What Do People Think Of JL/JLU Superman?

[Agent Z]

I decided to post this after seeing the Superman TAS Thread. I wanted to see different thoughts on Superman as he was portrayed on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Personally, I liked how the Superman was portrayed as struggling between being the leader of the League and struggling with the temptation of his powers. He made mistakes but was quick to own up to them i.e when he and the League turn themselves over to Cadmus' authority after their unsanctioned weapon is used to decimate a city. I also liked that the events of the finale of Superman TAS were carried over to this series. I know people complain about the power level but that got better after Season 1 and I think this moment proves it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etPYl1OQoqk

So what do you guys think?

[Sacred Knight]

To me his portrayal was second only to Wonder Woman in terms of suckitude.

Timm has little to no grasp on either character, and it shined the most in these series.

[Kid A]

Pretty horrible.

I'm surprised MoS Superman gets so much flak when this dude punched Darkseid through several buildings.

And let's not forget starting a fight with Captain Marvel for no reason.

[Agent Z]

To me his portrayal was second only to Wonder Woman in terms of suckitude.

Timm has little to no grasp on either character, and it shined the most in these series.

I agree with Wonder Woman though it wasn't really all bad just a few things needed fixing. What didn't you like about how Clark was written?

[Flash Gordon]

Easily the worst portrayal of Superman that I've seen.

[hellacre]

To me his portrayal was second only to Wonder Woman in terms of suckitude.

Timm has little to no grasp on either character, and it shined the most in these series.

Agree with this.

When I look back at this series I cringe at many of the Superman moments. From the start the guy was struggling with something as simple as lifting a bus (contrasting with a Batman who moved like a meta and did not wrong) and he seemed to get knocked out all the time after delivering one punch in season 1. He was painted as rather dim as well, in many episodes. But then so were the other heroes. Only Batman was "smart". I recall Clash and I hated how they portrayed him as a kind of a big bully who showed very poor leadership skills. I don't really like George Newbern's voice over much. I much rather Tim Daly's voicing. You get a little more spark and intelligence in Daly's imo but on the whole Superman in the Timmverse to me is lacking.

The best Superman episode was Hereafter. Destroyer as far as I am concerned came too late and was pointless. You had Clark boasting how strong he is and busting up Metropolis and still ineffective. And people give MOS a hard time but applaud that.

[Bat007007]

He was weak. He was unsure of himself. Oh wait, I get the feeling someone already said that no more than one year ago …

[Agent Z]

He was weak. He was unsure of himself. Oh wait, I get the feeling someone already said that no more than one year ago …

And yet he overcame that. Seriously did people not watch past Season 1. Season 2 opened with him nearly killing Darkseid.

[Agent Z]

He was weak. He was unsure of himself. Oh wait, I get the feeling someone already said that no more than one year ago …

And yet he overcame that. Seriously did people not watch past Season 1. Season 2 opened with him nearly killing Darkseid.

[daBronzeBomma]

Most Superman fans I know fall into two categories on SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (hindsight being 20/20) :

A) Happy just that Superman even got his own solo animated series, even if they had to put up with Superman being ridiculously powered down (seriously, only Golden Age Superman would have been physically weaker) and Lois Lane never learning his secret (as she had well before in the comics, circa 1991).

B) Angry that when Superman gets his own solo animated series, it's nowhere near as good/revolutionary/appropriate for Superman as BATMAN:THE ANIMATED SERIES was for Ol' Pointy Ears by the same creative team ... then again, Superman fans also have LOIS & CLARK airing at this time, so the other non-Super/non-Bat hero fans are playing the world's smallest violin for them.

I'm mostly A with a little B mixed in on this one.


With regard to JUSTICE LEAGUE / JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, there seems to be much more consensus :

Bruce Timm played favorites with Batman at the expense of all the other heroes, especially Superman and Wonder Woman.

Superman (still ridiculously de-powered) couldn't think straight unless Bats showed him up first. Wonder Woman's most memorable storyline involved swooning after the emotionally unavailable Bruce Wayne. Timm admitted later that he had no idea what to do with Wonder Woman, so he decided to make her chase Batman, because he's the Batgod derp derp derp. Superman rarely looked smart on that show, while Batman always did. It fed the popular notion that Batman would crush Superman in a fight, because Bats has a working brain and Supes apparently doesn't. JL/U did Superman no favors. And even when Superman fought Darkseid, Batman intervened and ended the fight (and for good measure, called Supes an idiot). Oh, and Batman, a human, dodged Darkseid's superhumanly-fast Omega beams. Superman and Flash might be able to pull that trick off ... at their top speeds. Batman just ... jumps.

The next time Superman gets an animated show, solo or otherwise, I really hope the showrunner is an actual Superman fan.

Incidentally, this is why I'm so glad someone at DC (Johns) seems finally as sick of the Batgod as I am and had Lex Luthor show him up big time in Forever Evil.

[Guy1]

Incidentally, this is why I'm so glad someone at DC (Johns) seems finally as sick of the Batgod as I am and had Lex Luthor show him up big time in Forever Evil.

Not to mention Superman slapping around Batman like a child in JL:War.

[kkkk]

As a guy who enjoyed STAS I never felt JL/JLU got Superman enough story even with the push of JLU, I think Batman and Superman being friends was what feed the show. I think I was bugged by lack of references to STAS, they focused a lot on the fourth world stuff when it came to superman in JL/JLU, if anything Lex always felt like the more focused character then Superman. The main reason Superman got so powerful in JLU was Dwayne McDuffie's affection for the character and that he was able to write that in the show without falling into traps, I doubt the STAS could write a JLU superman

Bruce Timm did mention All Star Superman being a favorite of his(not sure that had any influence on the show) and he said he was more satisfied with his work on STAS then BTAS.

Also WB DID make another superman show, The Legion Of Superheroes on the Kids WB, I liked the first season a lot and I found there Superman more central and a good leader.

[DochaDocha]

Mixed bag, like almost all things Superman. Every once in a while, you'll get an episode like "Hereafter" that's just plain old awesome for Supes. "For the Man Who Has Everything" was fairly faithful to the Alan Moore story, and rumor has it that Alan Moore found something that he didn't hate or regret that his name was attached to it. Then you'd get unfortunate things like the Cadmus arc when Superman was pretty misguided and had a quick temper. Then you'd get stories that didn't feature Superman, such as "The Ties That Bind" or "Patriot Act" that show the characters have great respect for him and a lot of people love him. Then you'd get scenes when Superman is trashing a city in fights with Cap Marvel or Darkseid.

I think the best answer I can give is ambivalence, except when the first season is involved, in which I have nothing good to say about JL Superman.

I'm kind of surprised people disliked Newbern over Daly that much, since I thought Newbern did a good job of imitating Daly, but with slightly more energy (I mentioned in the other thread Daly felt lethargic).

[Bat007007]

Incidentally, this is why I'm so glad someone at DC (Johns) seems finally as sick of the Batgod as I am and had Lex Luthor show him up big time in Forever Evil.

Well, Geoff Johns showed Superman up big time by making him semi KO during Trinity War and non active during Forever Evil. And now Superman is gone from the Justice League. It seems Johns is sick of Superman as well when you look at it.

[daBronzeBomma]

Well, Geoff Johns showed Superman up big time by making him semi KO during Trinity War and non active during Forever Evil. And now Superman is gone from the Justice League. It seems Johns is sick of Superman as well when you look at it.

I wouldn't go that far.

I'd say Superman getting dumped on/ ignored is much more the norm at DC since 1986. Batgod getting dumped on / shown up happens so rarely that it's actually shocking when it does happen.