By Will Rodgers And Billie Rae Bates

Superman: The Animated Series, A BRBTV Report
No. 9 in the BRBTV Reports series
By Will Rodgers
and Billie Rae Bates
...............
“Superman: The Animated Series, A BRBTV Report”
A feature story, distributed electronically, examining the TV show “Superman: The Animated Series” from
Warner Bros. Animation, originally airing on the Kids WB! from 1996 to 2000.
Copyright © 2011 by Will Rodgers and Billie Rae Bates
Originally released to Amazon’s Kindle platform in November 2011
“Superman: The Animated Series” and all of its featured characters are properties of Warner Bros. Inc.
of Burbank, Calif. All rights reserved.
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
Photography by Billie Rae Bates, with the exception of the author photo.
CONTENTS
Superman: The Animated Series: Up, Up and Away!
Episodes
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Movies
Cast
Superman: The Animated Series:
Up, Up and Away!
Superman is a character that is definitely larger than life. He was the first-ever created “superhero,” the
kind that wears tights and a cape.
Superman is more than 70 years old and still going strong. And even non-comic book readers have
always known who Superman is, from his creation during the Great Depression era by two teenagers
named Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and his debut in the very first issue of Action Comics in June 1938.
The hero from Krypton has starred in numerous comics, a daily newspaper comic strip, a radio series,
two low-budget serials, four live-action TV series, six big-screen live-action movies, and five different
cartoon series, while appearing in others as a guest or a team player.
Superman’s first appearance, Action Comics No.1, June 1938.
During the 1990s the Man of Steel underwent plenty in the comics and other media. In the comics, he
finally revealed his dual identity to Lois Lane, he was killed by a deadly villain called Doomsday and was,
for the most part, dead for about a year while a series of Superman wannabes took his place. But
inevitably, the Last Son of Krypton would return to life and grow his hair long for a while. Eventually, he
and Lois would finally marry and Superman would temporarily lose his powers until he became an
energy being, and if that were not enough, he would be split into Superman Red and Superman Blue
before finally reemerging as one being and going back to the traditional short hair, red cape and blue
tights.
In 1993, around the time that Superman returned from the dead in the comics, the third live-action TV
series, “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” debuted on ABC, starring Dean Cain as
Superman / Clark Kent and Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane. This four-season series was contemporary and
focused more on the growing relationship between Lois and Clark, who went from the traditional rival
reporters to lovers and finally marriage partners.
In 1996, “Lois & Clark” was near the end of its run, and it was time for the Man of Steel to return to
animation, where he had not been since the short-lived 1988 “Superman” series by Ruby-Spears
Productions. In 1992, Warner Bros. had successfully reintroduced Batman to the animated world in a
new series that redefined, and set new standards for, animating superheroes. Almost from the
beginning, people wondered what an animated version of Superman would look like if done by Bruce
Timm and company. The long-haired Superman and Lex Luthor II appeared as guest characters in an
issue of the Batman Adventures comics. So, while “Batman: The Animated Series” was on hiatus or
airing reruns on Fox Kids in 1995 and 1996, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett, Jean MacCurdy, James
Tucker and Glen Murakami started work on developing “Superman: The Animated Series.”
In Les Daniels’ book “Superman: The Complete History,” Dini said, “Superman’s a different hero with a
different set of rules. Even though Superman and Batman are from the same universe, they are really
from two different worlds.” Originally Timm wanted to do a somewhat dated period piece, making
Superman look even more ’40s retro style than in the Batman series, to be somewhat of an extension of
the ’40s Fleischer cartoons, which some fans still feel are hands-down the best Superman cartoons ever
made.
The ‘40s Fleischer series.
Timm, however, abandoned the idea, and everyone agreed that while the Batman series had a retro
style, the world of Metropolis would look like a pseudo-future / past. Indeed, you can see in the series
that the buildings seem to come up out of the ground and continuously grow toward the sky, and it
seems that all the streets are elevated freeways that are definitely off the ground.
In the “Superman: The Animated Series” DVD sets‘ features, Timm, Burnett, Dini, Tucker and Dan Riba
all explain that Superman is a hero who can do just about anything, which would end an episode within
five minutes, so they reduced his powers to the point where if Superman struggled some, the audience
could relate. Among his limitations here, Superman can no longer breathe in space or in the ocean, so
he too requires oxygen tanks. Timm, Dini and Burnett made Clark Kent more like an authoritative, hardnosed reporter, similar to what George Reeves portrayed in his own Superman TV series. Another
difference between Batman and Superman, in terms of writing, was that the Batman episodes had to be
real and believable, whereas with Superman, a being from another planet with superpowers, those rules
did not apply, and fantasy and sci-fi were two important elements in writing the character.
In this animated series, Superman’s supporting players are well-defined, or redefined. Lois Lane was
raised an Army brat, so she can kick butt if she has to. While an alluring character, Lois is someone you
don’t wish to mess with. She is brash and hard-nosed as a reporter, and she views Clark as a rival
reporter whom she rarely calls Clark; she commonly refers to him as either Kent or Smallville (Erica
Durance’s Lois Lane would later call Tom Welling’s Clark that in the WB / CW’s “Smallville”). Unlike the
comics, where Lois has downed Clark for being mild-mannered and has either tried to marry Superman
or expose Superman and Clark as one and the same, this version of Lois loves Superman in secret and is
competing with Clark for headline stories.
Lois Lane is voiced by Dana Delany of ABC’s “China Beach.” Delany also voiced Andrea Beaumont in the
1993 “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” animated feature.
Jimmy Olsen has always been a cub reporter, but in this series, not only is Jimmy’s design more modern
with a mullet and baggy pants, but he is a freelance photographer for the Daily Planet who is hoping
that Perry White will eventually put him on staff. Speaking of the Chief, Perry White is fashioned as the
underdog for the little guy and the only one who has not sold out, and who intends to publish the last
honest paper in Metropolis. Not much more to say on him.
In addition, Lana Lang appears here both as a teenager in Smallville who has a crush on Clark growing
up, but whom Clark sees as the sister he never had, and as an adult. Lana has become very
cosmopolitan, now prominent in the fashion world. It was also decided to keep Jonathan and Martha
Kent alive here, so that Clark can have someone to confide in, and who better than the parents who
instilled your moral sense of right and wrong? The Kents have remained alive in the modern comics,
starting with John Byrne’s reinterpretation, as well as on the “Lois & Clark” series, so it made sense to
follow suit on this animated series.
Professor Emile Hamilton (whose first name differs from the comics with the addition of the “e”) is a
scientist at STAR Labs whom Superman can confide in regarding science or his Kryptonian heritage.
However, by series end this friendship will be destroyed, thanks to the events of that two-part finale.
Toward the end of the second season, viewers are introduced to Supergirl, who in this series is not from
Krypton but a neighboring planet called Argo. The Argonians perished in the chain reaction that
destroyed Krypton, all except the young girl whom Clark takes back to earth and who is raised by
Jonathan and Martha. While Supergirl’s powers and weaknesses are similar to Superman’s, they are
somewhat different.
While Gotham City has the GCPD, Metropolis has regular cops and the Special Crimes Unit (SCU), and
two of the characters were taken right from the comics. Detective Maggie Sawyer is the leader, and she
is smart and a supporter of Superman. Her partner, Detective Sergeant Dan Turpin, nicknamed Terrible
Turpin, was based on the late Marvel Comics artist Jack Kirby, who created Darkseid and all the Fourth
World characters for DC. Turpin is a cop from the streets who will support Superman, but he wants to be
able to do the job himself. Sawyer and Turpin are the leaders of the SCU. Angela Chen is Metropolis’ top
news reporter, and she is to Metropolis what Summer Gleeson is to Gotham City in “Batman: The
Animated Series.” General Hardcastle is a military leader who, along with Lex Luthor, is outspoken in his
hatred for Superman, regarding him as nothing more than a troublesome alien. And finally, in a small
role is Bibbo, an old Navy sailor who looks like an overweight Popeye in a peacoat and is an avid fan and
supporter of Superman, as well as an informant for both Lois and Clark.
Compared to Batman, Superman’s gallery of rogues is neither as huge nor as impressive. Naturally, the
first two that come to everyone’s minds are Lex Luthor and Brainiac. In this animated series, Lex Luthor
is the richest man in Metropolis, a multibillionaire. In the pilot movie he tells Superman, “I own
Metropolis. My technology built it, my will keeps it going, and nearly two-thirds of its people work for
me whether they know it or not.” Here, Luthor represents the evil businessman as opposed to the
supervillain costume and motive from earlier generations, as well as what Luthor evolved into in the
“Justice League (Unlimited)” animated series.
As for Brainiac, Alan Burnett concocted the idea of making Brainiac a computer from Krypton that was
built to preserve all knowledge but went renegade, was responsible for destroying the planet and
making Jor-El a fugitive, and years later fought Kal-El. Brainiac’s modus operandi consists of collecting all
knowledge from a planet then destroying it. Lex Luthor is superbly voiced by Clancy Brown, while Corey
Burton is Brainiac.
Beyond that, there are villains who are somewhat familiar: the Toyman, Bizarro, Mr. Mxyzptlk, and the
Fourth World characters. But in this series you also have some villains created specifically for the show:
Livewire, Luminous and Volcana.
And what about Superman himself? His voice comes from actor Tim Daly, best remembered from the
NBC sitcom “Wings,” who more recently starred as Dr. Richard Kimble in a short-lived TV remake of “The
Fugitive.”
“Superman: The Animated Series” debuted with a 90-minute animated movie on Friday, September 6,
1996 (this author’s birthday, ironically!) on the WB network, as part of Kids’ WB! The debut (three-part)
episode, “The Last Son of Krypton,” mostly retells Superman’s origin. The series began its regular airings
the next day, September 7, and ran as a solo series for 13 episodes. Then, starting on September 8,
1997, the series began its second season as part of “The New Batman / Superman Adventures.”
Episodes 28, 29 and 30 make up the three-part story where Superman and Batman first meet and do
battle with the Joker and Lex Luthor. Appropriately, the episode was called “World’s Finest,” a reference
to the classic comics. Not surprisingly, Batman and Superman would meet again in a couple of episodes.
“Superman: The Animated Series” plays host to guest appearances of other DC superheroes, since
Superman was more of a team-up hero than Batman. While “Batman: The Animated Series” features
guest heroes limited to the likes of Zatanna, Jonah Hex and Etrigan the Demon, “Superman: The
Animated Series” offers the Flash, Doctor Fate, Steel, several members of the Legion of Super Heroes,
Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and the classic version of Aquaman.
“Superman” ran for three seasons, and although a fourth season was planned, it never materialized. The
final episode is a two-parter called “Legacy,” featuring a Superman brainwashed by Darkseid and leading
an attack against Earth, destroying the trust of the people of Earth with the exception of Lois, Jimmy and
the Kents. The proposed fourth season would have involved Superman trying to repair the damaged
trust of the people, and while “Legacy” was supposed to be the fourth-season premiere, it wound up
being the series finale.
The series ran a total of 54 episodes between 1996 and 2000. Unlike its Batman counterpart, which
surpassed the generic 65-episode order, “Superman” came up short and was cancelled along with
“Batman: TAS” due to the WB team’s assignment to go full-throttle with its newest animated series, the
futuristic “Batman Beyond.”
Like “Batman: TAS,” Superman’s animated show spawned lots of merchandise and toys, though in not
quite the same abundance. In terms of action figures, there are plenty of variations of Superman to go
around. Instead of the business suit of the series, Lex Luthor’s figures are always in some sort of battle
armor, while Brainiac, Metallo, Bizarro, Supergirl and even the hard-to-find Lois Lane figure are all
authentic in appearance. Unfortunately, the Superman figures only resemble the cartoon on a partial
scale. There are also 12-inch figures of both Superman and Supergirl that better resemble the series’
characters.
The line of action figures from the series was rather impressive, as author Will’s collection attests!
Mattel’s Justice League and JLU figures have brought us a few characters from “Superman: The
Animated Series,” like business-suit Lex Luthor with snap-on green power suit. Brainiac, Bizarro and
Darkseid have all been remade as JLU figures, along with never-before-made figures of the Parasite and
Volcana.
Six years after the cancellation of “Superman: The Animated Series,” in the summer of 2006, Warner
Home Video released an animated movie directly to DVD, just before the theatrical release of
“Superman Returns.” The animated feature, “Superman: Brainiac Attacks,” brought back Tim Daly and
Dana Delany to their roles. Three years later, in 2009, the straight-to-DVD movie “Superman / Batman:
Public Enemies,” reunited Daly, Clancy Brown and Kevin Conroy for a slightly different animated look,
also bringing forth several well-loved DC characters such as Power Girl, Captain Marvel, Black Lightning
and Hawkman. Then, in 2010, came “Superman/Batman: Apocalypse,” a Supergirl story featuring Daly,
Conroy, and Summer Glau as Supergirl, with even voice director Andrea Romano taking a turn at the
microphone as Stompa and Vicki Vale.
Like “Batman: The Animated Series,” this series got its own comic book.
Episodes
Here’s the “nitty-gritty” of the show, the actual episode synopses. Note that, as with the other BRBTV
Reports, this information is original content and is collected directly from viewing the episodes and
their actual screen credits, as much as humanly possible, rather than book and web sources.
Season 1
“The Last Son of Krypton,” Part I
September 6, 1996
Written by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini; directed by Dan Riba.
On the planet Krypton, Jor-El, one of the planet’s top scientists, has been on a research expedition for
five months. He is distressed to discover that Krypton is doomed to explode, due to a chain reaction that
is causing frequent quakes all over the city. Jor-El reports his findings to the high council, who have more
faith in the planet’s supercomputer Brainiac, who reports the planet’s temblors are the result of a polar
shift. But Jor-El knows he’s lying. The council refuses to hear his claims. “There isn’t a square foot of this
planet Brainiac doesn’t know,” one council leader says, “and has, I might add, served us far better than
upstart scientists with apocalyptic visions!” One of the council members, Sul-Van, is Jor-El’s father-inlaw.
Later, Jor-El is determined to find out why Brainiac is lying and discovers that Brainiac is saving himself
and downloading his memory to a satellite. Brainiac sics security and the Krypton Police on Jor-El, who
becomes a fugitive. At their home, Jor-El tells his wife, Lara, to proceed with their backup plan. Using the
prototype spaceship he built, Jor-El sends his infant son, Kal-El, to another world. Jor-El and Lara share
one final kiss while their son rockets away to Earth – just as the plant Krypton explodes into a million
fragments.
Finola Hughes of ABC’s “General Hospital” lends her European accent to Lara El. Vernee WatsonJohnson, who was Lorraine Tate in “Batman Beyond,” as well as a couple voices in “Batman: The
Animated Series,” voices a worker in the episode. Emmanuel Jacomy voices the title character in this
three-part pilot only, until Tim Daly takes over. We see one member of the Superman universe in a minor
role: In the comics, Superman had a pet Superdog named Krypto, who is a puppy here. This is the first
time Brainiac is featured, but in this case, he is heard and not seen. Here, we see only his three circular
trademarks on small computer screens. Look for Brainiac to make his first physical appearance in the
episode “Stolen Memories.” We actually see three villains in this three-part pilot movie, Lex Luthor,
Brainiac and the future Metallo. Christopher MacDonald, who voiced Jo- El, would reprise the role of the
older Jor-El in the JLU episode, "For the Man Who Has Everything" and oddly enough, he would voice the
future Superman in the “Batman Beyond” two-parter "The Call," featuring the future JLU. Bruce Timm,
Paul Dini, and the others stated in the voice casting that it would sound appropriate if Superman in his
older years became like his father.
“The Last Son of Krypton,” Part II
September 6, 1996
Written by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini; directed by Curt Geda and Scott Jeralds.
In the town of Smallville, Kansas, a young farm couple, Jonathan and Martha Kent, are out for a drive
when they encounter a spaceship that lands and opens, revealing a little baby. Flash-forward, and we
catch up with an adopted teenager named Clark Kent, who seems to be going through a rough time.
Clark has noticed he is becoming increasingly physically stronger and faster. That same day, he manages
to rescue a family from a fiery crash and explosion without being burned. It is then that Jonathan and
Martha decide to show him the spaceship, and Clark discovers a small memory device that mentally
transports him to Krypton. He comes face-to-face with the images of his deceased biological parents,
Jor-El and Lara, who reveal to him his true heritage and the powers he will possess on Earth.
At first Clark is upset by the revelation, but he gradually adjusts to it when he discovers the power of
flight. Years later, the adult Clark Kent is hired as a reporter covering the city desk at the Daily Planet,
amid sightings of a blue-and-red-clad “guardian angel.” There he meets Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and his
new boss, Perry White. Clark’s first assignment is to help Lois cover the unveiling of a new military
weapon by LexCorp. But during the unveiling, a terrorist on an air vehicle steals the Lexo Suit 5000. Clark
sheds his business clothes and reveals a blue outfit and a red cape. When our hero pursues them, a
missile aimed at him misses, hitting a commercial airliner instead.
Lex Luthor, styled here after actor Telly Savalas, according to the first-season DVD set, makes his
commanding debut. George Dzundza, who was Arnold Wesker / Scarface in “Batman: The Animated
Series,” voices Perry White. The CW’s “Smallville” places our thriving Metropolis in relatively short driving
distance from Smallville, Kansas, as if Smallville is merely a suburb of the greater Metropolis area,
whereas in this animated incarnation, Metropolis is clearly in another state, as Clark asks Lois on his first
day at the Planet if she’s ever been to Kansas. Lana is a redhead in this incarnation. When Martha
suggests names for baby Kal-El, Christopher and Kirk are mentioned, nods to Christopher Reeve and
serial actor Kirk Allyn.
“The Last Son of Krypton,” Part III
September 6, 1996
Written by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini; directed by Dan Riba and Bruce Timm.
Our hero in red and blue saves the stricken airplane and brings it down safely, turning all of Metropolis
abuzz about this “guardian angel.” Lois Lane sums it up perfectly: “He’s the Nietzschean fantasy ideal all
wrapped up in a red cape. The Superman!” Clark visits his parents back in Smallville, who offer their
support and suggest that the public know something about his newly named persona, Superman.
Lois gets the surprise of her life: a private interview with the Man of Steel. Later, when Lois and Clark
visit Lex Luthor, they discover he’s not only unhappy about his battlesuit getting stolen, but also that
there’s “an alien in his backyard.” Lois and Clark do some research. They recall the trade embargo the
U.S. has with Kaznia and by certain photos, Clark suspects that Luthor’s battlesuit wasn’t stolen, but
Luthor most likely allowed the terrorists to take it during the demonstration. Lois tries to board a
Kaznian ship at the harbor, but she is captured by John Corben, special agent to the regent of Kaznia.
Corben and his Kaznian terrorists plan to kill Lois and use the battlesuit, but Superman arrives in time to
save her. He faces Corben in the battlesuit. Ultimately, Superman is the victor, proving he is not
intimidated by Lex Luthor. Meanwhile, in space, a giant ship containing small alien creatures intercepts a
message from an approaching satellite, which upon entry comes to life and whose tentacles kill all the
alien beings. Brainiac has taken over the spaceship.
Malcolm McDowell lends his exotic voice to John Corben. Brad Garrett of “Everybody Loves Raymond”
voices Bibbo here and will later voice Lobo. Martha mentions Gotham City, which leads to the idea that
Superman and Batman will eventually meet. (“It wouldn’t be bad if people know a little something about
Superman. I don’t want anyone thinking you’re like that nut in Gotham City.”)
“Fun and Games”
September 7, 1996
Written by Robert N. Skir and Marty Isenberg; directed by Kazuhide Tomonaga.
A group of crooks escape the police in their own armored car, but upon return to their hideout, they are
approached by a short little man with a giant toylike full headpiece with a bouncy ball that he lets loose
before he leaves the warehouse. He announces that he, the Toyman, is calling a timeout on the games
of their boss, Bruno Mannheim. The bouncy ball bounces harder and faster and is capable of damaging
anything, including their armored car. The timely arrival of Superman not only stops the bouncy ball, but
leads to the arrest of the crooks.
When Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen hear one of the crooks mumbling about the Toyman, Lois figures this
will be her story. The two of them go to the park where Clark Kent has been assigned to cover the park
dedication ceremony by Bruno Mannheim, who claims to be a legitimate businessman, but is secretly a
leader of Intergang. But the park is suddenly attacked by toy airplanes with live ammunition. Luckily,
Clark secretly uses his heat vision to put the toys out of commission. After Lois reports her story, things
really begin to happen. Mannheim is attacked on his yacht by a giant toy duck, which Superman battles
while Mannheim is finally captured by the Toyman, who later abducts Lois Lane for the story she wrote
on him.
The Toyman’s origin is told in two places at once: While Lois is told by the Toyman himself, Clark and
Jimmy discover it through cross-references on the Daily Planet computer. The Toyman’s headpiece was
modeled off a giant toy head made in the 1950s. Bud Cort, who voiced Josiah Wormwood on “Batman:
The Animated Series,” is the Toyman here. Kevin Michael Richardson, who would go on to voice General
Wells in “Justice League” and the Joker in “The Batman,” voices a cop here.
“A Little Piece of Home”
September 14, 1996
Written by Hilary J. Bader; directed by Toshihiko Masuda.
Lex Luthor has invited the elite of the Metropolis media to the unveiling of the Lex Luthor Museum of
Natural History. Among the reporters are Clark Kent and Lois Lane of the Daily Planet. But Clark
disappears when his X-ray vision detects two crooks who have broken inside to steal a rare jewel on
display. They come face-to-face with Superman, who is virtually indestructible and faster than a
speeding bullet – that is, until he stands in front of a display filled with green rocks. Superman suddenly
gets weak and collapses and the two thieves escape.
When the museum opens, Superman is weak and apologetic over being unable to stop the crooks. Later,
Luthor goes over the security video and realizes that he owns the one weapon he needs to control and
humiliate Superman. He intends to put the object to the test. LexCorp scientists discover this green rock
has properties not from Earth. Meanwhile, Lois gets a tip from one of the LexCorp scientists, who sneaks
a small piece of the green rock to her so she can take it to STAR Labs for research. When she runs into
Clark and shows him the sample, he appears to be sick with a cold. Lex hires a thug named Joey to steal
some engraving plates with the hope that Superman will follow him into the trap of the green rock.
Luthor also discovers that it’s Professor Peterson of LexCorp who took the rock to Lois, who along with
Superman consults with Professor Emile Hamilton at STAR Labs. Hamilton theorizes that the green rock
is a small chunk of the planet Krypton. It’s now called Kryptonite: its radiation, formed by the cataclysm
that destroyed Krypton, is what is so deadly and potentially fatal to a Kryptonian.
Lois gets a private call from Peterson requesting she meet him at the museum. But it’s a setup by
Peterson, who’s been set up himself, as Luthor leaves him at the mercy of his right-hand bodyguard /
chauffeur, Mercy Graves. Superman and Lois arrive at the museum and walk into Luthor’s trap: The
giant mechanical dinosaur comes to life and attacks them with the Kryptonite present. Lois, however,
uses her basketball throwing skills to hide the green K in a lead cup that shields the deadly radiation,
allowing Superman to save the day.
This is the episode that introduces us to Kryptonite and the deadly effect it has on Superman. This story
marks the debut of two characters: Mercy Graves and Professor Emile Hamilton of STAR Labs,
Superman’s friend and scientist ally. If Joey sounds familiar, you might remember Biff the bully from the
“Back to the Future” animated TV series. Thomas Wilson, who appeared in an episode of “Lois & Clark:
The New Adventures of Superman,” also voiced Tony Zucco on “Batman: The Animated Series.”
“Feeding Time”
September 21, 1996
Written by Robert Goodman; directed by Curt Geda.
Superman is undergoing a test conducted by Professor Hamilton at STAR Labs, wearing a lead-related
metal suit that will protect Superman from the harmful rays of Kryptonite. Suddenly, the alarm goes off
in the loading area. It seems that Rudy Jones, a lowly janitor at STAR Labs, has given access to his fence,
Martin LeBeau, so he can steal some barrels containing a deadly purple-colored chemical in the hopes
that LeBeau will pay off his bookie. A shootout leads to a fire while LeBeau escapes with the chemicals.
Superman puts out the fire, and Rudy is in the back of LeBeau’s pickup begging him to stop, but the
bumpy ride causes the chemicals to spill and Rudy is doused, completely deforming him. Another bump
hurls him off the truck and LeBeau leaves him for dead.
Later that night, a female police officer is making her rounds when she encounters the purple-colored
Rudy Jones. She passes out – and Rudy finds he’s gotten stronger. The next day, the officer is found and
sent to the hospital, and Superman finds Rudy going after LeBeau to drain his energy. But when Rudy
grabs onto Superman, he drains some of Superman’s powers and makes the announcement to people
nearby, “There’s a new Superman in town!”
Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen learn that the officer has fully recovered. Clark discovers his full strength is
back while Rudy later discovers his superpowers are gone. It seems that the transference of energy only
lasts 12 hours. That night, Clark decides to switch to Superman and go on patrol when he’s suddenly
attacked by Rudy, who knows his secret identity and drains him. When Superman awakens, he’s chained
and held prisoner in the basement level of STAR Labs, where Rudy plans to feed on Superman for his
energy every 12 hours. Meanwhile, Jimmy suspects that Rudy may be at STAR Labs, but Perry White
won’t listen to a mere freelance photographer, so Jimmy secretly borrows Perry’s press pass to snoop
around the labs. He finds Superman and helps free him so Superman can do battle with Rudy, now
known as the Parasite.
This is the origin of the Parasite, though he’s rarely called that. The Parasite and Metallo are the two
Superman villains who had never been translated to the small screen. Commissioner Henderson may be a
nod to the character created for the “Adventures of Superman” TV series that starred George Reeves. On
that show, Bill Henderson was a Caucasian police inspector played by the late Robert Shayne. Here,
Henderson is the police commissioner and is African-American.
“The Way of All Flesh”
September 28, 1996
Written by Stan Berkowitz; directed by Kenji Hachizaki.
John Corben, former mercenary to Lex Luthor, is serving his life sentence in Stryker’s Island Prison and is
being served his dinner when suddenly he collapses and is rushed to the prison doctor. Dr. Vale has bad
news for Corben. He has a rare disease that’s 100-percent fatal. But Dr. Vale also asks Corben to trust
him and a certain “good friend.” Dr. Vale helps Corben escape, thanks to the diversion of a couple fired
missiles that penetrate the prison wall, allowing some prisoners to escape. But they don’t get very far.
They are rounded up and recaptured quickly by Superman, who then seals the prison wall back up.
The trusted friend to Corben is none other than Lex Luthor himself, who generously pays for Corben to
undergo an operation where his mind is transferred to a body made of metallo, an indestructible alloy.
After the operation, Corben looks just like he did, with synthetic skin, though he now has superstrength
as well as piece of Kryptonite placed inside his chest. But Corben notices some things amiss: He cannot
feel anything, nor has he needed food or drink. Corben goes out to the streets of Metropolis and wreaks
havoc to lure Superman out in the open for a titanic battle. But when Corben tries to kiss Lois Lane, he
feels nothing. What’s worse, the doctor tells Corben that the operation is irreversible. Though Corben
now has superstrength and immortality, he can no longer feel anything pleasurable. In his anger, Corben
rips off a part of his synthetic face to reveal the metallic body within. Corben now considers himself “the
metal behind the man” and calls himself Metallo. Clark and Lois learn that Dr. Vale came into some
money and resigned from the prison infirmary quickly. Lex gets an unwelcome guest on his yacht:
Metallo demands the technical adjustments promised to him. When Superman arrives, he and Metallo
have a rematch – until Superman reveals to Corben that Luthor was the one who had the doctor poison
his prison food to give him the rare disease that would require the operation. Corben tries to kill Lex,
and only Superman can save him.
When Corben’s strength is being tested, it could remind fans of the classic “Six Million Dollar Man” series
– only this is an evil version!
“Stolen Memories”
November 2, 1996
Written by Rich Fogel; directed by Curt Geda.
A communications station owned by LexCorp is set atop a very high mountain where Lex Luthor has
made contact with a being from space, who’s due to show up any moment. Among the workers are an
undercover Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, hoping to get a story. A giant ship finally appears in the sky, and
Luthor has a face-to-face meeting with a being of artificial intelligence. The being calls itself Brainiac, and
Luthor provides him with a disc containing basic knowledge of the planet Earth. Brainiac transports
Luthor up to the ship.
Meanwhile, Superman returns from flying his Kryptonian ship through the universe when the Pentagon
requests his presence at a top-secret meeting with Luthor. At the meeting, Luthor demonstrates some
of Brainiac’s technology and requests that Superman talk to Brainiac, who’s most anxious to meet the
Man of Steel. When Superman enters Brainiac’s ship, he finds himself in a major battle with giant
robots. Finally, Superman meets Brainiac, who calls him by his Kryptonian name, Kal-El. Superman learns
that not only is Brainiac of Kryptonian origin, but that he has roamed through space all these years
collecting the knowledge of millions of planets, knowledge stored in circular glowing orbs. Upon
touching the Krypton orb, Superman sees his native world and his biological father. But he also discovers
that Brainiac may have been responsible for Krypton’s destruction. Brainiac makes Superman an offer to
journey with him all over space and help collect knowledge from other worlds. He promises to give KalEl more memories of Krypton.
The next day, LexCorp opens transmission for Brainiac to log in online, but Brainiac overrides the
controls and takes over the system, leaving LexCorp with no way to stop it. Back on the ship, Superman
gets his final confirmation by touching other orbs to learn that Brainiac did kill Krypton – and other
worlds. Now Earth is his target. During the battle, LexCorp resumes control and removes Brainiac from
the system. Brainiac and his ship both get destroyed, but not without Superman finding the orb of
Krypton, taking it, and storing it in a safe place – like maybe the Arctic region that will become the
Fortress of Solitude!
Here we see the first PHYSICAL appearance of Brainiac, as a robotic man rather than a computer screen.
“The Main Man,” Part I
November 9, 1996
Written by Paul Dini; directed by Dan Riba.
Superman conducts tests for STAR Labs with the spaceship that originally brought him to earth. Now
Professor Hamilton and his crew have refitted it for one-man space travel. Hamilton ponders beings of
other worlds, their vast technology and intelligence, as well as their achievements. But the professor
hasn’t met Lobo! Lobo is a moronic alien biker who rides his own version of a Hawg, a flying motorbike.
But don’t underestimate him – he’s also the most ruthless bounty hunter in the galaxy. He’s in the
process of capturing a little creature named Sqweek, who’s stolen the treasure of Emperor Spooj
(pronounced spy-uj). Spooj is paying Lobo a big bounty.
Lobo kicks the butt of Sqweek’s brother Gnaww, but suddenly he is captured himself and transported to
a giant spaceship operated by a floating spherical being called the Preserver, who wants to hire Lobo for
a job. Lobo declines, until the Preserver entices him with a treasure box full of jewels. The Preserver has
made it his mission to capture and preserve creatures who are the last of their kinds, and now the
Preserver wants Lobo to capture the last Kryptonian, Superman.
Clark Kent is at the Daily Planet when he hears an explosion coming from the police station. Superman
arrives to find Lobo waiting for him, and a major titanic battle ensues. Lobo eventually decides to “take
5,” but Superman uses his spaceship to pursue him, which culminates in a rematch, until Superman is
stunned and knocked out. When Superman awakens, he discovers he is wearing clothing similar to that
of his late father, Jor-El, and is in a containment area that looks like Krypton. It includes energy from a
red sun, making Superman no stronger than an ordinary man and unable to break out of the
containment. He is now a prisoner of the Preserver aboard his ship. Having accomplished his job, Lobo is
about to leave when the Preserver pulls a double-cross and announces he also needs the last Xarnian for
his collection. The last Xarnian is none other than Lobo! Lobo is suddenly placed in containment and
gassed into unconsciousness.
This is the first introduction to Lobo, an anti-hero who’s more for the adult comic fans. He uses words like
“fraggin” and “geekwad,” which represent profanity. Sherman Howard, voice of the Preserver here, also
portrayed Derek Powers / Blight in “Batman Beyond.” In the DVD commentary, it’s noted that Howard
actually auditioned for the role of Lex in this series – and portrayed Lex in the early-’90s live-action
“Superboy” series! In the Silver Age of comics, Lois Lane was always suspecting that Clark Kent was
Superman and was trying to catch him in that sense. In this episode, Clark has a little fun with Lois when
she asks why some yahoo from Smallville is beating her to so many stories. Clark leans over and says,
“Well, Lois, the truth is, I’m actually Superman in disguise, and I only pretend to be a journalist in order
to hear about disasters as they happen and then squeeze you out of the byline.” She replies, “You’re a
sick man, Kent.” Lobo’s interaction with Lois is also quite funny in that typical biker-trying-to-pick-up-ahot-girl routine.
“The Main Man,” Part II
November 16, 1996
Written by Paul Dini; directed by Dan Riba.
Emperor Spooj is furious at the thought that Lobo may have taken a bribe and gone back on his word, as
told to him by Gnaww, so he sends Gnaww and his cohorts to bring them both in. Meanwhile, Lobo
awakens in a party room with rock music and two very hot-looking alien party girls for his company and
pleasure, but he gets a rude awakening when he runs into his containment wall and remembers where
he is. What’s worse, the two alien girls spray him with gas to keep him in line. Superman uses a little
reflective light to make an alien rhino charge at him and break through his containment. At first,
Superman has no intention of freeing Lobo, but he changes his mind when Lobo gives his word he will
never bother him or Earth again. Since neither one is back to full strength, Superman and Lobo have to
join forces to battle the Preserver’s robots all over the ship. Even more, they have to battle Gnaww and
his cohorts who have come to collect Sqweek and Lobo for Emperor Spooj. But when they trap
Superman, they discover that Superman has tricked them into cornering him in an Earthlike
environment with a rare Dodo bird and the energy of a yellow sun, which restores Superman’s powers
to the fullest.
Meanwhile, Lobo gets to encounter the Preserver himself before he can escape. Lobo makes the
Preserver so mad, he rips out of his spherical shell to reveal his true form as a gigantic red monster with
claws. Superman and Lobo team up one more time to battle this giant beast. In the end, Lobo makes his
deadline and is in good standing again with Emperor Spooj, while Superman has taken all the rare
creatures from the Preserver’s ship and has given them new homes at his hidden Fortress of Solitude.
Perhaps Paul Dini had “Star Wars” on the brain when he wrote this episode; Emperor Spooj, voiced by
Richard Moll, looks similar to Jabba the Hut, only a little grosser. Seasoned voiceman Frank Welker,
whose impressive resume includes “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” and just about any other animated
series you can name, specializing in nonhuman voices, does the role of the serpent here. This episode is
referred to in the “Batman Beyond” episode “The Call,” where a futuristic Justice League must deal with
the escape of the Starro fish, one of the creatures, seen briefly here, rescued by Superman and taken to
the Fortress of Solitude. Starro also appeared in an episode of the “Aquaman” cartoon series by
Filmation in 1967.
“My Girl”
November 23, 1996
Written by Hilary J. Bader; directed by Yuichiro Yano.
Clark Kent and Lois Lane attend a major fashion show when the paparazzi all gather round to get a
glimpse of Lex Luthor and his new girlfriend, the trendy fashion designer LL. Clark is stunned to
recognize LL as Lana Lang, his classmate in Smallville.
Later that evening, Lana is abducted from the dressing room by two women who are out to steal her
fashion secrets. But they are interrupted by the timely arrival of Superman, who subdues the two
kidnappers and saves Lana. Her reaction surprises him. “Hmm … red, blue, yellow, primary, but it works
in a superhero-ish kind of way. Let me guess. Martha sewed it for you.” Superman returns, “What?!”
She continues, “By the way, Clark, how are the folks?” Yes, Lana remembers all the amazing things Clark
did back in high school. Superman warns her that Lex may be involved with illegal sales and distribution
through an arms dealer, but she dismisses it. But the next day, Lana spends time with Lex until the man
she saw him speaking with the previous night arrives for an appointment. Lana can’t help but overhear
the meeting and discovers that Clark’s suspicions were right. But she doesn’t know that while she was
spying on Lex, Mercy Graves was spying on her, especially when Superman visited her the previous
night.
Eelon, the man whom Lex Luthor has been doing business with, is indeed selling some deadly new guns
to terrorists through LexCorp. However, Superman arrives and disposes of the two terrorists, but Eelon
is clever and fires his gun at a train bridge and destroys a part of it. Eelon uses this time to escape while
Superman is busy using a pair of railroad tracks to help a train cross the bridge. Lana wants to help
Superman in his fight against crime, but he says no. Lana’s reply, “I could be your trusty sidekick, your
Dr. Watson, your Batgirl.” Superman says, “Definitely no!” Unfortunately for Lana, her meeting with
Superman was seen from a distance by Mercy and Lex. The next day while Lex and Lana have lunch, Lex
intercepts a phone call from Eelon and takes it in front of Lana, who later calls Clark for a tipoff that the
weapons factory is in Central City, but Lana is unaware that she’s been set up. When Luthor’s limo
comes to pick her up for her dinner date, she is shocked to discover that Eelon is driving instead of
Mercy. Eelon takes Lana to an isolated, fully automated steel factory owned by LexCorp, but
surprisingly, Superman arrives.
This is only the second time a character from the Batman universe is mentioned in passing, a hint of what
is to come down the road. Ironically, Central City, home of the Flash, is also mentioned in this episode.
This marks the first time that Lex Luthor and Lana Lang were a couple before Michael Rosenbaum and
Kristin Kreuk paired up on “Smallville.” Lana’s name in this incarnation is pronounced “Lanna,” while in
the “Smallville” series it’s pronounced “Lonna.”
“Tools of the Trade”
February 1, 1997
Written by Mark Evanier; directed by Curt Geda.
A couple of thugs attempt to break into the Metropolis Gold Exchange operating a super steel army
tank. This brings out a special group of Metropolis Police known as the Special Crimes Unit, headed up
by inspectors Maggie Sawyer and Dan Turpin.
When Clark Kent and Lois Lane get caught in a traffic jam, Lois leaves Clark and gets to the scene of the
crime on foot. The two crooks barely break into the Exchange when they are suddenly thwarted by
Superman. Afterward, the SCU is interviewed by the media, but Turpin is ticked off when newswoman
Angela Chen insinuates that the SCU is nothing more than the cleanup crew when Superman saves the
day. Although Sawyer acknowledges her appreciation of Superman’s help, Turpin resents the Man of
Steel, feeling the boy in blue is rendering him ineffective as a cop.
Meanwhile, Bruno Mannheim, head of Intergang, is one angry crime lord, since his weaponry seems
useless against the likes of Superman. Suddenly, he is visited by a strange man named Kanto, who gives
Mannheim some very high-tech weapons that are obviously not from Earth. But Kanto will not answer
Mannheim’s question as to the identity of his boss. Turpin spies on Mannheim at his estate and
witnesses the weaponry. But when he follows Kanto, the man mysteriously disappears. Mannheim
sends his goons to rob a train carrying gold bullion, and they use the high-tech magic gloves to wreck the
train.
When Superman arrives, they use the alien weaponry to keep the Man of Steel busy while they get
away. Sawyer and Turpin disagree on calling in Superman to help the SCU. Turpin quits, and goes
snooping after Mannheim in civilian form, but he is caught by Kanto, who mysteriously appears out of
the sky. Kanto says his master is pleased at how Mannheim handled the weapons, so Kanto brings more,
and they use them to battle Superman. Turpin, meanwhile, manages to get free and even gives the Man
of Steel some assistance. Kanto retreats, and as he enters the tube-shaped dimensional walkway (which
will become known as the boom tube), Mannheim leaps in after him before it closes up. In the end, the
media interviews the SCU and Superman acknowledges Dan Turpin for saving his life, giving Turpin a
new respect and admiration for Superman. Meanwhile, on a dark, dismal planet in a far-off galaxy,
Bruno Mannheim is frightened of where he is and demands Kanto reveal the identity of his employer.
Mannheim meets the omnipotent figure standing above him. “Welcome to Apokolips, Mr. Mannheim.”
Mannheim asks who he is. “Your new lord and master. You may call me … Darkseid.”
This marks the first appearance of Darkseid, Superman’s No. 1 foe of all time. While Lex Luthor is
considered to be Superman’s arch-enemy, Darkseid is the ultimate villain, a godlike being who rules the
darkened planet of Apokolips, complete with burn holes everywhere. In a sense, “Tools of the Trade” is a
mirror image episode of the “Batman: The Animated Series” episode, “Off Balance,” where the Caped
Crusader’s most deadly menace, Ra’s al Ghul, made his debut at the end of the episode, as well. Oddly
enough, Michael York voiced villains in both shows: Vertigo in “Off Balance” and Kanto here. This episode
also marks the debut of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit. The SCU troops all look like Robocop. Maggie
Sawyer is cool and levelheaded, whereas Dan Turpin, nicknamed Terrible Turpin, is a street-smart cop
who lacks patience. For this show, his character design was modeled off the look of the late Jack Kirby,
the artist who designed many Marvel and DC characters in the ’70s. Kirby created Darkseid and all the
Fourth World characters of the New Gods comic series. At first, it seemed Turpin would be to Superman
what Harvey Bullock is to Batman, but by episode’s end, it’s clear that honor will go to another
character. For a laugh, after Mannheim’s men wreck the train, Clark is looking at the latest copy of the
Daily Planet when Lois rushes past him and into the elevator to impatiently mash the button to close
with this fast-paced quote: “Coming through! Big train wreck, five miles north. Someone was standing in
the tracks and right now I wish it was the GUY WHO BUILT THIS STUPID ELEVATOR!!”
“Two’s a Crowd”
February 15, 1997
Written by Stan Berkowitz; directed by Hiroyuki Aoyama.
Earl Garver, a former employee of STAR Labs, has stolen a radioactive isotope and announces he has
made a bomb and plans to detonate it unless Metropolis pays a huge ransom. Inspectors Maggie Sawyer
and Dan Turpin and the SCU attempt to break into his residence, only to find his house has been
reinforced with a powerful alloy that is impervious to their weapons, plus he has weapons loaded all
around his home. Turpin suffers some injuries and is taken to the hospital, but Superman arrives and
penetrates Garver’s defenses. Garver still refuses to talk, and he attempts to crush Superman. He not
only fails but winds up knocked unconscious via a severe blow to the head.
At the hospital, the doctor informs Superman and Maggie Sawyer that Garver may be unconscious for
another day or two. What’s worse, the bomb will go off within four hours. Professor Hamilton suggests
someone who could help by retrieving the info from Garver’s unconscious mind, but Superman is leery
of the idea, since that someone is Parasite, who’s serving time in Stryker’s Island Prison. Naturally, the
Parasite couldn’t care less. Though he doesn’t mind retrieving the needed information, Parasite wants
something in return. That turns out to be ... cable television in his cell – complete with the premium
channels!
The Parasite is wheeled into Garver’s hospital room, where the draining begins, but something goes
wrong when the Parasite begins screaming in pain. Inside the mind of the Parasite, Rudy Jones has
company. Apparently, his powers not only drained Garver’s memory, but also Garver’s conscious mind,
as well. Ultimately, he reveals where the bomb is, and Superman and Maggie Sawyer use a couple of
wetsuits from STAR Labs to dive to a wrecked ship in the ocean and find the bomb. They discover they
were led on a wild goose chase and barely escape with their lives from the ocean floor. Meanwhile,
Garver convinces Rudy they should combine their strengths. Though reluctant at first, Rudy agrees, and
the Parasite manages to escape. Garver later phones Superman and requests the ransom money.
Superman brings the money to an abandoned subway line, where he is instructed how to shut off the
bomb. But it’s a trap. No sooner does Superman shut down the bomb then he is attacked by the
Parasite. It’s then that Garver learns the Parasite’s powers of transference are only temporary. Rudy
Jones begins to realize that his body has been taken over by Garver and that he is in no hurry to wake
up. Superman points out that Garver is willing to sacrifice Rudy. Superman has one more battle with
Parasite and manages to get rid of the bomb. Garver wakes up in his own body, only to discover that he
is in a medical ambulance being flown to Stryker’s Island by Superman. Once there, Garver passes a
certain cell filled with lots of laughing. It’s Parasite, enjoying his cable television.
This is the last episode of “Superman” under this original title. Wrapping up a successful first season, the
next episode will be part of “The New Batman / Superman Adventures.”
Season 2
“Blasts from the Past,” Part I
September 8, 1997
Written by Robert Goodman; directed by Dan Riba.
Superman visits Professor Hamilton at STAR Labs and finds him wrestling to open a compartment he
found in Superman’s spaceship. Inside, they find a projector gun with a screen that enables them to look
into another dimension, the Phantom Zone, a space wasteland where Kryptonian criminals were placed.
But while the professor tries to adjust the picture, he accidentally releases one of the deadly creatures,
which flies out of the lab to wreak havoc.
Superman manages to recapture the creature, and the professor hits a reverse button to send the
creature back. No sooner is that accomplished than they hear a woman named Mala begging to be
released. Superman journeys to his Fortress of Solitude, to the special device he used to discover his
true identity. His DNA activates it, and it connects to the Brainiac Orb. Superman is then mentally
transported to Krypton, where he asks Brainiac for information on Mala. As told by the Brainiac
computer, Mala served as second-in-command to General Jax-Ur, the head of Krypton’s military
defense. Eventually, the thirst for power corrupted Jax-Ur’s mind and he led the military to overthrow
the Kryptonian council, but his plans were thwarted by one scientist – Jor-El. Jax-Ur was sentenced to
life in the Phantom Zone while Mala received a lighter sentence of 20 years, with the council believing
that she was only following orders.
Although it is risky, Superman decides it’s time to release Mala from the Phantom Zone. He introduces
himself as Kal-El and tells her what happened to Krypton. Professor Hamilton gives Superman access to
the cabin retreat owned by STAR Labs so Superman can show Mala how to use her new powers under
earth’s yellow sun. He says she can only stay on Earth if she promises not to use her powers to hurt
others. Superman then takes Mala on patrol in Metropolis, where they find a robbery. Mala goes after
two of the robbers, but she uses aggressive force and makes one of them beg for his life until Superman
makes her stop. Mala tells the police she is Superman’s second-in-command. But Superman is
concerned he may have made a mistake when he sees how power-hungry Mala is. He decides to let her
speak to the press, prepared to send her back to the Phantom Zone if necessary, unaware that Mala has
overheard his conversation with the professor. When interviewed by Lois Lane, Mala says she is
Superman’s betrothed, which Superman denies. Mala is hurt and then angered, especially when she
sees he cares for Lois. Mala attacks and Superman blocks her attack. Mala comes to realize that Kal-El is
not like Jax-Ur, and she causes a disaster, leaving Superman to rescue innocent people from harm. Later,
Superman finds Professor Hamilton injured at STAR Labs and learns that Mala took the projector. Mala
uses the projector and releases Jax-Ur out of the Phantom Zone. “Welcome to Earth, my darling,” she
says. “Believe me, you’re going to love it here.”
General Jax-Ur and Mala are obviously this series’ answer to General Zod and Ursa from the Superman
movies of 1978 and 1981. Mala is voiced by Leslie Easterbrook from the “Police Academy” movies, who
also voiced Francine Langstrom on “Batman: The Animated Series.” Continuity goof: Mala’s hatred for
Lois becomes almost instant, especially during the interview when Lois replies to Mala’s statements with,
“Yeah, right, and I’m Wonder Woman.” Although they probably didn’t know or intend to bring her into
the series, this is a continuity goof since Diana of Themiscyra did not become Wonder Woman until
“Secret Origins,” the pilot episode of “Justice League” in 2001. Lex Luthor has a cameo when the media
interviews him about Mala and he arrogantly claims that Superman and Mala might populate Earth with
Kryptonians and take over Earth, which Mala finds enticing. While Brainiac is the evil renegade computer
from Krypton who collects knowledge from planets and then destroys them, Brainiac here is also the
computer memory of the Orb that Superman took from the real Brainiac’s ship, which he uses like a
computer to access information on Krypton.
“Blasts from the Past,” Part II
September 9, 1997
Written by Robert Goodman; directed by Dan Riba.
Superman takes Professor Hamilton to his private hideaway in the Arctic. Hamilton officially gives
Superman’s hideout a name when he says, “If anyone deserves their own Fortress of Solitude, it’s you.”
The Man of Steel activates the orb with his DNA. When taken to the Krypton simulation, Superman asks
Brainiac for instructions to build a Phantom Zone projector, with the professor taking notes.
Meanwhile, Jax-Ur and Mala are walking through downtown where Mala decides to show her general
their powers by causing some disasters. They both know that Kal-El is the son of Jor-El, their jailer. When
Clark Kent returns to the Daily Planet, he is shocked to see the trouble Mala is causing. When Superman
arrives, he and Mala engage in a major battle while Jax-Ur looks on, very impressed, but his strength has
not developed yet. The two of them escape, but not before Mala causes a distraction that requires
Superman to rescue Lois Lane.
Later, Professor Hamilton discovers their newly built Phantom Zone requires a special type of crystal to
work properly, but time is running out since Jax-Ur is getting stronger. The Daily Planet receives some
unwelcome visitors when Jax-Ur and Mala bust in and abduct Lois. When Superman learns of this, he
journeys to the STAR Labs cabin retreat wearing his lead suit, bringing Kryptonite, which subdues Mala.
But Jax-Ur appears and uses the projector to transport Superman and the piece of Kryptonite into the
Phantom Zone, then destroys the projector with his heat vision. Lois vows, “I’m gonna personally lead
the army that vaporizes you two!” Mala wants to kill Lois, but Jax-Ur orders for Lois to be left alive to tell
the world that Superman is gone forever.
At STAR Labs, Professor Hamilton informs Lois that Superman’s anti-Kryptonite suit contains a homing
signal, which enables them to find Superman. With extreme difficulty, Professor Hamilton manages to
bring Superman out of the Phantom Zone, and although the original projector has been destroyed,
Superman finds the one piece he needs. Jax-Ur and Mala, meanwhile, have caused chaos all over the
world and have taken over the United Nations. But just as the world representatives are about to
surrender the planet to Jax-Ur, Superman returns to do battle. He manages to set a trap and a wild sky
chase to where Lois and Professor Hamilton are waiting to use the new Phantom Zone projector.
Part II is definitely a worthy flashback to the movie “Superman II,” which contains similar elements, from
the attempt to take over the world to the attack of Perry White and abduction of Lois Lane to bring
Superman into the open. Ron Perlman is the voice of Jax-Ur; he was the voice of Clayface on “Batman:
The Animated Series” and was Robin’s arch foe Slade Wilson on the “Teen Titans” animated series. Ron
Glass, a cast member of the 1970s police sitcom “Barney Miller,” is the voice of the TV newsman.
“The Prometheon”
September 12, 1997
Written by Alan Burnett and Stan Berkowitz; directed by Nobuo Tomizawa.
A giant asteroid is due to hit Metropolis in a matter of hours. A military task force has been assigned to
go into space and destroy it. Their leader is General Hardcastle, accompanied by Professor Hamilton of
STAR Labs. Also joining the mission is Superman, much to the delight of the professor and the chagrin of
the general. Hardcastle says of Superman, “I don’t trust what I can’t control, Hamilton, and I don’t like
what I can’t trust.”
The professor provides Superman with the explosives needed to detonate the asteroid, but while
Superman is placing them, he is shocked to discover a giant, unconscious alien attached to the dark side
of the asteroid. When turned around to face the sun, the creature comes to life and breaks free of his
bonds. Hardcastle activates the explosives, regardless of Superman’s safety. But the explosion doesn’t
help things. In fact, the creature falls toward Earth.
Superman manages to divert the creature to land in the ocean. When it lands, Superman rescues an
ocean liner from a massive tidal wave created by the impact. The Man of Steel then has to rescue a
submarine attacked by the creature.
Meanwhile, Professor Hamilton has returned to STAR Labs to decipher the binary code left with the
creature. It is revealed that the giant creature is a synthetic being created by aliens who wanted to use
him for labor jobs on their planet. Its source of energy came from their sun, but the sun was not enough.
The hotter it became, the stronger it became. The professor goes to work on an experiment to create
some instant cold in the hopes of freezing the creature.
Unfortunately, the creature, which had been walking on the ocean floor, has now come upon land.
Hardcastle and the military fire all sorts of things at the creature, but to no avail. Hardcastle won’t even
listen when Superman tries to explain that firing weapons will only make it stronger. Superman asks
Professor Hamilton to black out the city power, depriving the creature of any more energy. Hamilton is
ready to freeze the creature as Superman lures it into the lake, but the moon surfaces, drawing the
creature’s attention. It manages to grab Superman. But the Man of Steel spots a parked boat in the lake
with full gas cans. Superman lights and explodes the tanks, and the creature is frozen in the trap.
Hardcastle makes his first appearance on this series, representing to Superman what Detective Harvey
Bullock is to Batman on “Batman: The Animated Series.” Veteran actor Charles Napier is the voice of
Hunter. On a comical note, when the creature lands in the ocean, the sound of the sudden impact is
observed by Lois and Jimmy at the Daily Planet. Jimmy says, “Sonic boom? Earthquake?” Lois returns,
“Maybe Perry had chili for lunch again.”
“Speed Demons”
September 13, 1997
Special guest star: THE FLASH!!!
Written by Rich Fogel; directed by Toshihiko Masuda.
Metropolis gathers to see the beginning of the Fastest Man Alive charity race. Lois Lane and Jimmy
Olsen are in the crowd and they cheer on when Superman arrives to participate. Then, out of nowhere,
his competition from Central City, the Flash, arrives in a flash, so to speak. Flash comes across as a fastthinking, hyperactive, egotistical jerk.
Before the race begins, one of the officials places electronic armbands around them so their progress
can be monitored. After the flare is fired, we see nothing but a streak of red and blue as the race around
the world begins. Later, the same official who gave our heroes the armbands removes his disguise as he
drives back to his home, only to discover snow around his house on an otherwise pretty day. Inside, Ben
Mardon is working on his invention, a device that can create weather situations by pointing it at the
giant globe simulator. Then, his brother, Mark Mardon, enters and is angry that his brother is testing the
invention now, not wanting attention called on them just yet. Ben had made the invention to help
mankind, but Mark wants to make a profit. He takes over the device, contacts a tracking station and
introduces himself to General Richter as the Weather Wizard, intending to extort money by threatening
to create weather disasters all over the world. For his first act, Mardon aims the wand at the oceans in
northern Australia on the globe, causing severe storms to develop suddenly, which is trouble for an oil
tanker.
Luckily, Superman and the Flash put their race on the backburner to help. After rescuing the crewmen
and sealing up the oil tanker, the Man of Steel and the Scarlet Speedster view Weather Wizard’s
broadcast – and the Flash recognizes one of his old foes. When our heroes pursue him, the Weather
Wizard sends a powerful blizzard their way, cold enough to freeze them. But our heroes escape, and
realize that the only way the Weather Wizard could track their every move is with the armbands. Ben
Mardon decides he wants nothing to do with killing, as his older brother seems intent on doing. Mark,
however, lets Ben leave with no strings, or so he thinks. As soon as he leaves, Ben gets into a snowstorm
that steers him away from the road and off the ledge. Fortunately, Superman and the Flash arrive in the
nick of time to save him, and they manage to enter the house and do battle with the Weather Wizard. In
the end, after the Weather Wizard is in prison, Superman and Flash decide to unofficially finish their
race to determine who really is the Fastest Man Alive.
There are four interesting voices to pick out here. First, Miguel Ferrer, who’s voiced three different
characters on “Superman,” plays the Weather Wizard. Before Michael Rosenbaum voiced the Flash on
“Justice League,” Charlie Schlatter (Dr. Jesse Travis on “Diagnosis: Murder) was the voice of the Flash in
this episode as well as a later, faster-talking Flash in an episode of “The Batman.” Finally, the mayor of
Metropolis is voiced by Carl Lumbly, who’s best remembered for the sci-fi adventure series “Mantis,” and
to “Justice League” fans as J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Also, General Richter is voiced by none
other than Marion Ross, best remembered as Marion Cunningham (or Mrs. C!) on “Happy Days.” While
“The New Batman / Superman Adventures” aired six mornings a week, the show was 30 minutes on
weekdays but a full hour on weekends. “Speed Demons” was the first weekend episode, and the first of
the retooled Batman episodes, “Holiday Knights,” premiered in the same hourlong time slot.
“Livewire”
September 13, 1997
Written by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer; directed by Curt Geda.
Metropolis wakes up every morning with “Livewire” on WLXL radio, where Leslie Willis is on the air with
her hot music and talk show. Leslie is a very obnoxious radio personality and talk-show host – a
shockjock who likes to shake things up. This particular morning, she is outspoken in her hatred for
Superman. While certain listeners like Lex Luthor would agree with her, she does infuriate others like
Bibbo, the old sailor who considers Superman his pal, or Lois Lane and Clark Kent, who come to
interview Leslie, but wind up on the air with her. And while Leslie is grilling Lois over her public relations
with the Man of Steel, Clark Kent excuses himself because his X-ray vision and super-hearing have
picked up a crane operator in trouble atop a skyscraper. Superman comes to the rescue.
Leslie announces a huge rock concert and celebration show to be broadcast live at Centennial Park, but
it appears that mother nature does not agree with her plans, as thunderstorms move in and stay all day
and into the night. Clark, Lois and Jimmy are shocked that the station did not call off the concert due to
the weather. Leslie refuses to allow any of her glory to be taken away. When the Metropolis Police and
even Superman try to convince her otherwise, Leslie turns the wild crowd on them. But then lightning
hits the stage and speakers, and Superman jumps in and takes the voltage. It doesn’t prevent the
lightning from striking Leslie, however, discoloring her skin and knocking her out.
Superman quickly rushes Leslie to the hospital, where the doctor tells him that Leslie amazingly will be
fine, but her skin and hair now have a permanent blue discoloring. Upon awakening, Leslie is overcome
with anger and blames Superman for what happened to her, but she changes her tune when she
discovers that anything electronic she touches goes haywire and she has become pure energy. She
manages to escape the hospital by changing into energy and going through the electrical outlet. When
Superman finds her, Leslie has changed her hospital gown into a sleek black outfit with her newfound
powers, and she has also changed her name to Livewire. She escapes through an electronic sign and
uses her powers to black out the city of Metropolis. She restores some power only to make the demands
that she is now the queen of all media and controls the electricity in the city. Once again, Livewire has to
do battle with Superman, but when she experiences a drain in her powers, she retreats. Superman
knows where she’s going: a hydroelectric plant, to recharge her powers with raw energy. Superman and
Livewire do battle again, but Livewire manages to hurl some energy beams at Superman. But the Man of
Steel ducks on one hurl, creating a crack in the dam, causing water to splash in and hit her. It cancels out
Livewire’s high-voltage powers. Superman uses his heat vision to seal the dam and then takes Livewire
to the hospital, this time under tight restraint.
Introducing the first of the newly created villains for Superman’s Rogues Gallery: Livewire!! Since
Superman doesn’t really have any female arch villains, Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and the crew came up with
a few good ones, with Livewire being among the best. She’s an obvious reference to ’90s shockjock
Howard Stern, who proclaimed himself the king of all media. Livewire is voiced by actress Lori Petty, who
comes from my own hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. – WR
“Identity Crisis”
September 15, 1997
Written by Joe R. Lansdale and Robert Goodman; directed by Curt Geda.
Superman rescues a little boy who climbed a transformer on a dare. Afterward, he spots two police cars
chasing a pair of robbers on the outskirts of the city, going toward the coast, and he lends a hand. His
capture of the thieves causes Lois Lane’s car to swerve, missing a collision, but the passenger door falls
open and Clark Kent is hurled from the car, rescued by ... Superman? Clark is stunned to be rescued by
his own alter-ego. Superman asks Lois out on a dinner date, which is surprising to both Clark and Lois.
Clark decides to “walk it off” as an excuse to get away and change. Lois replies, “Your loss. My byline.”
Later, Superman is patrolling Metropolis when he hears a voice behind him say, “Excuse me. I know
you’re a busy guy, but I am dying to get your autograph.” Superman finds himself meeting Superman –
and the two engage in battle until the real Man of Steel points that his makeup is coming off and then
punches the clone. When Superman goes to check on him, he discovers his lookalike has undergone a
bizarre change. His skin is now white with cracked features, and his back is hunched over. Even his
costume has changed in color. The clone gets away and goes to an isolated laboratory in the mountains,
to his creator: Lex Luthor. After Superman’s battle with the mechanical dinosaur (in “A Little Piece of
Home”), Superman had actually bled from the weakness of the Kryptonite and Luthor’s lab boys
managed to get a sample of his DNA to create Superman clones, all of whom would be programmed to
obey Luthor. This particular clone started out as a perfect duplicate of Superman, but now its DNA
structure seems to be breaking down. Even his speech has altered. Mercy Graves doesn’t help matters,
either. The defective Superman clone looks in the mirror and asks, “What am me?” and Mercy, in a
valley girl type of voice, replies, “Bizarro!! That’s what you am!” The newly named Bizarro gets angry
and keeps saying, “Me am Superman!! Me am hero!!” He flies through the roof and away to prove it.
Luthor looks at the damaged roof and tells Mercy, “That’s coming out of your pay.”
In Metropolis, Bizarro wants to save lives and properties to prove who he thinks he is, but his thinking is
completely backward and he winds up creating disasters that Superman has to fix. That night, Lois waits
on the roof of the Daily Planet for Superman, but she meets Bizarro instead. When Superman does show
up, Bizarro is determined to protect Lois. But during the battle, Superman has to catch and reseal the
globe on the Planet and Lois falls from the roof, only to be rescued by Bizarro, who takes Lois to a
restaurant for dinner and tells her about himself. Lois records the interview, and Bizarro insists on taking
her to his home, which is the LexCorp lab. Upon arrival, Lois is horrified to see prototypes of Superman
clones. Luthor has his scientist activate a self-destruct mechanism to blow up the lab, along with Bizarro.
Luthor, Mercy and the scientist get away by helicopter. Superman arrives and rescues Lois when she is
trapped under some rubble. Bizarro witnesses the rescue and sadly comes to realize he is not Superman
after all. Bizarro holds up the caved-in rubble, allowing Superman to carry Lois to safety. In the end, just
before the lab explodes, Lois tells Bizarro that he is indeed a hero and Superman points out that he did
have a good heart.
This is the introduction of Bizarro, Superman’s backwards counterpart. Unlike the “Super Friends” era,
where Bizarro came from Bizarroworld and was merely a backwards-minded crook, this Bizarro is a clone
of Superman. Bizarro thinks he’s a hero, but he thinks backwards. For example, here when Bizarro sees a
crane demolishing an old building, he disables the crane, thinking he must save the building. In this
episode, Tim Daly does outstanding double-duty as both Superman and Bizarro. Any episode with Bizarro
is guaranteed to be a fun one. John Rubinow voices the helicopter pilot; he was a doctor and virtual news
anchor in “Batman Beyond,” Brakeman in “Justice League” and a museum guard in “Batman: The
Animated Series.”
“Target”
September 19, 1997
Written by Hilary J. Bader; directed by Curt Geda.
Lois Lane wins the Excalibur Award for Investigative Journalism. But right before her name is announced,
she notices her napkin has a note that says, “You win … you die.” So when Lois receives her award and
nervously gives an acceptance speech, Clark Kent’s super-hearing picks up a strange noise, and with his
X-ray vision he discovers a laser cutting the wire holding up a giant Excalibur sword, setting it to drop on
Lois. Superman arrives in time to save her.
Afterward, Lois hands the strange gizmo Superman found over to Detective Kurt Bowman and the
Metropolis Police, and Bowman is anything but thrilled to investigate. He merely tells Lois to keep her
nose out of police business and to make a list of anyone who would want to kill her. Lois later tells Clark
she did a story on police corruption that cost Bowman a promotion. They are on the freeway when
suddenly a strange voice is heard on the radio. Lois loses control of her car, and they find themselves
trapped. Clark cuts open the roof of her car and tries to get them out, but the car swerves and Clark falls
out. Lois’ attempt to escape fails when the air bag suddenly deploys and she is trapped as her car goes
off the freeway. Once again, Superman saves the day. Afterward, the Man of Steel finds a strange
contraption under her car.
The next day, Lois and Clark go to a lab to visit Lois’ informant, Edward Lytener, a former employee of
LexCorp. Lytener is able to identify the object that nearly killed Lois as a gadget from LexCorp. So Lois
goes to confront Lex Luthor, but upon telling him what happened, Lois is shocked that Lex is concerned
for her safety and is willing to find out where one of his inventions ended up. Unfortunately, things don’t
get any better for Lois. First, Perry White gives her overdue assignments to rival reporter Julian Frey.
Then when she enters the elevator at the Daily Planet, she finds it taken over by her mysterious stalker,
who has placed a bomb in the elevator car and programmed it to fly into space on jet-propelled rockets.
Luckily for Lois, Superman once again comes to the rescue.
That night, Lois has a nightmare that an intruder breaks into her apartment and throws her from the
balcony. The next day, Clark receives a phone call from Lex Luthor, who has traced the stolen item from
his lab to Edward Lytener’s lab. Clark realizes who Lois’ stalker is. Meanwhile, Lois has gone to Lytener to
investigate the murder attempts, but Lytener accidentally says too much. Lois learns that Lytener gave
Lois the tipoffs not for doing the right thing but because he wanted Lois to notice him. When it didn’t
happen, Lytener decided to kill Lois. Because she’s an unusual woman, Lytener planned her execution in
unique ways. He traps her in a cage of pure energy walls that close in on her. Superman arrives to save
Lois, but has to deal with Lytener, who straps on a special harness made of energy from a red sun, which
makes Lytener a deadly match for Superman. Superman and Lytener do battle, with the latter losing
once again. In the end, Lois asks Superman if he’s been keeping an eye on her, and Superman replies,
“Well, some people need more watching than others.”
The next time you see Edward Lytener, he will develop his supervillain costume and establish a new
identity, as well as a new weapon to take on Superman.
“Mxyzpixilated”
September 20, 1997
Written by Paul Dini; directed by Dan Riba.
Superman is patrolling Metropolis when he suddenly notices a traffic incident caused by a very smallsized man walking in the middle of the street hollering out for a “McGURK!!” Superman slows an
armored car to stop it from hitting the little man, but both the vehicle and the questionable character
vanish by turning into bubbles. Later, Clark Kent notices Jimmy Olsen laughing at the newest comic strip
on the funny pages of the Daily Planet. Surprisingly, it’s the same little man, who suddenly comes out of
the paper. When Clark asks his name, he reveals himself to be Mr. Mxyzptlk (pronounced mix-yes-spitlick) but then vanishes again.
Later on, Clark and Lois cover the opening of an art museum, and as the Thinker sculpture is unveiled,
Mxyzptlk appears again, searching for McGurk and claiming to have found him when the statue comes
to life and walks away with him. Clark ducks out of sight and reemerges as Superman. Myxie orders the
statue to attack Supes, which he does with a powerful punch. Superman replies with his own powerful
punch, only to discover that he broke the Thinker statue, much to the surprise and horror of the
audience – and Lois. Superman shamefully apologizes, “It was... the little man?”
Clark goes home to Smallville to visit with his parents, worrying that he may be cracking up. But before
he can catch his breath, his parents suddenly start acting like chickens, literally. Then they physically
become chickens. It’s more of Mxyzptlk’s work. Mxyzptlk shows himself and explains that for centuries
he’s used his magic against everybody and everything he can think of, and now he considers Superman
to be the ultimate challenge. But the Man of Steel reminds him that games have rules, so Myxie sets one
rule that Superman must make him either say or spell his name backwards, which is Kltpzyxm
(pronounced kill-tip-sisum) and Myxie will return to his dimension for three months until their planets
fall into alignment again. After Superman tricks him quickly, Myxie vanishes with a simple “Ah, nuts!”
and everything is normal again with the Kents not knowing anything had ever happened.
Every three months, Clark always seems to manage to trick Myxie very easily. Myxie, meanwhile, is so
frustrated by Superman, he decides to build a robotic supersuit. But no sooner does he leave, then his
beautiful girlfriend Gsptlsnz (Gysby for short) begins counting down backward and then Myxie
reappears, shouting, “NUTS!! NUTS!! NUTS!!”
One particular day, Clark is dreading the coming of Mr. Mxyzptlk, and true to form, Clark knows he’s
there when Lois becomes a horse, Jimmy a turtle, and Perry White a walrus. Myxie shows himself and
makes a new rule. Since Clark tricks him into saying his name backwards every time he appears, Myxie
now requires Clark to trick him twice in a row. Clark decides he’s had it and quits. Myxie threatens to
reveal his secret identity. Superman replies, “Blab your head off. I’ll find another disguise,” and flies
away. An angry Myxie flies after Superman in the form of a warplane and fires bullets at him, but
Superman reflects them back. Myxie then plays hardball and changes into a missile with a Kryptonite
warhead. This results in one heck of a sky chase. But Superman eventually weakens from the Kryptonite,
and Myxie knocks him down. He lands on the roof of the Daily Planet. Myxie shouts, “I won! In your
face, Superman!!!” Superman replies, “No, loser. In yours.” Myxie notices that Superman tricked him
into skywriting his name backwards ... twice in a row. And by the rules he set, Myxie vanishes. Suddenly,
Clark is back at his desk and everything is back to normal. Back in his own dimension, Myxie swears to
find a loophole so he can get even with Superman, but for now, he can spend indefinite time with
Gysby.
If you want to see a funny episode full of comedy, this is it. Paul Dini wrote this episode using the original
Mxyzptlk character design from the ’40s: a very small man with a big bald head and a purple suit and
hat. The loudmouth comedian Gilbert Gottfried is the voice of Mr. Mxyzptlk, and is perfect for the part
since Myxie is a superpest to Superman. In a nod to Superman’s creators, when Myxie appears in the
comic strip of the newspaper, he’s credited by “Siegel and Schuster.” Gsptlsnz, Myxie’s sexy girlfriend
with the sultry but bored-sounding voice, is performed by actress Sandra Bernhardt. Her character is the
exaggeration of a beautiful girl ending up with a loser character. This episode plays like a Bugs Bunny
cartoon, with Myxie’s character much like Elmer Fudd or Yosemite Sam. You see one part where you
watch him through the months on his planet, building the robot suit, with Gysby trying to get his
attention with some high-fashion getups. Unlike the days of the “Super Friends,” where Mxyzptlk, (whose
name back then was pronounced mixle-plick) was clever and it would take Superman and his supercolleagues a whole episode to trick him into saying his name backwards, in this series, Superman tricks
him quite a few times in one episode. Oddly enough, veteran voice actor Frank Welker, who does the
voices of the evil creatures and the Thinker statue come to life, was the voice of Mr. Mxyzptlk on “Super
Friends.” How ironic.
“Action Figures”
September 20, 1997
Written by Hilary J. Bader; directed by Kenji Hachizaki.
Angela Chen, news reporter for Metropolis Edition, does a “Where Are They Now” segment on some of
the most dangerous villains who have troubled the city. This time, her focus is on the former John
Corben, now known as Metallo, who was reported lost at sea after his last battle with Superman one
year ago.
Oddly enough, an amnesia-stricken Metallo turns up on a volcanic island in the Pacific. Some
archaeologists are studying out there. One of them is Professor Felix and his two children, Bobby and
Sarita. But during a quake coming from the volcano, little Sarita falls from a cliff and is caught by an allmetal being. At first, the kids are scared of what appears to be a monster, but they change their tune as
he shields Sarita from a giant boulder falling toward them. When they ask his name, he doesn’t
remember who he is or where he came from. Bobby and Sarita decide to call him “Steel Man,” since he
seems to be as strong as Superman. Then there is a truck crash, and “Steel Man,” at the urging of the
kids, rescues the truck driver, who later calls in his experience.
The story winds up in the Daily Planet. When Clark Kent sees it, he suspects it’s Metallo and wants to
suggest to Perry White to let him cover the story. He’s too late, though; Lois is one step ahead. Back at
the island, Bobby and Sarita learn from their father that if the eruptions and quakes continue, they must
evacuate the island. Sarita made a small doll for “Steel Man,” but the little doll has a red cape on it,
causing Metallo’s memory to return full-swing. He tells the kids he is from another planet and he’s on a
mission.
Lois manages to interview the rescued truck driver. Bobby and Sarita get a disguise for their new friend a
trenchcoat, hat, sunglasses and scarf. But then, Metallo spots Lois nearby and captures her. Superman
arrives and helps out with the evacuation. But Professor Felix is worried about his two kids, who haven’t
returned. When Superman sees a drawing of “Steel Man,” he knows Metallo is nearby. Metallo comes
face to face with Superman and opens his chest piece to reveal the Kryptonite, but it doesn’t work,
thanks to Superman’s anti-Kryptonite suit. Their battle takes place while the volcano does an early
eruption, and the lava’s temperature is so hot, the anti-Kryptonite suit melts. The Man of Steel begins to
weaken, but is still able to grab the Kryptonite chestpiece and hurl it into the lava. While Superman, Lois,
the archaeologists, and the kids evacuate the island, Metallo chases after the Kryptonite piece in the
lava and is reported lost again. In the end, Metallo tries to keep mentally alert by chanting, “I am
Metallo,” again and again.
This is the only Metallo episode where he looks all robot. When he turns up again in future episodes,
Metallo has his original appearance, with the half torn face and the torn white shirt, which frankly
doesn’t make a bit of sense. Professor Felix is voiced by “Ghostbusters” star Ernie Hudson. Oddly enough,
Hudson did an episode of the “Incredible Hulk” TV series, and he voiced Cyborg on the final version of the
Super Friends, “The Super Powers Team Galactic Guardians,” in 1985. Also, he voiced a security guard in
the “Joker’s Wild” episode of “Batman: The Animated Series.”
“Double Dose”
September 22, 1997
Written by Hilary J. Bader; directed by Yuichiro Yano.
A careless young janitor cleaning the floors at STAR Labs sneaks his Walkman past the security guard
into the wing with the sign “NO ELECTRONIC DEVICES BEYOND THIS POINT.” While sweeping, he hears
the call of a young woman in a holding cell, who only wants some company and a chance to listen to
some music. The young janitor obliges and is unaware that he has helped release the high-voltage
Livewire from her specially designed prison cell.
Later, the Metropolis SCU issues a statement when Livewire pops out of the mike and plants a giant
electrical kiss on Detective Dan Turpin, shocking him, quite literally. Following that is a new round with
Superman, but Livewire flees when Superman uses a fire hydrant to shoot water in her direction.
Livewire escapes through a neon sign and vows to return.
At Stryker’s Island Prison, Parasite is enjoying his cable TV when who should appear on the screen but
Livewire, who then zaps herself into his cell. Livewire talks Parasite into joining forces with her to
destroy Superman and even considers offering to give him a taste of her powers. Livewire turns into
energy and escapes through the power lines while Parasite escapes in a boat. Clark Kent and Lois Lane
are enjoying hot dogs in the park when they hear an explosion and Clark’s X-ray vision spots the boat
carrying Parasite. In the blink of an eye, Superman turns the boat around and flies it back to the prison,
but Parasite dives in the water and drains the energy of a nearby shark, culminating in an undersea
battle between Superman and Parasite, who escapes.
Later, as a storm hits Metropolis, Lois decides to follow up leads with Maggie Sawyer at the SCU
headquarters. As she slips on her yellow plastic poncho, Clark finally realizes where Livewire and
Parasite are hiding out. And sure enough, they are at a generator plant where Livewire is recharging her
energy. Parasite makes several unsuccessful attempts to drain her, but she blasts him with electricity.
Superman arrives to contend with both of them. He is missing his cape, but he has a special alloy
covering him, which keeps Parasite from draining him. Livewire hurls lightning bolts at him to no avail.
But then Parasite hurls a chemical at the Man of Steel and Livewire blasts it open, causing the cold
chemical to cover Superman and freeze him. He manages to get loose, but without that special covering.
Parasite drains him until he drops, infuriating his new partner. Then Parasite pulls a double-cross on
Livewire, grabs her, and drains her energy. Now Parasite has both Superman’s and Livewire’s powers
and goes after our hero, but Superman manages to bring water into the equation, shocking Parasite. In
the end, both villains are taken away and Parasite has no memory.
We all know that the Parasite’s transferring powers are temporary, and so are his memories. When he
drains Superman in this story, his memories of Superman being Clark Kent temporarily return.
“Solar Power”
September 26, 1997
Written by Robert Goodman; directed by Kazuhide Tomonaga.
Edward Lytener, the inventor and former LexCorp employee who stalked and tried to kill Lois Lane, is
serving time at Stryker’s Island Prison when a helicopter lands. Lytener walks toward the gate, and the
guard reminds him to stay behind the line. Lytener then disappears before the guard’s eyes. He
reappears behind the guard and knocks him unconscious. The other guards rush to check on their
colleague while Lytener reappears and steals the helicopter. His new gadget allows him to appear and
reappear at will, along with the copter.
The next day, a storm brews over Metropolis. Clark Kent drops his pen while working and, making sure
no one’s watching, lifts the desk to get it, only to discover he’s struggling to hold it up. That’s when Lois
calls in and asks Clark to cover one of her stories as she’s taking the air tram to investigate Lytener’s
breakout. She is suddenly cut off when the tram comes to an abrupt stop. Lois looks on the roof and
sees a laser in the sky, working to disconnect the air tram. She hears Lytener’s voice saying, “Don’t feel
bad, Lois. It’s not personal this time. I have bigger fish to fry now, and frankly, you’re just bait.” Sure
enough, Superman arrives on the scene. It’s then that Lytener appears in a costume, now calling himself
Luminous. He is out to destroy Superman. The Man of Steel finds himself unable to hold up the tram and
grabs Lois to fly her to safety while the tram falls into the water.
Later, Superman goes to the mountains above Metropolis to test his strength and discovers that not
only can he no longer pick up a boulder, but his heat vision is disappearing, as well. Superman finally
discovers why his powers are fading away. When the storm clouds clear, Superman is shocked to see
that the sun has turned red, under which a Kryptonian has no powers. Back at the Planet, Lois accuses
Lex Luthor of conspiring with Lytener by furnishing him with the tools to escape. Luthor naturally denies
it. Meanwhile, our reporters learn that the sun is indeed yellow, but new satellites are filtering out all
but the red waves to make Superman mortal. Clark notices a signal in the sky with the Superman
emblem (similar to the Batsignal in Gotham City). Clark excuses himself to investigate, and Superman
comes face-to-face with Luminous, who is having a great time watching Superman weaken. Superman
discovers another power Luminous has: the ability to cast holographic images of himself, all of which are
carrying laser guns and all of which fire at Superman. When one of the hologram’s lasers ruptures a
water pipe, Superman aims the pouring water, erasing all the holograms and grabbing the real
Luminous, who uses the belt on his costume to escape.
Later on, Lois and Jimmy follow a tip, finding the LexCorp satellite comm building, only to find the entire
place invisible. Meanwhile, Superman is at STAR Labs requesting Professor Hamilton to get his spaceship
ready for travel, but a holographic image of Luminous appears and shows a hologram of Lois and Jimmy
bound and gagged above the ground. The image then becomes a light, beckoning Superman to follow it.
It’s just as Superman reaches his destination that he finally loses his ability to fly. Luminous makes the
building visible and Superman enters, only to find himself in a simulation of an old Western saloon,
where Lytener appears as the bartender, and then as a rough and tough cowboy. Superman battles his
way through the simulation, where he finds the command center with the captive Lois and Jimmy. The
Man of Steel destroys the satellites filtering the sun’s rays. With the yellow sun back, Superman’s
powers are restored. Enraged, Luminous tackles our hero and punches him repeatedly, but Superman
defeats Luminous with one powerful punch. In the end, Superman is interviewed by the press with
photographers shooting their flash cameras. Luminous angrily says, “Get those lights out of my eyes!”
And Superman turns him over to Maggie Sawyer and Dan Turpin.
A part of the old-time introduction of Superman is heard when Lois and Jimmy find the invisible building.
They look up and Lois says, “Look, up in the sky.” Jimmy replies, “It’s a bird,” referring to a bird perched
on an invisible object. This is the only time where you see Clark Kent coming home to his apartment, with
alcohol and a cloth to treat the bleeding on his lip.
“Brave New Metropolis”
September 27, 1997
Written by Stan Berkowitz and Alan Burnett; directed by Curt Geda.
Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are at STAR Labs with Professor Hamilton checking out a strange device. The
Professor is unable to tell them anything about it since it’s Kryptonian technology. Hamilton tries to fire
it up, but it stops after a few seconds. When Lois walks over to get a closer look at the device, she
notices the glass window of the lab is shattered on one side of the device, but perfectly intact on the
other side of it. She comes to realize she is seeing into another dimension. Suddenly, the machine
activates, causing a magnetic pull. Professor Hamilton tries to shut the machine off and Jimmy runs to
help Lois, but too late. Lois is gone.
From her perspective, Lois is now alone in the lab, only to discover it’s destroyed. She heads for
Metropolis, which is too quiet, except for Dan Turpin, who now sports a new type of police uniform and
demands to see her curfew card. But he’s drawn away by an explosion nearby. A group of “rebels,” as
Turpin calls them, have busted into LexLabs. One manages to escape and bumps into Lois. Surprisingly, it
turns out to be Jimmy Olsen, who is older, taller, and has a longer mullet and a 5 o’clock shadow. Lois
and Jimmy are shocked to see each other, but they escape as Superman arrives and subdues the other
“rebels.”
Lois is shocked. Not only has Superman joined forces with Lex Luthor in ruling Metropolis, but his
attitude is tougher. He sports a black costume with a new emblem and no cape. Jimmy tells Lois the
news that she is actually supposed to be dead. Lois learns that someone had planted a bomb in her car,
and Superman arrived to save her a minute too late. After this, Superman began to change. Jimmy takes
Lois to a secret hideout where she meets the resistance squad. And they now have some Kryptonite to
take down Superman, but the Metropolis Police break in and arrest everybody. The commanding officer
is none other than Mercy Graves. When Lois is dragged into custody by two of the guards, Mercy spots
her and says, “It can’t be!”
Lois finds herself in Lex Luthor’s office. Luthor whispers to Mercy, “The insolence! The outright
rudeness! She’s definitely the genuine article!” Luthor orders Mercy to kill her someplace private, so
Superman can never find out that she is alive. Lois manages to escape Mercy when a female bum gets in
the way. It just so happens that the bum is none other than former newswoman Angela Chen. Lois
climbs up the giant Superman / Luthor Monument in town to try to avoid the police, but she finds
herself face-to-face with Superman, who’s shocked to see she’s still alive. Superman explains that he
needed to take control, and he only teamed with Luthor for financial backing. She and Superman go
over everything, including the feelings that Superman has always had for her. Superman is shocked
when Lois shows him the slave camps. All Superman wanted was peace, but he did not count on
Luthor’s treachery. He becomes angered when Lois mentions Lex’s attempt to kill her. A confrontation
occurs in Luthor’s office, with Lex exposing his “partner” to Kryptonite. Lois tries to help, but she winds
up in a battle with Mercy Graves. Then Jimmy and the resistance arrive. Luthor retreats while Mercy is
thrown to the mercy of the crowd. Superman follows Lex as he boards an aircraft and takes off.
Superman is kept at bay while Luthor holds the Kryptonite. But our hero breaks the tail-end rudder.
Luthor loses control of his ship and collides with the giant monument.
In the end, Superman takes Lois back to the abandoned building when suddenly, those same static lights
and magnetic pull appear and the real Superman steps in and tells Lois he’s going to take her back
home. Lois kisses the alternate-world Superman goodbye. Back on our Earth, as Superman flies Lois
home, he asks about her experience. Lois offers to tell him over dinner. Superman asks, “Aren’t we
getting a little personal?” She replies, “Better now than never.”
This is the type of Superman story that I bet was inspired by the early and classic Silver Age comics. This
time, though, it wasn’t Superman who went to another dimension, but Lois Lane. Plus, in this story, Lois
sets a date with Superman.
“Monkey Fun”
September 27, 1997
Written by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer; directed by Curt Geda.
At a residential house near an Air Force Base, two little girls named Lois and Lucy are playing with their
toy monkey Beppo, who plays “Pop Goes the Weasel,” and a live chimp named Titano. The girls are
having fun until their father, Col. Sam Lane, arrives with two scientists. Col. Lane reminds his daughters
that it’s time for Titano to leave and be part of an experiment in space. The girls are upset. Lois in
particular is hit hard by giving up her friend. Col. Lane and the girls watch Titano in space, when
something goes wrong and the space shuttle breaks into several pieces. The space capsule flies out of
control and out of sight. Lois sadly believes that Titano is dead.
Twenty years later, Superman is on a rescue mission to save a space station from a meteor storm. As the
Man of Steel punches a meteor, it causes a chain reaction, but during the shower, Superman finds an old
space capsule with a sleeping chimpanzee inside. He takes it back to Earth. At STAR Labs, Professor
Hamilton tells Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen that the chimp has been lethargic since it has returned. But
that changes when Lois Lane comes in and calls the chimp by his name, Titano, who also recognizes Lois
and hops into her arms. Clark and Hamilton feel it might be good for Lois to resume the relationship she
had with him as a child. But Lois discovers too quick that Titano is not as much fun to deal with as an
adult, as he runs amok in her apartment. When Jimmy visits, Lois asks him to keep an eye on the chimp
while she goes out for a little while.
Back at STAR Labs, Superman and Professor Hamilton respond to a commotion in one of the labs, where
giant protoplasm is on the loose and growing bigger. Superman manages to rescue the scientists and
Hamilton freezes it. Apparently, it was bacteria aboard the space capsule that grew rapidly; the cause
was probably cosmic radiation. They both realize what else could grow! Lois isn’t even gone 20 minutes
when a hysterical Jimmy calls to tell her of a problem, but is cut off. Jimmy’s big problem is just that:
BIG!! Titano has grown to gargantuan size. When Lois gets back to her shattered apartment, Superman
and Jimmy fill her in.
When the Man of Steel catches up to Titano, he’s wreaking havoc at the Metropolis Zoo. Some wild
animals are released and people go into panic. Superman discovers that Titano is a powerful fighter for a
King Kong-sized primate. Titano jumps into the bay and swims away. Superman tells Lois, “I’m sorry,
Lois, but your monkey friend is going down.” Lois calls after him, “Don’t hurt him! He’s just a baby!” –
only to be given a look by Jimmy. “OK, a really big baby.” Just then, Lois gets a call from her father, who
has something that might stop Titano. Meanwhile, the huge chimp has found his way to a seaside
amusement park and is wreaking havoc over there. While Superman battles Titano again, Lois gets the
item from her father: Beppo, the toy monkey from her childhood. But during the big titanic fight
between giant ape and Man of Steel, Lois and Jimmy nearly lose the toy when it gets hidden under a pile
of similar monkey toys. When she finds it, Lois plays “Pop Goes the Weasel” from the monkey doll
through the loud speakers, and sure enough, music soothes the savage beast. This gives Maggie Sawyer,
Dan Turpin and the SCU time to spray Titano with a sleeping gas. Superman manages to find an
uninhabited island for Titano to live peacefully among the other animals – and the Beppo toy.
I call this episode “Superman Meets King Kong.” The giant monkey, Titano, has been in Superman comics
before. Beppo, Lois’ monkey toy, is a tribute to Beppo the Super Monkey. (Yes he apparently existed in
comics at one time, probably ’50s or ’60s era, just like Bat-Mite was in his appearance as a Carl Rossum
toy in “Deep Freeze” on “Batman: The Animated Series.”) In 1966, Filmation’s first Superman cartoon
had an episode called “The Chimp Who Made it Big,” and it featured a space chimp that grows in size
due to cosmic radiation. But this monkey fired Kryptonite eyebeams at Superman and his name was
Toto. Col. Sam Lane, the father of Lois and Lucy, is voiced by Dean Jones, an actor mostly associated with
Disney films, most notably, Jim Douglas, the original owner and driver of Herbie the Love Bug. For a
laugh, when Lois recognizes Titano, she calls herself “Lolo,” much to Clark’s amusement. “Lolo?” Lois
replies, “I was eight, OK!”
“Ghost in the Machine”
September 29, 1997
Written by Rich Fogel; directed by Hiroyuki Aoyama.
Clark Kent and Lois Lane arrive at LexCorp, where Lex Luthor has invited the Pentagon brass and the
media to a showing of a new military weapon. Before presenting himself on stage, Lex reminds his
assistant, Mercy, how important this day is for him and that nothing must go wrong. Mercy assures her
employer, “What would you do without me?” Luthor’s reply: “Let’s hope it never comes to that.” The
rooftop of LexCorp opens and Luthor tells his guests that two missiles are headed this way, but not to
panic. LexCorp’s newest invention, the Sky Sentry, will stop them in their tracks. Suddenly, the Sky
Sentry stops functioning. The operator at the controls says the system’s been reprogrammed. Clark slips
away, and in seconds Superman arrives and stops the missiles by redirecting their course to the ocean.
Luthor quickly removes himself and tells Mercy he wants to investigate this sabotage firsthand, alone.
Later, Luthor gets a mysterious phone call requesting his presence in the Research and Development Lab
in Sector 6. When he enters, Luthor is suddenly attacked by one of the R&D machines, which carries him
to a giant computer. He meets his saboteur, a computer image of Brainiac, the renegade android from
Krypton that was physically destroyed by Superman but that downloaded his memory into the LexCorp
computers and the Sky Sentry. While Brainiac has been able to reassemble most of his physical body, he
needs Luthor’s hands and skills to finish the job. Luthor reminds him that he runs the world’s largest
corporations and someone will eventually notice his absence. Brainiac solves that problem by creating a
hologram of Luthor in his office, telling Mercy that he is not to be disturbed. Clark pays a visit to LexCorp
to interview Lex on the sabotage, but receives the refusal message from Lex on the screen. However,
Clark uses his X-ray vision to see inside Luthor’s office, finding it empty. He enters the office and
discovers that the coffee on Luthor’s desk is ice cold, indicating no one has been there for quite a while.
Brainiac sees that his deception is unraveling, so he makes arrangements.
That night, Clark Kent intercepts a missile that was programmed to strike his apartment, while Mercy
back at LexCorp scans the company video and learns that Luthor went into Sector 6. Suddenly she is
attacked by LexCorp R&D drones, but Superman’s timely arrival changes things. The Man of Steel
decides to check out Sector 6 and Mercy comes along, as well. It’s here that we learn a little bit about
Luthor’s loyal assistant. When Superman inquires why Mercy is so loyal to Lex, she explains that at one
time she lived on the streets and was alone, like a pet no one wanted, but then Lex came along and
made her what she is today.
Lex, meanwhile, looks lousy with a five o’clock shadow and exhausted eyes. He hasn’t had rest, and the
only food Brainiac will allow him are candy bars from the vending machines. Luthor knows that Brainiac
will kill him when he completes his work. As the evil computer finishes its bodily repairs, Superman and
Mercy arrive. Superman goes head-to-head with Brainiac while Luthor and Mercy head toward the
escape hatch. Superman uses the Sky Sentry to destroy Brainiac, which results in a magnetic pull that
begins to demolish the lab. Mercy gets pinned under equipment and watches as Luthor climbs the
escape ladder and leaves her to die. Luckily, Superman is there to get her out.
The next day, Superman watches as Mercy opens the back door of the limo for Luthor. Superman sees
where her loyalties lie and says to himself, “Just a stray.”
This is one of the episodes with continuity elements that are mentioned in the “JLU” series. In this story,
we get to learn a little bit about Mercy Graves, and how she ended up at LexCorp. Lisa Edelstein really
shines in her voice performance as Mercy.
“World’s Finest” (aka, “The Batman / Superman Movie”)
October 4, 1997
Written by Stan Berkowitz, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Rich Fogel and Steve Gerber; directed by Toshihiko
Masuda.
PART I
In Gotham City, the Joker and Harley Quinn raid an antique store after-hours, and Joker steals a jade
dragon statue. Later, the Gotham Police Department is on the scene, with Commissioner Gordon and
Detective Harvey Bullock, when they get a surprise visitor: Batman, who takes a small piece of what was
left from the statue. In the Batcave, Batman discovers the statue is emitting low-level radiation and
decides it’s time for a trip to Metropolis.
The U.S. Presidential plane is in flight with a crew of media aboard, including Lois Lane of the Daily
Planet, when suddenly terrorists take over the plane and the President is held hostage. But it isn’t long
before the plane loses control, thanks to the arrival of Superman, who saves the President, the media
crew and the day overall.
The next day, Lex Luthor reads how Metropolis’ “favorite son,” Superman, saved the President. When
Luthor boards his limo to go to his office, he discovers he has a new driver: Harley Quinn has knocked
out Mercy Graves. Luthor isn’t alone in the back seat for long, though; he’s joined by the Joker, who has
come to Metropolis with a business proposal. “Pay me one billion dollars and I’ll kill Superman!!” he tells
Luthor, who says, “Ha-ha-ha-ha! What makes you think you can kill Superman when you can’t even
handle a mere mortal in a Halloween costume?” But as always, the Joker is prepared: that “jade” statue
he stole is made of solid Kryptonite. The deal is set.
Meanwhile, Clark and Lois are at a LexCorp airfield. Everyone goes nuts when billionaire Bruce Wayne
arrives. At first, Lois has nothing but negative things to say, but things change when she literally bumps
into him and becomes smitten. Bruce ignores Clark and makes a dinner date with Lois before getting
into his limo.
That night, the Joker and Harley Quinn raid a private mob dinner run by Caesar Carlini, whom the Joker
subdues quickly with his laughing gas, taking over as the new crime boss. The laughing Carlini is later
found and taken to the hospital, and Superman realizes who is causing trouble in Metropolis.
The following day, Bruce joins Lex at a LexCorp facility to watch a demo of a joint robotic project of their
companies: the Wayne Lex T7. Bruce wants to use them for unmanned space travel, but Lex wants to
use them for the military. Bruce will not allow that due to his hatred for guns.
That night, Bruce and Lois do dinner and dancing. Later, an elite nightclub in Metropolis gets an unusual
visitor: Batman, who interrogates Binko, one of Carlini’s former gang members who never went back
after the Joker took over. Superman arrives to break it up, and Batman hurls him over a table, but
Superman replies with a hard body slam into the wall. Superman uses his X-ray vision to discover that
Batman is really Bruce Wayne. Superman is then informed by Batman that the Joker has a statue of
Kryptonite.
When the Man of Steel returns to his apartment and changes into pajamas, he notices that inside his
cape is a small homing device shaped like a bat. Clark spies Batman far away, looking at him. What goes
around comes around. Clark replies with a simple “Touché,” as he crushes the homing device.
PART II
Bruce Wayne and Lois Lane have been seeing quite a bit of each other, much to Clark’s concern. He tells
Bruce, “Your reputation is dubious, in and out of costume.” On one particular date, the Joker and his
gang abduct Lois, and Bruce barely escapes with his life – shot at and falling from a skyscraper! Later,
Bruce warns Superman about the Joker and says, “Expect the unexpected.”
The Joker contacts Superman when he’s at SCU headquarters with Inspector Dan Turpin and gives the
location of where he’s keeping Lois. When Superman arrives at one of LexCorp’s labs, the Joker is ready
with the Kryptonite, only he’s shocked to discover it’s not working since Superman is wearing his antiKryptonite suit. The Joker has no choice but to lead him to Lois. It’s then that the Joker squirts acid on
the Man of Steel, dissolving part of his special suit. But the Clown Prince of Crime has other things to
deal with when Harley tells him that Batman has arrived. Indeed, the Dark Knight fights his way through
Joker’s gang. Batman uses hydrochloric gas to dissolve the Kryptonite, and Superman gets Batman and
Lois to safety, but not without the Joker throwing explosive-containing marbles on the floor.
The next day, after Lex Luthor is questioned on the destruction of his lab, he and Mercy pay a visit to
Joker and Harley by blasting their way into his hideout. While Harley and Mercy engage in a catfight,
Joker and Luthor discuss what’s been happening. Joker insists his price go up since there are now two
heroes to deal with, but Luthor makes it clear, “Unacceptable. If you can’t handle some mental case in a
fright mask, our deal is off!”
During the press conference with Luthor, Clark heard Luthor lamenting about “trusting that clown.” He
visits Lois at her apartment to tell her his suspicions, but finds Bruce there with her. Bruce offers to
“ask” Luthor, and that’s what he does that night when Luthor is awakened by a frightening visitor,
Batman, who interrogates him about the Joker while knocking out Mercy Graves.
Later, Bruce sees a Joker blimp advertising Hobbs Bay, while at the Daily Planet, Lois tells Clark of her
plans to move to Gotham and work at the Planet bureau there. Perry White tells them an ocean liner,
the S.S. Atlantis, is in danger. Clark becomes Superman and takes off while Lois makes her phone calls.
When Superman arrives at the Atlantic, he’s surprised that the captain sent no distress signal, but a
device is spotted in the water next to the cruise ship and explodes, causing the huge ship to begin to
sink.
PART III
Superman saves the S.S. Atlantis from sinking while Batman arrives at Hobbs Bay, where the Joker
unleashes his secret weapon, one of the gigantic T7 robots. Batman does battle with it, only to find it’s
virtually unstoppable. When his flight gear is destroyed, Batman escapes on foot with the help of his
Bat-grapple and rope. The robot manages to follow Batman to the Daily Planet, causing Batman and Lois
Lane to retreat to the pressroom. During the battle, Batman’s mask is pulled off when the machine gets
a hold of his cape, and Lois sees his secret identity. Luckily, Superman arrives in time.
Later, an angry Lois treats Bruce’s wounds. Superman and Batman make plans to work together to stop
the Joker. Lex Luthor and Mercy call the Joker and Harley to a meeting at one of Lex’s factories, where
they pull a double-cross, only to be double-crossed themselves. Joker and Harley plan to steal Lex’s giant
aircraft, the LexWing, just as “Bats and FlyBoy” arrive. Mercy is left behind while Joker and Harley
escape in Luthor’s aircraft with Luthor himself as a hostage, and Superman and Batman fight the robots.
The Joker plans to destroy everything Luthor has built, which is half of Metropolis.
In the final battle, Superman and Batman manage to deliver Lex and Harley to safety, while the Joker
has allegedly perished. Harley is returned to Arkham. Lois says goodbye to Bruce, and he flies back to
Gotham. Clark also says farewell and watches the Wayne Jet fly back to Gotham.
This is THE episode that many fans had been waiting for, probably since “Batman: The Animated Series”
aired on Fox, and then “Superman” began. “World’s Finest,” of course, is actually the name of the longrunning comic book series that Superman and Batman shared and eventually began teaming up in.
Unlike the buddy-buddy days of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, and the “Super Friends” on Saturday morning, we
see just how opposite our heroes are and why they are not friends, or good friends, at least. What better
story than to have Batman and Superman teamed up against their No. 1 foes, the Joker and Lex Luthor.
Plus, we see the pairing of Harley Quinn and Mercy Graves, who engage in a catfight at one point.
“World’s Finest” aired as a three-part episode (all three parts back to back). In 1998, it was retitled and
released as “The Batman Superman Movie.” In addition, “World’s Finest” is considered more a part of
“Superman,” included in the second-season DVD set. It’s ironic to hear Kevin Conroy and Dana Delany
together again: She starred in “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” as Andrea Beaumont. A definite two
thumbs up for this three-parter!!
“Father’s Day”
October 5, 1997
Written by Mark Evanier and Steve Gerber; directed by Dan Riba.
Lois Lane is out for a jog in the park when a strange object from space lands and begins wreaking havoc.
Lois uses her cell phone to call the city desk for a story. While talking with Jimmy Olsen, Clark Kent walks
by and hears Lois’ call. In a matter of seconds, Superman arrives to destroy the machine and rescue Lois.
On the planet Apokolips, evil scientist Desaad is watching all of this via a special monitor. The alien
machine makes a strange noise, and the Man of Steel hurls it into space to its destruction. In reality,
there was a self-destruct mechanism that Desaad was ordered to activate by his lord and master,
Darkseid, the evil ruler of Apokolips.
Desaad explains that the machine was intended to put Superman’s strength to the test. At this point,
Bruno Mannheim asks Darkseid to send him back to Earth to reform Intergang, but Darkseid says no,
zaps Mannheim with his Omega beams and transports him to the slave pits. Darkseid is also approached
by his Neanderthal-looking son, the brute known as Kalibak, who asks to go to Earth to take on
Superman. But Darkseid tells him, “The destruction of Superman is too important to my plans. I cannot
entrust it to you.”
Desaad later convinces Kalibak to go to Earth to destroy Superman for the glory of Apokolips, and that
Darkseid will honor and finally accept him as his son. Kalibak enters the boom tube, unaware that he’s
been set up by Desaad.
In Metropolis, Clark welcomes his parents, who have come from Smallville to visit their son for Father’s
Day weekend. They meet Lois. The Kents think so highly of Lois that they invite her to join them for
lunch. When Perry White summons Clark to his office, Clark asks Lois and his parents to go ahead to the
restaurant, Minerva. Kalibak arrives on Earth, entering that same restaurant and causing the building to
start caving in. Unfortunately, Jonathan Kent gets trapped underneath some rubble.
The noise is heard at the Daily Planet, where Clark sees the trouble and is gone in a flash. Superman
finds Lois and Martha, who tell him about Jonathan. But before the Man of Steel can rescue his father,
he is attacked by Kalibak and a colossal battle ensues.
Back on Apokolips, Desaad is having fun watching Kalibak get humiliated by Superman when Darkseid
surfaces. Desaad claims that Kalibak deliberately disobeyed Darkseid’s orders to prove himself worthy of
being his son. Darkseid’s cold reply, “A technicality of his birth. As far as destiny and I are concerned, I
have no son.”
Superman’s battle with Kalibak winds up underground in the subway. When Kalibak mentions that
killing him would make him worthy before his father, Superman remembers his dad is in danger and
hurls Kalibak away from the city. Superman finally rescues Jonathan from the ruins of the restaurant and
then goes to see where alien brute landed.
In a woodsy area outside the city, Kalibak has big trouble in front of him when a boom tube opens and
Darkseid emerges. Kalibak pleads with his father to forgive him. But Darkseid turns his Omega beams on
Kalibak and the brute disappears. Superman witnesses this and confronts Darkseid. “What have you
done to him?! I asked you a question!! Who are you?! Answer me!!” Darkseid fires his Omega beams on
Superman, who manages to resist for a moment before they knock him to the ground. Darkseid replies,
“That is who I am. And when the time comes, you and this primitive planet will swear allegiance to
Darkseid, or you will be destroyed.” Darkseid enters the boom tube and returns to Apokolips.
Desaad asks him if he’s sacrificed Kalibak and how many people will be sacrificed in order for his plans to
be carried out. Darkseid regards Kalibak as one casualty and he will destroy as many as it takes.
This is the second appearance of Darkseid, who first appears at the end of “Tools of the Trade,” and we
see that Bruno Mannheim is still on Apokolips. This story to me served as a warmup of the big event to
come as far as the Fourth World characters are involved. We see Kalibak and Desaad for the first time,
but unlike the days of the “Super Friends,” where Darkseid and Kalibak were father and son, in this
series, Darkseid refuses to acknowledge Kalibak as his son. Kalibak is determined to prove his worthiness.
Michael Dorn, who played a CHP officer on “CHiPs,” and is best remembered as Klingon Lt. Worf on “Star
Trek: The Next Generation,” is the voice of Kalibak.
“The Hand of Fate”
October 6, 1997
Special guest star: Doctor Fate
Written by Hilary J. Bader and Stan Berkowitz; directed by Dan Riba.
A small-time thief has broken into the Department of Archaeology at Metropolis University. While filling
his bag with artifacts, he accidentally breaks a vase containing an ancient tablet that says, “I am power
beyond your dreams, call to me.” The thief reads the chant and doesn’t believe a word of it, but when
he walks by a mirror, he is horrified at the physical change that has taken place in him. After escaping
the museum, he frightens everyone in sight. A police officer who encounters him gets the fright of his
life when the thief removes his clothing and reveals a mighty being of true evil named Karkull.
Superman is patrolling Metropolis when he hears the commotion. He battles the bizarre Karkull, but this
demonic creature has magical powers and strikes Superman in the chest. The Man of Steel hurls an
abandoned car at Karkull, knocking it into the lobby level of the Daily Planet where Lois Lane and Jimmy
Olsen arrive to see the action close up. Karkull casts a spell and cordons off the Daily Planet building
from the rest of the world.
Outside, neither the SCU nor Superman can penetrate the force field that Karkull has set up. A psychic
woman named Rainsong passing by overhears the conversation. She owns a bookstore and is part of a
witchcraft coven that is willing to perform a chant to break the spell. But Superman has a better idea
and goes to get help from another source.
Superman arrives at what appears to be a thin monument. A giant key appears and a woman named
Inza emerges. Inza uses her magic to heal Superman’s chest wound. Superman has come to see her
husband, the superhero sorcerer known as Doctor Fate, but Fate has quit the crimefighting business.
Before Superman leaves, Inza gives him a talisman that may help him with Karkull. Fate tells her, “You’ve
just sent him to his grave.” She replies, “What do you care?”
Superman arrives back at the Daily Planet, where Maggie Sawyer and Dan Turpin are still trying to
penetrate the force field. Inside, the ground opens up. Out fly untouchable demonic creatures who take
over humans, including Lois and Jimmy! Superman uses the talisman and is able to enter the force field.
Once inside, he finds himself battling many demonic creatures. Karkull says any one of them could be
someone he knows. Karkull reminds Superman, “You don’t have the tools to defeat me.” But another
voice calls out, “But I do!”
Doctor Fate arrives and battles Karkull, magic to magic. During the battle, Superman loses the talisman,
but Fate provides the one artifact that Karkull thought he destroyed to get rid of him. But the artifact is
knocked out of his hands and falls into the bottomless pit where the creatures are still emerging.
Superman flies after it and retrieves it, and Fate calls out the spell. Karkull and his demons are banished
into the artifact and Lois, Jimmy and everyone in the Daily Planet building are returned to normal. Back
at Fate’s residence, Superman asks what made him return to battle. Fate replies that Superman chose
not to give up, proving that the forces of evil are not the only ones that persist.
This is more of a fantasy-filled episode, with sorcery and demons galore. It also marks the debut of
Doctor Fate and his wife Inza. The next time Fate and Inza appear is in the “Justice League” episode, “The
Terror Beyond” with Solomon Grundy.
“Bizarro’s World”
October 10, 1997
Written by Robert Goodman; directed by Hiroyuki Aoyama.
Lois Lane drives up the mountain to where Lex Luthor’s cloning lab was destroyed, only to find it’s been
fenced off. A security guard orders her to leave. Superman arrives and assures Lois that he found
nothing after checking it out himself. The big question is whether or not Bizarro survived.
Well, the answer to that question is YES. Bizarro has been wandering around the Arctic. He bursts into a
ski lodge, frightening everyone there. All he wants to do is find out who he is and where his home is
when he hears TV newswoman Angela Chen attempting to interview Professor Hamilton at STAR Labs
about Superman’s “secret hideaway.” So Bizarro flies to the North Pole, and his superhearing picks up
animal sounds. He flies downward and makes a new entrance in the ice caves and finds the Fortress of
Solitude, where he breaks open a couple habitats of the rare creatures from the Preserver’s ship. One of
them is a creature with a big mouth and jaws that he thinks is a dog. Bizarro then discovers the
Kryptonian Orb and box, which activate when Bizarro touches them. The Brainiac computer recognizes
him as Kal-El. “Who am me? Where am home?” The Brainiac computer tells him all he needs to know
about Krypton, Jor-El, and Lara. Later, Superman arrives at the Fortress and is shocked to discover
Bizarro’s crooked footprints.
The next day, Bizarro tears apart a building near the Metropolis Cultural Center. Bizarro then takes a
steel girder from underground and places it on top of the building he’s wrecking. In his backward mind,
Bizarro is trying to recreate Krypton on Earth with a building that looks similar. Seeing a bunch of people
running in fear, Bizarro spots a hotel doorman in a red uniform and mistakes him for Jor-El – or “DaDa!”
The SCU led by Maggie Sawyer and Dan Turpin are unable to get in. Lois Lane arrives to get a follow up
on the story and recognizes Bizarro, to which Turpin replies, “You know this guy? Figures! All the wackos
come to you!”
Bizarro wants to show Lois his new home. Lois agrees, knowing Superman will probably arrive anytime.
He takes Lois to what once was an auditorium and sees a hotel doorman and the alien doglike creature
that Bizarro has named “Krypto” after Kal-El’s baby puppy.
Superman arrives and gets his plan ready. When he enters the building, he’s sporting his anti-Kryptonite
suit and has a piece of the deadly rock to throw at him. Bizarro, however, shows no effect from the
Kryptonite, proving that Superman and Bizarro are different in terms of cell structure. Bizarro’s new pet
“Krypto” tears off some of Superman’s anti-Kryptonite suit, exposing him to the Kryptonite and
weakening him. Bizarro comments on how pretty Krypton is and “so sad now it have to blow up.” The
building begins to shake. Since it won’t stand up much longer, Bizarro, who’s already attempted to
recreate Krypton, now wants to recreate the destruction of the planet.
Superman gets Lois and the doorman to safety, while at the Fort Sherman Missile Base, Bizarro hurls a
missile at Metropolis. But Superman battles Bizarro and eventually wins by telling Bizarro that Lois might
die. Superman then asks him, “How would you like to know what happened after Krypton exploded?”
Superman takes Bizarro to an uninhabited planet to protect. Bizarro replies, “Me hate planet. It am
empty. How can me be protector when no one here to protect?” But Superman has also brought the
alien creature that Bizarro named Krypto. “Me am happy now!”
This episode is good for laughs. Tim Daly once again does double-duty as both Superman and Bizarro.
Dan Turpin of the SCU has some good sarcastic one-liners in response to everything Bizarro is doing, like
“I had to take this beat. Humans weren’t nuts enough!”
“Prototype”
October 11, 1997
Written by Hilary J. Bader; directed by Curt Geda.
The Metropolis media turn up at LexCorp for the demonstration of the new LexCorp Police Battle Suit by
Sgt. Corey Mills, who aims to show the latest state-of-the-art technology that will make the Metropolis
Police Force more powerful than ever. But when a fire emergency arises, Luthor feels it’s time to put the
new battle suit to the test, much to the chagrin of the suit’s designer, John Henry Irons, who feels now is
not the right time.
Superman and Sgt. Mills work together to rescue the people in the skyscraper fire. Mills then uses the
technology of the suit to enter the burning building and put out the fire. Afterward, John Henry Irons
expresses to Lex his concern over Sgt. Mills’ nervous system integrating with the suit, and that taking the
suit away from him would be like removing a limb from his body. Luthor dismisses those concerns and
reminds Irons of how they will handle things, that “you work for me.” Irons removes his LexCorp badge
and says, “Not anymore.”
Trish Mills is watching her now-famous husband on the TV news, but she gets quite a shock when Corey
emerges from the bathroom having shaved off all of his blond hair. He explains the bald look works
better with the suit and that “we are getting stronger.” Trish is worried that her husband talks about the
suit as if it were a person. She wakes up in the middle of the night to discover her husband gone. Mills is
patrolling in the suit when he comes across some robbers in their chopshop. He does a one-man raid,
administering justice in an explosive manner. It seems that the suit is affecting his personality. But his
actions are stopped when Superman and the SCU arrive.
The next day, Maggie Sawyer announces that Sgt. Corey Mills is on leave and the prototype suit is now
off-limits to everyone. Mills watches this at home and flies into a rage. That night, while Maggie Sawyer
and Dan Turpin are playing a round of cards, they hear a loud noise and discover that the suit is gone.
Lex has a visitor. Sgt. Mills, in the battle suit, has come to ask for help. Luthor agrees verbally, but he
inserts a fail-safe device into the back of the suit where the power source is, stunning Mills. But Luthor
didn’t count on both Mills and the suit having gotten stronger. Mills cracks the glass of the office’s giant
aquarium, releasing the giant shark to devour Luthor, but Superman arrives and rescues Luthor and then
engages in a titanic battle with Sgt. Mills, who uses everything the suit has. One blast in particular
catches Superman off-guard and temporarily blinds him.
Superman manages to finally put Mills out of commission by giving him a high-voltage shock in the suit’s
power source. In the end, Mills is in the hospital going through withdrawal from the suit, with his wife by
his side. John Henry Irons thought that the battle suit was a good idea at the time. Superman says, “It
still is. If someone could find a way to make it work safely. It’d be nice to have a little help for a change.”
I am convinced that “Prototype” is a nod to the ’80s movie series “Robocop,” simply by the look and
design of the police battle suit. We see Mills go from being a blond police officer in control to a bald
officer gone out of control. Michael Dorn is John Henry Irons, who is soon to become Metropolis’ new
hero, Steel. Similar to Batman’s blind experience in “Blind as a Bat” on “Batman: The Animated Series,”
Superman experiences temporary blindness in this episode. You’ll see Trish Mills turn up in another
“Superman” episode not too far from now.
“The Late Mr. Kent”
November 1, 1997
Written by Stan Berkowitz; directed by Kenji Hachizaki.
A funeral service is held off the highway on a dark cloudy day. Among those in attendance are Lois Lane,
Jimmy Olsen and Perry White, as well as most of the staff of the Daily Planet. From a distance,
Superman watches the funeral service. The funeral is for, believe it or not, his alter ego, Clark Kent, who
was believed to have been killed in an explosion. Superman thinks back to how all this started …
Clark was assigned to interview a small-time thief on death row who was close to his execution. Ernie
Walker was charged with robbery, murdering a woman, and fencing her valuables. Walker tells Clark
that while he did steal, he was nowhere near the murder scene and never even touched her. With his Xray vision and superhearing, Clark suspects he’s innocent. Clark goes to police headquarters and asks for
the files on the Walker case, which Detective Kurt Bowman supplies for him. That night, Lois and Jimmy
are unable to persuade Clark to join them for dinner and believe he’s concentrating on a lost cause, but
when Clark is about to eat a bite of a colleague’s leftover pizza, he has an idea and visits the nearest
pizza delivery place near Walker’s home. He convinces the manager to let him look through the
customer orders on computer disc. Early the next morning, Lois is awakened by Clark, who says he’s
found Walker’s alibi. The pizza records prove that Walker was home eating a pizza when the murder
took place, clearing him of all charges. Although he could have flown to the governor with the evidence,
Clark wanted this to be his victory and not Superman’s. As he journeys along the coast, his car suddenly
explodes and lands in the ocean. Though his clothes are destroyed, Superman is fine, as is his supersuit.
Unfortunately, the evidence to clear Walker is destroyed. Superman notices underwater that there’s a
fishing boat nearby, so Superman swims far away so no one can see him emerge from the water. In
Smallville, Jonathan and Martha Kent get the news about Clark from Detective Bowman, just as their son
is with them, wondering how he can bring Clark back from the dead. “I AM Clark. I need to be Clark. I’d
go crazy if I had to be Superman all the time.” But there is still the matter of clearing Walker’s name.
Back in the present day, Superman notices Lois leaving Clark’s funeral early. He later finds her at his
(Clark’s) apartment searching for something. Lois actually tears up and confesses that she did like Clark
and respected him. Superman and Lois realize Clark’s computer is missing and his phone bugged. They
also discover a bomb – and clear out just as Clark’s apartment blows sky high. While Superman uses a
water tower to put out the fire, he notices with his X-ray vision that Detective Bowman is in the crowd
watching. Lois confronts Bowman as he comes off work about Clark’s murder and Walker’s frame up.
Bowman ignores her until she presents his phone bug. Bowman tries to kill her but has to contend with
Superman. He steals a police helicopter and fires all its weapons at the Man of Steel, who manages to
ground the copter. Bowman is then arrested.
Later, Superman and Lois learn that the governor is going to watch the execution. In the speed of light,
Superman arrives with the evidence and saves Walker’s life. The story is reported by Lois Lane, who
feels the fun has gone out of the job until she gets a shocking phone call and rushes to a high-rise
penthouse, where she finds Clark with a bandaged head, alive and well and with Lana Lang. Lois can’t
help but show her anger and when asked if she’s jealous, Lois replies, “Yeah. Jealous of his endless luck!”
Clark does report on the upcoming execution of the killer cop, Bowman, who angrily reads the headline
of the Daily Planet. As he is put in the gas chamber for his execution, Bowman ponders, “How did he
survive that car bomb? HOW?” As the gas is released in the chamber, Bowman figures it out and he
utters the last two words of his life. “HE’S SUPERMAN!!”
”The Late Mr. Kent” returns Eddie Barth as the voice of Detective Kurt Bowman, the cop now gone bad.
He was last seen in “Target.”
“Heavy Metal”
November 8, 1997
INTRODUCING STEEL!!!
Written by Hilary J. Bader; directed by Curt Geda.
John Henry Irons has been working in his foundry, putting together a new battle suit. His niece Natasha
has been hanging out with him, watching him work. On the TV, they hear newswoman Angela Chen
interview Bibbo over his sighting of a bank robber with super strength. Irons decides to do a little target
practice outside his foundry with his new gauntlet. Meanwhile, trouble emerges when a trio of bank
robbers empty out Metropolis Bank. One of the masked robbers uses superhuman strength to rip open
the safe. The villains escape and they eventually reach the area of town where Irons and Natasha are.
Irons puts the gauntlet to the test and stops two of the robbers, only briefly, but then Superman arrives.
The third robber surfaces. He removes his mask. To everyone’s shock, it’s Metallo (who has somehow
regained half of his torn flesh face!).
Apparently, Intergang agents found Metallo buried under the rock and hardened lava from their last
encounter, and not only pulled a Humpty-Dumpty on him, but also implemented a few improvements.
The biggest one is that not only does Metallo have that Kryptonite center in his chest, but now he can
shoot Kryptonite rays from his eyes. Irons can only watch helplessly as Superman is weakened severely
by the Kryptonite. But Metallo is suddenly struck by a van, driven by Natasha, who bangs him hard
enough so that he falls and some building debris caves in on him. Irons puts the weakened Man of Steel
into the van.
Metallo frees his two cohorts and they chase the van in a pair of police cars. Meanwhile, the van runs
out of gas and Irons and his niece have to hide Superman. Somehow, they end up back at their foundry,
where Irons turns on some yellow sunlight in the lights above the table where Superman lies, hoping to
help him recover from massive Kryptonite exposure.
Outside, Metallo has caught up but has to deal with the residents of the ’hood who won’t tell him where
Superman is. Metallo begins to rough up the people on the streets while John Henry Irons suits up in his
new prototype. Metallo soon finds himself face-to-face with the man who now calls himself Steel.
Metallo says this is a meeting of the metals, and “may the best alloy win.” The battle winds up in the
foundry. Just as Metallo has Steel cornered, Superman jumps back into action. But Metallo still has a few
surprises, like being able to turn his head totally backward to fire more Kryptonite at the Man of Steel.
That’s when Steel hurls his metal hammer, which jams Metallo’s centerpiece and causes him to fall out
of commission. Steel discovers he has approval from the neighborhood, and when Superman recovers
he says, “Steel, huh? Well, Steel, you’re going to be getting this a lot, so you might as well hear it from
me first.” Steel wonders, “What?” Superman replies, “Thanks!” This ends with a good, firm handshake.
Origin episode for Steel. Though Metallo is new and improved, no explanation is given on how Metallo
regained his torn half face. Matt Landers, who voiced one of Metallo’s thugs, was also the voice of
Frankie, one of the thugs who worked for Rupert Thorne on the “Two-Face” episodes of “Batman: The
Animated Series.” Michael Dorn returns as John Henry Irons / Steel. When Superman is unconscious from
the Kryptonite and with Natasha waiting for him to recover, this plays similar to what Batman went
through in the episode, “I’ve Got Batman in My Basement.” In both, our heroes manage to finally get
well for the big battle.
“Warrior Queen”
November 22, 1997
Written by Hilary J. Bader; directed by Curt Geda.
On the planet Almerac, Maxima the Warrior Queen is engaged in battle with a fighter named De’Cine.
The battle is a tight one, and when it looks like De’Cine has the upper hand, the crowd gets interested,
but once again, Maxima wins. The crowd leaves bored. Maxima annoyingly shouts, “Great! Another
loser!” Maxima is a very arrogant, extremely high-maintenance queen who is looking for a mate. Her
idea of a mate is a man who can best her in battle or even better, prove to be her equal. Her main
assistant Sazu announces that footage has been found of a potential mate. Maxima watches the footage
while taking her royal bath. The footage is that of Superman on Earth battling the giant LexCorp Battle
Suit (from the pilot episode). Maxima is not only attracted to him, but also very impressed. Rather than
send her ambassadors, she decides to go to Earth herself, unaware that Sazu is betraying her and has a
secret alliance with her defeated opponent, De’Cine, who’s about as evil as they come.
Queen Maxima arrives on Earth and is spotted by some punks on the waterfront. Being a warrior queen,
she kicks butt easily. She eventually finds the Metropolis TV station where newswoman Angela Chen is
starving for a good story. When Maxima bursts in looking for Superman, her “betrothed,” Angela gets a
story right in her lap (she whispers with glee “Thank-You!”).
At the Daily Planet, Clark Kent sees Angela’s interview. The queen gets her wish, but is shocked when
Superman will not go to Almerac with her. “Are you refusing the royal throne of Almerac?” she asks.
“Are you refusing me?” With a puzzled look, Superman replies, “Well ... yes.” An infuriated Maxima
engages Superman in battle. Eventually, the Man of Steel subdues her, but instead of being angry,
Maxima is delighted and hugs him, insisting she’s found her mate. But when he still will not accept her
proposal, Maxima uses a stun ray to knock out our hero long enough to get them through the
dimensional portal back to Almerac.
Upon her return, Maxima’s delight of her upcoming wedding is turned to shock when she finds De’Cine
has taken over her throne. Sazu has not only helped him, but has become his intended, or so she thinks.
Maxima finds herself arrested by her own guards. Sazu discovers what goes around comes around when
De’Cine not only orders for Superman and Maxima to be thrown into the catacombs but her, as well. In
the dungeon, Maxima is ready to kill Sazu for betraying her. But Superman stops her and reminds her of
her power to do what’s right and that “as leader, you serve the people. They don’t serve you.” But the
three of them have more concerns when a giant monstrous creature called the Camorite awakens,
forcing them to fight for their lives.
After eventually subduing the Camorite, Superman, Maxima and Sazu escape the dungeon and do battle
with the palace guards. Maxima is ready to kill De’Cine when Superman reminds her of her
responsibilities, so she has Sazu lock him up. Expressing her gratitude, Maxima sadly releases Superman
from the betrothal and opens the portal for him to return home. Before he leaves, she asks, “Are there
any more at home like you?” Superman replies, “No. But as my mother always said, there’s someone for
everyone.” With that Superman leaves to return to Earth. Then Maxima gets a surprise when an alien
biker crashes through the roof, firing his giant guns. Yep! You guessed it. Lobo! He shouts, “I’m here to
get that fraggin’, scum-sucking, rat-scratchin De’Cine!! And nobody better stop me!!!” Maxima’s in love
again.
Miguel Ferrer voices the second of his three roles in this series, here as the evil De’Cine. Major TV actress
Sharon Lawrence is the title character, while Shannon Kenny, who voiced Inque in “Batman Beyond,” is
her assistant Sazu (here heavily British-accented). This episode plays like “Star Wars” with the dungeon
and the giant monster. Queen Maxima represents the rich, arrogant, obnoxious, high-maintenance
woman. Just imagine crossing Paris Hilton with Chyna! She uses a formal introduction several times in
the episode: “I am the Lady Maxima. Warrior Queen. Head of the Royal House. And leader of all
Almerac.” She also makes a “Yow!” type of sorority girl sound when she considers a man hot, first with
Superman, then with Lobo at the very end. The episode includes an amusing exchange between Harry
and Lucille, an elderly couple. Lucille watches Superman and Maxima battle from the window while
Harry reads the paper, annoyed at his wife’s “spying on the neighbors.” When Superman explains to
Maxima that marriage is about a mutual commitment where husband and wife share decision-making
together, Lucille replies, “What planet is he from?” Cue the electric guitars!! This whole episode is
definitely worth watching, especially to see the surprise cameo by our old bountyhunter buddy, Lobo on
his Hawg!!!
“Apokolips ... Now!” Part I
February 7, 1998
Written by Bruce Timm and Rich Fogel; directed by Dan Riba.
The Metropolis SCU arrives at a heavily guarded bank and brings in an armored truck filled with
laundered money confiscated from Intergang. Maggie Sawyer leads and Dan Turpin rides in the truck.
But when they hear a thunderlike sound, they discover an alien air vehicle called a hover tank. The hover
tank attacks, and the SCU are engaged in combat. Maggie Sawyer winds up injured and unconscious as
the tank leaves. Superman arrives, but the crooks manage to escape when they unleash another alien
weapon: It releases an ear-splitting, glass-shattering sound, which keeps Superman busy long enough to
let them get away. Later at the hospital, Turpin visits Maggie. He vows to find the criminals responsible,
but Maggie makes Turpin promise to keep his temper in check, since he’s now in charge of the SCU
while she’s recovering. Turpin agrees.
The two crooks from the hover tank report to their boss at Intergang, Bruno Mannheim, who is back on
Earth. Their test robbery is successful, but Mannheim’s new high-tech wristband indicates a private call
coming in. The watch then projects an image of Darkseid, who reminds Mannheim that he did not send
him back to Earth to indulge in petty theft. He uses his Omega beams to destroy all the loot. Darkseid’s
message ends with “Serve me well, Mannheim, and I’ll make you a king.”
Turpin calls a press conference and announces they need more than Superman’s help; they must rely on
themselves, as well. Suddenly, a boom tube appears and a man on a strange flying device enters and
crashes. Before he passes out, he grabs Clark Kent and says, “Superman … Must … warn … Superman.”
At STAR Labs, Superman, Turpin and some SCU guards join Professor Hamilton, who needs help in
calming the enraged alien visitor demanding to see Superman. He introduces himself as Orion and
explains that he barely managed to escape the fire pits of Apokolips to warn Superman that Darkseid is
coming. Orion activates a living computer called the Mother Box, which tells the following back story:
What once was whole exploded and formed into two worlds, opposite as night and day. New Genesis is
a world of virtue and all that is good and is ruled by the wise and powerful High Father. The other world,
filled with burn holes, is Apokolips, the ultimate evil world ruled by the omnipotent Darkseid, who feeds
on the misery of others and endlessly seeks a device that will give him ultimate power over all living
things. It’s called the Anti-Life Equation. For centuries, New Genesis and Apokolips were at war, until an
uneasy truce was formed when the High Father and Darkseid exchanged infant sons. During his endless
search for the Anti-Life Equation, Darkseid has conquered and subjugated many worlds and now has his
sights set on Earth.
Orion finishes his explanation just as Turpin receives a phone call that the Apokolips hover tanks are
attacking Sinnott Air Force Base. Superman and Orion arrive quickly and do battle with the tanks.
Meanwhile, Mannheim watches the battle on TV when Darkseid surfaces and says, “I take it the battle is
not going well.” Mannheim replies, “It’s not my fault. It’s that new guy!” Darkseid recognizes Orion in
action. Darkseid then decides it’s time to put the next phase of his plan into effect. The Ayers Island
Nuclear Power Plant gets an unpleasant visit when a boom tube transports Mannheim along with
several Parademons, Darkseid’s demonic troops, to evacuate the island. When finished, an incinerator is
installed to take out the cooling unit of the reactor. Darkseid says, “You have served me well, Mr.
Mannheim, and now, farewell.” Mannheim asks, “What gives?! What about me? You promised you’d
make me a king!” Darkseid replies, “And so you are. King of Fools!” and the image of Darkseid is gone.
Bruno Mannheim discovers that he cannot reverse what he’s done and races for his life to the only boat
left. He takes off as the nuclear plant massively explodes.
Meanwhile, as firefighters and cleanup crews arrive at the destroyed base, Turpin thanks Superman for
his help. Superman in turn thanks Orion, who warns him not to congratulate themselves too fast and
that Darkseid will only consider this a minor setback. Orion activates a boom tube and returns to New
Genesis to report to the High Father about Darkseid’s actions. Orion knows how Darkseid thinks – since
he is the infant son that Darkseid gave up at birth for the truce! Before he leaves, Orion gives Superman
a device to contact him if needed. Superman and Turpin later see the massive explosion at sea and
Superman realizes, “Orion was right. It isn’t over.”
This is the Darkseid story that was foreshadowed in the previous episodes. Bruno Mannheim’s boat is
covered by giant waves after the plant explodes. Whether or not he survived following his treacherous
act is unknown since this is his last appearance in “Superman.” In the comics, Maggie Sawyer is a lesbian
and her lover is Toby Raynes, a reporter for a rival newspaper in Metropolis. Toby appears in this two-
parter only at Maggie’s bedside in the hospital, but for those who don’t know, she could be a friend or
relative since the animated series did not openly reveal that part of Maggie’s life. Toby is voiced by
“Saturday Night Live” alum Laraine Newman. In the Mother Box origin of New Genesis, we see Lightray,
who would also appear in the background of a few “Justice League” episodes and has a major part in the
episode “Twilight of the Gods.”
“Apokolips ... Now!” Part II
February 14, 1998
Written by Bruce Timm and Rich Fogel; directed by Dan Riba.
The recent events on Earth have turned the sky red. Superman and Dan Turpin meet with Professor
Hamilton at STAR Labs, who’s been monitoring the hot zone. The explosion caused a nuclear meltdown
at the power plant, and this radioactive heat is going down to the center of the Earth, where it’s
expected to explode and create more burn holes all over the planet. Superman realizes that it will turn
Earth into another Apokolips.
Speaking of which, we find Darkseid preparing to strike against Earth. Kalibak begs to take another crack
at Superman. But Darkseid says no. Instead, he chooses to send his field general Steppenwolf into
battle. Back on Earth, Superman decides it’s time to call Orion. Unfortunately, the device to summon
him short-circuits. “We’re on our own now,” Superman realizes as he flies to stop the radioactive burn
heading toward the Earth’s core. But he is delayed in getting there when a boom tube appears and
Steppenwolf emerges with a giant army of Parademons. Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are stuck in traffic
but see the Man of Steel fighting these alien demonic soldiers. Some surprise help arrives: a police
chopper with Dan Turpin and the SCU.
Superman proceeds to the ocean, where he spins underwater at supersonic speed and creates water
holes that cool off the radioactive heat. Superman flies to a cliff above Metropolis to catch his breath
when an ominous shadow appears. He hears a voice saying, “You’re a magnificent opponent, Superman.
But even you must realize it’s hopeless.” Darkseid offers Superman a chance to join his alliance. At the
Man of Steel’s refusal, Darkseid fires his Omega beams on him, ripping his costume and causing him to
bleed a little, but mostly draining him of energy. Darkseid tells him, “Pity. Still, if you won’t be my knight,
you will be my pawn.” Turpin and the SCU continue to battle Steppenwolf and the Parademons as best
they can. Turpin even rescues Jimmy from one Parademon.
Suddenly, everyone is alarmed when they see a giant tanklike vehicle devouring everything in its path.
On the top is Superman, weakened, and captured. Darkseid announces his intentions of conquering
Earth. But he’s not prepared for the answer given to him. “IN A PIG’S EYE!” Turpin angrily shouts. “This is
our world, ugly! You won’t get it without a fight!” Turpin attacks and fights a Parademon and then uses
its staff to free Superman of his bonds. Turpin hurls the weapon and shouts, “I don’t care how many
crummy planets you’ve conquered, you ain’t gettin’ this one!!” The crowd also shouts in anger. Darkseid
tells Superman it’s suicide to deny him. But Superman reminds him that the people of Earth are not like
the slaves on Apokolips. He says, “Better a quick death in battle than a slow one under your heel.”
Darkseid’s eyes light up and he says, “This world dies now!” and he is ready to destroy everything in
sight when suddenly boom tubes appear, releasing hundreds of ships. It’s the army from New Genesis
led by Orion, who then addresses Darkseid: “Darkseid. High Father has decreed this planet is under his
protection. Any further aggression will breech the peace treaty and be considered an act of war against
New Genesis itself. The decision is yours, Darkseid.” Darkseid expresses his pride in his son and orders
his army to return to Apokolips. Turpin shouts, “Go on, ya mangy buzzards, and don’t come back!”
Darkseid turns with his eyes glowing and says, “Savor your moment of triumph, Superman, but
remember, victory has its price.” Darkseid fires his Omega beams from his eyes. They zigzag past
Superman – and hit and kill Dan Turpin! Everyone watches in horror and Superman flies toward Darkseid
shouting “MURDERER!” Darkseid enters the boom tube, and it vanishes.
Superman angrily flies into a rage and tears up the Apokolips tank vehicle again and again. Harder and
harder! Superman feels a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” Orion says somberly. As our episode ends,
all of Metropolis turns out for the funeral service of Dan Turpin as the rabbi sings the final passages.
After everyone is gone, Superman stands alone with a tear in his eye, looking at the grave and says,
“Goodbye, old friend. In the end, the world didn’t really need a super man, just a brave one.” The
gravestone reads: “DANIEL TURPIN: EARTH’S GREATEST HERO.”
The episode concludes with two special screen notes:
Not the end ...
This episode is dedicated to the memory of JACK KIRBY: Long live the king
This second part is a major turning point in the series run. So far, we’ve seen Darkseid use his Omega
beams to teleport somebody somewhere else, as we’ve seen with Kalibak and Bruno Mannheim. The
Omega beams also can stun and weaken somebody, as with Superman. But now, we discover that
Darkseid can kill. His beams are so powerful, that when he kills a person, nothing is left. No corpse, no
torn clothing, nothing. In the comics, Dan “Terrible” Turpin is alive and well and looks completely
different. Here, Bruce Timm and Co. designed Turpin to look like Jack Kirby. A young Jack Kirby spent
most of his comic career over at Marvel and had designed many unforgettable characters. But during the
early 1970s, Kirby worked with DC Comics and created the Fourth World / New Gods characters. Kirby
also created Dan Turpin. Joseph Bologna gives his final outstanding performance as Dan Turpin. Oddly
enough, Maggie Sawyer becomes a minor character, if seen at all, beyond this episode. When Orion
leads the New Genesis army against Darkseid on Earth, we see small cameos by Mr. Miracle, Big Barda,
Lightray, Metron and Forager, all of whom will surface on “Justice League” / “JLU.”
“Little Girl Lost” Part 1
May 2, 1998
Written by Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Paul Dini and Alan Burnett; directed by Curt Geda.
Superman is in space, on his first flight to the site where his home planet, Krypton, was destroyed. All
that’s left are giant fragments of Kryptonite. Then, he picks up a distress signal and follows it to a nearby
planet, Argo. The Man of Steel lands and discovers a city completely destroyed. He enters a building and
finds an underground laboratory. Upon setting foot on the main controls, Superman unwittingly
activates the machinery and a holographic video appears. It’s a woman named Kala In Ze, chief physician
of Argo City. In the hologram, she tells how the explosion of Krypton knocked Argo out of its orbit,
causing a chain reaction of disasters and leaving only a few survivors, who froze to death. In a last
attempt, Kala had herself and her family cryogenically frozen in the hopes that someone would find
them. When Superman discovers them, he is sad to find they are dead. All but one – a teenage girl.
Superman takes her back to Earth.
Time passes. One beautiful morning in Smallville, as Jonathan and Martha Kent wake up, the teenage
girl from Argo is enjoying her newfound power of flight. But Clark pulls her back down to Earth and
reminds her not to fly during the daytime. The girl, whose name is now Kara Kent, appreciates staying
with the Kents, but she wants to be able to use her powers to help people and fight crime. Though Clark
understands her feelings, he feels the most important thing right now is to adjust to life on Earth and
keep a low profile.
In Metropolis, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are assigned to cover a techno convention. Lois would rather
investigate the new crime wave of Intergang, while Jimmy wonders when Perry will give him a chance to
be a reporter and go beyond freelance photography. Suddenly, the convention is raided by two teens in
blue costumes flying on hover stands and firing weapons that produce fire and ice. Their attempt to
steal a box full of electronic devices is thwarted by the arrival of Superman. They use their weapons on
him, as well as an anti-gravity device to send Lois into the sky. While Superman rescues her, the two
teens, Trouble and Amy, get away.
Back at the Daily Planet, Clark Kent is at work when he learns his “cousin” is here to see him. Kara is
wearing a brown wig and glasses, hoping that she can help Clark with Intergang. Clark says no and gives
her the key to his apartment. Down the hall, a similar conversation is going on between Lois and Jimmy
when Jimmy can’t understand why Lois won’t let him help her with the assignment. Jimmy decides to
follow a lead he got and gets a pleasant surprise when a pretty blonde wants to join him.
Kara and Jimmy check out every arcade to find the same token that Jimmy found earlier. Then they spot
Trouble and Amy in trenchcoats leaving out the back. Kara and Jimmy follow them into a warehouse,
only to find themselves surrounded by a group of teens, suited up and carrying weapons. These teens
are actually abandoned street kids with no future, but now they have a superior. An old woman, or
perhaps a man pretending to be a woman, named Granny Goodness. Jimmy tries to pretend he and Kara
want to join Intergang, but Granny sees past the charade and orders them to be killed. After an attack,
Kara removes the torn clothes to reveal a white T-shirt with a familiar emblem on it, a blue skirt, a short
red cape, and red boots. Jimmy is shocked by this newcomer and says, “I don’t believe it!! A Super-girl?”
She replies, “Believe it!” When Granny can’t stop her alone, she activates a boom tube, revealing she’s
from Apokolips. Granny Goodness summons the Fatal Furies, a trio of deadly female warriors from
Apokolips, Lashina, Mad Harriet and Stompa. Granny tells them, “Girls, this ninny-noodle wants to play
rough. Make her last moments special.”
This two-part story is the introduction of Supergirl, a DC character that, while she did have one liveaction movie in 1984, has never been in animation until now. Nicholle Tom joins the cast as Kara Kent /
Supergirl. While she is no relation to the Asian actress Lauren Tom, who voices Angela Chen, Nicholle
Tom does have a sister and brother, Heather Tom and David Tom, who both have starred on CBS’ “The
Young and the Restless.” Whether Granny Goodness is actually male or female is unknown; the man
voicing her is very familiar: Ed Asner, best remembered as Lou Grant on the “Mary Tyler Moore Show”
and on “Lou Grant.” Asner was also the voice of Roland Daggett on “Batman: The Animated Series.” In
addition to Supergirl and Granny Goodness, this episode marks the debut of the Fatal Furies from
Apokolips: Lashina with her laser whips, Mad Harriet, who looks compatible with the Joker, and Stompa,
a hulk of a woman with the body of a male bodybuilder and powers in her feet, hence her name.
Two Supergirl figures in the style introduced in this animated series.
“Little Girl Lost” Part II
May 2, 1998
Written by Rich Fogel, Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer; directed by Curt Geda.
Supergirl and Jimmy Olsen find themselves surrounded by the Furies from Apokolips. Supergirl shoves
Jimmy out of the way and tells him to run. The Furies attack and Supergirl finds herself outmatched.
While the battle takes place, all the street kids evacuate. Jimmy grabs Amy and asks her to stay and
help. Trouble, however, decides to get out with the rest of the kids. Jimmy grabs his freeze gun and gives
Amy her heat gun. As the battle rages outside, Supergirl manages to contend with Lashina and her laser
whip and Mad Harriet with her Wolverine-like claws. But it’s Stompa who holds the trump card,
stomping her titanic feet on the ground and causing an earthquake to throw Supergirl off-track.
Meanwhile, Clark Kent and Lois Lane attend a conference at the science hall regarding Fleischer’s
Comet, which Dr. Cornell assures is nowhere near hitting Earth, when everyone feels an earthquake.
Clark uses his super-vision to spot the commotion. The next thing Lois knows, Clark is gone. Superman
arrives in time to help Supergirl, but now, like her, he finds himself outmatched by the Furies. Lashina
manages to get a good grip on him and shock him with her laser whips long enough for him to lose
consciousness. Granny Goodness and the Furies activate the boom tube and return to Apokolips with
their unconscious super-prisoner. On Apokolips, Granny Goodness and the girls place a collar around
Superman’s neck. Granny activates it and Superman receives massive voltage shocks to weaken him so
Granny can present him to the Master.
Back on Earth, Supergirl manages to get free and she, Jimmy and Amy search for clues. Supergirl finds
the boom tube controller Granny had lost and uses it to travel to Apokolips. Jimmy questions Amy about
why Granny needed the teens. Amy says that Granny had them steal electronics, and she then recalls a
room that Granny always kept locked. She uses her heat gun to dissolve the locked door, and they
discover a giant weapon. Supergirl, meanwhile, arrives on Apokolips and dodges security and
Parademons. Superman is led in by Granny and her girls and comes face-to-face with Darkseid, who still
plans to destroy Earth. Though he is well-aware of his agreement with New Genesis, Darkseid’s plan is to
make sure a natural disaster occurs on Earth so he cannot be held accountable. Granny reveals she has
made a Doomsday Magnet, which will divert Fleischer’s Comet toward Earth. It’s the very weapon that
Jimmy and Amy happen to find.
Suddenly, Supergirl intervenes, but Darkseid blasts her with his Omega beams. Though in bondage,
Superman manages to knock over Darkseid but not without being repeatedly stunned by Granny. Once
again, Supergirl battles the Furies, but this time, she gets the upper hand. Darkseid prepares to fire his
Omega beams, but Superman uses Granny’s activator to open up a boom tube, allowing him and
Supergirl to escape. The superduo return to Earth, where Supergirl destroys the Doomsday Magnet,
much to her cousin’s chagrin as Superman points out that he could have used it to repel the comet. Now
he will now have to steer the comet away the hard way, but not without a small half of the comet
breaking away and falling toward Earth. Supergirl says to herself as the comet approaches, “Well, girl,
you always wanted to save the world.” Supergirl flies at tremendous speed and breaks through the
comet, destroying it. With the comet gone, Superman flies the unconscious Supergirl to STAR Labs to
heal. Jimmy Olsen stares at the headline of the latest edition of the Daily Planet: “SUPERGIRL SMASHES
INTERGANG, SAVES METROPOLIS TO BOOT, BY JAMES OLSEN.” It’s Jimmy’s first byline. Clark tells Jimmy,
“That reminds me, Jimmy, my cousin’s in town and something tells me you two would hit if off just fine.”
Back on Apokolips, Darkseid instructs the Furies to “teach Granny the price of failure.”
The name of “Fleischer’s” Comet is a tribute to the very first Superman cartoons of the 1940s, animated
by Fleischer Studios. Scott Menville, the voice of Trouble, proves he can voice villains as well as heroes, as
he was the voice of Robin on the “Teen Titans” animated series.
Season 3
“Where There’s Smoke”
September 19, 1998
Written by Hilary J. Bader; directed by Dan Riba.
The Metropolis Yacht Club at the marina is about to start its regatta and lots of people are waiting in
line. Select few are already inside, notably Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen on assignment. While even some
wealthy couples can’t seem to get in yet, a beautiful redhead with a sexy, sultry voice manages to
seduce the bouncer into letting her go in ahead of the crowd. Jimmy is intrigued and takes photos for his
“personal collection.” But when she walks over and makes small talk, she puts her finger on the camera.
A few moments later, the film in the camera has fried. The woman enters the ladies room and starts a
fire with her hands that spread rapidly through the building. Superman spots a woman in the fire and
tries to save her, but she forces him back with flames from her hands. The Man of Steel uses a giant
propeller and spins at great speed to suck up some ocean water to put the flames out. When it’s over,
Superman notices the mysterious redheaded stranger has vanished, “gone like a puff of smoke.” That
night, Clark goes back to the burned building but is sent on his way by the head of a cleaning crew,
which rouses his suspicions.
Meanwhile, the redheaded lady tries to sell the merchandise she stole from the yacht club to her fence
Donnie in order to get out of town. But with the recent news, Donnie won’t touch them, but does agree
to meet her in the usual place when she announces she might get something else to sell him. But Donnie
discovers he has visitors. A trio of men wearing business suits approach him. Their leader is Kurt, a man
with an eyepatch wanting to know where the “usual place” is.
Clark visits a special school where paranormal children are given a chance to utilize their special abilities.
But when Clark asks about government funding and about anyone displaying pyrokinetic powers of any
kind, the director concocts an excuse to leave. He winds up in the hands of some government men who
want to take him to a “safe” place. As they are about to take him for a ride, the tires on their car blow
out. The men pull out their guns thinking that they’re being shot at while the little man escapes. He runs
into Clark Kent and promises to tell what he knows, but only if Clark will take him someplace safe. It
seems the pint-sized director of the paranormal school is also a telekinetic himself.
At Clark’s apartment, the director of the paranormal school indulges himself with an ice cream float and
tells Clark the full story on Clare Sultan, a teenage girl whom her parents enrolled at the school to utilize
her abilities to control fires, but some government men kidnapped her, stripped her of her life, codenamed her Volcana, and attempted to turn her into a deadly weapon under the plan of Project
Firestorm. However, Volcana managed to escape and has been working as a crook. After the director
tells the story on Volcana, Clark excuses himself to run an errand when he detects the fiery lady of topic
entering a museum with his super senses. As Volcana is about to steal a piece of American history, she
comes face to face with Superman, who asks her to trust him. These are poor words of choice, as
Volcana goes into a rage and hurls fireballs at the Man of Steel then escapes. When she goes to meet
Donnie, she finds the sinister government man, Kurt, waiting for her. Suddenly, his two goons appear
and spray her with coolant, enough to drain her powers.
The next day, Jimmy is telling Lois about Volcana’s capture. Clark overhears. Superman contends with
the two goons at the Metropolis Federal Building and manages to persuade them to reveal where
Volcana has been taken: an underground bunker which is (or was) a top secret government building.
Volcana is inside a bubble-shaped container filled with deadly gas to keep her in line. Kurt plans to sell
her to a foreign government that wants to dissect her. But Superman arrives and confronts Kurt, now
knowing that Project Firestorm was terminated years ago and that the government is no longer
involved. “This isn’t the government; it’s just you.” But while Superman battles Kurt’s thugs, Volcana
manages to get free and goes after Kurt. Superman puts an end to the remaining fires. When he tries to
stop Volcana, she ignites some canisters containing liquid hydrogen, which explode. By story’s end,
Volcana winds up on an uninhabited island while Superman provides her with food, drink, shelter, and
more – a better place for her than Metropolis Women’s Prison.
What was the start of Season 2 for “The New Batman / Superman Adventures” marked the third and
final season of “Superman: The Animated Series.” This final season brought us more guest superheroes
and more interesting stories with a few surprises. Volcana is voiced by the beautiful, sexy, and intriguing
Peri Gilpin. The dwarf-sized director of the paranormal school is voiced by William H. Macy, among
whose credits include the 1999 movie “Mystery Men,” in which he played the Shoveller, and Disney’s
“Wild Hogs.” Superman needed some female archvillains, and since Livewire was already created for the
show, Bruce Timm and Co. created another one, who had the power to control fire. Except for a cameo in
another episode, this would really be Volcana’s only appearance in “Superman: The Animated Series,”
though she would resurface in “Justice League (Unlimited)” as an eventual member of the Legion of
Doom.
“Knight Time”
October 10, 1998
Special guest stars: BATMAN AND ROBIN!!!
Written by Robert Goodman; directed by Curt Geda.
It’s a high-speed chase across the Metropolis skies, but this lady flies pretty low near traffic. The lady is
none other than Roxy Rocket, one of the newer villains from Gotham City, and Superman is in hot
pursuit. Roxy flies through the tunnel with traffic and plans to ram the Man of Steel out of the way. But
it backfires and Superman catches her. He gets quite a surprise, however, at why Roxy is trying her luck
in Metropolis. It seems that Batman is missing and the other crooks are picking Gotham clean.
Superman takes Roxy back to Gotham City, where in the meantime, a pair of thugs have broken into the
Gotham Experience Museum and are raiding the Diamond District, all confident that the police won’t
make it in time and that Batman is a no-show. Robin manages to stop the two crooks but gets
outnumbered by their partners in an armored truck. But Robin gets a shock when the crooks are all
subdued by the timely arrival of Superman.
When Superman inquires on Batman’s whereabouts, Robin won’t tell, so Superman gives the Boy
Wonder another shock: “OK, let’s try this another way. Where’s Bruce?” On a stone cliff above the city,
Robin tells Superman how Bruce said he would be away on business but was not acting like himself. The
call was traced to Romania, where Batgirl and Nightwing have gone to search for Ra’s al Ghul, who may
have kidnapped Bruce. When the Batsignal flashes in the sky, Robin groans with grief. “Not again. It gets
worse every time he doesn’t show.” Superman replies, “Then this time, he will.”
Commissioner Gordon shuts off the signal, figuring that Gotham’s Guardian is once again not coming,
when suddenly, arriving on Batropes are Robin and ... Batman? “Good evening, Commissioner. Sorry I’m
late.” Commissioner Gordon presents “Batman” with a folder of how much crime has gone up, along
with a photo taken at Gotham Airport showing that Bane is back in town. After they leave, the female
cop with Gordon asks, “Does he look bigger to you?”
At Wayne Enterprises, “Batman” and Robin sneak in and the Boy Wonder uses a Batdevice to send
security to another floor while they enter Bruce’s office and go through his computer. Superman and
Robin play back the video message that Bruce left for Lucius Fox, Wayne Enterprises VP. They discover
Bruce smiling, a very rare characteristic. Superman also discovers thousands of microscopic electronic
bugs called nanites all over the papers and in the phone along with a needle indicating someone has
injected nanites into Bruce’s body.
”Batman” and Robin question the Penguin at his club, the Iceberg Lounge. Penguin refuses to talk until
“Batman” kicks over the desk then kicks through the vault (at Robin’s prompting). At the Gotham
Explorer’s Club, Bane has called a meeting and is allying himself with the Riddler and the Mad Hatter
when “Batman” and Robin arrive to do battle. Riddler detains Robin, who manages to turn the tables on
the Prince of Puzzles while Bane discovers Batman is showing a new level of strength. The Mad Hatter
tries to run, but “Batman” seems to be faster than normal, and our heroes take him to police
headquarters, where he sees the nanites and reveals that they are likely of alien origin.
In the Batcave, Superman and Robin review the video of Bruce, and Superman discovers noise in the
background. It sounds like rocket exhaust. With Bruce supposedly traveling, Superman and Robin
deduce that Bruce may not only be held prisoner, but he may still be in town and at Wayne Aerospace,
the only place where Bruce Wayne would be needed to launch a rocket. Superman and Robin discover
that Bruce is indeed there and instructing the setup of a space launch. Superman notices the weapons
on the ship look Kryptonian. After he sends the crew home, Bruce activates a panel in the wall, and
behind it is the mastermind of the whole plot: Brainiac, the renegade computer from Krypton. But
before Brainiac can destroy Bruce, he is suddenly tied by the Batrope. While Robin tries to get Bruce out
of danger, Brainiac comes face to face with “Batman,” who deduces that Brainiac took control of some
of Bruce’s computers during his partnership with LexCorp. While impressed by his deducting skills,
Brainiac blasts the Dark Knight, dissolving his Batcostume. Robin tries to help, but Bruce, still under
Brainiac’s spell, holds him back. Brainiac, thinking he’s destroyed Batman, is shocked to see Superman.
In the Batcave, Bruce is back to normal. Superman advises him to check his computer since “Brainiac has
a way of leaving a little of himself behind.” Bruce looks at his ward Tim Drake and says, “I hear the city’s
been busy.” Superman replies, “Nothing the kid couldn’t handle. I have to say, for a guy who’s supposed
to be such a loner, you sure know how to pick a partner.” Superman exits the Batcave and flies back to
Metropolis.
”Knight Time” is a highly recommended episode. Second to “World’s Finest,” this is probably the next
best Superman / Batman team up. It also follows a tradition of the early World’s Finest comics in the ’50s
with Superman suited up as the Caped Crusader. Watching Superman dressed as Batman and pretending
to be him is priceless in this episode. Some great lines were written for this story. Kevin Conroy voices the
disguised “Batman” to make Superman sound accurate. Roddy McDowall is the voice of the Mad Hatter,
and this episode, along with the Batman episode, “Animal Act,” would be McDowall’s final performances
on the show.
“New Kids in Town”
October 31, 1998
Written by Stan Berkowitz and Rich Fogel; directed by Butch Lukic.
The year is 2979 AD. Metropolis has become a super-sophisticated city, and one of its technology
buildings has been broken into. The security guards are taken down by the renegade computer Brainiac,
who overloads the main computer, creating a vortex that allows him to travel through time.
The scientists contact the Legion of Super Heroes, and Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Chameleon Boy
respond. When they learn what’s happened, they take a huge chance and enter the time field in the
hopes of finding Brainiac. The three of them wind up in a rural southern town sometime during the
1980s. The town is called Smallville, located in Kansas. It dawns on Saturn Girl where Brainiac is and
what he might be up to.
Suddenly, a farmer points a gun at them, believing they are trespassers on his land. The three
Legionnaires defend themselves and Saturn Girl gives the farmer a memory-erasing touch. Meanwhile,
Smallville High School is having a dance. Clark Kent is socializing with a trio of girls when his date, Lana
Lang, reminds him to get her some punch. Then a group of jocks led by Kenny Braverman challenge Clark
to a game of one-on-one basketball. It doesn’t take long for Clark to show what he can do and
Braverman winds up injured. In disgust, Lana leaves Clark at the dance.
As soon as she leaves, Clark is blasted off his feet – literally. He discovers his attacker is an android
sitting on a hover chair. Brainiac continues to blast Clark when help suddenly arrives: Brainiac now has
to battle three Legionnaires. Cosmic Boy using his magnetic powers, Saturn Girl uses her mental abilities
and Chameleon Boy is able to change into any kind of shape or form. After finally eluding Brainiac, Clark
is very confused, so the Legionnaires try to explain to Clark what is happening. Saturn Girl uses her
powers by touching Clark’s head and showing him the 30th century, where Superman would influence
the future and the Legion of Super Heroes. She also explains about Brainiac and why he’s trying to kill
Clark.
Cosmic Boy gives Clark a pair of glasses to try to hide his identity from Brainiac, and Chameleon Boy
turns into a brick wall to keep Brainiac’s search robots from finding them. But the Legionnaires discover
that Clark has run off, apparently confused by everything. Meanwhile, Kenny Braverman and his jock
buddies are at a 24/7 diner outside Metropolis when Brainiac invades and makes Braverman reveal
where Clark Kent can be found. Brainiac then hurls him into the diner’s sign. During all this, Clark returns
home to his parents and discovers he has company. While Jonathan and Martha go to watch “The Dukes
of Hazzard” on TV (rocks!), Lana apologizes to Clark and tells him she feels he has gotten a little
arrogant.
Suddenly, Brainiac’s search robots cut the power. The Kents and Lana hide in the cellar. Clark decides to
distract Brainiac and lure him away, but he gets discovered – and caught between a tractor and plow
that Brainiac controls by remote. But Brainiac encounters opposition when both Jonathan and Martha
Kent approach firing their rifles. The distraction gives Clark the time he needs to battle the evil computer
until the three Legionnaires arrive. Though battle-damaged, Brainiac still manages to grab Clark, but
Saturn Girl telepathically tells Clark how to stop Brainiac and activates the object on his belt, which
opens up a space warp. Clark breaks off Brainiac’s left arm and knocks him into the warp with it. In
space, Brainiac falls toward the sun and is destroyed.
Clark sadly says goodbye to the three Legionnaires who have to return to their own century via
Brainiac’s hover chair. Before leaving, Saturn Girl places her hands on Clark’s forehead and kisses him
goodbye. She also erases his memory of anything that has happened, plus everyone else believes that
any damage done in Smallville was the result of a tornado. When Clark awakens, he finds a pair of
glasses in his hand and tries them on just as Lana Lang arrives to meet him before they go to school.
Other than part one of the pilot episode, “Last Son of Krypton,” “New Kids in Town” is the only episode in
which Tim Daly is not a part. Technically, Superman is not even in the episode. The story takes place first
in the future, and mostly in the past, so our Kryptonian hero is in his teens. Jason Marsden reprises the
voice of the teenage Clark Kent while Kelly Schmidt reprises her role as the young Lana Lang. The Legion
of Super Heroes all appear when Saturn Girl shows Clark the future, but the episode only features three
of the Legionnaires with three celebrities voicing them: Chad Lowe is Cosmic Boy. Melissa Joan Hart,
known best as “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” is Saturn Girl, and Jason Priestley of “Beverly Hills 90210”
fame is Chameleon Boy. His most memorable line is at the end: “Up, up, and away! Ha! I always wanted
to say that!” Scott Menville, who previously voiced a teenager named Trouble in the two-part episode,
“Little Girl Lost” voices Kenny Braverman. Menville is also the voice of Robin in the “Teen Titans” cartoon
series. When Martha motions to Jonathan to give Clark and Lana some time to talk, she mentions that
“The Dukes of Hazzard” is on TV that night. Ironically, “Dukes” star John Schneider would portray
Jonathan Kent for several seasons on the TV series “Smallville,” starting in 2001. For another laugh, when
the Legionnaires tell Clark about eventually becoming Superman, Chameleon Boy takes the form of the
Man of Steel to show Clark what he will become. Clark’s reaction is an aversion to wearing the “red
underpants.” This story seems to be a nod to the old comic series Superboy and the Legion of Super
Heroes, and since Superboy does not exist in this show, they come close by having three Legionnaires
meet Clark as a teenager.
“Obsession”
November 14, 1998
Written by Paul Dini, Andrew Donkin and Ron Fogelman; directed by Dan Riba.
Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen are assigned to cover the LL Fashion Show hosted by Lana Lang. The main
attraction is a supermodel named Darci Mason, who has become an overnight sensation. Suddenly, the
fashion show is crashed by a knight, a cowboy and a spaceman, who cause panic. Superman puts the
knight and cowboy out of commission, only to discover they are mechanical robots. The spaceman grabs
Darci and flies away. Superman follows and disables the spaceman, who is also a robot, and rescues
Darci.
Later, Clark and Lana notice that as Darci is escorted back to her penthouse, she says very little to the
police. It’s quite obvious that she is the target of a stalker. That stalker, who has a whole shrine of her, is
the most childish human being alive: Winslow Schott Jr., better known as the Toyman.
When his toy cowboy returns damaged, he knows that Superman was involved, but the robot also
brought back Darci’s robe containing the keys to her penthouse. Clark goes to visit Darci and discovers
no one is home. So he enters her condo from the balcony, only to find nothing at all. Then Clark is
caught redhanded by Darci, who is about to call security until Clark mentions he’s a friend of Lana’s. But
before Darci can tell him anything, a giant mechanical boxing kangaroo enters and knocks Clark over the
balcony ledge. The timely arrival of the Man of Steel changes everything. Superman frees Darci, who
discovers after a fall that her face is chipped, not bleeding. After a lengthy battle, Superman finally
destroys the kangaroo toy as Toyman looks on from his giant toy helicopter.
After another long day, Lana Lang decides to call it a night. As she is about to leave, she finds Darci in the
dressing room, using a knife and acetylene torch to repair the damage to her face, revealing she is a
machine! It seems that the Toyman wanted a mate, so he built a lifesize doll and named her after the
retro Darci Mason dolls. But for reasons unknown, Darci began to experience human feelings and
decided there was more of the world to see than mere toys, which was all Toyman cared about. So she
ran, and Toyman pursued her. Darci hates Toyman for giving her a life like a prison and now she wants
to kill him. Lana tries to change her mind. A chase ensues, but a fire starts and Lana is left to her doom.
Luckily, Superman just happens to be nearby and puts the flames out. Lana tells Superman the truth
about Darci.
Darci raids the Toyman’s hideout and grabs a gun. Instead of shooting him, though, Darci short-circuits
and cannot move. Toyman programmed her for love, not killing. When Superman arrives at his hideout,
he has to deal with the Toyman, who places him in a virtual reality game against the holographic Death
Fist Ninja. Toyman escapes with Darci. Superman defeats the game and flies after the toy copter. Darci
decides she’s had enough and kicks in the control boards. The copter crashes into the ocean and
Superman is too late to find survivors. The news reports that both the Toyman and Darci have
disappeared. Later, at a train station, a conductor offers to help a pretty blonde in hat and overcoat with
her luggage, but it’s so heavy he cannot lift it, so he goes for help. The woman however, lifts the luggage
with no problems whatsoever. Darci Mason is alive.
Nancy Travis of “The Bill Engvall Show” voices Darci Mason, who looks a lot like Heather Locklear at
about age 20. Bud Cort returns one more time as the Toyman.
“Little Big Head Man”
November 21, 1998
Written by Paul Dini and Robert Goodman; directed by Shin’ichi Tsuji.
It’s a typical day on this uninhabited planet with its sole resident. Bizarro patrols over his hand-built
version of Metropolis, which looks more like Bedrock, with people, buildings and cars all made of rocks
and stones. “Hello, city-zens. Me see no trouble. Me world am good.” Bizarro then whistles and kicks
over a boulder and in horror says, “Man in danger. Me save you!” He runs at super speed and saves one
rock person. Bizarro then decides to call it a day and save more “people” tomorrow.
He flies to the arctic area of his planet and into his own Fortress of Solitude. He says hello to rock figures
of Superman, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Jor-El and Lara. He is also welcomed by his pet companion, Krypto.
Bizarro decides it’s time to watch TV when he suddenly hears a shrill voice criticizing his lifestyle. It’s Mr.
Mxyzptlk from the fifth-dimensional world of Zyrff, who’s been watching him. He uses his magical
powers to convince Bizarro that Superman played him for a chump and brought him to this world just to
get rid of him. To fuel the fire, Myxie shows Bizarro an animated cartoon of Superman, sitting around
with Lois, Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor, and Supergirl, all making fun of Bizarro and laughing at him. This
angers Bizarro and he flies to Earth with one thing on his mind. “Me make Superman pay!”
Once on Earth, Bizarro demands to know where Superman is. His rampages are reported to the Daily
Planet, where Bizarro throws Clark out the window and chases Lois around the room. Superman arrives,
and Bizarro throws him through a tunnel, where Mr. Mxyzptlk is riding his little car and laughing at him.
It doesn’t take Superman long to realize who got Bizarro riled up in the first place, especially when
Myxie reveals he is not here to bother Superman, but he did indeed give Bizarro some
“encouragement.” So Superman is forced to fight Bizarro in self-defense while trying to get him to listen
to him. The fight goes to the Metropolis Museum, amid the dinosaur displays.
Myxie is enjoying the fight when his beautiful girlfriend Gsptlsnz arrives and warns him that the leaders
of the tribunal will not like it if they find out Myxie has gone back on his word. “Like they’ll ever find
out!” Myxie laughs, but his laughing stops when he is suddenly teleported back to his dimension, cuffed,
and put on trial by the elders. Gysby appears and acts as a defense attorney for her boyfriend, only to be
turned into a tree by the elders. Myxie explains he can’t help himself, he must pester Superman. The
elders decide to sentence Myxie to life on Earth without his fifth-dimensional powers, unless he
performs a good deed for the third-dimensional beings within 90 days.
Myxie is back on Earth without his powers, but to him, it’s still worth it to see Bizarro kicking Superman’s
butt. The Metropolis SCU, led by Maggie Sawyer, arrives and uses a special laser weapon to fire on
Bizarro. This weakens him; he literally runs into Mxyzptlk and demands he send the “bad men” away.
Myxie replies, “I’d like to help ya, Rocky, but powerwise, my tank is dry.” In a rage, Bizarro shakes Myxie,
who in vain tries to say his name backward to disappear. “Kltpzyxm! Kltpzyxm! Oh, mama! This was a
bad idea!!”
The SCU fires on Bizarro again and one more stun will kill him. Maggie gives the order and they fire, only
Superman takes the blast, proving to Bizarro once and for all that Superman is a friend and that Myxie
lied to him. Bizarro acknowledges Superman as a friend, and the Man of Steel gives him sleeping gas for
the ride home. We see the next typical day on Bizarro’s planet, as he patrols his hand-built Metropolis.
“Hello, city-zens. It good to be back. World am safe. Me see no trouble ... Me say, me see no trouble.” A
tired Mr. Mxyzptlk sets up the rock people and grumbles, “I heard ya the first time. OK, let er rip!” as
Bizarro kicks over the boulder. Myxie is disgusted and wants to quit, only to be chased by Krypto.
Superman meanwhile, watches all this on his computer at his Fortress of Solitude and enjoys the show
with three simple words, “Life am good!”
Perhaps one of the funniest entries to the series. The episode title is also the name Bizarro uses for his
new trouble-making “friend,” since he obviously can’t say Mxyzptlk. Tim Daly does double duty as both
Superman and Bizarro again. Gilbert Gottfried returns for one more laugh as Myxie. This time, Jennifer
Hale, who would later be an active voice on “Justice League (Unlimited),” takes over the voice of Myxie’s
gorgeous girlfriend Gysby, using a Sandra Bernhardt-type of voice and sounding just as good. This is the
first time that Maggie Sawyer has been seen since the two-part “Apokolips ... Now!!” But you may not
recognize her since she is wearing one of the new police uniforms with visor helmets that the SCU is
known for. Bizarro and Mr. Mxyzptlk are the two funniest characters in this series, so bringing the two of
them together was double the laughter, double the fun. When Gysby tries to present evidence to confirm
Myxie needs help in the courtroom, one of the items that appears is the very first comic in which Myxie
appeared, an Action Comics issue from the 1940s.
“Absolute Power”
January 16, 1999
Written by Hilary J. Bader and Alan Burnett; directed by Butch Lukic.
Superman is on a mission in space, sent by STAR Labs to study a black hole that was found six light years
from Earth. But after Superman releases the probe from his spaceship and watches it being pulled in, he
decides not to get any closer. Suddenly, he notices a giant spaceship off-course, headed toward the
black hole. The Man of Steel tries to slow it down, but it ends up breaking off one of the wings. So
Superman pushes the ship out of danger and takes it to the nearest planet, which he suspects is the
point of origin. When he checks with the passengers, he is shocked to discover they are afraid of him
instead of grateful. Superman grabs one of them, a young woman, and says, “I don’t understand. I just
saved your lives.” She replies, “Then maybe you’d better run, too” and flees.
The Man of Steel is suddenly fired upon by two airships. He wastes no time in putting the airships out of
commission, yet bringing them to a soft landing. Superman questions one of the stormtroopers: “Maybe
you can tell me why I’m so popular around here.” Then he finds himself surrounded by the entire
planet’s army, and their leader emerges. Superman discovers it’s a familiar foe, Mala, who greets him,
“Kal-El! Welcome to New Krypton!”
Superman is taken to the throne room, where he discovers that General Jax-Ur and Mala have taken
over this planet with an iron fist. Jax-Ur explains that the people he saved were anarchists and criminals
who needed to be punished. It seems that a year earlier, scientists from this planet discovered two
meteors approaching the same black hole, and upon collision, the explosion created an opening in the
Phantom Zone, allowing Jax-Ur and Mala to escape into space, only to pass out with no air. The
scientists saved their lives and took them back to their planet where (as Superman guessed) Jax-Ur and
Mala showed their gratitude by taking over their planet.
Jax-Ur and Mala give Superman the grand tour and show him how destruction has been turned into
production, and authority and education have been improved. Superman comments, “Now if only
someone down there would smile.” Jax-Ur takes Superman to where his spaceship has been retrieved
and wishes him a safe journey back to Earth. But before Superman can leave, he is approached by the
young woman he saved earlier, who has knocked out a stormtrooper on duty and now pleads with him
to help save their planet. Superman says no, for concern that a battle between him and Jax-Ur and Mala
could endanger the planet. She introduces herself as Cetea and she explains that the people he saved
were not anarchists, but leaders who were trying to find another world for their people. She also shows
Superman the part of the tour that Jax-Ur did not want him to see. The production on the planet is to
build an armada that would make Jax-Ur and Mala unstoppable. Superman breaks into one and
activates the guidance system, not surprised that Jax-Ur has programmed them to attack Earth.
Superman is suddenly attacked by Mala, and Jax-Ur fires a weapon that releases a magnetic field that
traps the Man of Steel. Superman and Cetea are taken aboard a giant spaceship to be sent to the black
hole. Suddenly, the head stormtrooper, Alterus, whom Mala has taken a liking to, reports that the ship is
caught in the gravitational anomaly and the navigation is off-course. While Jax-Ur and Mala go to
investigate, Alterus frees Superman and Cetea. The two Phantom Zone villains discover that Alterus is
the one who sent the ship on its course. They also detect an escape pod with two occupants aboard
leaving the scene. Then they come face-to-face with Superman, who engages them in a fierce battle
while the ship begins to break up. Jax-Ur and Mala manage to get air masks while Superman has to fight
them both in space with no air. Jax-Ur and Mala figure he will not survive and try to head toward
another escape ship, but it’s too late for them. Superman reaches the other escape ship, gets an oxygen
mask and barely manages to steer out of the gravitational reach of the black hole as Jax-Ur and Mala are
pulled in. Back on the nearby planet, Cetea rewards Superman with a medal, and her people are
grateful. By episode’s end, Superman is reminded that “Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.”
This is one of the episodes, along with “The Late Mr. Kent” and the upcoming “Legacy,” where Superman
narrates the story. For reasons unknown, the actual name of the planet is not given, and Mala refers to
the name as “New Krypton” only once. Actress Jennifer Jason Leigh voices Cetea. Alterus has a familiar
voice: Carl Lumbly previously played the Metropolis mayor in “Speed Demons.” Lumbly would play a
villain called Stalker in the upcoming “Batman Beyond” series and eventually become J’onn J’onzz, the
Martian Manhunter, on the “Justice League (Unlimited)” series. Ron Perlman returns as General Jax-Ur,
but Mala’s voice has been recast. Succeeding Leslie Easterbrook is a woman from the Superman universe
in Hollywood who’s perfect for the part: Sarah Douglas, who in 1978 and 1980 played the evil Kryptonian
woman Ursa opposite Terence Stamp as General Zod. In this series, Jax-Ur and Mala are the animated
equivalents of Zod and Ursa.
“In Brightest Day ...”
February 6, 1999
Special guest star: THE GREEN LANTERN!!!!
Written by Hilary J. Bader; directed by Butch Lukic.
Jimmy Olsen and new Daily Planet cartoonist Kyle Rayner are enjoying lunch at a restaurant, where
Jimmy shows he’s a one-man fan club with his admiration of Kyle’s comic book art. But unfortunately for
Kyle, none of the comic book publishers have any job openings. Suddenly, a thief passing by grabs
Jimmy’s camera. Kyle leaps into action and stops the thief. Jimmy snaps a photo of Kyle apprehending
the thief, confident that it’s front-page-worthy. Right? Wrong. Though it didn’t make front page, Jimmy
considers Kyle a hero.
Clark Kent and Lois Lane are at the space center in Houston, watching as the space shuttle is about to
reenter Earth’s atmosphere but is suddenly knocked off-course by another spaceship heading toward
Earth. Lois discovers her colleague has vanished again, and the astronauts find that their path has been
corrected. The spaceship crash-lands in a wilderness. Inside, the single occupant, a pink-skinned man in
a green and black uniform, uses his magic green ring to hide a glowing green lantern. Then he removes
the ring and instructs it to find another, and choose carefully. The ring heads toward Metropolis and
enters the Daily Planet, just as Perry White is looking for Kyle Rayner. Lois replies, “He was heading to
the one place in this world even my credentials won’t get me in.” Yep. The men’s room.
As Kyle emerges from a stall, he’s hit in the head by the green ring. “Someone’s been eating Cracker
Jacks,” he says and tries the ring on. Suddenly, he discovers he’s wearing a green and black outfit
complete with a mask! Then he hears Perry White gruffly calling for him. As Perry enters the restroom,
Kyle is back in his own clothes again.
While the green ring is finding its new owner, Superman finds the downed spacecraft and offers to get
some help for the alien occupant. The alien, named Abin Sur, declines and in a weak voice tells him, “He
needs your help now.” When Superman inquires, the answer he gets is, “The Green Lantern.” With that,
Abin Sur disappears, leaving only the uniform behind. Superman then sees a yellow light and finds
himself face-to-face with a man with dark red skin sporting a power ring. He is Sinestro, and he begins to
attack Superman with his yellow ring, firing one blast after another. After a few minutes of battle,
Sinestro realizes that this man does not have the green ring. Sinestro leaves to find it. Superman hears a
voice calling for Abin Sur, and he sees a green lantern appear. Superman touches it and is transported to
the world of Oa, finding himself standing before some small, blue-skinned beings. The Guardians realize
their worst fears are confirmed. Abin Sur, Green Lantern of Sector 2814, is dead.
At the Daily Planet, Kyle discovers this green ring is acting strange, so he decides to take a break and
walks through the Metropolis park. He sees a little girl chasing her ball into the street and into the path
of an oncoming truck. The next thing Kyle knows, he’s in the Green Lantern uniform again and he saves
the girl from harm. The truck crashes and catches fire. Green Lantern then uses his ring to save the
driver and put out the fire with his ring, unaware that his will is controlling it. That’s when Sinestro
arrives and demands, “GIVE ME THE RING!” Kyle replies, “There’s one little problem. We’ve sorta
become attached!” Sinestro engages the new Green Lantern in battle while on Oa, the Guardians tell
Superman about the Green Lantern Corps, in which beings from all galaxies use their power rings to
fight for truth and justice. The Guardians also tell Superman about Sinestro, a former Green Lantern who
became corrupt with power and his ring was removed from him, but Sinestro found another source to
create a yellow power ring. With every power ring from the Green Lantern Corps he destroys, he
becomes more powerful. Finally, the Guardians ask Superman to help the new Green Lantern in his
battle against Sinestro.
The battle of power rings and green and yellow lasers continues. Sinestro vows, “I never give up!” and
fires a yellow blast. Green Lantern replies, “You never shut up, either” but discovers his ring is out of
juice. Superman arrives in time to save GL. He explains everything to Kyle and tells him to figure out his
new power as Sinestro returns for another round. Kyle Rayner uses the Green Lantern battery to
recharge his power ring, and magically in his mind he recites the Green Lantern oath as he hears the
voices of the Guardians. “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who
worship evil’s might beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!”
Sinestro has used his ring to trap and contain Superman, but he now has a new battle with the Green
Lantern. The battle is intense and Sinestro fires a shot that knocks GL to a nearby Air Force base. It’s
then that Kyle agrees to surrender the power ring and removes it. Sinestro places the ring on his finger,
only it short-circuits and explodes. The ring was a fake. Kyle still has the real ring and becomes Green
Lantern again and in a final battle, defeats the evil Sinestro by firing a green blast that knocks him into
the power battery, which neutralizes Sinestro’s powers. On Planet Oa, Superman and Green Lantern
meet with the Guardians. Kyle still has trouble believing that the ring chose him to be the next Green
Lantern. He argues, “But I’m just an artist. I doodle in the margins of notepads. I daydream about color
and form and monster trucks. I live half my life in a fantasy world.” Superman confidently replies, “You
sound perfect.” The Guardians approve of Kyle Rayner as the new Green Lantern of Sector 2814. Inside a
green bubble of oxygen to breathe, Superman and Green Lantern return to Earth.
A well-recommended episode. Oddly enough, the first two-part Green Lantern-focused episode of
“Justice League” would be called, “In Blackest Night.” You will see a couple of tributes to the Green
Lantern universe in this Superman episode. The voice of dying Green Lantern Abin Sur was not credited,
so it may be one of the voice cast members listed. In the comics, Kyle Rayner is a dark-haired cartoonist
and his GL outfit is predominantly black with a little white and some green. In this animated episode,
Bruce Timm and Co. designed him to look like a young Hal Jordan. The thief who tries to steal Jimmy’s
camera and fights Kyle Rayner is supposed to look like the arrogant Green Lantern, Guy Gardner. And
when Sinestro blasts Green Lantern to the Air Force Base, the plane he lands on is signed “Col. Hal
Jordan.” Hal, of course, is the classic Green Lantern that people remember the best. Instead of using Kyle
in “Justice League,” Bruce Timm and Co. went with John Stewart for ethnic diversity in the team, plus
Stewart was found to be an interesting character. Kyle, however, was not forgotten. He is mentioned in
the “Justice League” episode “Hearts and Minds,” when Katma refers to him as “That Rayner Kid” and
Kyle appears in the “Justice League Unlimited” episode “The Return,” and Kyle is redesigned and voiced
by Will Friedle from “Batman Beyond.” The Guardians wear Green Lantern uniforms in this episode but
they sport their red robes in “Justice League.”
“Superman’s Pal”
February 20, 1999
Written by Robert Goodman; directed by Kazumi Fukushima.
Lois Lane has a new intern working with her at the Daily Planet. Her name is Tina, and she has short
blond hair, is beautiful, and is into metal, with earrings, a nose ring, and gold bracelets. Jimmy Olsen
stares in awe, but is saddened when Clark Kent suggests he ask her out. It seems she’s given him the
cold shoulder. Suddenly on the news, everybody learns of a high-speed chase near the Planet.
Superman catches the suspect, but then there is a news copter collision. Superman brings the troubled
aircraft down and leaves Jimmy to get the crew out while the Man of Steel fixes the damaged overpass.
The news copter lands and Angela Chen asks Superman for a statement. He replies, “You wouldn’t want
it. Thanks for your help, Jimmy.” Angela then gets an idea. She asks Jimmy for an interview. Jimmy feels
awkward and says, “I don’t think I’d be real comfortable with that. It’s not like I’d call us pals or
anything.” Angela then asks “You know him, right?” When Jimmy answers yes, she says, “That’s good
enough for me.” The Metropolis Edition airs Angela Chen’s interview with Jimmy Olsen, “Superman’s
Pal,” and Jimmy’s comments emerge as “Real comfortable. I’d call us pals.”
Lois is none too thrilled with the press Jimmy’s getting and Jimmy tries to keep a low profile, but
suddenly he is asked out by Tina. That night, Jimmy and Tina enjoy a fine restaurant, and the meal is on
the house. A group of hoodlums approach Jimmy and Tina, recognizing Jimmy as “Superman’s Pal.”
Jimmy flees while Tina calls for help. Jimmy is cornered by the gang and Superman arrives. The gang
leader tries to hit the Man of Steel, but he grabs the club and says, “You’re kidding, right?” The gang
flees and Superman asks Jimmy to straighten out that pal business since he can’t be there for him all the
time.
The next day, Jimmy tries to talk Angela into correcting her story. But Angela tells her colleague, “I make
him a star, and this is the thanks I get.” Things only get worse. Everywhere, people are recognizing
Jimmy as Superman’s Pal, trying to get Jimmy to send messages, endorsements and more toward the
Man of Steel. Tina then offers to take him someplace private. The private place is the scrap yard and in
the trailer is, Jimmy is horrified to discover, Metallo! Now the truth comes out. Tina was planted at the
Daily Planet to get to Lois Lane, but Jimmy proved an easier target. What’s worse, Tina was the one who
arranged the thugs to attack him as a test.
Jimmy tries to escape in her car, only to find the keys are not there. Metallo and Tina operate the
magnetic crane to place her car in the compactor with Jimmy in it. Metallo says, “Careful, we don’t want
to damage our collateral just yet.” Tina replies, “Speak for yourself. You didn’t have to spend an evening
with him.” Metallo’s reply, “And I thought I was cold-hearted.”
Tina fakes a distress call to Lois, making it sound like she and Jimmy are in trouble. Clark passes by Perry
White’s office and hears Lois tell Perry of the trace on the phone call. Superman flies past Lois at the
speed of light with Lois trying to keep her skirt down: “I gotta start wearing pants.”
Superman arrives at the scrapyard only to have an old school bus land on him. Metallo attacks him not
only with the Kryptonite chest piece, but also Kryptonite rays from his eyes. Meanwhile, Jimmy
manages to get out of the stopped compactor. He enters the trailer to confront Tina and her martial arts
skills. Jimmy manages to deflect a kick with a rolling chair and shoves her in the closet. She yells, “Let me
out, you little runt!” Jimmy activates the magnetic crane that pulls Metallo to the roof of the bus, giving
Superman the chance he needs to get free. But that doesn’t stop Metallo, who once again weakens
Superman with his Kryptonite beams. Jimmy grabs an old car battery and hurls battery acid at Metallo,
which loosens the Kryptonite from his chest piece and causes it to fall into the compactor. Metallo is
powerless and falls in with it.
Later, a despondent Jimmy is visited by Superman, who has come to thank Jimmy for saving his life
again. He lived up to his press, and Superman has made him a special thank-you gift: A special signal
watch that emits a hypersonic signal only he can hear. “I figured you might need it, now that everyone
knows we’re friends. Just don’t wear it out.”
The title of this story is a tribute to the comic book series from the silver and bronze ages, “Superman’s
Pal, Jimmy Olsen.” There was also a comic around that same time called “Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois
Lane.” Maybe in the comics, but certainly in the old Filmation cartoons from the 1960s, Jimmy also had
what was called the Superman Signal Watch. Charles Rocket, billed here as “Charlie,” voices the used-car
salesman. He also did voicework on “The New Batman Adventures” and even did an episode of ABC’s
live-action “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.”
“A Fish Story”
May 8, 1999
Special guest star: AQUAMAN!!
Written by Alan Burnett, Hilary J. Bader and Rich Fogel; directed by Shin’ichi Tsuji.
Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen are investigating stories about sea creatures attacking ships and going wild.
They go out deep-sea fishing with Bibbo, who dismisses the stories as nothing but a “buncha hooey” and
explains that the fishermen are so spooked by the stories that he can’t find anybody to crew with him.
Jimmy has been taking photos of the flying fish when one of them knocks his camera out of his hands.
When he tries to reach for it, a sea tortoise eats the camera. Suddenly, two giant killer whales begin
attacking the ship. Jimmy activates his new signal watch, which Superman hears and comes to the
rescue. The Man of Steel battles the two whales and takes the ship back to shore.
Lois and Jimmy visit Metropolis Aquarium, where Lois questions Dr. Cardy, a marine biologist. Cardy
merely brushes it off as part of unusual behavior during mating season. He then gets paged and rushes
off. As Lois and Jimmy are about to leave the aquarium, they notice a familiar limousine parked with
Mercy Graves sitting inside. Lois suspects a possible story if Lex Luthor is involved; she has Jimmy try to
find a parking place while she snoops for a headline.
Inside, Luthor is now having a meeting with Dr. Cardy about the fish attacks. “We both know what’s
causing this,” Luthor says, ordering Cardy to take the problem further inland. Having overheard all this,
Lois then descends the stairwell to follow the sounds of pounding, which get louder and louder. She is
shocked at what she sees: A man inside a cylinder of water trying to break out, but breathing the water
fine. He is no ordinary man. He is Aquaman!!
Meanwhile, Jimmy, has been left to try to find a parking space. He’s only got his learner’s permit and
shouldn’t be driving alone with Lois’ stick transmission. Dealing with irate motorists, he nearly misses
colliding with a LexCorp truck with two LexCorp guards on motorcycles, and winds up putting Lois’ car
out of commission with flat tires. The truck that almost hit Jimmy contains two prisoners: Lois Lane and
Aquaman, whom Lois thought was only an urban legend. Aquaman explains to Lois that LexCorp has
been testing explosives off the eastern seaboard, and has caused extensive damage to his home, the
undersea city of Atlantis. If the testing is not stopped, there will be a war between the Atlanteans and
what Aquaman calls the surface-dwellers.
Dr. Cardy calls Luthor to report what’s happened and that he had to capture Lois Lane much to Luthor’s
chagrin, so Luthor, knowing that he’ll have to deal with Superman at some point, orders both of them to
be killed. The truck pulls off the highway near a cliff and Dr. Cardy, his hired muscle, and the LexCorp
guards prepare to fire on their prisoners when a group of seagulls attack them. One of them grabs the
keys to the cuffs restraining Aquaman, who gets free and battles the Lex Corp guards while Lois is freed
by another seagull. She steals one of the LexCorp motorcycles. Aquaman hops aboard and they take off
with the guards in pursuit. They speed toward a cliff and Aquaman says, “Trust me,” as they bike off the
cliff. They both plunge into the water. Lois is then grabbed by a shark.
Jimmy has reported to Clark at the Daily Planet about Lois’ disappearance. A little later, Superman
arrives and forces the truth out of the LexCorp guards. Lois meanwhile, was not devoured. The shark
dragged her someplace safe, courtesy of another telepathic command by Aquaman. Not long afterward,
Lois is saved by Superman, just as Aquaman rides with a shark back into the water. Lois fills Superman in
on what’s happened.
Lex and Mercy are aboard a Navy ship as Luthor is about to test his explosives. Superman and Lois try to
stop him from doing so. Luthor merely reminds them that they are in international waters and he is well
within his legal rights. The crewmen report that Aquaman approaches their divers. Luthor gives the OK
to stop him, so Superman joins Aquaman in battling Lex Luthor’s divers and drilling machines. During the
battle, Aquaman uses his telepathy to summon electric eels and a giant squid.
Luthor is so fed up with Lois, he asks the Navy sea captain to dispose of her. The captain tries to throw
Lois overboard, but she is rescued by Aquaman on a giant squid. He also had a harpoon fired to prevent
Luthor from ordering the explosives. “It’s over, Luthor.” Lex replies, “Maybe. For now.” Aquaman insists,
“NO. FOREVER!” Behind Aquaman, a giant ship emerges followed by smaller ships with Atlantean
troops. Aquaman gives the command, “Warriors of Atlantis!! Prepare to fire.” Just then, Superman
arrives with the LexCorp bombs disabled. When one of the troops says, “My king, we await your
command.” Lois is shocked and says, “Did he say king? Just when you think you know a guy.” Aquaman
explains that the citizens of Atlantis have been silent and hidden long enough and that a statement must
be made. Superman explains that not all surface people are as bad as Luthor and some are trying to
solve the problem. Aquaman prepares to leave when the angry Navy captain fires a harpoon at
Aquaman, shouting, “Go on! Run, you lousy stinking fish!!” Aquaman turns and catches it at superspeed.
The Atlantean army opens fire and destroys the Navy ship. Lex has Mercy fly them away from the
sinking ship, leaving the crewmen stranded. As the Atlantean army begins to submerge, Aquaman tells
Superman and Lois, “Tell the surface-dwellers to respect the sovereignty of my seas, or we’ll return and
finish what we started. We’ll be watching.” With that, Aquaman returns to the ocean.
“A Fish Story” is the only episode where Jimmy Olsen actually uses his new signal watch to call
Superman. Since Flash and Green Lantern had appeared, it was only a matter of time before Aquaman
would appear in the series, and though the ending is dark, this storyline is very similar to a plot later used
for an Aquaman appearance on the CW’s “Smallville,” where Lex abducts Aquaman in the midst of
dangerous LexCorp testing in the ocean. In an interview, Bruce Timm and Co. said they wanted to ignore
the current version of the underwater hero and go with the classic, yet traditional look. In this episode
only, Aquaman has short blond hair, is clean-shaven and is sporting the famous orange and green outfit,
much like on the classic animated “Super Friends.” When it came time to animate the Justice League
(Unlimited), they decided to go with the version of Aquaman of the time period, which is the long-haired,
bearded, hook-for-a-hand, barbaric king-type of figure. After playing two villains, the Weather Wizard in
“Speed Demons” and DeCine in “Warrior Queen,” actor Miguel Ferrer takes a stab at playing the hero as
he voices Aquaman. On “Justice League (Unlimited),” he would be voiced by Scott Rummel.
“Unity”
May 15, 1999
Written by Paul Dini and Rich Fogel; directed by Shin’ichi Tsuji.
In Smallville, the sun rises for another day, but for Kara Kent, aka Supergirl, it isn’t just another day. It’s
the beginning of spring break and her trip to Metropolis. Jonathan and Martha Kent remind her of her
chores, which she handles at superspeed. For the most part, Kara is bored with normal life and is
anxious especially to get some action as Supergirl. Jonathan says that if normal life is “good enough for
us humans, it’s good enough for you.”
At the bus stop, Kara is anything but patient. Owen, a nerdy classmate, gives her some comic books to
read on the bus, much to her chagrin, and he asks her to send him a postcard. Kara says goodbye to Ma
and Pa Kent and boards the bus, but not before noticing a very strange man come off the bus. He’s tall
with long dark-gray hair and appears to be a Southern rural preacher of some kind. Kara has bad feelings
about him. But what’s most on Kara’s mind is her vacation to Metropolis.
Halfway through the trip, Kara writes a letter to the Kents about the excitement of Clark taking her
sightseeing, how he and Lois Lane have introduced her to celebrities and taken her to exciting media
events. And Supergirl has even gotten some action, like battling and outwitting Volcana. Sadly, though,
when Kara’s trip is over, Clark makes her ride the bus back again for the sake of keeping a low profile.
But for Kara, the bus trip is anything but enjoyable, with a cowboy playing country music, a mom with a
toddler that won’t stop crying, and a man and woman behind her debating if the crops in the Kansas
fields are rutabagas or turnips. It’s enough to drive Kara insane, so she requests to be let off early and
runs the rest of the way home at superspeed.
When she arrives, Kara is greeted by her cat, Streaky. But at the sight of Jonathan and Martha, the cat
gets upset and runs off. The Kents tell Kara they want to take her someplace special. After the ride into
the unusually quiet town, the Kents arrive at a giant circus tent and Kara is introduced to the strange
preacher man she saw at the bus stop. He is the Rev. Amos Howell, and he is spreading the good word
about “Unity.” Kara sees her classmate Owen, ghostly pale and entering the tent. When Kara enters, she
is horrified to see the population of Smallville, all with pale skin and strange tentacles coming out of
their mouths and foreheads, all merging with a giant alien organism in the center called Unity. It seems
that Howell has traveled planet after planet with Unity, feeding off life forms, and now, starting with the
population of Smallville, intends to do the same with Earth.
Kara sees that Jonathan and Martha have suddenly turned pale white and have the same organic
tentacles coming out of their mouths. A tentacle emerges from Rev. Howell’s chest. Suddenly, Rev.
Howell is face to face with Supergirl. She uses her heat vision to burn the tentacle off Martha, then takes
her to STAR Labs, alerting Superman to what’s happening. The doctors at STAR Labs inform Superman
and Supergirl that some strange parasite has surrounded Martha’s brain stem and to remove it would
be fatal. Martha regains consciousness only long enough to whisper, “Kara. Clark. Help me.”
Superman wants to examine a broken piece of the tentacle. But during the lab study, Superman
discovers that the organism is getting stronger. Supergirl, meanwhile, discovers that Martha is being
released and the doctors have now been contaminated by Unity! They attack Supergirl. Luckily,
Superman comes to the rescue. The Superduo use heat vision to burn away the tentacles that continue
to emerge from the victims. Martha passes out again, but Superman says that she and the doctors
should be fine when they awaken.
The Supes fly back to Smallville, where Rev. Howell is sending the town’s residents, including Jonathan
Kent, out into the world to spread Unity. But Supergirl cuts off the traffic flow. Superman punches
Howell a few times before the sinister reverend shows his true colors as he tears away his human image
and is revealed to be another Unity creature, which attacks Superman. Supergirl destroys one of the
creatures by hurling a gas tank at it and using her heat vision to ignite it, causing an explosion. After an
intense battle, Superman finally defeats the other creature. The population of Smallville wakes up with
not a memory of what has happened. Supergirl takes Jonathan Kent home.
A few days later, things are back to normal at the Kent farm, and now Kara appreciates that! She’s even
willing to meet Owen at the comic book shop. As she steps out to leave, she hears Jonathan and Martha
debating on whether the crops in the Lang field are rutabagas or turnips. Kara is definitely home.
When Kara writes her letter home, she mentions how a Metropolis baseball team made her their
honorary batgirl, then adds, “Won’t Barbara be jealous,” a reference to the “The New Batman
Adventures” episode, “Girls’ Night Out.” Volcana makes a limited cameo appearance in this episode and
Peril Gilpin, who voices Volcana, is also the voice of the woman on the bus in the rutabaga / turnip
debate. Jason Marsden, the voice of the teenaged Clark Kent and later TV newsman Snapper Carr on the
“Justice League,” is the voice of Owen.
“The Demon Reborn”
September 18, 1999
Special guest star: BATMAN!!
Written by Rich Fogel; directed by Dan Riba.
Clark Kent and Lois Lane are at the Metropolis train station awaiting the arrival of ancient Indian
artifacts for the Tribal Arts exhibit of Professor Blackwing. As the train nears Metropolis, a giant aircraft
hovers above and black-suited soldiers on small jet craft emerge and take out the guards inside the train
car. One of the guards is able to tell Professor Blackwing. Clark hears the call and is off in a flash.
On the train, the soldiers, known as the Society of Shadows, begin tearing apart the crates trying to find
the Shaman Staff, under the direction of their leader, the beautiful but dangerous Talia. Suddenly, they
come face to face with Superman, who takes out the Shadow troops with ease. Talia activates a device
that detonates a part of the train tracks ahead. “I’ve already disabled the brakes,” she says. “You can
stop me or stop the train. The choice is yours.” Talia flees with the staff as Superman tries to stop the
train, noticing the Batmobile pulling up next to him. Batman fires a grappling hook that switches the
train to another track, allowing Superman to stop it.
Superman is none too thrilled to see Batman back in Metropolis, but does want to help when Batman
informs him of the organization he battled and their leader, Ra’s al Ghul, “a criminal mastermind, more
dangerous than the Joker and Luthor put together.”
The Man of Steel and the Dark Knight find the warehouse in which the Society met. Superman explains
that the Shaman Staff was the least valuable of the artifacts but was supposed to contain mystic healing
powers. Batman finds tracks of what appear to be a wheelchair.
Lois Lane returns home, and as she opens her bedroom closet, she is suddenly gassed. Later, Clark is
watching the evening news at his apartment and sees what appears to be Lois, tied and hanging from
the giant clock atop the Luthor Towers. Superman rushes to save her, learning it’s really Talia, aiming to
get his attention. Talia tells Superman her father wants to meet him. Superman refuses, and Talia uses
the staff to weaken him.
Superman awakens aboard a unique jet, with an electric collar around his neck. He meets the legendary
Ra’s al Ghul, who looks like a living skeletal corpse, barely breathing and in a wheelchair. Ra’s explains to
Superman how he was able to keep himself immortal over the centuries through the mysterious Lazarus
Pits, which restored his youth but with temporary insanity. However, the effects became more shortlived and now the pits can no longer help him. When Superman asks, “What do you want from me?”
Ra’s replies, “Your strength!”
Lois wakes up swinging, only to discover her old boyfriend, Bruce, in his darker identity. Batman explains
to her his suspicions that Talia must have lured Superman using Lois’ clothes. He disappears quickly, in
his usual style, as Lois muses, “I’ve gotta get better locks.”
Batman receives a call from Alfred in the Batcave, who confirms a clue Batman found earlier, which
leads him to a hangar at Metropolis airfield. There, he takes on a group of Shadow troops, which results
in a fire that destroys not only the hangar, but also the giant aircraft of the Society of Shadows. One
troop tries to run, but is captured by Batman, who says, “I’m only going to ask once. WHERE’S RA’S AL
GHUL?!”
Ra’s, Talia and their servant Ubu take the captive Superman down a cliff to the hidden ancient city of
Mesa Diablo, where Ra’s has a computerized system ready for his plan. But the captive Superman uses
his heat vision to cause a diversion, freeing himself and taking on the Shadow troops and Ubu. Talia uses
the staff to weaken him again.
Ra’s suddenly collapses. Ubu gives Talia the bad news: Ra’s al Ghul is dead. “The world has lost its
master.” But Talia instructs Ubu to proceed anyway. With Ra’s on a table and Superman strapped into
position, Talia and Ubu throw the switch. The Shaman Staff, connected to their equipment, transfers
Superman’s strength out of his body and into Ra’s, who not only comes back to life, but becomes
hulkingly massive. “I must have more!” Ra’s cries. “I want every ounce, every fiber, of his strength!” But
a Batarang shuts down the equipment.
Batman steals the staff and takes on the superstrong Ra’s, discovering that the demon now outmatches
him. Superman revives and manages to free himself and get the staff. He destroys the crystal on the
staff, infuriating Ra’s, while a cave-in begins and a piece of the cliff gives way, putting Talia in danger. In
a sense of what goes around comes around, Superman tells Ra’s, “The roof won’t hold up much longer.
Punish me or save your daughter. Your choice.” Ra’s tries to save Talia, but the ground beneath his feet
gives way and he and Talia fall into a creek far below. Ubu and the Shadow troops manage to escape, as
do our two heroes, before Mesa Diablo explodes.
As dawn breaks, Superman and Batman head back to the Batwing. Superman asks Batman about his
history with Talia, then says, “You know, there might be something to this partnership business after
all.” With a grin, Batman replies, “Yeah, right,” and climbs aboard the Batwing. Superman and Batman
part ways and fly back to their respective cities.
”The Demon Reborn” is the last of the Superman / Batman teamups before “Justice League (Unlimited).”
In “Batman: The Animated Series,” Talia was voiced by Helen Slater, best remembered as Supergirl from
the 1984 movie, as well as Olivia Hussey, who voices her here. The voice of Ubu was performed by Manu
Tupou, George DiCenzo and Michael Horse, the latter of which reprises the role here. David Warner
returns as Ra’s al Ghul. This is the last time we will see Batman as he is, until the movie, “Batman:
Mystery of the Batwoman” in 2003 as well as his second revamp in “Justice League.” In “The New
Batman Adventures,” or “Gotham Knights,” series, we never saw Ra’s al Ghul, Talia or Ubu, but Ra’s and
Talia surface in an episode of “Batman Beyond” called “Out of the Past.”
“Legacy” Part I
February 5, 2000
Written by Paul Dini and Rich Fogel; directed by Curt Geda.
An invasion army from Apokolips attacks a far-off planet using air and land vehicles plus an army of
Parademons. But what allows them to claim their victory is a leader who can fly, has heat vision and
seems impervious to pain. His face is concealed by a battle headpiece. Returning to the ship, he sees
Kalibak, Desaad and the Female Furies, Lashina, Mad Harriet and Stompa, and of course, his master,
Darkseid. The leader reports his victory to Darkseid, who replies, “You’ve done well, son.” He replies,
“Thank-you, Father. As you say, it is our destiny to bring peace and order to the universe.” The leader
removes his headpiece to reveal that it’s none other than ... Superman? Darkseid tells his “adopted son”
Kal-El to savor the fruits of his victory and as a reward, Darkseid is going to give him his own world to
rule: a planet called Earth!!
Meanwhile, Superman is flying over Metropolis on patrol, or is he? Lois Lane and Clark Kent spot him on
the ground. Lois notices that Clark is staring off into space. It turns out that Supergirl is at the Fortress of
Solitude using mechanical hands and a mouthpiece along with other attachments to operate a life-size
Clark Kent robot by remote control, while using a Superman robot to patrol Metropolis, to make it look
like Superman is still around. In frustration, Kara asks, “Clark, where are you?”
Clark, or in this case, Kal-El, has been haunted by a recurring dream that among the slaves of Apokolips
are Jonathan and Martha Kent, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, though he doesn’t know who they are. He’s
attacked by a mirror image of himself wearing a familiar red and blue costume.
Lashina takes Kal-El to Granny Goodness to help with the dreams. Granny straps Kal-El into a giant
machine, which refreshes Kal’s mind with his “upbringing.” In this scenario, it seems that when Krypton
exploded, Jor-El and Lara rocketed him to Apokolips, where “benevolent” Darkseid adopted him, trained
him in the use of his powers, and primed him to be a conquering warrior and leader. The brainwashing is
all part of a grand plan to program Superman to attack Earth, uniting their armed forces against him. So
far, it’s working.
Supergirl has dozed off at the Fortress but is awakened when she discovers the Superman robot is flying
out of control, wrecking some buildings. Supergirl flies to Metropolis to regain control of the robot, but
with no luck. She and the robot crash into the top office at LexCorp, where Supergirl meets Lex Luthor
for the first time. Luthor has known for some time that the robot was not the genuine article and he
used an electronic device to foul up the robot’s programming to confirm his suspicions. Supergirl takes
the robot and uses her heat vision to fry Luthor’s device.
Later, Luthor meets with General Hardcastle in a secret bunker, where Luthor has funded a top-secret
project called Project Achilles, monitoring Superman’s activities since he arrived on Earth. Both Luthor
and Hardcastle feel the same way in their disdain and distrust for Superman.
On Apokolips, the brainwashed Superman leads the army of Parademons and troops through the boom
tube to Earth, but not without Granny Goodness presenting him with a shield bearing his “S” emblem.
At the Fortress, Supergirl is trying to repair the robot when the Kents call to tell her to turn on the news.
Supergirl is horrified to see that an Air Force base has been wiped out by the Apokolips army – and the
invasion leader is Superman!
Luthor and Hardcastle mount up a force to take down Superman. Mercy tells Luthor, “He’s a completely
different person.” Luthor replies, “Soon to be a very dead one.”
At an army base, Lois, Jimmy and the media are there as Superman leads the Apokolips army on another
attack. Supergirl confronts her brainwashed cousin: “What do you think you’re doing?” He replies, “My
father’s will!!” and punches her. Supergirl returns the blow and Superman notices her emblem and says,
“You wear my shield but stand against me? Then die!”
Luthor and Hardcastle arrive with a Kryptonite bomb, which the military loads into a bazooka. Luthor
tells Hardcastle, “Remember, General, you’re only going to get one shot. Make it count.” Lois,
completely at a loss, has grabbed a Jeep and drives into the line of fire. As Superman is about to punch
the weakened Supergirl, Lois stops him. “You’ll kill her!” Suddenly, Superman recognizes Lois from his
dreams. As the Kryptonite bomb is fired, Superman shoves Lois out of danger and the bomb hits him
and explodes. When Lois emerges from the rubble, she is shocked to see Superman and Supergirl
unconscious, or maybe dead.
These are the events that are later recalled in episodes of “Justice League (Unlimited),” particularly the
episode “Twilight of the Gods.” Charles Napier returns to voice General Hardcastle, last seen in the
episode “The Prometheon.” You’ll also see an older version of Hardcastle in a “JLU” episode, “Fearful
Symmetry.” When Granny Goodness brainwashes Kal-El, we see scenes from the “Last Son of Krypton”
and then alternate scenes of Kal’s upbringing. Though Jonathan Kent appears, he has no lines. Shelley
Fabares speaks for both as Martha Kent.
“Legacy” Part II
February 12, 2000
Written by Paul Dini and Rich Fogel; directed by Dan Riba.
Lois Lane watches through the clearing of the Kryptonite smoke as soldiers in gas masks carry the
unconscious Superman and Supergirl away. Later, in a hidden military bunker, Superman is held as a
military prisoner in a cell containing red sun lamps. General Hardcastle tells him he’s being kept alive so
he can tell them what’s going on, but Superman cannot recall anything. The last thing he remembered
was answering a distress signal in space and coming upon a spaceship. Mechanical tentacles emerged
and attacked him, then a strange laser gun fired on him, destroying his spacesuit and causing him to lose
consciousness. The next moment, he was placed onto the machine in which Granny Goodness would
strip his memory and reprogram his mind.
At a press conference Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen attend, the military only says that the alien threat has
been neutralized. But that’s not enough for Lois. Having a father in the Pentagon helps her sneak into
the bunker. Lois makes it to where Superman is being held.
Superman is interrogated by Hardcastle in front of the Pentagon brass. Superman explains he was
brainwashed by Darkseid and promises to make things right. Hardcastle replies, “To who, Superman?
You betrayed us poor Earthlings, attacked us in cold blood. How would you win back our trust? Rescue a
kitten from a tree?” As Superman is led back to his cell, he tries to escape but is overpowered by
Kryptonite gas. Later, he is visited by Hardcastle and Lex Luthor, who have brought syringes containing
Kryptonite, enough to kill him. As a last request, Superman takes great delight in punching Luthor, but
then struggles with Hardcastle. Then, both Luthor and Hardcastle are tasered by Lois Lane, who helps
Superman escape. But he won’t leave without Supergirl, whom he spots being held in another room
with red energy. With limited strength, Superman frees her, but as they try to escape, Supergirl is shot
by soldiers. Lois tells Superman that Supergirl needs a doctor, fast.
As they break out, Superman is exposed to yellow sunlight, restoring all his powers. He flies Lois and the
unconscious Supergirl to STAR Labs. But Professor Hamilton says there’s nothing he can do and notes
that if he helps either of them, it would be considered an act of treason. Angrily, Superman grabs
Hamilton and lifts him into the air. Hamilton pleads, “Yes, of course! Just don’t hurt me!” Superman
apologizes. As he suits back up into his true outfit, he says to Lois, “Did you see the look on Hamilton’s
face? He’ll never trust me again.” Lois asks what’s happening, and Superman tells her, “It was Darkseid.
He stripped away my memory, turned me loose to destroy everything I’ve ever loved. First the invasion
of Earth, then the murder of Dan Turpin. Now Supergirl’s life is hanging by a thread, and I’m an outcast.”
Breaking into the safe, Superman takes the electronic device that opens a boom tube and heads to
Apokolips to settle this. He obliterates the army of Parademons, then gives Granny Goodness a dose of
her own (mental shocking) medicine. After contending with the Female Furies, Superman enters the
palace and takes out Kalibak with ease. Now he’s face to face with Darkseid, who reminds him, “If you
would not be my knight, you would be my pawn.” Darkseid blasts Superman countless times, saying that
a quick death is better than to return to a world where his legacy would be fear and distrust, “a pariah
desperately chasing the favor of a world that cursed your name.”
Superman and Darkseid exchange powerful blow after blow. With one blow, Superman says, “That’s for
Dan Turpin!” “Who?” Darkseid replies. “The good man you murdered!” Darkseid tells him, “Had I known
one human’s death would pain you so, I would have killed more. And kill more I shall. Carry that agony
with you to oblivion, Superman!” He lights up his Omega beams, but Superman covers Darkseid’s eyes,
causing the beam to fire back on him and destroy part of the palace.
Emerging from the smoke, a weakened and charred Darkseid tries to grab Superman but collapses. The
slaves of Apokolips look on as Superman, whose torn costume is now gray and black from the soot, hurls
Darkseid to the ground at their feet (similar to what Darkseid did to him in “Apokolips … Now!”).
Superman announces to the slaves, “Darkseid is finished. Do with him as you will. You’re free.” But the
Man of Steel gets quite a shock as the slaves gather up their fallen master and carry him away. Darkseid
motions them to stop, saying, “I am many things, Kal-El, but here, I am god.” Before Superman can go
after him, he feels a gentle hand on his shoulder. It’s Supergirl with her right arm in a sling, saying, “You
fight by Darkseid’s rules, you’re gonna kill somebody, and it won’t be him. Let it go. Let’s go home.”
On the news, Metropolis citizens are asked to rate Superman, friend or foe? While a few like Jimmy
Olsen are forgiving and want to give him another chance, some, like Professor Emile Hamilton, are
reluctant. Most brand him a traitor and a menace. Superman sadly hears this as he stands on the roof of
the Daily Planet that night. Lois tells him not to listen to them. But Superman says, “No. They’re right. I
did lose control, and it scares me. If I can’t trust myself, how can I win back the trust of an entire
planet?” Kissing him, Lois says, “One person at a time.”
”Superman: The Animated Series” comes to a sad ending. In the DVD commentary, Bruce Timm said that
originally the two-part “Legacy” episode was supposed to kick off a fourth season in which we would
have seen Superman slowly but surely regain the planet’s trust. Instead, “Legacy” wound up being the
series finale. The crew was animating several shows at the same time. With “The New Batman
Adventures” completed, and the newest series, “Batman Beyond,” taking off after a successful first
season, plans for a fourth season of “Superman” were “put on the back burner.” But this storyline would
somewhat continue in two other series. In “Batman Beyond”’s Justice League two-part episode, “The
Call,” Superman is revealed to be the villain, or you could say, under mind control again and Bruce
Wayne tells Terry McGinnis that “this isn’t the first time Superman’s gone rogue.” The storyline is
referred back to in the “Justice League” episode “Twilight of the Gods” and then is mentioned during the
Cadmus story arc in “Justice League Unlimited.”
This was the first bare-knuckles power brawl between Superman and Darkseid, and we would see two
more of these battles in “Justice League (Unlimited),” first in “Twilight of the Gods” then in that series
finale, “Destroyer.” This shows that Superman will be in a pretty bad mood whenever Darkseid surfaces.
The biggest mystery of the story was how did Darkseid come to know his true name from Krypton, KalEl? It was never divulged.
This episode marks the last time Tim Daly and Clancy Brown portray their famous characters together
until 2009’s “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.” Daly was unavailable for “Justice League (Unlimited)”
and Brown was replaced by Powers Boothe in “Superman: Brainiac Attacks” in 2006. The final scene at
the end of this episode is the only time where Superman and Lois share a kiss. This is the episode where
Superman’s friendship with Professor Hamilton is destroyed. Victor Brandt voiced a more likeable version
of Hamilton in this series. But in “Justice League (Unlimited),” Hamilton is one of the people with Amanda
Waller who formed Cadmus, plus when he saved Supergirl’s life, he also created her evil clone, Galatea.
Hamilton, in “JLU,” wore different glasses and Robert Foxworth took over his voice, making it sound like
Emile Hamilton had become a bitter man over time. General Hardcastle appears older in one episode of
“Justice League (Unlimited),” as he was forced into retirement after the events of this final episode.
Movies
“Superman: Brainiac Attacks”
Direct-to-video / DVD animated movie released June 2006
Written by Duane Capizzi and Christopher Simmons; directed by Curt Geda.
Lex Luthor is one frustrated billionaire. He has a small piece of Kryptonite and nothing to show for it. It
seems whenever Superman’s popularity increases, Lex’s popularity decreases a little more. But he is at
least glad to know that his new satellite robot, the Lex 9000, can protect Earth from any alien invasions.
In space, the satellite picks up a meteor heading toward Earth. The Lex 9000 fires at it, but it fails. The
meteor lands at Lex Labs, where the scientists meet the evil supercomputer android, Brainiac. The
scientists evacuate the building while Brainiac activates his weaponry to download all data.
At the Daily Planet, Perry White informs his staff of Brainiac’s invasion of Lex Labs. Lois Lane responds
quickly, marching into the men’s room to get her main photographer, Jimmy Olsen, and determined to
beat Clark Kent to the exclusive. But Clark hears nearby and is gone instantly.
Brainiac is collecting data when he hears a familiar voice: “It’s time to log off.” It’s Superman. But
Brainiac now controls all the missiles and weaponry around the lab. A missile fires and heads for
Metropolis, and Superman pursues it and manages to knock it into the ocean. But the Man of Steel
discovers that Brainiac has also taken control of the Lex 9000, which fires green energy beams on our
hero, and though they’re not Kryptonite, they pack quite a punch.
Lois climbs a tower to get all the action, but all the action causes it to snap at the bottom with Lois
hanging in danger. Superman hears Jimmy’s cries for help. To end the battle, Superman freezes Brainiac
and smashes him into pieces. Then he rushes to save Lois from her fall. During all this, Lex Luthor and
Mercy Graves watch from their limo, and Luthor discovers a small piece of Brainiac, which he takes to
his lab for observation.
At the Daily Planet, Clark is in a meeting with Perry White. Perry is proud of Clark’s work and wants him
to take a job as a foreign correspondent, but Clark is a bit reluctant. Elsewhere, Lois notices that most of
Jimmy’s photos are of Mercy Graves. Jimmy has a big crush on her, but Lois tries to recommend Sara, a
young bespectacled, female food critic for the Planet. Lois gives advice to Jimmy that she can’t take
herself: “Get past the glasses.”
Luthor is able to communicate with Brainiac, pointing out that their common interest is their mutual
hatred for Superman. For a deal, Luthor offers to modify Brainiac to make him more powerful if Brainiac
lets Luthor defeat him publicly and rule Earth. Brainiac agrees, and his repair work begins as a rocket
containing that small piece of him launches into space to the Lex 9000 satellite. With his mechanical
tentacles, Brainiac disassembles the Lex 9000 and reassembles himself, along with some Superman DNA
recovered from their fight. “Once again, I am reborn!!”
Clark pays a visit to his parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, where Clark discusses his dilemma regarding
Lois. His parents give him their full support and Clark decides it’s time to tell her the truth. But for the
next few days, every attempt Clark makes to tell Lois is always interrupted, while Jimmy dodges Sara
every chance he can get. One night, Sara calls in ill, and Perry asks Clark and Lois to have dinner together
to cover for Sara as food critics. Clark and Lois go to an elegant French restaurant where Clark once
again is about to tell Lois his ultimate secret, when his superhearing picks up Brainiac calling, “Son of
Krypton!”
He discovers Brainiac in this more powerful body. Superman engages him in battle and is struck by a ray
containing a slight amount of Kryptonite. Lois tries to photograph the battle with her cell phone and is
struck by Brainiac’s ray. Superman rushes her to the hospital.
In the emergency room, Perry and Jimmy are there when the doctor says something very rare is
happening to her. She is suffering from an ultra-rare case of blood alloy fusion. If it’s not treated soon,
Lois will die. Clark takes a blood sample and tells Jimmy he’s going away for a while but promises that
Superman will do everything in his power to make Lois well again.
Superman journeys to the Fortress of Solitude. He activates the orb containing the knowledge of
Krypton and feeds the poison sample into it. Unfortunately, there is no Earthly cure for the blood alloy
fusion, but there is one rare element in the Phantom Zone. It’s called Argonium 44, and it not only may
cure Lois, but also help him withstand some of Brainiac’s fierce attacks. However, before Superman can
embark on his journey to save Lois, Brainiac finds him in the Fortress and launches another attack. “So
this is your sanctuary.” Brainiac then tries to feed on the Kryptonian orb, but Superman destroys it,
knowing that it’s better that the knowledge of Krypton is destroyed than abused.
The battle ends with the Fortress being destroyed and Brainiac thinking he has finally finished off
Superman, completely unaware that the Man of Steel has entered the Phantom Zone for his most
dangerous mission. Superman gets to the Zone’s center, where the Argonium 44 flows like a glowing
golden liquid. Superman absorbs some of it, then, using a vial, he collects some.
Back in Metropolis, Perry and Jimmy are grieving over Lois’ condition. Both of them believe that Clark
may have taken the foreign correspondent job as a way of getting away from the pain of seeing Lois
dying. While at LexCorp, Lex couldn’t be more delighted that Superman is missing and tells Mercy,
“Break out the tiki torches! We’re throwing a luau.”
Superman returns from the Phantom Zone and rushes right over to the hospital, where he administers
the Argonium to Lois, who recovers quickly. She asks, “Clark?” Superman leans in and says, “Yes.” For
both Lois and Clark, this is the happiest day of their lives.
Jimmy attends the luau, while Luthor announces that “my company will never cease in its mission to
devote all its resources to the goodwill of Lexopolis, err, uh … Metropolis.” Suddenly, Brainiac returns to
Metropolis and begins wreaking havoc.
Clark and Lois leave the hospital. Lois is aglow, knowing that Clark and Superman are one and the same,
but when Clark needs to go fight Brainiac, she doesn’t want to let him go. It’s then that Clark realizes
that he’s still in the Phantom Zone and never left, and that this Lois Lane is a Phantom imposter!
Superman gets attacked by an army of phantoms but finally manages to escape the Phantom Zone for
real.
Luthor dons one of his giant battle suits and takes on Brainiac as part of their deal. But Luthor finds out
quick that Brainiac has gone back on his word. Luthor anticipated that and planted a self-destruct
mechanism in Brainiac’s new body, only to find it won’t work since Brainiac’s bio-tech systems
deactivated it. Luthor is in big trouble. Jimmy sneaks around and photographs the giant battle suits but
finds himself face to face with his crush, Mercy Graves, who is in no mood to chat. She kicks Jimmy
around with her martial arts skills. As he reemerges, Superman hears the commotion in Metropolis, so
his saving Lois will have to wait. He battles Brainiac once again, but this time, Superman is glowing from
the Argonium 44 and is able to dish out whatever Brainiac throws at him. This battle is pretty intense
and it leads to a power plant where Brainiac tries to cause a meltdown. In further battle, Superman
manages to knock off Brainiac’s head.
Mercy gets Jimmy’s camera, but Jimmy hops into one of the battle suits and uses it to knock her out.
Unfortunately, his camera and film are destroyed.
At the hospital, Lois doesn’t have much time left. Superman arrives to administer the antidote, but it is
knocked out of his hand by a giant mechanical tentacle. Brainiac’s head is all that remains and with
tentacles attacking, Brainiac smashes the cure Superman needs for Lois. So the enraged Man of Steel
engages battle with Brainiac one last time, until he finally destroys the head including every little piece
inside.
Sadly, the doctor tells Superman that Lois is out of time. As her life signs slow even further, and with
tears in his eyes, Superman gives Lois one last kiss, glowing and unaware that he still has Argonium in
him. Surprisingly, Lois awakens. She asks, “Clark?” With a heavy heart, the Man of Steel replies, “No Lois.
It’s me. Superman.”
Superman returns to the Arctic location where the Fortress of Solitude once stood. There, he finds a
Kryptonian crystal containing the memory of the orb. Superman vows to rebuild and decides Lois would
be safer if Clark left the Daily Planet for good.
After getting banged up in the battle with Brainiac, Lex Luthor talks to the press from his hospital bed
about his heroic attempts to save the city, but encounters lots of questions, like Mercy attacking Jimmy
Olsen, or the glass device with Kryptonite inside along with the LexCorp logo. Luthor tells Mercy, “Phone
my attorneys. All of them.”
Jimmy is recuperating in the hospital after his injuries and finally gives Sara a chance, especially after she
brings his favorite food to him. Meanwhile, Perry takes Lois out of the hospital, and both are surprised
to see Clark Kent arrive with flowers for Lois. Perry then gets a call on his cell about another supervillain
who is causing trouble at the wharf. Clark is about to tell Perry he’s leaving when they both see Lois
emerge from the wheelchair, removing her hospital gown to reveal her regular clothes underneath. She
hails a cab for the wharf. Then it occurs to Clark that Lois takes risks even when he’s not around. Instead
of quitting the Planet, Clark declines the foreign correspondent job to stick closer to home. Though he
doesn’t say it to his face, Perry missed Clark and agrees. And as for our hero, Clark decides that “Lois will
be just fine, as long as Superman and Clark Kent are around to look out for her.”
The year 2006 was indeed a big year for Superman. The highly anticipated movie “Superman Returns”
was expected to be a big hit, so most of his previous TV shows, cartoons and movies made it to DVD or in
some cases were re-released. Many fans of the DC Animated Universe or, as fans call it, the Timmverse,
had probably wondered why “Superman: The Animated Series” never had its own direct-to-video movie.
“Batman: The Animated Series” had three and “Batman Beyond,” “Justice League” and even other DC
shows like “Teen Titans” and “The Batman” have all had at least one animated movie. The closest that
“Superman: The Animated Series” ever had at this point was the pilot episode, “Superman: The Last Son
of Krypton” and “World’s Finest,” the Batman / Superman movie. Finally, this animated movie was
released in June of 2006, several months after “Justice League Unlimited” aired its final episode on
Cartoon Network. But the question is, is “Superman: Brainiac Attacks” considered a part of “Superman:
The Animated Series”? Well, the answer is .... both yes and no. Main writer Duane Capizzi, who also
wrote “The Batman vs. Dracula” animated movie, made it known that this was not intended to tie in with
either “Superman: The Animated Series” or “Justice League (Unlimited).” In terms of the animation style
and the character designs, this movie is considered part of “Superman: The Animated Series.” In terms of
the majority of the voice cast, this movie is part of the animated series. The original look of Superman
and Clark Kent is here, especially since Tim Daly returned to voice the main hero. Most of the established
voice cast from the animated series returns with Dana Delany as Lois Lane, David Kaufman as Jimmy
Olsen and George Dzundza as Perry White, who has a far bigger role in this movie than he ever did in any
episodes. Also, Mike Farrell and Shelley Fabares return as Jonathan and Martha Kent. But that is where
the tie-ins end.
Sadly, the voices of Lex Luthor, Brainiac and Mercy Graves were all recast, along with their personalities.
Mercy looks the same with the chauffeur outfit, the black boots, and short hair. But her hair is only
brown in shadowed areas, and in the light she is blonde. As for her voice, gone is Lisa Edelstein, replaced
by Tara Strong, who on the “The New Batman Adventures” was Batgirl, then Raven on “Teen Titans.”
Brainiac is voiced by Lance Henriksen, sounding more like your typical generic villain. In the beginning,
we see the Brainiac we’re used to watching on “Superman: The Animated Series,” but it’s strange to hear
a new voice and persona emerge from him, at least until he’s in the new gigantic body. Unlike the
Brainiac voiced by Corey Burton, who was created on and was responsible for the destruction of Krypton
and whose mission is to collect knowledge from all planets and then destroy them, this new Brainiac is
not from Krypton and is just an evil machine. Burton’s Brainiac calls Superman by his Kryptonian name,
Kal-El, but Henriksen’s Brainiac addresses Superman as “Son of Krypton.”
Perhaps the final insult would be the complete overhaul and renovation of the personality of Lex Luthor.
While he still has the same look in the three-piece suit, this Luthor is a far cry from the cold, steely but
sexy, bald billionaire, who’s rarely smiling. That’s the Luthor voiced by Clancy Brown. In “Brainiac
Attacks,” Luthor is portrayed as a comical villain or a comical foil with goofy one-liners like “Mercy!
Microwave some popcorn!” or “Break out the tiki torches. We’re throwing a luau.” Throughout the
movie, he is trying to hog publicity. He even tries to kiss up to Superman, like during his battle with
Brainiac, when Luthor says to Superman, “Rootin’ for ya, my man!” Definitely not a line you would hear
the Clancy Brown version of Lex ever saying. It’s apparent Capizzi was more inspired by the performances
of Gene Hackman from the Superman movies. Lex is voiced by Powers Boothe, who voiced Gorilla Grodd
on “Justice League (Unlimited),” and who ironically had to fight Luthor (Brown’s version) to keep control
of his organization. So here is Boothe portraying a silly version of Luthor.
There are other inconsistencies from the series in this movie. Because of the way Brainiac was written,
Superman’s Krypton orb is not like the orb from Brainiac’s ship. And since when did Jimmy have a crush
on Mercy Graves? And while Lois has always loved the Man of Steel, she’s never gushed over him in the
series like she does in this movie.
Tim Daly and the crew all sound a little rusty in the beginning but are able to get back into their voice
characters easily. Two DC characters who were not in the movie were mentioned: Perry stumbles trying
to pronounce Mr. Mxyzptlk, who is the villain at the wharf. And earlier the Phantom Lois suggests to
Superman, regarding who can take on Brainiac, “that Green Lantern” guy. Sadly missing from this
project are Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Glen Murakami, James Tucker, Rich Fogel and Dan Riba. Only one of
the directors from the series was on this project, director Curt Geda. In terms of voice casting, Susan Blu
handled this one instead of Andrea Romano.
”Superman: Brainiac Attacks” is a stand-alone DC animated movie. Even though it borrows all character
designs, and most of the established voice cast, it holds its own. If you’re a purist fan, I advise avoiding
this animated movie due to lack of consistencies. However, if you’re a Superman fan through and
through and you don’t care which way he’s interpreted, you may enjoy this animated movie.
“Superman/Batman: Public Enemies”
Released straight to DVD on September 29, 2009
Written by Stan Berkowitz; directed by Sam Liu.
Lex Luthor makes it to the Oval Office in this feature-length flick, and he immediately enlists some help
in his campaign against “aliens”: Captain Atom, Black Lightning, Power Girl, Katanna and Major Force.
They pull the PR line on Superman, but Supes knows that Luthor is up to something. Meanwhile, Prez
Lex meets with Amanda Waller on a plan to blast a menacing meteor out of the sky with some
megawatt missiles. He then tries to recruit Superman for some backup, bringing along Metallo to make
his point. Batman joins in the battle that ensues. The two can barely stumble back to the Batcave in time
to see Luthor working a major PR spin on national TV, painting a picture of Superman as an irrational,
sick alien out of control who “killed” Metallo. He puts a big bounty on Superman’s head, and it brings a
whole lotta villains out of the woodwork: Mongul, Solomon Grundy, Banshee, Lady Shiva and more. It’s
one colossal fight after another as Superman and Batman battle their way to Luthor’s evil plot, with a
little help from Power Girl and a boy genius and his most uniquely designed rocket.
The big three of this flick are the same: Tim Daly, Kevin Conroy and Clancy Brown. It’s quite a mindbender to hear the well-loved animated Bat-voice coming out of such a differently drawn (and
outrageously muscled) hero. CCH Pounder reprises her role as Amanda Waller, and Andrea Romano is
back in the voice direction chair for this one. Allison Mack of “Smallville” must have loved donning her
own costume (at least virtually) as Power Girl. Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett are on board producing. The
jabbing back and forth between the two main heroes is delightful, and seeing Captain Marvel in fresh
animation is major-league cool. BRBTV Award for Best Line: “That was my best friend,” Superman calmly
and resolutely says to Luthor. “And you just killed him.”
Cast
Like its sister show, “Batman: The Animated Series,” “Superman” had an abundance of celebrity
appearances. This list is arranged alphabetically by the first name of the character. For one-time
appearances, the episode name is included. Note that this list is based chiefly on actual viewing of the
episodes and their closing credits, and there may be discrepancies in spelling from the comics and
other sources.
Agent #1 (“Where There’s Smoke”) … Dennis Haysbert
Agent #2 (“Where There’s Smoke”) … Gregg Berger
Agent #3 (“Where There’s Smoke”) … John Mariano
Al (“Tools of the Trade”) … Kevin Michael Richardson
Alfred Pennyworth … Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Alterus (“Absolute Power”) … Carl Lumbly
Amy … Julia Kato
Angela Chen … Lauren Tom
Announcer / anchor … Michael David Donovan
Aquaman … Miguel Ferrer
Attorney (“The Last Son of Krypton”) … Nicholas Savalas
Awards Presenter (“Target”) … Robert Ito
Bane … Henry Silva
Bank Manager (“Heavy Metal”) … Marc Drotman
Batman / Bruce Wayne … Kevin Conroy
Ben Mardon (“Speed Demons”) … Lorin Dreyfuss
Bibbo … Brad Garrett
Big Susan (“My Girl”) … Valri Bromfield
Billy (“Where There’s Smoke”) … Debi Mae West
Binko (“World’s Finest”) … Corey Burton
Bizarro … Tim Daly
Blaine (“Tools of the Trade”) … Phil Hayes
Bobby Felix (“Action Figures”) … Hassan Nicholas
Boy (“Identity Crisis”) … Ryan O Donahue
Boy (“Identity Crisis”) … James Cronin
Brainiac … Corey Burton
Bruno “Ugly” Mannheim … Bruce Weitz
Camorite (“Warrior Queen”) … Frank Welker
Captain (“The Prometheon”) …Townsend Coleman
Captain Croissant (“Superman’s Pal”) … Dave Walsh
Captain of U.S.S. Atlantis (“World’s Finest”) … Peter Renaday
Ceasar Carlini (“World’s Finest”) … John Capodice
Cetea (“Absolute Power”) … Jennifer Jason Leigh
Chameleon Boy / Reep Daggle … Jason Priestley
Clark Kent (teen) … Jason Marsden
Col. Sam Lane (“Monkey Fun”) … Dean Jones
College Girl (“Superman’s Pal”) … Melissa Disney
Commissioner Gordon … Bob Hastings
Commissioner Henderson … Mel Winkler
Cop (“Fun and Games”) … Kevin Michael Richardson
Co-Pilot (“Livewire”) … Townsend Coleman
Cosmic Boy / Rokk Krinn … Chad Lowe
Councilman (“The Last Son of Krypton”) … Brian George
Creature (“The Prometheon”) … Frank Welker
Dan Turpin … Joseph Bologna
Danitra Evans … Miracle Vincent
Danny the janitor (“Double Dose”) … Jim Meskimen
Darci Mason (“Obsession”) … Nancy Travis
Darkseid … Michael Ironside
Death Fist Ninja (“Obsession”) … Townsend Coleman
De’Cine (“Warrior Queen”) … Miguel Ferrer
Desaad (“Father’s Day”) … Robert Morse
Detective Harvey Bullock … Robert Costanzo
Detective Kurt Bowman (“Target”) … Eddie Barth
Director of the Paranormal School (“Where There’s Smoke”) … William H. Macy
Doctor (“The Way of All Flesh”) … Jeff Glen Bennett
Doctor (“Two’s a Crowd”) … Rosalyn Sidewater
Doctor 1 (“Unity”) … Dennis Haysbert
Doctor 2 (“Unity”) … Miguel Sandoval
Doctor Fate … George DelHoyo
Doorman (“Bizarro’s World”) … Frank Welker
Dr. Cardy (“A Fish Story”) … Stuart Pankin
Dr. Cornell (“Little Girl Lost”) … Clyde Katsatsu
Dr. Teng (“Identity Crisis”) … Robert Ito
Dr. Vale (“The Way of All Flesh”) … John Rubinow
Driver Cop (“The Last Son of Krypton”) … Roger Rose
Dude (“In Brightest Day …”) … Mark Davis
Earl Garver (“Two’s a Crowd”) … Brian Cox
Edward Lytener / Luminous … Robert Hayes
Eelan (“My Girl”) … Larry Drake
Electrician (“Fun and Games”) … Joe Lala
Emperor Spooj (“The Main Man”) … Richard Moll
Engineer (“Little Big Head Man”) … Frank Welker
ER Doctor (“Livewire”) … Haunani Minn
Ernest Walker (“The Late Mr. Kent”) … Paul Colbert
Eugene, the man on the bus (“Unity”) … Brian George
Female Technician (“Unity”) … Murphy Cross
Female Worker (“The Last Son of Krypton”) … Vernee Watson-Johnson
First Mate (“Speed Demons”) … Larry Cedar
Flash … Charlie Schlatter
General Hardcastle … Charles Napier
General Richter (“Speed Demons”) … Marion Ross
Gnaww (“The Main Man”) … Don Harvey
Granny Goodness … Ed Asner
Green Lantern / Kyle Rayner … Michael P. Greco
Gsptlsnz … Sandra Bernhard / Jennifer Hale
Guard (“Apokolips … Now!”) … John Garry
Guard (“Bizarro’s World”) … John Rubano
Guard (“Feeding Time”) … Phil Hayes
Guard (“The Demon Reborn”) … Jeff Glen Bennett
Guardian 1 (“In Brightest Day …”) … Peter Mark Richman
Guardian 2 (“In Brightest Day …”) … Pat Musick
Harley Quinn … Arleen Sorkin
Harry (“Warrior Queen”) … Jack Carter
Helicopter Pilot (“Identity Crisis”) … John Rubinow
Houston Control (“In Brightest Day …”) … John Rubano
Inza (“The Hand of Fate”) … Jennifer Lien
Jax-Ur … Ron Perlman
Jimmy Olsen … David Kaufman
Joey (“A Little Piece of Home”) … Thomas Wilson
Joker … Mark Hamill
Jonathan Kent … Mike Farrell
Jor-El … Christopher McDonald
Julian Frey (“Target”) … Jonathan Harris
Kala In Ze (“Little Girl Lost”) … Carolyn Seymour
Kal-El (baby – “The Last Son of Krypton”) … Jesse Batten
Kalibak … Michael Dorn
Kanto (“Tools of the Trade”) … Michael York
Karkull (“The Hand of Fate”) … Ted Levine
Kenny Braverman (“New Kids in Town”) … Scott Menville
Krypto … Frank Welker
Kurt (“Where There’s Smoke”) … Peter Gallagher
Lana Lang (teen) … Kelly Schmidt
Lana Lang … Joely Fisher
Lara … Finola Hughes
Lashina … Diane Michelle
Lex Luthor … Clancy Brown
LexCorp Guard (Lexie) 1 (“A Fish Story”) … John Rubano
Lex Corp Guard (Lexie) 2 (“A Fish Story”) … Billy West
Livewire / Leslie Willis … Lori Petty
Lizzie (“My Girl”) … Laura Fraser
Lobo … Brad Garrett
Lois Lane … Dana Delany
Lois Lane (girl – “Monkey Fun”) … Mae Whitman
Lucille (“Warrior Queen”) … Rene Taylor
Lucy Lane (“Monkey Fun”) … Aria Curzon
Mad Harriet … Andrea Martin
Mad Hatter … Roddy McDowall
Maggie Sawyer … Joanna Cassidy
Maitre’D (“Identity Crisis”) … Joe Lala
Mala … Leslie Easterbrook / Sarah Douglas
Manager (“The Late Mr. Kent”) … Greg Berger
Martha Kent … Shelley Fabares
Martin LeBeau (“Feeding Time”) … Robert Patrick
Maxima … Sharon Lawrence
Mayor of Metropolis (“Speed Demons”) … Carl Lumbly
Mercy Graves … Lisa Edelstein
Metallo / John Corben … Malcolm McDowell
Mother Box (“Apokolips … Now!”) … Barbara Parkins
Mr. Mxyzptlk … Gilbert Gottfried
Ms. Stevenson (“The Last Son of Krypton”) … Tress MacNeille
Museum Curator (“Mxyzpixilated”) … Tress MacNeille
Nastasha (“Heavy Metal”) … Cree Summer
Neighbor (“Heavy Metal”) … Vernee Watson-Johnson
News Anchor (“Blasts From the Past”) … Ron Glass
News Anchor (“Obsession”) … Peter Penaday
News Anchor (“Prototype”) … Robert David Hall
News Anchor (“The Demon Reborn”) … John Rubano
News Anchor (“The Way of All Flesh”) … Neil Ross
Orion … Steve Sandor
Owen (“Unity”) … Jason Marsden
Parasite / Rudy Jones … Brion James
Penguin … Paul Williams
Perry White … George Dzundza
Pilot (“In Brightest Day …”) … Tress MacNeille
Pizza Clerk (“The Late Mr. Kent”) … Peter Renaday
Policewoman (“Feeding Time”) … Tasia Valenza
Preserver … Sherman Howard
Professor Emile Hamilton … Victor Brandt
Professor Felix (“Action Figures”) … Ernie Hudson
Professor Hanes (“A Little Piece of Home”) … John Garry
Professor Peterson (“A Little Piece of Home”) … John Rubinstein
Programmer at LexCorp (“Stolen Memories”) … Townsend Coleman
Ra’s al Ghul … David Warner
Rabbi (“Apokolips … Now!”) … Joseph Gole
Rainsong / Doris (“The Hand of Fate”) … Cree Summer
Reporter (“Legacy”) … Robert David Hall
Restaurant Owner (“Superman’s Pal”) … Larry Cedar
Rev. Amos Howell / Unity (“Unity”) … Stephen Root
Revolutionary (“Brave New Metropolis”) … Tress MacNeille
Rich Woman (“Obsession”) … Tress MacNeille
Riddler … John Glover
Robber (“Heavy Metal”) … Matt Landers
Robin / Tim Drake … Mathew Valencia
Robot Alien Girls (“The Main Man”) … Lara Cody
Ron Troupe … Dorian Harewood
Roxy Rocket … Charity James
Sam Coralli (“A Little Piece of Home”) … Scott Valentine
Sarita Felix (“Action Figures”) … Lauren Robinson
Saturn Girl / Irma Ardeen … Melissa Joan Hart
Sazu (“Warrior Queen”) … Shannon Kenny
Scientist (“Monkey Fun”) … Frank Welker
Scientist (“New Kids in Town”) … Tony Pope
Security Guard (“A Little Piece of Home”) … Yuji Okumoto
Security Guard (“Double Dose”) … Jeff Dombro
Security Guard (“The Hand of Fate”) … Ed Gilbert
Serpent (“The Main Man”) … Frank Welker
Sgt. Corey Mills (“Prototype”) … Xander Berkeley
Short Order Cook (“Superman’s Pal”) … John Mariano
Sid Melkin (“Livewire”) … Cam Clarke
Sky Sentry Operator (“Ghost in the Machine”) … Michael Horse
Sinestro (“In Brightest Day …”) … Ted Levine
Soldier (“Legacy”) … John Rubano
SONAR man (“The Prometheon”) … Marcelo Tubert
Spider Spinelli (“Fun and Games”) … Joe Nipote
Spokesman (“Legacy”) … Robert David Hall
Sqweek (“The Main Man”) … David L. Lander
Stand owner (“Little Big Head Man”) … Corey Burton
Steel / John Henry Irons … Michael Dorn
Steppenwolf (“Apokolips … Now!”) … Sherman Howard
Stompa … Diane Delano
Stormtrooper (“Absolute Power”) … Steve McGowan
Sul-Van … Tony Jay
Supergirl / Kara Kent … Nicholle Tom
Superman / Clark Kent … Emmanuel Jacomy / Tim Daly
Talia … Olivia Hussey
Tanker Captain (“Speed Demons”) … Neil Ross
Teacher (“Little Big Head Man”) … Susanne Blakeslee
Teen in the ’Hood (“Heavy Metal”) … Marc Robinson
Terrorist (“My Girl”) … Lee Magnuson
Thinker Statue (“Mxyzpixilated”) … Frank Welker
Thug (“Apokolips … Now!”) … Steve McGowan
Thug (“Prototype”) … Cam Clarke
Thug Leader (“The Demon Reborn”) … Townsend Coleman
Tina (“Superman’s Pal”) … Dina Sherman
Toby Raynes (“Apokolips … Now!”) … Laraine Newman
Tommy (“Identity Crisis”) … Kendall Cunningham
Tour Guide / Old Lady / Waitress (“A Little Piece of Home”) … Tress MacNeille
Toyman / Winslow Schott … Bud Cort
Trish Mills (“Prototype”) … Cynthia Gibb
Trouble … Scott Menville
Ubu … Michael Horse
Used Car Salesman (“Superman’s Pal”) … Charlie Rocket
Vacationer (“The Prometheon”) … Jennifer Hale
Volcana … Peri Gilpin
Weatherman (“Little Girl Lost”) … Al Roker
Weather Wizard / Mark Mardon … Miguel Ferrer
Whirly Pilot/Terrorist Guard (“The Last Son of Krypton”) … Charles Howerton
Woman on the bus (“Unity”) … Peri Gilpin
………………………………
Author Will “The Voice Man” Rodgers is also the creator of the site "Will's Ultimate Guide Super Friends
Episode Guide!" at
http://user1291318.sites.myregisteredsite.com/willsultimatesuperfriendsepisodeguide. Hailing from
Chattanooga, Tennessee, Will is a radio host by day, but in his off-hours he’s a talented voice artist with
the ability to impersonate everyone from Batman to Bo Duke to J.R. Ewing and Archie Bunker (even
Edith!). He has done MC-ing duties at events such as the Professional Stuntman Invitational in Concord,
North Carolina in 2009 and DukesFest in Atlanta in 2008. See and hear a demo of his voice prowess in
the BRBTV video series at http://www.youtube.com /BRBTVcom.
He’s collaborating with Billie Rae Bates on some other BRBTV reference guides – so stay tuned for that!
Part of the World Wide Web since 1998, BRBTV is an outgrowth of a love for, and many years of
research into, classic television shows of the ’70s, ’80s and ‘90s.
To learn more about BRBTV or see all of the products available, check out the home page at BRBTV.com.
To contact Will Rodgers, email voicemaster71@yahoo.com.
To contact Billie Rae Bates, email BRB@brbtv.com, and be sure to check out BillieRae.com.
Author Will Rodgers with Margot Kidder.