Superman vs. The Elite

Superman vs. The Elite
Blu-Ray Cover art
Directed by	Michael Chang
Written by	Joe Kelly
Starring	George Newbern Pauley Perrette Robin Atkin Downes David Kaufman Catero Colbert Andrew Kishino Melissa Disney Fred Tatasciore
Edited by	Christopher D. Lozinski
Music by	Robert J. Kral
Production companies	Warner Bros. Animation Warner Premiere DC Comics
Distributed by	Warner Home Video
Release date	June 12, 2012 (2012-06-12)
Running time	76 Minutes
Language	English

Superman vs. The Elite is an animated superhero film based on "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?," the story published in the comic book Action Comics #775 (March 2001). The movie was adapted and written by Joe Kelly, who wrote the comic it was based on, and is directed by Michael Chang. It was released on June 12, 2012. The film also featured the return of George Newbern as Superman, and David Kaufman as Jimmy Olsen, reprising their roles from the DC animated universe. It is the 14th film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line.

Plot

The movie opens up with Manchester Black watching multiple news stories about villains and giving them second chances. As, all of the news stories close down to one solution, the world wants solutions to all of the evil in the world; by killing it. When Manchester sees that this is what the world wants, he turns off the TV and begins his plot to keep the world safe; by any means necessary. Back at Metropolis, Lois and Clark have recently witnessed the death of multiple people in the street at the hands of the Atomic Skull; who was killing people to draw out Superman. As the battle erupted throughout most of the city, Superman ended up defeating Atomic Skull by throwing him into a lake. After the events of the Atomic Skull attack, Superman is giving a speech at the United Nations about the greater good that is found within everyone. When Bialyia and Pokolistan leaders begin to fuss about their peace treaty being broken, Superman leaves the United Nations to go and stop their armed forces from destroying each other.

As Superman arrives in Bialyia, he is a bit too late to negotiate peace between the two sides. The Pokolistani forces release their bio weapon on Bialyian military which destroyed most of their ground forces. As Superman gets the soldiers to safety from the bio weapon, the Elite arrive just in time to help the man of steel destroy the bio weapon, Superman eventually returns to Metropolis to report the news and also gain more information on the Elite. Superman and Lois fly to England to find if they, and the world, can trust the Elite. It is revealed through Manchester Black that he gained his powers near puberty, and used it for the first time to save his sister, Vera.

Through telekinesis, Black gets a painful headache of multiple people screaming, The Elite and Superman arrive on the scene to save the civilians. With Superman and Black having lifted up the subway train underwater, Black interrogates the terrorist that were bombing the train. Nearly killing them, Superman begins to judge the motives of his new found friends. Back in Metropolis, Clark and Lois talk about the information they had found on the Elite and also the backstory of Manchester Black. Lois tells Clark that there is no death certificate or birth record of Manchester's sister, Vera, this makes Clark question even more on the origin of the Elite and what they are really trying to accomplish. When Manchester broadcasts a message for all the world to hear, he ends up telling them that they'd take care of all the bad guys in the world; by killing them!

After the broadcast, Superman returns to the Fortress of Solitude to find out any reliable information the Elite. Having failed in finding information, Superman travels to Bialyia to stop the Elite. Flying in over Bialyia, Superman is hit by an EMP which leaves him in a bad state of mind, closing in for the kill, Pokolistani forces are about to finish Superman off, however the Elite attack them before that can happen. Powerless to stop the chaos that the Elite are inflicting on the Pokolistani military, Superman ends up passing out and eventually awakening at the Elite's base of operations and teleported back to Earth after he failed to convince the elite they did not have to kill to be heroes. In Metropolis, Atomic Skull had recently broken out of prison and is looking for revenge on Superman. The Elite arrived before Superman so they could end Atomic Skull's criminal career, however were having little success defeating the overpowered Atomic Skull. When Superman arrived on the scene, he coordinated an attack with the Elite to get all the extra power away from Skull. After Atomic Skull's power was drained, he was executed by Manchester Black.

After protecting Pokolistan from Bialyia jet pilots, Superman is visited by the Elite who tell him that they have recently killed both the Pokolistan and Bialyia leaders and that peace can reign supreme in that area once again. Angered by Manchester's uncontrollable urge to kill the villains, Superman punches him in the face, and the Elite take it as a statement of war against (what the world says) their favorite heroes. They tell Superman that they will kill him for this outrage. The next day, Superman is standing in the middle of Metropolis, telling the Elite that he is ready to fight. Asking them to do it some where safe, they teleport to the Moon where they begin their fight. Almost dying, Superman begins to understand that to protect the world, he must kill The Elite. Killing Menagerie with a serum that causes her symbeasts to leave her and The Hat with a vacuum to suffocate him, Manchester and Coldcast teleport to Metropolis for their last stand. Flying at supersonic speeds to Earth, Superman kills Coldcast by throwing him into orbit. After removing Manchester's powers, Superman reveals that he did not kill any of the Elite, but he had his Super-Robots protect all of the citizens and also create the false illusion that he killed them, but they were really being transported to the Fortress of Solitude to be stripped of their powers, then to a prison. In the end, the people of Earth see that Superman's way is best for all of mankind. After that, he flies off with Lois and they kiss each other.

Voice cast

• George Newbern – Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman
• Pauley Perrette – Lois Lane
• Robin Atkin Downes – Manchester Black
• Dee Bradley Baker – Atomic Skull/Joseph Martin
• Ogie Banks – Terrence Baxter
• Catero Colbert – Nathan Jones / Coldcast
• Grey DeLisle – Young Manchester Black
• Melissa Disney – Menagerie
• Paul Eiding – Pa Kent
• Troy Evans – Pundit
• Jennifer Hale – Kid Playing Superman
• David Kaufman – Jimmy Olsen
• Andrew Kishino – The Hat
• Pamela Kosh – Abigail
• Jeff LaPensee – Falling Man
• Marcella Lentz-Pope – Vera Black
• Dave B. Mitchell – Shocktrooper
• Sumalee Montano – Newscaster
• Laraine Newman – Newscaster #3
• Nolan North – Pokolistani Ambassador
• Henry Simmons – Efrain Baxter
• Stephen Stanton – Bialyian Ambassador, Cartoon Superman, Drunk Father
• Tara Strong – Young Vera Black
• Fred Tatasciore – Perry White
• Bruce Timm – MI-5 Agent
• Julie Wittner – Cowering Woman
• Rick Zieff – Desiccated Man

Crew

• Dawn Hershey – Casting and Voice Director

Production

The film was first announced at Comic Con 2011, during the screening of Batman: Year One, as one of the films from the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line for 2012, by producer Bruce Timm. Joe Kelly, writer of Action Comics #775, "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?," adapted his own work into the film. He was quoted as saying that "the story tackles themes that go way beyond a typical superhero story...politics, the price of power and America's place as a force in the world are all viewed through the lens of the DC Universe. Even if fans aren't paying close attention to these issues, they're all over the media. You can't escape them. So with the state of affairs being what it is, I can't think of a better time to see Superman confront these themes...I'm a big fan of taking real world issues and working them out through our "superhero" stories—but this one goes beyond strict allegory. Like the original comic story, the film is thought provoking without being preachy and really delivers a punch." He also said that, in terms of expanding the comic book issue into an animated film, and the differences between the two; that he "had Alan Burnett. Alan helped me cut to the heart of the story and personalize it for an audience who might not have known the original comic...the original story was about anti-heroes and comic fans and trends in the industry that were disturbing to me when it was written. For the story to work as a film, we needed to get beyond that while keeping the core of the story: that Superman serves a purpose and his moral code is relevant even in the modern world. This is where the expansion into "world politics" really helped."

Theme music

Superman vs. the Elite utilizes the same musical main theme that was composed by Robert Kral for the previously released animated film Superman: Doomsday.

Home media

Superman vs. The Elite was released on DVD and Blu-ray with a combo pack. Features include: a sneak peek at Part 1 of the animated film version of The Dark Knight Returns, two featurettes "The Elite Unbound: No Rules, No Mercy" and "Superman and the Moral Debate", audio commentary, two episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, and Action Comics #775 as a digital comic. The combo pack was released on June 12, 2012.

See also

• What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?

External links

• Superman vs. The Elite at IMDb
• Superman vs. The Elite @ The World's Finest