DC Animated Superhero Retrospective Series - Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010)

Written In January 2014

 So here’s the thing, I watched this movie long before Public Enemies, and after watching that movie, I was taken back to an exchange from an episode of Suite Life of Zack & Cody. It was an episode where the employees of the Tipton and a rival hotel, called the Saint Mark, were competing in a bowling tournament, and the character of Estaban remarks, after a crushing defeat, that they “Stink like a donkey in August!” to which Arwin inquires “How does a donkey smell in, say, October?” Estaban quickly replies, “Better! Not good, but better.” That’s kind of how I feel about this movie, I wouldn’t quite call it good, but it is much much MUCH better than Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, and while that’s a low bar to reach, this movie goes far beyond it. It doesn’t reach the heights of Under The Red Hood, Crisis on Two Earths, or First Flight, but it at least exceeds Mystery of the Batwoman and Brainiac Attacks. Let’s get to the plot.

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

Weeks after the events that led to Lex Luthor’s arrest, the impeachment of his presidency, and Batman’s success in saving the world from the impact of an arriving meteor, a spaceship lands in Gotham City Harbor and a young girl with no knowledge of English or any other human languages emerges. She accidentally causes all sorts of havoc with her Kryptonian-like powers until the Dark Knight exposes her to a piece of Kryptonite. WithSuperman’s help, they discover that the girl is Kara Zor-El, the niece of Jor-El and Superman/Kal-El’s biological cousin. While Superman welcomes Kara and teaches her English and how to behave in society, Batman remains suspicious. Tipped off by Batman, Wonder Woman and Lyla ambush Clark Kent and Kara in a park and take Kara to Themyscira, on the basis that only there can she learn to control her powers. Superman reluctantly agrees, but still prefers to watch over Kara himself.

Elsewhere, on the planet Apokolips, Darkseid learns of Kara’s presence on Earth, and orders her to be captured and brought to Apokolips as a possible candidate to lead the Female Furies since the departure of Big Barda. While Batman and Superman are checking on Kara on Themyscira, a horde of Doomsday clones arrive from Apokolips. Superman, Wonder Woman and the Amazonian army fight them for a while until Superman vaporizes all of them with a single blast of his heat vision, but Batman discovers that Kara is missing, and Lyla has been killed by Darkseid’s Omega Beams while trying to prevent her abduction. Distraught, Superman vows revenge. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman locate and recruit Barda to help them find their way on Apokolips. Once there, Superman tears his way to Darkseid’s palace while Wonder Woman and Barda go through the sewers directly into the fighting arena, where they are ambushed by Granny Goodness and the Female Furies. After a long fight, Granny and the Furies are subdued. Batman, meanwhile, makes his way underground and finds the Hell Spores, the source of the fire pits on Apokolips, and activates them.

Superman encounters Darkseid, who sets the brainwashed Kara on him. Kara pummels Superman while Darkseid watches, until Batman confronts Darkseid and informs him that he has activated the Hell Spores, all of which will destroy Apokolips. He issues Darkseid an ultimatum: free Kara and promise to leave her alone, and Batman will deactivate the Spores. Intrigued, Darkseid admits his admiration for Batman’s tactics. Acknowledging that neither Superman nor Wonder Woman have the “strength of character” to destroy an entire planet, Darkseid relents. Superman manages to defeat Kara, and Barda and Wonder Woman present Darkseid with the subdued Granny. Defeated, Darkseid allows them to leave Apokolips. With their lives normal again, Clark decides to take Kara to meet his adoptive parents in Smallville. However, they are ambushed by Darkseid, who was waiting to kill Superman; he had promised to leave Kara alone, but not Superman or Earth. Superman is blasted into orbit by Darkseid’s Omega Beams, leaving Kara to face Darkseid alone.

A lengthy battle ensues with Kara (having received both Amazonian and Apokoliptian training) putting up a respectable fight, but Darkseid eventually overpowers her. Superman recovers and returns to Earth to confront Darkseid again. He gains the upper hand and pummels Darkseid using a combination of punches and heat vision at super speed. Darkseid grabs Superman and begins attacking him with Omega Beams. As Superman’s skin starts to glow red hot from the assault, Kara uses Darkseid's Mother Box to activate a Boom Tube behind Darkseid. Superman uses the momentary distraction to his advantage and pushes Darkseid through. While Superman anticipates Darkseid’s eventual return from Apokolips, Kara informs him that she changed the coordinates to a random spot in space, leaving Darkseid floating around frozen in ice. Having saved her cousin’s life and found her place on Earth, Kara decides to use her powers to fight foraltruism under the alias of Supergirl. She is met with applause by Wonder Woman, the Amazons, and finally, Batman. Superman and Supergirl then fly off to Metropolis.

Okay, here’s the thing this movie has more pros than it does cons, but the cons it does have are in my opinion, very big cons, that cost this movie a lot. I… I don’t wanna say it, Rihanna, can you say it for me?

Thank you, I take back 89% of the bad thing I said about your music… Okay, 86… No, 78… You know what, I’ll just call you back later when I’ve reached a number. Let’s get into the pros and cons about this movie.

PROS:

• Tim Daly is Superman.
• Kevin Conroy is Batman.
• Susan Eisenberg is Wonder Woman!
• Summer Glau as Supergirl! This is a really great casting choice! Also, I can’t help but be reminded of her character in Firefly given Kara’s situation, haha.
• While I think the material he’s given is pretty generic bad guy stuff, I think Andre Braugher does a pretty darn good job as Darkseid!
• The action is great
• Big Barda is in this movie, and she kicks ass!
• While on Apolkolips, there’s this amazing fight sequence with Big Barda and Wondy on one side, and Granny Goodness’s furies, and it is amazing! Some of the best action I’ve seen in these movies!

CONS:

• The fight between Darksied and Kara & Clark feels extremely tacked on. This movie should’ve just ended with Clark and Kara walking into the Kent House and been welcomed by Clark’s Ma and Pa, and sat down for some apple pie or something.
• Wonder Woman is pretty in character, but I’m not sure if she can be called Wonder Woman, because in one scene she says something Wonder Woman would NEVER say! When Diana and Clark are debating over what should be done with Kara, the younger girl pipes and says “Hey, don’t I have a say in this?” In unison Wondy and Supes both reply “No!” That’s kind of out of character for Superman, but at least he recants it. Wonder Woman however, would never say she knows what’s better for someone than they do, especially not a woman! Age be damned!
• Superman would not just roll over for Diana if she assumes she knows what’s better for her cousin than he does. And he wouldn’t just let things happen without Kara’s input. He’d ask her, “Kara, do you want to do this? Yes? Well I’m not sure, but if you say so.” Or “No? Alright then, we won’t.” He wouldn’t roll over and let someone else decide for his cousin.
• Batman is admittedly pretty in character, but the extent of his mistrust in this movie is horribly exaggerated. He wouldn’t trust Kara at first admittedly, but he would be so out of caution. Here, it comes off like outright xenophobia. Like he doesn’t trust her purely because he doesn’t know her.
• This one is more of a nitpick, but after the fight with Amazons in the park, Diana remarks that Kara used her heat vision against them and just wound up slicing up a bunch of trees and Superman’s statue. Superman himself has used that move a million different times! And the only reason she did use that move is because they fucking attacked her!

All in all, I liked this movie better than the last time I watched it, and I liked it much better than the last movie with “Superman/Batman” in the title, but I’d rather just put on Crisis or First Flight on. Superman/Batman: Apocalypse gets a 6 out of 10.