Superman: Red Son and Superman: Man of Tomorrow Animated Feature Films

[manwhohaseverything]

Yeah, I feel like they could have resolved the Parasite situation a little better...and maybe not show him so readily killing people as soon as he becomes Parasite.

Like it's not even clear if it's Superman's speech that makes him sacrifice himself because he probably would have gone to the reactor to absorb it anyways.

That would have just been straight forward alien and Monsters = good and humans=bad. That's not what the movie was about. People have a right to fear the unknown. But, they need to actually try to control their impulses.

[Frontier]

That would have just been straight forward alien and Monsters = good and humans=bad. That's not what the movie was about. People have a right to fear the unknown. But, they need to actually try to control their impulses.

Well, I don't know so much if people had a right to fear the unknown but Parasite had visibly given people plenty to be worried about even without knowing his backstory. Like, Rudy didn't deserve what happened to him but he still went crazy with his powers the moment he got them and even before he went full Kaiju.

I guess he wasn't able to control his impulses.

[Vordan]

Yeah, I feel like they could have resolved the Parasite situation a little better...and maybe not show him so readily killing people as soon as he becomes Parasite.

Like it's not even clear if it's Superman's speech that makes him sacrifice himself because he probably would have gone to the reactor to absorb it anyways.

The whole movie to me just solidified a long time opinion I’ve held: Parasite works better when he’s not meant to be sympathetic. They should embrace him being a monster, him and Doomsday being the two Rogues Superman is downright afraid of.

[Robotman]

The whole movie to me just solidified a long time opinion I’ve held: Parasite works better when he’s not meant to be sympathetic. They should embrace him being a monster, him and Doomsday being the two Rogues Superman is downright afraid of.

I hope this movie at least gives Parasite a profile boost. I’ve always felt like he was on of Supes’ most dangerous villains. Superman is the strongest being on earth but Parasite can easily drain his energy and in fact tries to hunt down Superman as a food source.

One of my favorite Parasite appearances was in the second Superman/Spider-Man crossover. The heroes can’t even get near Parasite without having their energy absorbed. Theres a great scene where Spider-Man is desperately trying to get away from him but he’s losing his strength, Parasite is gaining on him by using his own wall crawling and agility. Plus I love that creepy melted purple skin version of Parasite. Would love to see that brought back.

[DochaDocha]

Finally got around to watching Man of Tomorrow now that it's on HBO Max. I don't think it's particularly bad, but I was rather bored watching it. Took a break last night to resume it early this morning, and while it was playing, I fired on my work laptop and started reading emails. Eesh.

I was about to give it credit for "killing" off characters, but instead we got the psych-outs and nobody of consequence really died.

Maybe I'm just getting numb to these films after 13 years, on average getting about 3 a year. Other than the art style, it's not really memorable. Again, not bad, but storywise it just doesn't stand out. Maybe it's a bit distinctive in that of all the Superman movies I can think of, this one shows the earliest moments of his career.

Never read American Alien. I never had a high opinion of Max Landis, but I was always under the impression that he's one of those guys who insists that Batman should be a formative character in Superman's story, without really having Superman repay anything in kind, so I wonder if I was biased against this movie from the get-go.

Anyway, on to the next film when it arrives.

[Frontier]

Finally got around to watching Man of Tomorrow now that it's on HBO Max. I don't think it's particularly bad, but I was rather bored watching it. Took a break last night to resume it early this morning, and while it was playing, I fired on my work laptop and started reading emails. Eesh.

I was about to give it credit for "killing" off characters, but instead we got the psych-outs and nobody of consequence really died.

Maybe I'm just getting numb to these films after 13 years, on average getting about 3 a year. Other than the art style, it's not really memorable. Again, not bad, but storywise it just doesn't stand out. Maybe it's a bit distinctive in that of all the Superman movies I can think of, this one shows the earliest moments of his career.

Never read American Alien. I never had a high opinion of Max Landis, but I was always under the impression that he's one of those guys who insists that Batman should be a formative character in Superman's story, without really having Superman repay anything in kind, so I wonder if I was biased against this movie from the get-go.

Anyway, on to the next film when it arrives.

I prefer psych-outs than just killing off characters you could do more with. Especially with how kill happy the previous era of films got.

[DochaDocha]

I prefer psych-outs than just killing off characters you could do more with. Especially with how kill happy the previous era of films got.

I kind of view both of them as wastes of opportunity. If they build off this movie and do something useful with MM or Lobo, then good they didn't off them so quickly. But if there's no follow-up for either character, then might as well have kept them dead.

Then again, killing Lobo is not in character, so maybe better to bring him back regardless if he's never to be seen again.

[Frontier]

I kind of view both of them as wastes of opportunity. If they build off this movie and do something useful with MM or Lobo, then good they didn't off them so quickly. But if there's no follow-up for either character, then might as well have kept them dead.

Then again, killing Lobo is not in character, so maybe better to bring him back regardless if he's never to be seen again.

Personally I think if we get another Butch Lukic movie with Superman, it'll be with this Superman, so I wouldn't rule it out. I think thematically that scene of all three of them (Superman, J'onn, and Lobo) was great.

[DochaDocha]

Yeah, I think Lobo was one of the better parts of the movie. I thought MM was hit and miss.

I guess after having some time to think more about the movie, I thought the most ironic line in the movie was the part how Pa Kent said something about how Clark is a man now and has to make decisions for himself, or something like that, and one of the running themes of the movie was like how every phase of Clark's life he needed someone to guide him along. Ma and Pa help private Clark, Lois helps aspiring journalist Clark, MM is there for Superman... if this is the first of several movies in continuity, I hope there's a clear character arc.

[Frontier]

Yeah, I think Lobo was one of the better parts of the movie. I thought MM was hit and miss.

I guess after having some time to think more about the movie, I thought the most ironic line in the movie was the part how Pa Kent said something about how Clark is a man now and has to make decisions for himself, or something like that, and one of the running themes of the movie was like how every phase of Clark's life he needed someone to guide him along. Ma and Pa help private Clark, Lois helps aspiring journalist Clark, MM is there for Superman... if this is the first of several movies in continuity, I hope there's a clear character arc.

I thought J'onn was pretty good myself. Probably one of his better animated depictions, and I thought he fit organically into Clark's story here .

Even if he got advice or suggestions, his personal choices (especially at the end) were still his own.

[DochaDocha]

Yeah, can't argue that there has been any interesting use of Martian Manhunter any time recently in these movies. I think we have to go all the way back to New Frontier for a role where he's not just there because of being a legacy JLA member.

Would also add a nice thing about this movie was that we finally got back to the fun and lively professional competition between Supes and Lois. I feel like a whole generation of DCEU and DCAU fans missed out on it, so nice to see it again.

[Gaius]

Tangential but a Red Son Superman from McFarlane is available for pre-order for any of you communist dogs or capitalist pigs.

[Matt Parker]

So, when Man of Tomorrow came out last year, I was lukewarm on it. I liked a lot about it but I remember finding it kinda boring. However, with the Long Halloween trailer having the same art style and confirming (at least to me) that it is probably in the same universe), plus the fact that the Snyder Cut and Superman & Lois have put me in a big Superman mood over the past two months, I decided to show this to my girlfriend last night, and I had a totally new experience with it.

I love this movie. Like, I think it's maybe the best Superman movie since Superman (1978), and I don't take that lightly. Returns and Man of Steel both have great moments, and I think Man of Steel has some of the best scenes in any superhero movie, but they both ultimately failed to deliver. Superman vs The Elite and Death/Reign were genuinely awesome IMO, but this beats even those out. It's just so tight and I think the script could have worked fine for a live action, big budget Superman reboot and it would have played.

So, I have a question: What are the odds that we see a sequel to this? Did it sell well? I think reception was pretty positive overall (as positive as any of the recent animated movies) and I am curious if sequel is a lock or if it is un likely, or somewhere in between.

[Vordan]

If they are indeed using it to kick off a new continuity than I think there’s a good chance we’ll get a sequel. Either Clark taking on Brainiac or the JL forming to fight Brainiac feels like an obvious sequel given Brainiac’s presence on the spine while not appearing in MoT.

[Frontier]

If they are indeed using it to kick off a new continuity than I think there’s a good chance we’ll get a sequel. Either Clark taking on Brainiac or the JL forming to fight Brainiac feels like an obvious sequel given Brainiac’s presence on the spine while not appearing in MoT.

I feel like we haven't seen a proper JL movie in a while (Apokolips War was labeled Justice League Dark), so I could potentially see a 2021 film with the Big Seven coming together fight Brainiac. We're only really missing GL.