Movie Talk - The Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen

Next up for the month is a return to DC’s Animated Movie Universe. While I’ve seen a few of them like the Batman ones and a couple of the Justice League ones, they haven’t been on my radar much. I don’t know if it’s the changes to the animation or the fact that they were heavily inspired by the New 52. While I did like that era of comics, it wasn’t all good. One thing that definitely piqued my interest was that they were going to do the Death and Return of Superman once again. Now, DC had tried this before, but Superman: Doomsday was just okay as a whole. It would’ve been nice if it felt like a true adaptation, though.

The WB released The Death of Superman in 2018 and it’s sequel, Reign of the Supermen, in 2019. The voice cast is more or less the same it’s been for this DC animated universe. We got Jerry O’Connell as Superman, Rosario Dawson as Wonder Woman, Jason O’Mara as Batman, and Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern.  There are some new voices too. Lois Lane is voiced by Rebecca Romijn, Jerry O’Connell’s wife. Lex Luthor is voiced by Rainn Wilson, Superboy is voiced by Cameron Mohonagan (Joker from Gotham), Steel (John Henry Irons) is voiced by Cress Williams (Black Lightning), and Patrick Fabian is Hank Henshaw.

The Death of Superman (2018)

The Death of Superman starts out with Superman doing his thing: protecting Metropolis. He’s also in a fresh relationship with Lois Lane. Things do go turn downward for the world when a meteorite destroys the Excalibur spaceship (kills Hank Henshaw and his crew) and lands in the ocean. A creature ends up coming out of the meteor and causes a lot of damage. Everyone from the League to Lex Luthor try to see what this thing is. The creature, who’s eventually called Doomsday, ends up taking out the Justice League and the only one left to finish it is Superman. Will he indeed beat the beast? Just guess.

Superman: Why do you sound so weird?

Luthor: To annoy you and the audience, alien.

Even though its not a straight-up adaptation, this was pretty good. Comics writer, Peter J. Tomasi, wrote this and he tends to get these things right. A lot of the beats from the original storyline are taken and updated for this new DCAU. I just realized that this is the first animated Superman movie we’ve gotten in a long while. Before this, he was saddled with the Justice League, so you didn’t get to see much of his world. We get that and more here with characters such as Jimmy Olsen, Bibbo, Cat Grant, the Kents, and others showing up.

I thought the banter between the League was pretty good. I also thought Lois’ and Clark’s relationship was handled well here. I bet it helped having an actual husband/wife team on this one. The rest of the voice acting (save for one big one) was also good.  I also liked how the next movie was teased since we get glimpses of the other Supermen here. The action was pretty awesome. It was cool seeing the big 7 of the Justice League try to fight Doomsday here. Everything goes to 11 when Superman comes on the scene, though. I think this fight and the fight from Superman: Doomsday are tied, though.

Pretty epic fight.

While I liked this one, I did have some problems here and there. What was up with Rainn Wilsons’ Lex Luthor? I don’t know why, but I wasn’t a fan of this rendition of the character. Wilson’s voice didn’t suit him that well here. It also doesn’t help that he really has no place here, but it’s possible they were setting him up for the next movie. The beginning’s a little slow too, but that is kind of understandable. This is a long storyline they’re trying to adapt and have make sense. Finally, the animation did feel pretty stiff at times, and that’s something I’ve noticed about this animation style.  Other than those things, this was pretty good.

Reign of the Supermen (2019)

ROTS begins six months after the death of Superman. Also, his body went missing during that time. While Lois, the city, and the League is reeling from the loss, four new Supermen show up to take Kal-El’s place. Lois takes it upon herself to figure out what the deal is with these four and tries to see if any of them are Superman reborn. As she figures out more, one of the Supermen reveals himself to be more than just a replacement. It turns out that he is a harbinger for a certain New God. Things also go bad when the League disappears. With the League gone, can the rest of the Supermen as well as some long-haired hippie in a cool black suit save the day?

"It's my turn to get a movie now!"

This one was almost as good as TDOS. It was cool to finally see these four replacements get their due in a movie. While Steel and Superboy have been in other things, This is the Eradicator’s and Cyborg Superman’s first time. They didn’t disappoint for the most part. Even though things aren’t too in line with the storyline, they still feel right. As for the rest of the heroes, it was cool to see them deal with this situation. Lois especially gets the spotlight here and it’s essentially her movie for the most part. I especially liked her scene with Wonder Woman. Even Lex Luthor feels better here and more like the dude we know him to be. Also, nice use of Darkseid.

I gotta say that this suit is much, much better.

The voice acting is good all-around. Even Rainn Wilson sounds better as Lex here too. The designs for the four Supers as well as our Superman were pretty good and well updated. I also was also glad to see we have a new suit for this Superman. It’s basically the “Superman Reborn” suit. Man, I miss that suit in the comics!!! Anyway, they even did the black suit and hair for Superman right in this. The action was about on par with the previous movie. There’s nothing too noteworthy about it, but it was cool to see the four replacements duking it out at the beginning. Superman’s and Cyborg Superman’s fight was nice too.

Ha!

While this one was also pretty good, I had some issues with it. I did think the story got a little rushed. One big example is the Cyborg Superman’s identity. Lois somehow theorizes it without any major evidence. Even though this movie is longer (about 85 minutes), things can get rushed. Also, the animation was a bit sloppy here in some places. Also, I did think the Eradicator got undercut a little bit. It would’ve been also nice to see some more bigger moments from the storyline. Those last two things are just nitpicks, though, since they really don’t hurt the movie. Other than all this and the nitpicks, this was good.

……………………………………….

In the end, the animated version of the Death and Return of Superman was overall pretty good. It’s not perfect, but it does a lot more than most adaptations in this DCAU has done.  To be a little honest, it also succeeds over the live action version too. Sorry, Snyder folks! Well, I’m off to go mope (long story…) and finish off some George Reeves goodness. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t forget about communication. It’s an important thing to use.