DC Animated Superhero Retrospective Series - Superman Vs. The Elite (2012)

Written In January 2014

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

The movie opens up with Manchester Black watching multiple news stories about villains and how they’re given second chances. As, all of the news stories close down to one solution, the world wants solutions to all of the evil in the world; by killing it. When Manchester sees that this is what the world wants, he turns off the TV and begins his plot to keep the world safe….by any means necessary.

Back at Metropolis, Lois and Clark witness the death of multiple people in the streets at the hands of the Atomic Skull who was killing people to draw out Superman. As the battle erupts throughout most of the city, Superman ends up defeating Atomic Skull by throwing him into a lake. After this Superman gives a speech at the United Nations about the greater good that is found within everyone. During this the leaders of Bialyia and Pokolistan begin to fight due to their peace treaty being broken, Superman leaves the United Nations to stop their armed forces from destroying each other.

As Superman arrives in Bialya, the Pokolistani forces release a bio weapon on the Bialyan military which destroys most of their ground forces. As Superman gets the soldiers to safety from the bio weapon, The Elite arrive just in time to help the Man of Steel destroy the bio weapon.

Superman returns to Metropolis to report the news and also gain more information on the Elite. Superman and Lois fly to England to find out if they, and the world, can trust the Elite. It is revealed through Manchester Black that he gained his powers near puberty and used it for the first time to save his sister Vera from being hit by a train.

Through telepathy, Black gets a painful headache of multiple people screaming. The Elite and Superman arrive on the scene to save the civilians on a subway train which was trapped underwater due to a terrorist attack. After Superman and Black save the passengers, Black interrogates the terrorists that bombed the train nearly killing them. Superman begins to be concerned about the motives of his new-found friends.

Back in Metropolis, Clark and Lois talk about the information they had found on the Elite and also the back-story of Manchester Black. Lois tells Clark that there is no death certificate or birth record of Manchester’s sister Vera. This makes Clark further question the origin of the Elite and what they are really trying to accomplish. When Manchester broadcasts a message for all the world to hear, he ends up telling them that they will take care of all the bad guys in the world by killing them.

After the broadcast, Superman returns to the Fortress of Solitude to search for reliable information on the Elite. Having failed in finding information, Superman travels to Bialya. While there Superman is hit by an EMP which weakens him. Closing Pokolistani forces are about to attack him when the Elite attacks. Powerless to stop the chaos that the Elite inflict on the Pokolistani military, Superman ends up passing out. He eventually awakens at the Elite’s base of operations and is teleported back to Earth after he fails to convince the Elite that they don’t have to kill to be heroes.

In Metropolis, Atomic Skull breaks out of prison and looks for revenge on Superman. The Elite arrives but have little success against the overpowered Atomic Skull. When Superman arrives, he coordinates an attack with the Elite to get all the extra power away from Atomic Skull. After Atomic Skull’s power is drained by Coldcast, he is killed by Manchester Black under the vote of a boy whose father was one of Atomic Skull’s victims.

After protecting Pokolistan from Bialya’s jets, Superman is visited by the Elite who tell him that they have killed both the Pokolistan and Bialya leaders and that peace can reign supreme in that area once again. Angered by Manchester’s uncontrollable urge to kill the villains, Superman punches him in the face and the Elite take it as a statement of war against the world’s “favorite heroes.” They tell Superman that they will kill him for this outrage.

The next day, Superman stands in the middle of Metropolis telling the Elite that he is ready to fight. Asking them to do it somewhere safe, they teleport to the Moon where they begin their fight. Almost dying, Superman begins to understand how to protect the world. Injecting Menagerie with a poison that causes her sym-beasts to abandon her and forcing her into a state of death. The Hat attempts to exploit Superman’s known weakness to magic but is suffocated by a whirlwind displacing oxygen and sucked into the funnel.

Against Coldcast’s wishes, Manchester teleports them to Metropolis to use the innocent civilians as cover. While Black gives the order to combine powers to destroy Metropolis when Superman appears, a flash blur of red and blue appears and Coldcast is gone. Superman appears informing Black that the blow knocked Coldcast into orbit. Manchester attacks Superman with everything he has but is effortlessly avoided. Through heat vision, Superman lobotomizes Manchester, stripping him of his powers. Believing his death to be seconds away, Manchester tells Superman that the world knows he is no better than they are and will never again trust him. Superman reveals that he did not kill any of the Elite, but he had his Super-Robots protected all of the citizens and created the false illusion that he had killed them. They were really transported to the Fortress of Solitude to be stripped of their powers, then sent to a prison. In the end, the people of Earth see that Superman’s way is best for all of mankind. After that, he flies off with Lois and they kiss.

If Brainiac Attacks is to Superman what Mystery of the Batwoman is to Batman, then this is Superman’s Under The Red Hood! It’s a challenge to our hero’s morals and contains a hot headed young man who has the stones to say, let’s kill the bad guys instead of just locking ‘em up! And both times the titular hero gives the best answer they could why they won’t do it. The differences are inherent to the characters, and also I think in the presentations of the bad guys who want to get their hands dirty. But I’ll explain that in a moment or two. Let’s get to the pros and cons.

PROS:

• This movie and Injustice prove two things to me. 1) George Newbern is HORRIFYING as an Evil Superman! 2) George is also the best voice for Superman in general, I think Tim does the better Clark Kent, but George Newbern IS Superman! This monologue isn’t in this movie, but listen to this clip and tell me it isn’t perfect! Now listen to this clip that actually is from this movie… This is the same guy talking both times. This guy can do Superman threatening to make Darksied a greasy smear on his fist and can turn right around and say that dreams are what will save humanity in the end. Give this guy a trophy! And give it to him now!
• Pauley Perrette as Lois Lane! This chick got it! I’ve never watched NCIS, but this and Mark Harmon’s Superman back in Crisis on Two Earths really gives me the incentive to watch it!
• The action in this one is terrific as always!
• I love how this movie actually challenges an idea that far too many people have nowadays. When people say “Superman is outdated.” I say “Bullshit!” I’m all for the grim and gritty heroes like Batman, The Punisher, or Judge Dredd, but at the end of the day, those aren’t superheroes. They’re antiheroes, except for Dredd, they all do what they do because they lost someone and it drove them so mad that they decided they would ruin their life just to make sure criminals paid the price. That’s not a superhero. A superhero is someone who realizes that they have the ability to stand up for truth and justice, and realize they have the responsibility to do those. But at the same time, superheroes aren’t the law, they may work with and alongside it, but they are not the police. They are there to protect the innocent, not enforce law. And they are certainly not there to reestablish it. I do think that Superman should kill, but I think it should only ever be in a situation where doing so would neutralize a threat to the people that would other wise persist.
• While I don’t think they’re given the best characters ever, I think the actors who voice the Elite do pretty good work.
• Fred Tatasciore as Perry White! That’s it. He doesn’t say a ton but he’s great!

CONS:

• The Elite are some of the dumbest villains I’ve ever seen. They claim to be good guys, and even to be enormous fans of superman, but they do things that would clearly be frowned upon by any good guy, Superman included. Even the characters themselves are terrible. Machester’s a wannabe punk rocker who thinks he’s Malcolm X or something. Menagerie’s constantly making sexual remarks about Superman which is about as far as her character gets. Coldcast is just a thug. And Hat’s just a drunk They’re all morons too, they go ahead and kill all the leaders of two entire countries and act like they fixed a problem when they’ve only made it worse! Even if you're for the death penalty you shouldn’t support these guys because they’re idiots!
• The people in this movie are morons too. Superman’s been protecting their ungrateful asses for years, and out comes these young hot headed dumbasses who say “Hey! Let’s bypass the courts on whether or not these guys are guilty enough to merit a death sentence and kill 'em already! And while we’re at it, fuck diplomacy! Let’s leave two unstable countries in total anarchy! Because total anarchy is cool!” And everyone is like and
  
  
  and I’m just sitting here like
  
• There’s this one scene that really got on my nerves. When Atomic Skull goes on through Metropolis the second time, he kills this pundit who was advocating for Superman at the UN. The son mourning practically begs Manchester to kill Atomic Skull. Did you never once listen to your father you little brat? And more importantly, do you not realize that your talking about a living person here? I know you’re mourning and you want revenge, but do you really think your father, who was VOUCHING for Superman to remain on his no killing stance, would really want you to avenge him this way? THINK ABOUT IT YOU NIMROD!

All in all, I think this is the second best Superman movie I’ve reviewed so far, I don’t think it’s quite as good as Doomsday but it is much better than Brainiac Attacks! I’m gonna give Superman Vs. The Elite a 7.5 out of 10.