The Death of Superman

Dir: Sam Liu, Jake Castorena, James Tucker

2018

***

1992’s The Death of Superman is the best selling comic of all time. In my opinion, it is also the worst. I have always considered myself more of a DC man than a Marvel guy but the truth is DC have made some awful comics, the early 90s Superman comics being a prime example. I adore Superman and read all the comics from the mid 80s to the mid 90s but The Death of Superman story was such a low point it pretty much killed it for me. After that I only really read DC Elseworld one-shots and switched to their Vertigo imprint. It was a marketing gimmick, probably a much needed one due to poor sales but nether the less, it was for non-comic reading Superman fans and not those of us who had stuck around hoping that one day the comics would get better. Unfortunately it is now one of those stories DC can’t seem to be able to get away from, not that I think they want to. They already made an animated adaptation in 2007 that got rid of a lot of the crap admittedly, but still did little to make the story more interesting. Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice also touched on the story and we all know how that panned out. It’s time DC just left it alone but I can’t help but think this won’t be the last adaptation of the Doomsday story. They’ve certainly made the the story easier to digest than the comic and have cut out certain characters and made Lex Luther bald again but essentially the story is the same. There is more made of Lex Luther’s argument that no one polices Superman or the rest of the Justice League but not so much that the cartoon becomes anywhere near intelligent. It starts with a few uninteresting sub-plots and Clark Kent admitting to Louis Lane that he is in fact Superman. I’m pretty sure she was supposed to know by now but this film doesn’t seem to follow the comics or indeed DC animation. An attempt to kidnap the mayor using Apokolips technology, the Intergang are stopped and their equipment taken to S.T.A.R. labs. There, Silas Stone and Dr. John Henry Irons determine Intergang’s devices contain both Apokoliptian and Earth elements, leaving only one suspect with the means to synthesize these technologies -  Lex Luthor. Meanwhile, Superman admirer Captain Hank Henshaw leads a team of astronauts aboard the space shuttle Excalibur when a boomtube sends a meteorite hurtling towards the shuttle. As Henshaw waits for Superman's rescue, the shuttle is destroyed, leaving everyone dead and Henshaw's body unaccounted for. The meteorite crashes to the Atlantic Ocean floor, monitored by Luthor’s underground research facility. Luthor sends a deep sea exploration team to the crash site where they encounter Atlanteans, but both groups are destroyed by a monster (Doomsdays) that emerges from the wreckage. Doomsday reaches the U.S. coastline and murders two campers and a grizzly bear before rampaging against the police. The Justice League arrive and are brutally defeated in a battle that isn’t as good as either the original comic or the 2007 adaptation. Martian Manhunter’s telepathy reveals the creature to be a living weapon designed to annihilate entire civilizations. As the monster heads for Metropolis, Batman notes that their last hope is the Man of Steel. Meanwhile, Clark and Lois meet for lunch at a restaurant owned by Superman fan Bibbo Bibbowski (how the hell did he make it into the film?), where Clark finally reveals himself as Superman to a shocked Lois. The two resolve their differences, and Clark receives the Justice League’s distress call. He arrives just in time to save Wonder Woman from the rampaging creature. Lois, reporting live by helicopter with her cameraman Jimmy Olsen, gives the monster his name Doomsday as his fight with Superman rages through Metropolis and reaches the Hall of Justice. A battlesuit-clad Luthor joins the fight against Doomsday, aiming to become Metropolis’ “true savior,” but he is incapacitated and saved by Superman. Realizing the toll the battle has taken on Superman, Lois attempts to sacrifice herself to Doomsday to force Clark into using lethal force. As the beast prepares to kill Lois, Superman hurls himself at Doomsday and breaks the villain’s neck, but is fatally stabbed at that moment, and dies in Lois’ arms. There are only so many times you can retell this moment before you become numb to it. Jimmy broadcasts Superman's death across the globe as the world mourns. After a state funeral for the fallen Man of Steel, the Kents welcome Lois into their family. Jimmy brings Lois to Superman's mausoleum where they find his coffin open and witness a figure resembling Superman fly away. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Lex Luthor tries to gain custody of Doomsday's corpse for Project Cadmus before Superman's rocket self-starts and flies off. Four mysterious figures are then introduced during the ending credits. First, as numerous failed Superman clones are destroyed at Cadmus, the sole surviving prototype escapes. Second, Dr. Irons forges Superman’s symbol onto a suit of armor. Third, a Superman-like figure watches as Superman's rocket buries itself under the North Pole and creates a vast crystalline structure. Lastly, high above the Earth, a cyborg resembling Superman arrives. It wasn’t that intriguing in 1992 and it still wasn’t in 2018. The only things I liked about it where the improved version of Lex Luther, the inclusion of certain characters who weren’t in the original, the interaction between Wonder Woman and Louis Lane and the fact that Jerry O'Connell and Rebecca Romijn, who provide the voices for Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane, are married in real life.