Hello, my friends. Now that we’ve gone through a hectic, tumultuous and psychotic year full of wildfires, racial injustice and a worldwide plague, I think it’s time that we put 2020 behind us and look forward to a bright & prosperous future. As such, I find it absolutely fitting that I’ve chosen to tackle a film about setting the groundwork for better things to come while also embracing the potential hurdles that lie ahead. On that note, I welcome you all to another entry of…
Not only was my signature review series due for a logo change, but it’s also fitting that it came with us on the verge of preparing to embark into the chronological unknown. With that in mind, it’s time for us to once again bring up the famous Last Son of Krypton as I give my thoughts on another one of his animated outings. Before he became the famous Man of Steel, he’ll be setting things in place for him to become…
Released on August 23, 2020 for Digital Download and September 8 on DVD, Blu-Ray & 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray before getting a special online streaming release on September 12 for a single day on DC Fandome, this particular tale was written by Tim Sheridan and directed by Chris Palmer. So, how will our familiar Kryptonian build the groundworks for his iconic superheroic persona? Let’s take flight in order to find out.
Following the title card, we begin in Smallville as a pair of young boys are watching a cheesy sci-fi movie for their sleepover. After the on-screen alien reveals himself and attacks a woman, one particular boy becomes distraught by this action and begins to cry over it. As Petey (voiced by Christina Milizia) notices this and calls out to his mother, we soon cut to the kid having to be picked up by his dad, who turns out to be Jonathan Kent (voiced by Scrubs’ Janitor himself, Neil Flynn) as he tries to ask the young Kal-El on the incident, though he remains silent throughout the car ride.
We then cut to several days later over on the Kent family farm as the boy attempts to figure out how to open a triangular gizmo from his original home world. During this, Martha Kent (voiced by Melody Grant herself, Bellamy Young) expresses her worry towards their adopted son feeling different from everyone else. Jonathan tells her that their kid is distinct and that even though it scares their child, it’s important that he learns about where he came from. As Kal-El gets frustrated with his inability to make the otherworldly device work, he proceeds to throw it in anger. Suddenly, it catches itself in midair and hovers for a bit while emanating a unique glow before it places itself onto the floor.
Several years later, Clark Kent (voiced by Blaine Anderson & the Music Meister himself, Darren Criss) has become a young adult and moved to Metropolis. As he prepares for work, he has a video conversation with his parents who express their worry for him since he’s been unintentionally getting some media attention as a “flying man” over the past two months. Jonathan also says that unlike the humble quietness of Smallville, the city has plenty of “powerful people” that would be itching to get their probing hands on him. Clark promises to be careful as he heads out to his job at the Daily Planet and their coverage of an upcoming launch, unaware that a mysterious man is watching him from afar.
Later, Kent arrives at the launch site outside of S.T.A.R. Labs as he delivers coffee to his fellow reporters, including Ron Troupe (voiced by Eugene Byrd). From there, the event begins as Lex Luthor (voiced by Sylar & Spock himself, Zachary Quinto) tells the press that S.T.A.R. will be launching their “sophisticated orbital telescope” into space upon a rocket that’s funded by his company LexCorp. From there, he calls up Lois Lane (voiced by Alexandra Daddario) who recently won the Luthor Journalism Scholarship and says that he’ll only be accepting a single question from her. She exclaims that she’s spent the last several months investigating how the rocket was shadily funded by “a rather hefty government contract”. Lex confidently assures the media that it’s a legit investment from the President before Lois reveals a hidden recording that she made of her conversation with him. It turns out that he discreetly placed a particular figure into executive power in order to get the necessary funds for the rocket’s construction through less-than-legal means and with faulty parts. His bodyguard Mercy Graves grabs the device and crushes it with her strength, but Lane finishes what Luthor said to her about it still taking off and that those who live within striking distance of the launch site will end up “hit by fiery debris”, concluding with the fact that she’s made several copies of the recording. Afterwards, the press swarms him about this.
Meanwhile, Clark notices a janitor taking a brief break as he decides to give the man the last cup of coffee. After he gladly accepts it, the custodian named Rudy Jones (voiced by Grant Ward himself, Brett Dalton) asks Kent why he’s not among the swarm of reporters, to which Clark explains that he’s an intern. Shortly afterwards, the rocket proceeds to blast off. From there, Rudy says that it’s nothing compared to what he’s seen within S.T.A.R. Labs, consisting of “experiments, bizarre weapons, and containment cells” that’re capable of handling “the kinds of weird powers” that the media has been recently covering. As he learns about this, Kent discreetly uses his X-Ray Vision to see what lies beneath the facility. He then asks Rudy if he can help him get inside, but Jones exclaims that he’s unable to since he doesn’t want to jeopardize his ability to financially support his wife, his daughter Kaylie and a second child that’s due to be born eventually. Afterwards, he warns Clark about a potential stalker (which turns out to be the same mysterious man), thanks to his previous experience in the armed forces.
Suddenly, the rocket starts to malfunction and proceeds to plummet towards Metropolis as Kent manages to sneak away. With his incriminating statement still fresh upon the press’ thoughts, Lex tries to discreetly flee. However, the cops immediately approach and arrest him. Afterwards, Clark returns in his proto-superhero disguise as he flies up towards the plummeting rocket in plain sight of the reporters.
With his super-strength, he manages to carry the busted rocket away from the city and up into space before he heaves it towards the sun. After discovering how high he’s flown, he soon feels the comforting and reenergizing glow of Earth’s main star as he basks within its bright light.
We then cut to the next day at the Daily Planet as Kent notices two articles within the day’s newspaper: Lex Luthor is en route to a 15-year jail sentence for his action and some governmental talks about the “flying man”. Afterwards, the paper’s managing editor Perry White (voiced by Piotr Michael) gathers his staff together in order to introduce Lois as their newest reporter. Despite her recent takedown of Luthor, the rest of the staff simply rolls their eyes and wander off. Afterwards, she notices that Clark is the only one who didn’t stroll away before he finally realizes it and accidentally bumps some newspapers off of a table before he ultimately takes his leave.
Later, Lois is dealing with a paper jam in the copy room just as Kent comes in. After they properly introduce themselves to each other, he proceeds to compliment her for taking down Lex before asking her how she pulled it off. She says that scumbags like Luthor believe that they can lord their power over everyone and that she ultimately made him feel helpless by asking all the strategically-right questions in order to knock him down via a “Power Move”. After she takes her leave, Clark notices some pictures that she accidentally left behind before discovering that they show him carrying the rocket while in disguise before coming across an adjacent picture of Batman where she commented about his “cool cape”.
Later, Kent uses his blanket as a cape in order to see how it would work with his superhero outfit. Suddenly, he gets a news broadcast about S.T.A.R. Labs’ detection of an unidentified object hurtling towards Earth. As the scientists try to figure out where it’s heading while Rudy looks on from afar, Clark proceeds to head out without his cape.
As he approaches the incoming ball of fire, he soon discovers that it’s not space debris at all. Instead, it turns out to be the Czanian bounty hunter himself, Lobo (voiced by Harry Winston himself, Ryan Hurst). As reporters and cameramen (not to mention the same mysterious figure) look on from afar, Kent asks the invader on his reason for being here. After telling the “Kryptonian” the same thing, Lobo takes out his hook & chain and manages to wrap it around his arm.
Clark grabs onto the chain and hurls him down into a building. After he recovers, Lobo whistles for his Space Hog before pursuing Kent while firing an otherworldly gun. A brief chase ensues before Lobo takes out another weapon and fires several alien beings that manage to latch onto Kent and attempt to shock him. Fortunately, he uses his Heat Vision to disintegrate these creatures.
Lobo tries to fire back, but Clark manages to ram into him and forces the bounty hunter into a construction site, though not without accidentally causing some collateral damage along the way. Lobo then tells Kent that he’s the last surviving Kryptonian within the whole universe. As such, there’s a massive bounty on him. As Clark exclaims that he’ll have to be brought in alive, Lobo discreetly takes out a small explosive before he kicks it over to Kent and detonates it. Fortunately, Clark survived the blast with only his outfit getting mostly damaged.
Lobo then takes out a blade-shooting gattling gun and fires away, yet Kent is able to disarm him. From there, they engage each other in a brief scuffle before Clark decides to move the fight to a different location.
As Rudy and the S.T.A.R. Labs scientists continue to observe the news coverage of this dust-up, Lobo manages to pursue Clark before he hops off his Space Hog and tackles his target. As Jones sees them plummeting towards the building, he urgently tells the workers to get out before the two aliens crash their way inside. While Rudy helps his technicians escape, Lobo picks up the unconscious Kent and slams him into the floor with a devastating force. Unfortunately, Jones is unable to get out in time as the ground caves underneath him and he falls towards the facility’s sub-levels.
As a result, he winds up pinned underneath some debris while Clark and Lobo continue their fight. Just then, the alien bounty hunter takes out a special grenade and hurls it at Kent, who manages to evade the massive blast.
It also releases a massive pile of purple sentient goop that manages to reach Rudy and envelope him entirely. By the time Clark’s super-hearing picks up on his heart beat, he arrives too late to help him.
Suddenly, he gets blindsided by Lobo. Fortunately, Kent retaliates by throwing him onto the parking lot where he proceeds to pound away at his foe before hitting him up towards the atmosphere. Just as Lois and the rest of the reporters arrive, Clark finishes his upward assault before flying back down towards the sounds of congratulatory applause (as well as the same mystery man).
However, Lobo managed to recover as he uses Earth’s gravitational pull to plummet right towards his target. Kent tells the reporters to flee before he receives a vicious hit that causes them to decimate the parking lot. With Clark pinned, Lobo proceeds to reveal a ring upon his fist. Not only that, but it contains Kryptonite as he proceeds to wail away upon Kent’s face. As Clark lies battered & weakened within the bounty hunter’s grasp, Lobo prepares to finish him off. Suddenly, he gets tossed by some otherworldly tendrils.
It turns out it be another alien as Lobo attempts to shoot him, but it manages to phase though his shots before it proceeds to engage the bounty hunter.
Meanwhile, Kent picks himself up and remembers how rejuvenating the sun felt. As such, he proceeds to fly up for a proper recharge. However, this distracts the green alien long enough for Lobo to attack with an explosive before tackling his foe into the crater.
Back with Clark, he manages to fly up and absorb enough sunlight in order to regain his full strength. Afterwards, he heads right back down as the heat from the re-entry burns away his clothes. Despite that, he heads right for Lobo while the green alien escapes. Kent manages to fake out the bounty hunter by stopping in time before taking him out with a single punch. Afterwards, he carries his defeated foe to approving applause.
We then cut to several days later at the Daily Planet as Perry tells his staff that they still don’t have any information about the two aliens that recently popped up. As such, he doesn’t want them covering the “Flying Man” (or as Lois has called him: Superman) anymore. Instead, he wants his reporters to focus on the otherworldly beings. Afterwards, Clark talks to Lois about an interview that she’s supposed to have with Superman. She says that she’s purposefully skipping it with the intent of employing her Power Move upon him, hoping that he’ll get impatient before asking to reschedule and be willing to answer whatever she asks of him. As they ride the elevator down towards the main floor, Kent asks her if Superman attempts to deny it, to which Lane says that she’ll already know the truth by then since she’s presently on her way to interview Lobo. In the end, she intends on writing a Pulitzer-winning exposé that covers her “revelatory takedown of the alien who calls himself the Superman”.
We then cut to sometime later in Smallville as Clark visits his parents and talks about his superheroic persona causing some tension amongst the humans. He also says that sooner or later, he’ll be asked where he came from & why he was sent here and he’s afraid that he won’t have the proper answers for those questions. Not to mention, Lois is in the middle of creating her exposé. Jonathan then reminds him that “the world is dangerous and unforgiving”. As such, he’ll only have two options to work with: either confront this problem or attempt to lay low. Either way, both decisions will come with their own set of consequences. As such, Clark gets told that he’ll have to make the choice himself and face the drawbacks that come with it.
Later that night in Metropolis, Mrs. Jones and Kaylie are in the hospital as they wait for the doctors to finish their operation upon Rudy. Over in the operating room, the medical team proceeds to remove some of his inoperable organs. Suddenly, he wakes up and grabs one of the doctor’s arms as she calls for a Code Black. As two members of her staff attempts to send in the call, Rudy grips another scrub and throws him at the fleeing doctors, successfully knocking them out. He then clutches onto the last remaining doctor and proceeds to drain both of their life energies, leaving them as lifeless husks.
From there, Rudy puts on a coat and makes his way out. After he sees the operable cut heal up, he manages to walk past his wife & daughter without them noticing him.
Back in Smallville, Clark is helping his parents with a late-night chore. Suddenly, his super-hearing picks up a disturbing sound as he tells his folks to stop the truck. Later, Jonathan and Martha arrive back at their house where the mysterious man is waiting for them and says that he came here for their son. The Kents tell him that he’s not here at the moment, but it doesn’t deter the guy as he asks them where their kid can be found. When Jonathan tells him to take his leave, the mystery man proceeds to put him in a trance and attempts to read his thoughts.
Fortunately, Clark runs in to intervene as the mysterious man dodges and vanishes. From there, he tells his parents to get in the house and lock their doors before he flies up to scan the area with his X-Ray Vision. Suddenly, the mystery man appears behind him as Clark attempts to attack while the being is able to evade his strikes. After blocking one of Clark’s punches, the man says that he only wishes to talk to him as he reveals his true identity. Not only is he the green alien that helped him against Lobo, but he’s actually J’onn J’onzz a.k.a. Martian Manhunter (voiced by Ike Amadi).
Over in Metropolis, Rudy makes his way into a pharmacy and asks for some drugs in order to deal with his internal pain. The pharmacist tells him that there’s nothing he can do without a prescription and even tries to point him towards a nearby clinic. However, Jones grabs him and absorbs his life energy. In addition, he also gains the man’s medical knowledge in order to learn what works as a postsurgical analgesic: Fentanyl. Afterwards, he hops over the counter in order to acquire the drug. As he swipes the pharmacy’s entire supply, a young couple approaches the counter and notice the newly-deceased pharmacist. From there, Rudy walks by a mirror and notices what’s physically becoming of him. Afterwards, he hops back across the counter and absorbs their life energies.
Back at the Kent Farm in Smallville, Jonathan & Martha prepare some tea for Clark and J’onn before heading up for bed. Afterwards, Kent thanks his alien friend for his timely save at S.T.A.R. Labs. However, J’onzz regrets revealing his true form since he’s partially responsible for Lobo arriving on Earth in the first place. As Kal-El learns that J’onn is also the lone surviving member of his whole race, J’onzz exclaims that he’ll be reverting back into his human disguise in order to keep a low profile. He advises Clark to do the same, due to having experienced humanity’s “rampant xenophobia” and its potential to “destroy a great civilization”. However, Kal-El says that it’s not an option since the Daily Planet is prepping to publish an exposé about him. Fortunately, mankind is starting to see him as a “champion” of sorts. As such, he thinks that telling the truth about himself will allow the humans to see him in a better light. As J’onn informs Clark of his original birth name, he explains that he thought that Kal-El was a fellow Martian. As such, he attempted a telepathic link and accidentally tapped into his memories from Krypton. Afterwards, he proceeds to access the technological triangle with ease. From there, it shows a hologram of Kal-El’s birth parents Jor-El and Lara as they place their child within a tiny spaceship. J’onzz then says that he can help him access these memories stored within the device in order to learn from them. Later, Martian Manhunter tells Clark to simply “listen” in order to find him again before taking his leave.
We then shift to the next day as Kal-El has spent the entire night learning about his former home world. Martha then comes out as he says that he’s barely scratched the surface on the historical information that’s contained within. Afterwards, she presents his proper costume that she made with the fabric that came with him inside his rocket. He even gets a cape that’s made out of a highly-durable fabric as he thanks his mother for the outfit. Afterwards, Jonathan arrives back with a copy of the Daily Planet containing the first part of Lois’ exposé. Clark tells his parents that it only teases a big reveal, but she’s waiting until she’s interviewed Lobo to do so. As such, Kal-El decides to fly back to Metropolis in order to deal with this developing situation.
Over at S.T.A.R. Labs, Lois is attempting to interview Lobo. However, he’s being hilariously difficult with her. When she’s able to ask him about Superman being the lone Kryptonian on Earth and if there’s any more of them on their way, Lobo initially lies about it just to enjoy the shocked look on her face.
Unbeknownst to them, the ever-mutating Rudy slowly gains further access within the building. Meanwhile, Lane gets fed up of Lobo’s sexually harassing shenanigans and decides to head out. Suddenly, she notices that the nearby technicians have been reduced to withered husks before Jones pops in and breaks down the door. Afterwards, Lois manages to record him on her cell phone before he begins to charge towards her.
Suddenly, a pair of guards arrive and open fire on him. Unfortunately, it only succeeds in temporarily slowing him down as he rushes over and grabs each of them, managing to absorb their life energies.
During all of this, Lois manages to hide behind the mangled door in order to keep recording this incident. Afterwards, Rudy sees the imprisoned Lobo and attempts to get back at the Czarnian bounty hunter for what he unintentionally did. Instead, he absorbs the electricity from the containment cell. As a result, he ends up mutating into a monstrous-looking being while shorting out the containment barrier. As such, Lobo casually takes his leave. Afterwards, the newly-mutated Parasite gets up and claws his way out.
Meanwhile, Lois tries to keep recording the incident, but she accidentally loses her grip on her cell phone before she hears some approaching footsteps. Fortunately, it turned out to be Superman as he lifts the door out of the way. Before he takes his leave to stop Parasite, he tells Lois that he should be the one who tells the masses about his intentions. Thankfully, she agrees right before he heads out.
Back over with Parasite, he continues his energy-absorbing rampage when he spots a train passing by. As such, he hops on and attempts to drain the passengers of their life essences. Suddenly, Superman shows up to intervene. Rudy charges right at him, only to end up phasing through him before slamming into a nearby building. It turns out to be Martian Manhunter as the actual Superman arrives.
However, Parasite is able to quickly recover as Supes steps in to deal with him. During their struggle, Rudy senses a vast amount of power from his adversary before he’s hit by Superman’s Heat Vision. Not only does Parasite easily withstand the blast, but he’s also able to absorb its energy. As such, Kal-El uses his Heat Vision to trap Rudy within a mass of asphalt. Afterwards, he checks up on J’onn and his attempt to save the train passengers.
Unfortunately, Parasite managed to break out and tackle Superman. From there, he begins to absorb Kal-El’s energy and also starts to mutate even further. Not only that, but Rudy even takes in his thoughts and discovers his Earth-based identity of Clark Kent, in addition to his Kryptonian birth name.
Martian Manhunter is able to fly in and tackle the monstrous fiend, but Parasite manages to grab his fists and absorb his energy. After gaining the knowledge of J’onn’s identity, Rudy then uses a newfound ability as he strikes back with Heat Vision and incinerates J’onzz before he uses another newly-acquired technique and vanishes.
Later, Clark is back at his apartment as he struggles to fully recover from the attack. In his weakened state, his Heat Vision can barely make the water in his glass boil. He then smashes the glass in anger before he immediately sees that the shards managed to leave a bloody gash on his palm. Suddenly, Lois bursts in to check up on him. As she cleans his cut, she says that Perry sent her over to inform Kent that he’s fired just because he didn’t show up for work.
Afterwards, she asks him if he saw Superman. Clark says that he did as well as Martian Manhunter getting incinerated by “that parasite thing”. From there, he says that being a reporter has essentially become overwhelming to him. Thankfully, she tells him that he purposefully chose an occupation that puts him on the frontline of dangerous things in order to “make a difference”, only to occasionally “get smacked down”. However, it’s worth facing those risks if it’s what he wants to do and there will come times when he’ll need to “ask someone smarter” in order to get the job done. As he looks at a newspaper photo of Lex, Clark realizes that she’s right as he thanks her before sending her out in order to go “talk to someone smart”.
Later, Superman meets with Luthor in jail and tells him that he needs his assistance in order to reach outer space. Lex realizes that the sun is a valuable power source for Supes and that he’s not presently at full-strength, to which Superman says that it’s vital since Parasite has been on a rampage and only he can stop this monster. Luthor says that he’ll help, but he needs to be out of prison in order to do so. As such, he exclaims that he’ll simply acquire “a day pass”.
Meanwhile at her apartment, Mrs. Jones is setting up breakfast when her daughter Kaylie calls her into her room in order to find a shoe. Suddenly, Parasite phases in and sees the card that his daughter made for him. After he accidentally knocks over his coffee mug, he’s suddenly approached by Kaylie. Not too long afterwards, she screams in terror as he’s forced to flee before Mrs. Jones returns to comfort her daughter.
Later that night, Superman and Lex arrive at LexCorp’s tech-filled sub-level as Luthor learns about Parasite absorbing enough of Supes’ energy, thus bringing him down to a weaker state. Lex tells him that he’ll eventually be back at full-strength, though he’s not sure when. Also, he refuses to help Superman get into space, due to his lack of training in space-travel. However, Luthor assures him that he has a plan. Having accessed the security footage from S.T.A.R. Labs, Lex explains that Lobo’s special grenade contained “an organic EMP”, which absorbs whatever kind of power it manages to reach. As a result of it merging itself with Rudy Jones, he’s become “some kind of energy vampire”. Luthor also exclaims that this can also be beneficial, since whatever Parasite absorbs will also place its weaknesses upon him. From there, Lobo comes in as Lex explains that he still followed the current events while behind bars. As such, he had a surrogate track down the recently-escaped bounty hunter and strike a deal with him. With Superman exclaiming that the Kryptonite ring greatly weakened him during their last encounter and that it can be helpful with defeating Parasite, Lobo hands it over to Luthor who scans it and says it emits an “extraordinary amount of radiation”. Fortunately, he knows how they’ll be able to draw their fiend out.
Later, Superman and Lobo are at the power plant. The employees have been evacuated due to a bomb threat as Lobo reveals that not only was he the one who called it in, but he has plenty of bombs tucked inside his vest. From there, the power into the city gets cut off by Lex and causes the plant to glow brighter due to its newly-stored electricity. As Superman and Lobo wait for their target to come to them, Parasite discreetly swims through the water before it rises up to approach them.
From there, our main group springs into action as Superman attempts to see how much of his strength he managed to recover by using his Heat Vision on it. However, Parasite withstands the strike and lets out a powerful sonic shriek that blasts Kal-El back towards the power plant and into one of its buildings.
Afterwards, Lobo takes his shot as he rides on his Space Hog towards Parasite and proceeds to punch away at its head with the Kryptonite ring. Unfortunately, it’s not affected by it as even Superman is perplexed by this turn of events. Luthor then realizes that Parasite has a limit to how long he can hold onto Supes’ powers and weaknesses. As Lobo attempts to ride off on his Space Hog, Parasite manages to grab the bounty hunter and trap him within its grasp. From there, he detonates his bombs and envelops the being within a massive explosion. However, it easily withstands the blast.
Afterwards, the military arrives as they fire away from their helicopters and jets. However, their shots are unable to remotely stop Parasite as he easily swipes them away while only growing stronger in the process.
As they look on from afar, Superman tells Lex why the military must cease with their assault. Luthor says that he’ll put in a call, but they must find the Kryptonite ring before Parasite reaches the power plant and becomes impossible to stop. As such, Supes offers to lure him away before he gives him “a weakness”. From there, Kal-El proceeds to get its attention while Lex discovers Lobo’s severed arm and relieves it of the Kryptonite ring. As he heads out, the bounty hunter’s blood starts to discreetly gather around the ravaged limb.
Over at the Daily Planet, the reporters are in heavy commotion in their attempt to prep their stories. During this, Ron has been attempting to contact officials over at the Pentagon. However, his lengthy progress gets cut down as Lois takes his cell phone and hangs up. She tells him that even though Metropolis is in a blackout and that they’re not supposed to leave the building, their big story is unfolding outside.
Back at the power plant, Superman continues to evade Parasite’s energy strikes. However, it ultimately manages to capture Kal-El within its grasp and starts to absorb his power. During the struggle, Luthor returns with a pulse rifle as he taunts Superman for a bit while placing the Kryptonite ring into his weapon. Despite his devious mocking on whom he should strike down, he ultimately fires at Parasite as its reacquired Kryptonian weakness causes it to keel over in pain, release Kal-El from its grasp and plummet onto the ground.
Afterwards, Lex betrays Superman and fires his pulse rifle at him. From there, he prepares to take Kal-El out with an enhanced shot. Suddenly, Martian Manhunter makes a surprising return as he disarms Luthor and destroys his gun. After he gets to his feet, Superman asks him how he’s still alive, to which J’onn explains that he used his telepathy to fake the look of his death.
As Parasite starts to recover, it notices a traffic jam from a nearby stretch of road. While the monstrous being wearily begins to head over towards the gathered mass of people, Superman attempts to recover the Kryptonite ring. However, its harmful radiation causes him to keel over as Lex reclaims it and runs off. Afterwards, Martian Manhunter tells Kal-El to find another way to stop Parasite while he goes after Luthor.
While the massive being begins its march towards the civilians who’ve gotten out of their vehicles to witness this event, Lois and Ron arrive onto the scene as he tells her that all helicopters are down and that the TV crews are blocked out by the traffic. Meanwhile, J’onn phases through the wall in order to catch up and capture Lex.
As the civilians yell out in anger towards the approaching beast, Ron begins to record Lois’ live-streaming broadcast on his cell phone. She reports about the military being unable to stop Parasite and that the crowd is actually willing to fight “an extraterrestrial threat”. From then, she states that Superman is the only one left to protect the people from getting their “strength”, “knowledge”, “feelings” and “essence”. As Kal-El hears her report via his super-hearing, he comes up with an idea. After flying over to Parasite, he attempts to communicate with Rudy and help restore his compassion.
He reminds Jones of his honorable time within the military and that he has a loving family. From there, Supes tells him that despite becoming a monster out of a horrific event, he’s still a kind person that doesn’t want to hurt people.
As the crowd yells at him to smite Parasite, Superman tells the populace that the gigantic being isn’t an alien, yet he himself is. As such, he says that he gets their fear of those that they don’t understand. He tells them that the towering beast is actually Rudy Jones and that despite ending up as a massive monster due to “a terrible accident”, he’s still a human being deep down, as he is. From there, Kal-El tells the populace that he came from a deceased world and was sent here to feel “safe and protected”. However, he had to hide who he was, while others were persecuted. Now that he’s no longer scared of said act, he tells the people his birth name and his home world. During this, Martian Manhunter has looked on from afar after he caught Luthor while Lois has been broadcasting his message. Afterwards, both of them give approving smiles.
Unfortunately, the temporary calm gets shattered as Parasite notices a woman and her child within the crowd, instantly reminding him of his own family. As he approaches them, the people proceed to respond with some Molotov Cocktails as Superman unsuccessfully tells them to cease their attacks. Parasite attempts to delivering a devastating strike upon the populace, but Kal-El manages to block his attack. However, this causes Rudy to absorb some of his energy before he plummets onto the road.
Meanwhile, Lex and J’onn notice that the power plant’s reactor is overloading. As such, Martian Manhunter telepathically contacts Superman and warns him about it. Kal-El tries to fly over in order to deal with it, but he’s too weary to stay afloat and winds up within the water. However, Parasite sees the massive power build-up from afar and heads over.
From there, it proceeds to absorb the enormous amount of energy build-up. By the time Superman manages to reach the power plant, he sees that it’s becoming too much for Rudy to take in as he begins to expand and gets pulsating bulges all over. In the end, Parasite manages to prevent the reactor from blowing up. Unfortunately, he winds up as a massive pile of charred stone before he crumbles to bits and turns into dust that gets blown away within the wind.
We then cut to the next day up on the Daily Planet’s rooftop as J’onn apologizes to Kal-El for his telepathic trickery, since it did give him some necessary recovery time in order to ultimately save Superman from his plight. From there, a fully-recovered Lobo joins them as Supes takes note of his immortality. As Martian Manhunter mentions how each of them represent the last member of their respective alien races, Lobo hops onto his Space Hog and says that this false fact only got thrown around just “to keep the bounty high”. As such, he tells J’onn that there’s other Martians somewhere within the universe. Also, he briefly tells Kal-El that there could possibly be “a Kryptonian or two” out there as well. From there, he takes his leave in order to head back to his home planet of Czarnia.
Shortly afterwards, Superman tells Martian Manhunter that he deserves to go look for the surviving members of his own kind. Just as Lois arrives late for her interview, Kal-El lets J’onn know that he’s amongst his own people. As such, Martian Manhunter proceeds to head out. From there, Lane approaches him in order to finally proceed with their official meeting. However, Supes tells her that he’s unable to talk today and that she should call him to reschedule before he flies off.
Afterwards, she arrives back at her desk in absolute frustration before noticing Superman flying past her fellow reporters in admiration. And so, the film ends with Clark showing up and asking her how her interview went. However, she simply tells him that Power Moves do work as Kent smirks from his successful attempt and takes his leave.
Now that we’ve seen this early venture for the Man of Steel, let’s get into my character analysis. Here to properly kick things off, we have Superman himself. Within this tale that sees him in the early goings of his superhero venture, the process seems fairly well-handled. He means to do good following his humble time in Smallville, but he hasn’t fallen into the public’s good grace yet. He takes his bumps and hardships as he grows in confidence with his crime-fighting, yet also has his moment of doubt when Parasite drains some of his energy and he’s unable to solely rely on his powers. When he gets an inspirational speech from Lois, we know that she’s talking to him about the risk he chose to take as a reporter. Fortunately, it can also be seen as him hearing this for both his regular job and as a superhero. In terms of the film’s strengths, Kal-El shined when it came to the development of his heroic identity, earning the people’s trust by informing them of his noble intention and having a workplace relationship with Lois. However, two things from his early-goings could’ve been included within tale. First, I would’ve like a better visual example of his childhood isolation. Yes, he got sad when a movie portrayed an alien as a bad guy and it possibly sent an unintended message to him of how humanity looks at those who’re not like them. However, there’s only one other mention of this notion when Martha exclaims how being from another planet made him feel compared to others around him. Second, we don’t get to see his early attempts at being an investigative reporter. While he does work for the Daily Planet and gets to interact with Lois, it would’ve been nice if the Parasite situation allowed him to develop the necessary skills that he would need to order to solve a crime and deliver stories to the paper. Other than those complaints, Superman feels genuine & heartfelt within this movie and Darren Criss gives a wholesome performance that matches with this character from this particular place in his life. He delivers a good blend of nervousness & confidence while balancing both of them in order to properly portray Kal-El’s character arc, thus helping to establish him as Metropolis’ protector in a way that makes sense with the given narrative.
Next up, we have another heroic alien to delve into with the Martian Manhunter. When we first meet him, he’s in disguise and observing Kal-El from afar before he finally gets his chance to talk to him. Unlike Clark, he doesn’t have the benefit of hiding in plain sight without the use of his shape-shifting ability. Because of his otherworldly appearance, he’s developed a fear of being persecuted by xenophobic humans before he even gets to finally meet our main character. As he talks to Kal-El and gets to know him, that sense does seem to begin to dissipate, especially since he gets to save an entire train’s passengers without any hassle. By the time he hears Superman opening himself up to the masses from afar, it seems to signify that he’s not going to let this issue bother him. Sure, he’s absent for a good amount of time in between those moments due to Parasite temporarily taking him out of action in order to recover. In the end, J’onn can be a representation of someone who wants to be the better version of their own self, but is unable to out of fear and reprisal. At least, until someone or something of dramatic example comes along to inspire them. Either way, J’onzz does establish a good friendship with Kal-El for them to build on moving forward and is very competent throughout the film. Ike Amandi handles his part really well, especially since he previously voiced the character in two DC-themed Lego video games. His vocal performance also seems to go through a change during the course of the movie, as he starts out somewhat worrisome before the constant conversing and superhero team-up work allows him to deliver tones that sounded far-more confident. In the end, Amandi’s portrayal felt professionally self-assured throughout.
Briefly, let’s talk about the up-and-coming ace reporter herself: Lois Lane. For this tale, her role essentially comes down to two purposes. First, she indirectly tells Superman to open up about himself to the public or else she’ll do it for him. Because of her youthfulness here, this act does make her lean a bit towards a sort of paparazzi style in her approach, as well as being somewhat of a know-it-all with the confident use of her Power Move. Throughout the movie, she comes across those that manage to oppose her initial reporting mindset. It starts with Lobo and his hilariously difficult nature before Superman, the hero whom she respected for telling the masses about his noble intentions, pulls a Power Move on her. Yes, she doesn’t know that he’s Clark and that he’s learned her technique. Even still, those serve as humbling moments for her and can help mold her into a skillful veteran down the road. Finally, she also serves as a mainly-kind co-worker and friend to Clark. Not only does this set the foundation for their eventual romance later in life, but she essentially helps him receive some helpful pointers when it comes to being a reporter. Never is this most evident when she visits him in his apartment and his run-in with the Parasite has left him in an unsure place. Her speech ultimately inspires him on multiple fronts and encourages him to find another way to deal with the energy-absorbing menace. Ultimately, Lois fills this supporting role very nicely as Alexandra Daddario manages to bring the wit, charm, spunk and humor that her part comes with. Her youthful delivery brought the right amount of energy and helped Lane make enough of an impact on the main story within the scenes that she’s given, effectively giving the Last Son of Krypton an effective motivational push that’ll last throughout their lives.
As we start getting devious, let’s move onto the Main Man himself: Lobo. Because of his status within this story, he’s more of a wild card who doesn’t change all that much. He’s wise-cracking, cocky and feels overly self-assured about himself. He has his own sense of humor (albeit a bit rude), a variety of weapons within his arsenal, an intergalactic motorbike and a job that he doesn’t approach with any form of subtly, yet doesn’t care (nor should he). After all, he was initially created in 1983, yet became relevant as a comedic take on the grim-and-gritty for the sake of being grim-and-gritty characters that popped up during the early 1990s. He’s carried by his macho swagger and his unique otherworldly arsenal that makes him a likable lug whom we can still take serious enough whenever he shows up. After all, he starts off as a adversarial threat within this narrative and while his joking nature is present during his pursuit of Kal-El, that comes in full force when he’s imprisoned at S.T.A.R. Labs as Lois tries to interview him and he mainly acts perverse around her. He somewhat tones it down once Lex hires him in order to help Superman deal with Parasite, but he remains charming throughout the whole ordeal. As such, Ryan Hurst is having a fun time in the role. It feels like he’s drawing upon his time from the hit TV Show “Sons of Anarchy” in his approach to the Czarnian bounty hunter and succeeds in giving him a lot of lively personality within his scenes. He has some great interactions with the other characters and always brings a particular amount of energy every single time that he’s on screen. As such, he’s one of the standouts of this flick.
Now, we’ve reached out primary villain for this piece: Parasite. For this outing, he’s more of a tragic felon. After all, it’s established that he has a family that he supports and he does show his good-natured side a little bit before Lobo comes along and unintentionally turns him into the energy-absorbing fiend. With Rudy, he becomes more of a monster the less that he’s in touch with his humanity. This insatiable hunger reduces Jones to a primal hunter who wants nothing more than to satiate a never-ending craving for any and all kinds of energy. He does have his key moment where he tries to check out his former apartment, only to be chased away by the cries of his daughter Kaylie since she doesn’t know that it’s her father. In the end, I get the feeling that this and Superman’s attempt to remind him of his past accomplishments & his family is what ultimately leads to him sacrificing himself. His characterization does get a basic setup, though I think that a bit more development could’ve been done to make him even more sympathetic. For his performance, Brett Dalton feels kind, genuine and wholesome when he’s portraying Rudy Jones. As for Parasite, he’s much more limited in his dialogue. Thankfully, he’s still coherent during his descent into full-blown monster and is able to communicate his lines to the audience in a reasonable manner. In the end, Dalton was decently good with his portrayal and helped his character be a nice threat to a Man of Steel who’s just starting out.
Finally, let’s briefly get to our eternal thorn in Supes’ side: Lex Luthor. How he’s used for this narrative is quite peculiar, since he’s on the sidelines for a while after the details behind his faulty LexCorp rocket comes into the light and he gets put in prison. When he’s allowed to do his usual business, he’s steely cool, absolutely confident and something of a master strategist. He has to be in control and will jump at the opportunity when it presents itself to him. By the time that a somewhat-depowered Superman comes along to ask for his help, he becomes an uneasy ally for him. More than likely, this serves as Lex’s way of secretly analyzing our hero in order to get the jump on him later on. After all, he agrees that Parasite is the bigger threat to Metropolis, but he has an initial disliking of Superman due to him being from another planet. Because this can serve as the early days of their constant head-buttings, the foundation for their never-ending battles is set up fairly well. Maybe it could’ve seen some better development had he been allowed to remain part of the main narrative throughout, but Zachary Quinto does what he can within the role. His steely cool and confident delivery nicely fits for this iconic fiend, especially since he’ll be in a fierce struggle against the Man of Steel throughout the intervening years while also giving back to the populace with his underlying deceitfulness sprinkled within. For his scenes, he serves this particular role in a good manner.
The story deals with the idea of self-identity and how one is perceived by others. For this, Superman and Parasite are the ones who’re mainly focused within these narrative ideas. For Kal-El, he learns from a young age that he’s different from the regular humans that’re around him. As he learns about his powers, he starts to become ambitious with himself and moves to Metropolis in order to establish his adult life. While he does disguise himself, he unintentionally causes some unease among humanity, especially since it doesn’t seem like he interacts with them. Maybe he has a somewhat-naïve idea of letting his actions speak for themselves. However, the populace doesn’t know what he’s like and if he has any hidden agenda. As such, it serves as the catalyst for his self-struggle on deciding “whether to stand proud in front of the human race or not” (as Jonathan Kent from “Man of Steel” says). In that vein, I feel like this tale handles that much better since Clark isn’t being saddled with strenuous plot elements that the live-action movie puts its Kal-El within that film. Here, he’s a young adult and he gets to calmly ponder about his choice and the only sense of dread that looms over him is a forced reveal by a fellow co-worker that could potentially put him within a bad light. Not to mention, he gets to meet another alien and future crime-fighting ally who helps him with his decision and even puts him on the path towards discovering his Kryptonian heritage. Ultimately, his struggle against Parasite and his unlikely team-up with Lex & Lobo helps to set the stage for him choosing to tell the public about who he is, at least his superhero persona in order to ease their concerns towards him and to let them know that he’s here to help. The journey feels well-handled, especially since Kal-El’s dealing with his eventual revelation to humanity and an energy-absorbing fiend who’s becoming more of a threat with each passing moment. The story mainly keeps this central tale in a small-scale and humble tone, since it deals with his personal growth. It doesn’t feel as tightly-woven as it could have been, but it’s ultimately a nice choice since it keeps things self-contained and intimate enough to focus on the tale at hand. As such, it serves as a origin tale for Superman’s initial status quo as Metropolis’ protector and makes the journey as action-filled and narratively satisfying as it possibly can. As for Parasite, his self-identity starts off as a down-to-Earth family man whose job puts him within the sight of otherworldly activities that S.T.A.R. Labs deals with. When Lobo crashes in during his fight with Kal-El, Rudy gets forcibly transformed when the Czarnian bounty hunter has a weapon that also contains the energy-sucking goop that takes a permanent bonding to him. Starting with his initial incident at the hospital, he begins to lose his self-identity as he sucks the energy out of anyone that’s unfortunate enough to cross his path. As such, he ends up suppressing his humanity for a good amount of the story before making his way into his family’s apartment and it gets a tiny reemerging sparkle. Because he unintentionally spooked his daughter and was forced to flee, he goes back to his primal way for the climax before Superman’s eventual intervention helps restore some spark of who he was. As such, it makes his sacrifice feel somewhat nice. The narrative could have done a bit more to see Rudy struggling with his humanity while he’s on his energy-draining rampage, but it was still neatly told. As for everything else, the animation style felt fresh compared to other outings. It gave off an Archer-esque vibe with its character designs, though it was still pretty fluent throughout. With the story, it mainly feels appropriately intimate as it focuses on Kal-El dealing with the early days of his superheroing venture. It’s also backed by pacing that moves that a relatively good clip. While some plot threads could’ve seen a few more details, the narrative as a whole never seemed to drag at any point. By the end, it leaves its audience on a good note as Kal-El now has a foundation for himself as both reporter Clark Kent and as Metropolis’ heroic guardian.
Overall, this a feel-good tale with a nicely-executed origin story. The performances are confidentially given, the animation is solid, the action is nice, the humor is handled well and the narrative gets neatly told over consistent pacing. It’s a tale that allows the Man of Steel to struggle on both a personal and external level while he sets up the familiar foundation of his classic status quo. While not standing out in an outstanding way, it’s still very well put together and is absolutely worth watching. As such, check this flick out if you’re up for an inspirational start to something wonderful.
Next Time: The Dark Knight is back in the reviewing spotlight as he goes on a rescue mission and attempts to find his martial arts master. To pull it off though, he’ll need some help, as well as the furious fists and lightning-fast kicks from a few of his fellow noteworthy students. Come join me my fellow Jive Turkeys as we shimmy on back to the 1970s for a Dy-No-Mite tale called “Batman: Soul Of The Dragon”.
Superman (created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster) and all related characters are owned by DC Comics.
