Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse is a direct sequel to Public Enemies in the sense that the original Public Enemies story was issues #1-6 in the Superman/Batman comic. Apocalypse is better known as The Supergirl From Krypton, covered in issues #8-13, the post-crisis origin story for Kara Zor-El. It is also probably best known as the final major story arc Jeph Loeb wrote before his 17-year-old son died of cancer and changed Jeph Loeb's writing style for what has seemed like an eternity. Like previous DC Animated Originals, the art style is directly based on the artist who drew the original story; in this case, the art is based on the late Michael Turner's art. Although Turner's art style was incredibly questionable, his run on Superman/Batman: The Supergirl From Krypton is known for being the only time in his career he ever drew interior art outside of Top Crow Productions or Aspen MLT.

Apocalypse begins with a news show explaining to the audience the aftermath of Public Enemies, that Lex Luthor has been impeached as President and is in prison (for the first time in post-crisis continuity), along with parlaying to the audience that Kryptonite meteor showers have been occurring in the Gotham/Metropolis region (The distance between Gotham and Metropolis is usually described as being about the same distance between Los Angeles and San Diego). The meteor showers, of course, are setting up the arrival of Kara Zor-El. Batman investigates the most recent meteor shower, discovering a Kryptonian rocket ship with a message written in Kryptonian, but the passenger is missing.

Throughout the movie, Kara deals with learning English in the course of a week, learning that her baby cousin is now older than her due to her being in suspended animation for 30 years, and dealing with partial amnesia due to PTSD, only able to remember the events from shortly before Krypton's destruction, and adjusting to her new superpowers on Earth while learning to fit in with Earth society.

The story is.... well, to put it bluntly, Apocalypse has an incredibly boring story. What Apocalypse does do well are the fight scenes, by far the best fight scenes seen in any Bruce Timm production. The final fight between Superman and Kara against Darkseid is particularly memorable as being the single best choreographed fight in western animation. What's most distracting about this movie are 2 things that should have been ignored: Using Michael Turner's art style and recasting Darkseid's voice actor. Turner was well-known for drawing women exactly the same and hyper-sexualized while drawing men to look more effeminate; it didn't work in the original comic and it continues to not work in animation. Darkseid's re-casted voice actor, Andre Braugher, falls incredibly flat as the villain that was so evil, Batman had to kill him in Final Crisis.

Final Score: 4 Supergirl Bare Midriffs out of 5
Despite its shortcomings, Apocalypse accomplishes everything it set out to do while also improving the story of The Supergirl From Krypton. The biggest reason I gave this movie a 4 instead of a 3 is because of the included bonus features detailing the origins of the New Gods and Supergirl and a new DC Showcase starring the Green Arrow.


The next DC Animated Original is DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection, which will have a main feature of a 22 minute Superman and Captain Marvel short titled Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, featuring the return of George Newbern as Superman and Jerry O'Connell as Captain Marvel from Justice League Unlimited. Also included will be expanded versions of the previous DC Showcases, The Spectre, Jonah Hex, and Green Arrow, all previously having a runtime of 12 minutes each. The release date is November 9th and possibly the biggest incentive for buying this collection is that each of the DC Showcase shorts are drawn in Bruce Timm's animation style.