Released: September 2007
Main Characters: Superman (SURPRISE), Doomsday? Superman Clone? Doomsday is here for about fifteen minutes.
Supporting Characters: Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Superman Clone? Jimmy Olsen? Perry White? We’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel here as far as powered up casts go.
- Adam Baldwin as Superman
- Anne Heche as Lois Lane
- James Marsters as Lex Luthor
- John DiMaggio as Toyman
- Tom Kenny as “The Robot” or, Clone Superman
Movie Score
| Metric of Evaluation | Point Value |
| Approach to characterization | 8 |
| Watchability and rewatchability | 3 |
| Quality of conflict | 6 |
| Explicit content | 2 |
| Animation and aesthetic | 4 |
| Unique or underused characters | 1 |
| Unique fighting, circumstances, setting | 2 |
| Total Points Available | 26 |
Five Sentence Synopsis
- Lex Luthor’s workers discover Doomsday in a spaceship trapped underground in the middle of a literal identity crisis between Lois Lane and Superman.
- Doomsday escapes and goes on a rampage, forcing Superman to fight Doomsday, a classic battle.
- Superman “dies” and a clone of Superman takes his place while Lex Luthor (surprise, the source of the clone) holds the real Superman hostage in a hyperbolic time chamber or something.
- Clone Superman sees the horrific crap Superman puts up with every day and cracks while the real Superman is rescued and rehabilitated thanks to some Fortress of Solitude robot magic, Clone Superman kills Toyman, Superman kills Clone Superman, identity crisis resolved.
- Looking back, this is almost like the Pearl Harbor of DCAU movies, which could aptly describe every time Superman’s secret identity serves as a mediocre side plot to the actual story taking place.
Score Breakdown
This movie is not bad, even if this isn’t the world’s most generous score. But, I don’t think it’s that great either. The animation on this one must have been remastered, because it was absolutely beautiful. Adam Baldwin does a solid job as Superman, but most of the characterization here comes down to Lex, Lois, and Clone Superman. Clone Superman pulling a total 180 and slaying Toyman is off the wall and could be a shocker for some, and shockers are always fun.
But the fights are average. The characters are average. The conflict is average. This is DC before discovering what it can make with something a little grittier. This is barely PG-13 DC, and the MPAA should be ashamed they gave this film that rating. Probably because Superman coughs up some blood one time.
When this originally came out, it was probably a little more groundbreaking. But in my opinion, it’s aged pretty poorly. Doomsday isn’t even in it, and people are more up-to-date on their DC mythos than ever before. From my peek at the Allfather Wikipedia, the initial reviews seem pretty favorable. I don’t think that would be the case today.
This is DC in the amnion, barely scratching the surface of what could be, and more importantly, what viewers are looking for. Not even a dedicated musical score can salvage what isn’t a disaster, but what isn’t a standout entry into the universe.
Final Score: 26/50