Superman: The Animated Series

FavoritedFavorite 30
The WB (ended 2000)
EDIT

Show Summary

  • Ended
"Superman" was an animated series that premiered on September 6, 1996. Created to follow the success of "Batman: The Animated Series," and based on the popular Superman comics created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the cartoon series focused on the adventures of Superman, an incredibly powerful crime fighter from the planet Krypton, who defends Metropolis from a variety of supercriminals that include Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Metallo, The Parasite, Livewire, The Toyman, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Bizarro, Darkseid, Lobo, Jax-Ur, and Mala. Superman's secret identity is that of Clark Kent, a mild-mannered reporter for the newspaper "The Daily Planet". There he worked with fellow reporter Lois Lane and photographer Jimmy Olsen.

The series opened with an hour and a half long special that featured the exploits of Superman's Kryptonian father, Jor-El, who was attempting to save their planet from a world-wide catastrophe which the planet's artificial intelligence system, Brainiac, was trying to cover up, and continued through Superman's first public appearance in Metropolis. In later seasons, the show featured guest appearances by a variety of other famous comic book heroes including Supergirl, Batman, Robin, The Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman, Dr. Fate, Steel, and The New Gods. In 1997, episodes of "Superman" were broadcast alongside episodes of "The New Batman Adventures" and reruns of "Batman: the Animated Series" under the title "The New Batman/Superman Adventures".moreless
8.5
out of 10
Avg Rating: Great
1,499 votes
  • Your Rating: 10
    "Perfect"
  • Your Rating: 9.5
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 9
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 8.5
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 8
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 7.5
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 7
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 6.5
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 6
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 5.5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 4.5
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 4
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 3.5
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 3
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 2.5
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 2
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 1.5
    "Abysmal"
  • Your Rating: 1
    "Abysmal"
Rate Now!

Episode Guide

See All
S 5 :  Ep 2
S 5 :  Ep 1 Aired 6/17/06
S 4 :  Ep 4
S 4 :  Ep 3 Aired 2/12/00
go
Amazon
Buy
iTunes
Buy
VUDU
Buy
S 4 :  Ep 2 Aired 2/5/00
go
Amazon
Buy
iTunes
Buy
VUDU
Buy

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Watch Superman: The Animated Series Full Episodes

See All

Superman: The Animated Series News

See All

Fan Reviews (47)

See All

  • It's not Batman: The Animated Series, but Superman is more of a friendlier show for everyone that is still fun to watch.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By That_TV_Dude, Dec 15, 2010
    Comic book characters are no stranger to TV shows or movies, and the most commonly used heroes were the X-Men, Batman, Spiderman, and of course Superman. Superman has had shows dating all the way back to the 50s and still has shows like Smallville to this day. Superman has also had animated shows for kids and all of them are successful, but his most powerful animated series is the 90s version. Following the success of Batman: TAS, Superman basically tells the beginning and the life of Superman. You have all your favorite characters like Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Darksied, Parasite, and so on. The animation is very similar to Batman: TAS, but the atmosphere is not as dark. The shows does a great job explaining the coming of Superman, and how the villains came to become who they are. The action scenes are great and will keep you attached to the show as Superman fights valiantly against his foes. The show is not as dark as Batman: TAS, but in some episodes, especially the last two episodes, it can get dark, but it's not harmful at all. Superman was a great TV cartoon while it lasted and is the best TV cartoon of Superman to this day, if you haven't seen it, there are DVDs of the seasons that you can watch. It's just a great show that is brilliantly well done.moreless

  • Excellent show, but not as good as Batman: TAS. Please, read this complete review about the show, the DVDs, the villains, animation and more!

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By -batmat-, Dec 10, 2010
    Plase keep in perspective that I am NOT a die-hard Superman fan, so I'm not familiar with the history of the character.

    I would have never watched this show if it wasn't for Batman The Animated Series, but you must know, that everything coming from Bruce Timm & CO is a must watch. The first part from "The Last Son Of Krypton" and you're hooked with it. Voices are the same high quality as the entire DCAU. Tim Daly pulls an amazing Superman, Dana is THE perfect Lois Lane, Clancy Brown IS Lex Luthor for me, and the list goes on and on and on.

    Animation is great. While it was not as thin and cheap looking as "The New Batman Adventures" (don't get me wrong, that animation looked great) it wasn't as good as the animation in Batman Animated Series. While Batman TAS had the best animation, there were some episodes that had HORRIBLE animation, but with Superman this doesn't happen. While the best animation went for the first bunch of episodes and the most important ones during the show, it never hit a low point of bad animation, it was always great, consistent and with very few imperfections.

    My only complaint about the show (and the reason I'm not givin' it a 10 rating) was that the quality in terms of story telling and specialy, character development went a little bit downhill as the show progressed. In the first season of the show, although all the episodes had their own villain and story, it had a season long arc about Proffesor Hamilton investingating Kryptonian tecnology, such as the Phantom Zone projector, Superman's ship, etc; all of this dissapeared from Season 2 until the end of the show. In fact, Hamilton doesn't appear again until the last episode of the show. Lex Luthor (THE superman enemy) was in almost every episode of Season 1 (not as the main villain) and then appeared in some of Season 2 and almost nothing until the last episode. The show forgot about developing characters and started making new stories with new villains or new heroes that had no influence on the show's continuity.

    When all of this happened, villains that had only an episode in the show, returned, and were ruined. Some of them are: Toyman (from the excellent "Fun and Games" to the lame "Obssesion"), Mala and Jax-Ur (from the great "Blast From The Past" to the middly entertaining "Absolute Power") and Mr. Mxyzptlk (from the hilarious "Mxyzpixilated" to lame team-up episode "Little Big Head",that also ruined Bizarro).

    This is why I like Volume 1 better tan 2 or 3, because all the episodes are connected. Volume 2 and 3 have episodes that stand out from the rest (the great "The Late Mr Kent", "Apokolips Now", etc) but Volume 1 is more consistent and I enjoy it a little bit more.

    But there was a series-long arc. The Darkseid story is one of the best things of this show. Starting in small cameos, to indirect villains to mind-controlling Superman, the Darkseid arc kept you wanting for more in every episode and I liked them all (except maybe, "Father's Day", although it had a nice end, with the meeting of Superman and Darkseid).

    Overall, this show is amazing. It doesn't have the same impact on me as the Batman shows, but it's really nice to watch and have fun at any time, and get away from the moody Batman for once!moreless

  • Superman is lame.

    1.5
    "Abysmal"
    By YamataDragon, Nov 21, 2010
    A guy with collosal strength and can fly. (sarcasm) Amazing. NOT! It is nothing more than a mere disgrace to super heros out there. This is so pitiful and should have been banned from public television a long time ago. Superman just makes me wanna blow chunks. He is no hero.

  • About superman keeping metropolis safe.

    8.5
    "Great"
    By saenzra15, Jun 24, 2010
    This is show came after Batman:tas, it is just as good if not better in my opinion. The relationsip between Lois and Superman/Clark is great right from the begining. The crossovers with batman are great, and provide some of my favorite episodes. This show was great and i am happy they are making a movie from it soon. They just bring the whole show back.

    This is show came after Batman:tas, it is just as good if not better in my opinion. The relationsip between Lois and Superman/Clark is great right from the begining. The crossovers with batman are great, and provide some of my favorite episodes. This show was great and i am happy they are making a movie from it soon. They just bring the whole show back.moreless

  • Serving as both one more crossover with the Dark Knight and a more proper, unofficial series finale to The New Batman Adventures, Batman returns to Superman: The Animated Series. Time for some destiny fulfillin'?moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Shadow_Resident, Sep 24, 2008
    Fantastic episode, the last episode before the phenomenal two-part series finale in fact. Batman/Bruce Wayne returns to Superman: The Animated Series after his own revamp show has already ended, having one more epic confrontation with Ra's Al Ghul along the way. Crossovers are always fun, just look at Buffy & Angel or some of the Star Trek shows for examples why. But with Bruce Timm's DC Animated Universe, they're always memorable, this one possibly being the best (well, next to "Epilogue" in JLU). This is the final time Clark and Bruce will interact before the forming of the Justice League begins and it's shown here most notably that even a hero like Superman can always need some saving.moreless
WRITE A REVIEW
 

Superman: The Animated Series Forums


Add a Topic See All
Last Activity
Replies

Photos

See All

Related Shows

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

TV Listings

Full Listings

More Info About This Show

Categories

Action & Adventure, Animation, Kids

Themes

alien technology, battle for earth, beings from another world, characters with double lives, epic battles

TV.com Properties | Shows | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | TV.com Blog

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use