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Superman gets an unfair rep nowadays. Many non-comic readers, and quite a few comic book lovers, scoff at him as a relic of the distant past. A happier, more naïve time in which heroes could be good and wholesome, and there’s also an image of him as a bland, problem-free Apollonian Boy Scout.
It was with these cynical viewpoints in mind that Joe Kelly crafted one of the great Superman stories in Action Comics #775, “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?,” a story which saw Superman come face-to-face with a group of ‘heroes’ who not only weren’t afraid to kill, but thought of themselves as god-like figures here to choose the best options for the masses.
The film, also written by Joe Kelly, would have been one of the best of the DC movies if the animation had been done in a more consistent manner of the mature, dark story line. The very cartoony, kid-friendly look of the whole thing is jarringly at odds with amorality of the Elite members’ actions, and the finale which sees Superman tap into his latent dark side.
Superman’s ultra-rubbery movements and gigantic square jaw are highly distracting while he’s trying to be contemplative or express his moral outrage against this group and their actions. I don’t understand why they stuck so closely to the art of Michael Turner in Apocalypse or Ed McGuinness in Public Enemies, yet they couldn’t be bothered with trying to match the look and feel of Doug Mahnke’s expressionist and emotive style which would have been much more effective to the story.
Having gotten such a well-written script, and decent if never transcendent animation, the voice cast is also uniformly excellent, which should come as no great surprise. George Newbern, along with Tim Daly, pretty much (co-)owns the role of animated Superman, and hearing his voice come out of the character is a great match of vocal tone and personality to the particular look of a character. Pauley Perrette surprised me in her performance of Lois Lane, having never watched NCIS I couldn’t tell what to expect from her. But her tough-girl sarcasm and hard-ass demeanor are a nice reminder that Lois Lane at her best should recall Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday, and Perrette nails it. The rest of the cast is made up of the reoccurring voice actors from all of the DC animated enterprises, amongst numerous other appearances. They do their typically great work.
While it never gels together to be the great film it should be, Superman vs. the Elite does enough right to make it one of the better DC animated films. This presents us with a Superman we can believe in, and gives him a story to prove that, yes, he is still relevant and needed in our modern times. And if they were looking for a more ambitious and adventurous big screen story to borrow from in the comics, this wouldn’t be a bad choice.
