My Review of Superman: Man Of Tomorrow (2020)

 

Written by Tim Sheridan

Directed by Chris Palmer

Superman (to everyone): "My name is Kal El of Krypton and I come in peace."

We do seem to have something of a Superman problem, don't we? Despite nearly everyone wanting Henry Cavill to continue his role in the DCEU, we still haven't gotten much closer to him coming back for more movies and when it comes to the animated movies, if we're not repeating a famous death arc, then it's another trip down origin lane.

This is where Superman: Man Of Tomorrow comes into things. It's another trip down that particular area but fortunately, it's done in a somewhat refreshing way. No over extended opening sequence of Krypton's final days or Lex Luthor (Zachary Quinto) as the main threat. Nope, thanks to Lois Lane (Alexandra Daddario), this movie decided to put Lex mostly on ice, though he does get at least one moment to highlight what a magnificent bastard he really can be, even when working with Superman (Darren Criss) to save Metropolis.

I liked that we sped through Clark's childhood with Martha and Jonathan Kent (Bellamy Young/Neil Flynn) and simply got on with the main story of Clark being an intern at the Daily Planet, making friends with the likes of Ron Troupe (Eugene Byrd) and Rudy Jones (Brett Dalton) before having his first very public smackdown with bounty hunter, Lobo (Ryan Hurst) for good measure. 

Lobo can be something of a mixed bag, character wise. He's never a candidate for a big bad but at the same time, he's not someone who you could trust with your life either. The fight sequences with Lobo and Superman are a highlight and it's during one of these fights that poor Rudy has a horrifying transformation of his own when he becomes Parasite, who then becomes the main villain of the movie.

Having Parasite as the main baddie was such a relief and as a baddie, he was legitimately dangerous and tragic in equal measures, especially during the scenes where it looked like he killed both Lobo and of course, Martian Manhunter (Ike Amadi) but you can guess what really happened with both of those characters.

While the parallels between Superman and Parasite were not subtle , they were effective, especially during a glorious speech where Superman properly introduced himself into the world. Darren Criss did such an amazing job as Superman throughout this whole movie, the DC Animated Universe would be foolish not to bring him back for more animated movies in this particular continuity.

Also brilliant was Zachary Quinto's version of Lex Luthor. This is the very of the character that the DCEU desperately needs as Lex quickly tried and failed to enslave both Superman and Parasite, only to come afoul towards the end of this movie. As for Parasite, it seemed like the character was temporary taken out but at the same time, this movie showed that giving another member of Clark's rogue gallery the spotlight and putting Lex to the side was the best solution all round.

As for Lois Lane - I thought Alexandra Daddario did fine in the role. Her look was somewhat different for the character and while they didn't hint at a potential romance between Lois and Superman/Clark, it did seem like a future movie would do something on that front. The banter with Lois and Superman/Clark alone was another highlight along with the bonding between Superman and Martian Manhunter. 

- Not surprising but they managed to slip in a Batman cameo here, along with Martha being responsible for making Superman's costume here along with Lois naming him.

- This movie was loosely based on Max Landis's Superman: American Alien comic.

- While this movie wasn't as violent as previous DC animated movies, we did get a sequence where Clark was nude for quite a bit with only Lobo covering up down below. Ahem.

- Chronology: I'm going to assume 2020, given the technology we saw throughout the movie. 

Superman: Man Of Tomorrow might not have been needed as an origin movie but oh my God, it was the best animated origin take we could've had. I absolutely loved this movie from start to finish. The animation was similar to Archer, which I felt worked really well, the voice acting was fantastic and I just loved having Parasite as the main baddie of the piece. Just brilliant.

Rating: 9 out of 10