Superman: The Animated Series - Episodes 37-40 Reviews

In this batch of episodes, a warrior queen makes her affections known, Darkseid shows he means business and Kara Zor El makes her debut.

Episode 37: Warrior Queen

We've been here before with a powerful female character wanting Superman as a mate and him not being so keen on the prospect but enough about Blast From The Past already. This time around, it's the rather bored ruler, Maxima who is keen on making the Man of Steel her husband and while she's busy making this happen, her handmaiden Sazu plotted with De'Cine to take over Maxima's home planet until everyone worked together to overthrow De'Cine with Superman's more merciful influence rubbing off Maxima a little bit. The final scene with Lobo showing up though was an unexpected delight. 7/10

Episode 38: Apokolips .... Now!, Part 1

Darkseid has had enough minor appearances that the next time he showed up, it needed to be something that actually demonstrated how much of a real threat he could be. This two parter certainly was aware of that and here, we saw him actually make an attack on Metropolis while also getting some interesting flashbacks to Orion being swapped at birth (who comes across as an ally to Superman here) via Granny Goodness. The episode's biggest strength is also Dan Turpin who takes on a bigger role when Maggie is taken out during the earlier attacks. There's also the arrival of Toby as well, which is another point for this impressive two parter. 9/10

Episode 39: Apokolips .... Now!, Part 2

If Darkseid wasn't enough for Superman to go up against, the addition of Steppenwolf was a good way to add to the tension of this story. This show hasn't always dipped into the darkness compared to it's Dark Knight couterpart but this episode really was one of the darkest we've had though. We got to see Superman somewhat subdued before he was able to drive off Darkseid with Orion's help but not before Darkseid went ahead and actually killed Dan Turpin in front of everyone. I genuinely didn't see that one coming and it was a masterstroke, although somewhat signposted given Turpin's larger role in this story as a whole. A brilliant two parter, possibly the best story from the series aside from the World's Finest three parter of course. 9/10

Episode 40: Little Girl Lost, Part 1

I think it makes a lot of sense that before debuting Kara Zor El/Supergirl (Nicholle Tom) that this show had made sure a lot of time had passed before adding her into the mix. Into the final story of it's second season was the right place to do it and while I wish they had gone for a costume that we've seen in the comics and Helen Slater's 1984 movie, the series does seem to get the character right so far. Kara's got a great rapport with Clark and seeing her and Jimmy work together to go up against the Intergang, Granny Goodness (who gets some shocking lines) and the Furies was pretty entertaining. A promising start for the Maid of Might. 7/10

Next blog I'll delve into Little Girl Lost Part 2, Where There's Smoke, Knight Time and New Kids In Town.