules’ mercy. Instead of killing him, though, she goes for a more peaceful arrest, reminding the Duke that the real monster of this equation is not her, but him.

With the truth about the Duke reaching the public, all the suspicions about Overkill are taken down for good. Though he still isn’t exactly a fan-favorite superhero just yet, the world seems to be opening up to his good side, and that, in turn, has a positive effect on him as well. While resisting violent impulses at the post-fight gathering, Overkill turns to dancing as a stress release mechanism, and charmingly, Dot joins him on the stage, establishing herself as one of the only characters who have always had his back, through all the ebbs and flows. While Overkill is unlikely ever to join AEGIS, the journey ahead looks far brighter and far less bloody.

What is Inside the Commander? Is it an Alien?

Season 2 concludes on an ambiguous note for Commander Tyrannosaurus Rathbone, who seems to have come to life with the help of a parasitic alien or entity. While we aren’t explicitly told who or what this creature is, the music swells and seems to be saying the name Thrakkorzog, who also happens to be a character created for the animated TV series ‘The Tick.’ In the show, Thrakkorzog is an alien dictator who rules over an alternate dimension of reality and has plans to take over Earth. While his animated counterpart can morph into anyone, the series’ rendition of Thrakkorzog seems to have the ability to quite literally worm into someone’s body and manipulate their actions.

After the commander miraculously comes back to life, his way of speech, actions, and general mannerisms all seem to be like his usual self. However, given what we know about Thrakkorzog and his abilities, there is a good chance that the person in front of us is actually not the commander at all. AEGIS has always been a suspicious organization that has been abusing its power to manipulate things from behind the scenes, and this transformation merely adds another layer to that conflict. Eventually, Thrakkorzog is fated to battle the Tick, and while we don’t know the extent of its powers, the situation seems just the right amount of dramatic for the Tick to get the power-up he needs.