Rediscovering Superman: The Animated Series

[David Walton]

I got S:TAS Vols 1 and 2 for my birthday this year, and to tell you the truth I'd forgotten how enjoyable the series was.

Some of my favs?

"The Main Man" Parts 1 and 2, featuring Lobo voiced by none other than Brad Garrett of "Everybody Loves Raymond" fame. Also the voice of Bibbo. Just a hilarious episode, and one that does Lobo and Superman justice.

"The Way of All Flesh". This is where Luther first emerged as a guy who is behind the scenes of everything and will stop at nothing to destroy Superman...including poisoning a "friend" for the sole purpose of reconstructing his body. A lot of nice touches, especially Metallo, denied any sensual pleasures, confronting Luthor on his yacht while he's eating caviar with a beautiful woman. Metallo looks and says, "I can't eat...can't feel..can't even..." and then he throws the girl overboard. Classic.

"Stolen Memories." Oh, yeah. The best interpretation of Braniac to date. The refurbished origin proved that this show wasn't just rehash of old Superman plots.

"My Girl." Aw, a little something for the unrequited lover in all of us. Lana still digs Clark but's dating Luthor. Spies on him and nearly gets herself killed. "Clark, I swear if you say I'm like a little sister to you..." Cool to see Luthor's infatuation with Lana get the best of his judgment about her intentions. That @#$! alien even gets his chicks...and then dumps 'em.


"The Late Mr. Kent." A cool mystery that starts off with Clark Kent's funeral. Wouldn't want to spoil the end for anyone who hasn't seen it, but it's a clever one-shot story that satisfies every time. A creepy and sentimental episode as Lois works through her feelings for Clark.

There's more than that, but I've really got to go tonight. I really think S:TAS held its own with B:TAS.

[Kid Kyoto]

I was out of the country when it was on but I might check it out now.

Any one else want to post a review?

[Agentum]

I have this series and have watched it recently, and i like it, not all episodes is good (i think BTAS is more even in quality) i prefer this Superman over most DC Supermans.
It's bad those days of good DC animated shows seems to be over, replaced with brainless cheap action heroes shows like The Batman.

[Zanku]

Over the years i was able to get all the episodes from various sources. Every now and then ill watch them, most are in good quality. Very excellent show

[Syphre Zero]

When I found out some months ago that S:TAS was rerun nightly on Boomerang, I said a small prayer of thanks to the gods of DVR and began recording it religiously. It had been too long since I had seen most of those episodes, and they rarely disappoint.

I think my favorite aspect of the series was the voice work, in particular the quality of the actors who turned up to guest star. Tim Daly was very much in touch with who Superman and Clark Kent really are; as for Clancy Brown, I still hear his voice when I read Luthor in the comics. Spot-on.

Many of the others were perfectly cast, such as Michael Ironside as Darkseid and Malcom MacDowell as Metallo; Ironside in particular brought a gravelly and intimidating realism to the dreaded lord of Apokolips. Some were good but nothing special (Frasier's Peri Gilpin as Volcana), while others were pleasant and unexpected surprises (Gilbert Gottfried as Myxzptlk and Ed Asner as Granny Goodness). Seriously, Ed Asner. Who would have thought? Rather than hire some nobody voice actors to phone it in, or make Frank Welker do the voices of everyone on the series (that very talented man needs a break), Warner Brothers made something special by getting the best to take part.

[Norrin Radd]

The 1978 Superman movie notwithstanding, I think that TAS is the best Superman that we'll ever see in non-comic book form.

[JulianPerez]

SUPERMAN: TAS was a mixed bag; some good, some bad. It was enjoyable and interesting, and sure, and it did have some really great episodes. I wouldn't point to it as being the "definitive" Superman by a LONG shot, though.

THE GOOD:

The Daily Planet set - the most stylish seen since the Fleischer cartoons. As much as I admire Curt Swan, his Planet offices felt rather cramped and small, more like Dilbert's cubicle-land.

The Animated Fortress of Solitude. Talking about impressive sets, the Animated Fortress had the best stuff from every incarnation: the crystal of the movies, the animal-filled Interstellar Zoo and hologram projectors of the Silver/Bronze Age, and so forth. Like the Daily Planet, best take on it seen yet.

The truly inspired casting of Gilbert Godfried as Mr. Mxyzptlk. And that whole episode was terrific, with Superman using his brain to outsmart Mxy instead of just overwhelming applications of power.

The Bizarro episode. Wow, it's not hard to get one's throat stuck into one's neck at the

The Parasite. His characterization was wonderfully dopey and small-minded.


THE BAD:

Lex Luthor. He and Superman had approximately zero chemistry together. While previously they exchanged wisecracks, now they're reduced to grunting goonery like "Tell me what you're planning Luthor or I'll - " or "No matter what it takes, I'll get revenge on you Superman." And while Clancy Brown is a great voice actor, he was a poor choice for Lex Luthor. Where's Lex's trademark sense of humor?

Superman being really non-clever with his powers. I said this before: how many times did Lois fall and Superman just flew down and caught her? I mean, couldn't he just mix it up a little sometime, y'know, like maybe using Super-Breath or fly below her and creating a whirlwind cushoin to catch her.

The loser villains created for the show. Some villains created by a show are legendary; note Victor Buono's extraordinary turn as King Tut in the sixties Batman. However, considering how extraordinary Superman's Rogues Gallery is, why did the writers feel the need to create no-accounts like Live Wire or Volcana?

Superman needing a spacesuit. I wonder if these guys really know who Superman is?

[Young Avenger]

Superman needing a spacesuit. I wonder if these guys really know who Superman is?

I don't think that has to do with not knowing Superman. Do you think Superman himself in the series knew he was capable of surviving space without the need of a spacesuit? Superman himself didn't know if his abilities would allow him to survive in space. He didn't want to take any chances so he wore a spacesuit. Really, that was a no-brainer.

[the film freak]

I dug it. i think people write it off since it's not as good as Batman the Animated Series (to be fair it didn't have as many episodes as B:TAS and even that show had it's fair share of clunkers).

But I think it captured the best of Superman. I wish it got another season.

[trickster]

When I found out some months ago that S:TAS was rerun nightly on Boomerang, I said a small prayer of thanks to the gods of DVR and began recording it religiously.

Pirate! :) Gail Simone where are you?

[chriskenny]

THE BAD:

Lex Luthor. He and Superman had approximately zero chemistry together. While previously they exchanged wisecracks, now they're reduced to grunting goonery like "Tell me what you're planning Luthor or I'll - " or "No matter what it takes, I'll get revenge on you Superman." And while Clancy Brown is a great voice actor, he was a poor choice for Lex Luthor. Where's Lex's trademark sense of humor?

Superman being really non-clever with his powers. I said this before: how many times did Lois fall and Superman just flew down and caught her? I mean, couldn't he just mix it up a little sometime, y'know, like maybe using Super-Breath or fly below her and creating a whirlwind cushoin to catch her.

The loser villains created for the show. Some villains created by a show are legendary; note Victor Buono's extraordinary turn as King Tut in the sixties Batman. However, considering how extraordinary Superman's Rogues Gallery is, why did the writers feel the need to create no-accounts like Live Wire or Volcana?

Superman needing a spacesuit. I wonder if these guys really know who Superman is?

I think the idea of him needing a spacesuit was a way of grounding Superman's in order to make certain environments and conflicts more challenging. While this certainly didn't reflect the comics, I respected the idea that Superman should be subject to the same difficulties in space as everyone else, but perhaps to a lesser degree. I also liked that he could not just fly across space and used his capsule as a means of getting around. Sure, it didn't have that Silver Age whimsy of just being able to fly around space unimpeded, but it served its own internal logic. I didn't mind that at all.

As a matter of fact, I liked that Superman was relatively the strongest guy around but was significantly weaker than his comic book counterpart. It made him more like the Max Fleischer version, who could take a tank shell to the chest but it would hurt like hell. It just made the stories a little more dramatic.

I would hardly call King Tut legendary. And while the villains created soley for the show were pretty underwhelming, you have to look on the bright side--the established villains in most respects were treated with more respect than they were in the comics. Parasite was actually a threat, holding Superman captive for days and refilling on power whenever he needed it. Metallo nearly killed him on many occassions. Toyman was freakish. The list goes on. The show basically said, "Hey, Superman's villains are pretty cool, too. And at their best serve as a huge threat against the Man of Steel."

I see your point about Lex Luthor, but I just took this as the post-Crisis Luthor and not the Gene Hackman version. With that in mind, I just thought the cartoon was being faithful to the new vision of Luthor, of which I am not a huge fan of. However, I found him more appealing in the show than I did in the comic at the time.

[JulianPerez]

I think the idea of him needing a spacesuit was a way of grounding Superman's in order to make certain environments and conflicts more challenging. While this certainly didn't reflect the comics, I respected the idea that Superman should be subject to the same difficulties in space as everyone else, but perhaps to a lesser degree. I also liked that he could not just fly across space and used his capsule as a means of getting around. Sure, it didn't have that Silver Age whimsy of just being able to fly around space unimpeded, but it served its own internal logic. I didn't mind that at all.

Overall, I agree that the lowered, Fleischeresque power level was interesting to see and an interesting interpretation, however, the spacesuit and spaceship are indicative of a larger problem: the decision to emphasize Superman's limitations, and Superman isn't about limitations or "not having enough power." As for the business about it suiting its own internal logic...I have no doubt that Fleischer Superman would probably have to use a spacesuit in space. However, what must be considered is that Max Fleischer Superman never went into space, either. Fleischer's Superman was what he was in proportion to what he encountered.

I would hardly call King Tut legendary.

Why not? Victor Buono was an extraordinary character actor.

But King Tut doesn't belong in the comics...he is so intimately connected to the actor that played him.

I see your point about Lex Luthor, but I just took this as the post-Crisis Luthor and not the Gene Hackman version. With that in mind, I just thought the cartoon was being faithful to the new vision of Luthor, of which I am not a huge fan of. However, I found him more appealing in the show than I did in the comic at the time.

I suppose that would work, were it not for the fact that SUPERMAN: TAS is not a slavish rendition of any one version of Superman, and so consequently if they use something that doesn't work, it's because they CHOSE to put it in there, as they did with growling thug Luthor.

[mosnab]

I got the last of the three DVD sets for my birthday this summer too (have all three now), and was watching the repeats on Boomerang before that as well. I have to agree with some who have said this is their favorite version of the Man of Steel. I just like how he, his supporting cast/world, and villains are portrayed in this series overall. Although I liked Superman Returns, I wouldn't have minded seeing the character follow along with the model of this series a bit more too.

Overall, the DCAU seems to get it right with their characters in general - at least to me. BTAS is obviously top notch, and I like many of the portrayals from JL/JLU as well (Wally West/Flash and the Question are a couple of my favorites). Between most of the voice actors and just the general conception of the characters, it just fits with me.

[colossus34]

Overall, it was a great cartoon. The best episode was probably the origin story and reinvention of Braniac. Unfortunetlty, the drama and storytelling often weren't up to par or near as good as some of the original B:TAS. Superman often never came off more than one-dimensional and I don't think they explored the Luther/Superman dynamic beyond your typical good guy/bad guy angle. A shame becuase the show had great voice talent and a visual style perfetly suited the superman mythos. The show was aimed at kids and never went out of its way to explore any mature themes or touch on elements of superman that would have made the show more interesting.

Still great and enjoyable entertainment!

[Damo]

SUPERMAN: TAS was a mixed bag; some good, some bad. It was enjoyable and interesting, and sure, and it did have some really great episodes. I wouldn't point to it as being the "definitive" Superman by a LONG shot, though.


Ah, well, of all the adaptations of the comics, I would say the animated series was the most definitive. And honestly, the percent of the animated series that felt wrong, to me, was smaller than the percent of comics that have felt wrong since basically... crisis.


THE BAD:

Lex Luthor. He and Superman had approximately zero chemistry together. While previously they exchanged wisecracks, now they're reduced to grunting goonery like "Tell me what you're planning Luthor or I'll - " or "No matter what it takes, I'll get revenge on you Superman." And while Clancy Brown is a great voice actor, he was a poor choice for Lex Luthor. Where's Lex's trademark sense of humor?

Although I agree that Luthor was hit-or-miss, I don't understand why you would say his sense of humor is "trademark". It's certainly something we see in most versions of the character, but not exactly "trademark". That said, I think you're unfairly forgetting some of Luthor's great lines (such as when Joker has him hostage and is demanding to know what buttons to press to use weapons in Luthor's ship, Joker points out that if the ship crashes they both die. Luthor stares at him and says "It's a big button." Joker turns around and looks at this massive console with buttons of every possible shape and size. [Or perhaps it was "it's a green button" and the console was mostly green buttons. I forget which]).

Certainly he needed some work, but I will take a usually competant and only occassionally joking Luthor over a usually joking and only occassionally competant Luthor (like, say, in a certain movie just released) any day. By the time Justice League came around, I thought they'd really found a nice sense of humor for Luthor. I still grin ear to ear remembering his "President? Do you have any idea how much power I would have to give up to become President?" speach.


Superman being really non-clever with his powers. I said this before: how many times did Lois fall and Superman just flew down and caught her? I mean, couldn't he just mix it up a little sometime, y'know, like maybe using Super-Breath or fly below her and creating a whirlwind cushoin to catch her.


This could indeed have used work. I think it was partly a limitation of the medium, however.


The loser villains created for the show. Some villains created by a show are legendary; note Victor Buono's extraordinary turn as King Tut in the sixties Batman. However, considering how extraordinary Superman's Rogues Gallery is, why did the writers feel the need to create no-accounts like Live Wire or Volcana?


Here I must disagree with you strongly. Lytener/Solaris was a fun little mad scientist made up for the show. As for Volcana and Livewire, well, their gender really was the reason for their creation. And yes Julian, Superman's rogues gallery really is horrible for female villains. Sure there's Faora, but while I dislike the lack of Phantom Zone villains in the comics, I agree with not using them on the show. There are only so many episodes in a season, if the writers allowed another Kryptonian villain other than Braniac and Jax-Ur, it really would have felt like too many of his villains were from Krypton. Maxima, while a good fun character, was never really a villain.

While I understand your concern that Livewire was too much a character of her times, I think you're being unfair. It's true that radio shock jocks are something modern that (hopefully) will be dated in a decade or so. But be it newspaper collumnists, radio jockeys, or blog writers, there's always going to be talentless loudmouths that get attention and fame purely by lies, slander, and just generally being crass and insulting. Livewire might use a different medium a couple decades from now, or would have used a different medium a couple decades in the past, but core idea of an obnoxious and generally talentless media figure feels pretty timeless to me.



Superman needing a spacesuit. I wonder if these guys really know who Superman is?

First off, it [i]is arrogant to assume that the Superman in your head is the one true Superman, and that failure to match that version indicates that someone doesn't know what they're doing. That said, the Superman in my head doesn't need a spacesuit either. But I'm not sure they ever stated their version needed one. He certainly thought he did, but that always made sense to me. Finding out that you, of all beings on the planet, don't need to breathe in space... that's the sort of thing that an intelligent being should find out by accident. As for the spaceship, that one I gave them. Faster than a speeding bullet, sure. Fast as the speed of light... pushing it. Able to go who knows how many lightyears back to Krypton, without a ship, and not be abandoning the earth... now come on, that just ruins the whole fun of the Superman-Flash races!

[Zanku]

Yeah, superman can hold his breath for a long time, it just varies on the version. Comic superman has for weeks, while I think it said Lois and Clark superman could only for a half an hour, depends on who's writing him. It made sense to me :\

[chriskenny]

I don't think its too much to ask for Superman to NEED to breathe. As in, can only hold his breath for an hour or something. I just think that Superman is so over-the-top in every other regard, I think it wouldn't be the worst thing if he could die from lack of oxygen like the rest of us.

[Ekko]

I enjoyed it during it's initial run, and at first when it began re-airing on boomerang, I was happy. Strangely, as I began watching the show again I found that I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I once did. Overall, I thought it was a decent show, but I find that I enjoy the old Fleisher cartoons more now. I wouldn't even put in the same weight class with Timm's other work: B:TAS, Batman Beyond, and JL/JLU, and Superman is easily my favorite character.

[Duy]

Unfortunately in the comics, Superman needed a spacesuit at around the time the cartoon was coming out.

While I agree that the show was hit or miss, I think they really finally captured both Superman and Lex and even Darkseid (whom they had already captured in this one) in season 2 of Justice League, and JLU.

[cactusmaac]

I liked the show especially for the great versions of Lex, Brainiac, Lobo and Darkseid but it paled in comparison to Batman:TAS and Batman Beyond.

Mostly because unlike Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Terry McGuiness, Bruce Timm and co. didn't seem to have much of a clue when it came to giving Superman some great character beats. He showed up, saved the day and that's pretty much it.

Favourite episode would be the first Mr Mxy one.

[Dussan]

I liked Legacy.

Whole series built towards taht moment. Supes owning Darkseid.

[Constantine Drakon]

Volcana and Livewire might have been okay, were it not for their horrible voice casting. Now don't get me wrong, the two actresses in question are talented individuals. But they clearly didn't adapt well to this type of project, and just about chewed the scenery. It's too bad, really.

That said, nickel for nickel this was the best take overall of his enemies. Luthor might have needed tinkering, but even if you think he shouldn't be a businessman, you have to say he did a lot better as an evil businessman in this version than the books. Mercy was an inspired addition to his world, and the comic writers should be ashamed for not properly putting her in the books when they had the chance. The same with the far more interesting animated Toyman and Brainiac. I'd been reading Superman well before the show, but in my mind Brainiac will always be that creepy Kryptonian A.I. that doomed the planet with its selfish attempts to preserve itself and sabotage Jor-El's research.

[David Walton]

I liked Legacy.

Whole series built towards taht moment. Supes owning Darkseid.

That's another great thing about this series. Perhaps because of its shorter run, there seemed to be a consistent and well-paced buildup throughout the entire 54 episodes. Everything seemed to add up as though planned all throughout, and that trend continued in "Twilight" (it was only when JL picked up this Superman plotline that it gained momentum) and the final episode of JLU.

[David Walton]

Mostly because unlike Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Terry McGuiness, Bruce Timm and co. didn't seem to have much of a clue when it came to giving Superman some great character beats. He showed up, saved the day and that's pretty much it.

Because this a criticism that is consantly leveled at Superman in every medium I don't give it that much weight. Perhaps you could say Batman's motivation is more intense, but that isn't the same as arguing he has more depth. Superman is Superman because he does show up and save the day for little other reason than it's the right thing to do.

But when it comes down to it, there are several storylines that explored Superman's motivations as well as anything B:TAS put out. Take for instance "Brave New Metropolis", where Lois' death was the catalyst for Supes' unholy alliance with Lex in forming a totalitarian government. "Legacy" was even braver, exploring a major screwup by a Superman who isn't from an alternate universe. JL and JLU continued to explore how much the people's trust meant to Superman, and how afraid he was of losing both public support and his own moral clarity. Excellent, excellent stuff--and the surprising betrayal by a close friend really hit home hard.

[the film freak]

I liked Legacy.

Whole series built towards taht moment. Supes owning Darkseid.

The great thing about that episode was in the end Darkseid won. He still was in charge of Apocalypse and managed to get a good chunk of the population of Earth to hate and fear Superman.

[Ekko]

I think calling the show "Hit or Miss" like Hangmanjury did is the perfect description of the show. There were some good things about the show, but there were some really disappointing things. I think one of the most disappointing things about the show was Superman generally never using his head for nothing more than a punching bag. I can't count the number of times were Superman did something that just made me shake my head and go "moron." As much as I like Superman, I should not be having to call him that.

[LtMarvel]

You guys are forgetting many wonderful tales: Batman/Superman crossover had my jaw open (Lois found out that!!! Mercy/Harley battles!!!).

Other good things:

The New Gods never worked for me until this series.

The guest stars (Dr. Fate, Flash, Green Kyle, Legion, etc).

Supergirl.

Turpin.

The guts to give Maggie her s.o. in the series. I don't know about the risk vs the rewards, but I appreciated the guts.

The creepy Toyman. (Another that never worked for me in the comics.)

Mr. Mxy and his girlfriend (mate?).

Lois Lane.

That future Superman episode...

The Kents!

The Fortress, the Zoo, Bizzaro.

Brainiac.

The easter eggs (find Billy Batson's cameo!)

Volcana and Live Wire (you do know that Live Wire is headed to the real DCU, didn't you?).

What didn't work: that one-episode Super-voice-imitation power.

Those dang double-sided DVDs! I can't even play the Legion episode on any of my players.

[cactusmaac]

Because this a criticism that is consantly leveled at Superman in every medium I don't give it that much weight. Perhaps you could say Batman's motivation is more intense, but that isn't the same as arguing he has more depth. Superman is Superman because he does show up and save the day for little other reason than it's the right thing to do.

But when it comes down to it, there are several storylines that explored Superman's motivations as well as anything B:TAS put out. Take for instance "Brave New Metropolis", where Lois' death was the catalyst for Supes' unholy alliance with Lex in forming a totalitarian government. "Legacy" was even braver, exploring a major screwup by a Superman who isn't from an alternate universe. JL and JLU continued to explore how much the people's trust meant to Superman, and how afraid he was of losing both public support and his own moral clarity. Excellent, excellent stuff--and the surprising betrayal by a close friend really hit home hard.

Batman:TAS is regarded as the single best interpretation of the character ever, so yeah, I had high hopes going in. If you look at the comics there's numerous examples of great Superman\Clark Kent characterisation - stories like Kingdom Come, Action Comics #775, Hitman #34 by Garth Ennis, Superman: For All Seasons and probably the most underrated Superman story out there, Under A Yellow Sun by John Francis Moore.

Even the glimpses we got of Superman in Morrison's JLA run did a lot better when it came to showing why the character was special than anything seen in S:TAS, key instances being the "They believe in me and I believe in them line" in #1, the fight with Asmodel in #7, the confrontation against Mageddon in the last issue and the JLA/Sandman issue with Supes deciding to risk his life when he had no powers to save the life of single child.

I didn't perceive any of that specialness in the animated series. Superman was just a super-powered lug who hit things until they broke. Brave New World didn't seem more than the standard issue evil Superman story. Legacy would have been more interesting if they'd been able to do some follow-up episodes where Supes had to regain the trust of the public.

[OverMaster]

I... I like Livewire. She's a good depart from traditional cliche supervillainesses in that,

1) She isn't in mad denied love with the hero. She'd prefer to eat her own guts than to love Superman.

2) She's am egotistic jerk, a type of villainy seen to death in male villians but rather rare on female baddies.

3) Great powers and visual, although the water weakness has always been the character's weak point to me. It makes her defeats too repetitive when you can beat her just by throwing a water bucket to her.


And yeah, I must agree, Lex doesn't have to be a humor guy. Heck, the original Luthor wasn't... The essence of Luthor is being a cerebral guy, not a good humored one.

And another thing, Mr. Perez, why the need for Superman to be showoffing when saving Lois? Superman should take the easiest, quickest solution when dealing with an emergency, at least most often. Why to do an unneeded air cushion trick for showoff purposes when a simple save can do it far more efficiently?

And King Tut was as lame as they could make him. Sorry, but even when I was watching the show as a kid, I hated how lame he was (and I was born in the late 70s; I don't consider myself one of the children of the 'rad and mad' viewpoint of comics' era). Every time the guy was onscreen he made me long for a Riddler, Catwoman or even Mad Hatter episode.

[colossus34]

Batman:TAS is regarded as the single best interpretation of the character ever, so yeah, I had high hopes going in. If you look at the comics there's numerous examples of great Superman\Clark Kent characterisation - stories like Kingdom Come, Action Comics #775, Hitman #34 by Garth Ennis, Superman: For All Seasons and probably the most underrated Superman story out there, Under A Yellow Sun by John Francis Moore.

Even the glimpses we got of Superman in Morrison's JLA run did a lot better when it came to showing why the character was special than anything seen in S:TAS, key instances being the "They believe in me and I believe in them line" in #1, the fight with Asmodel in #7, the confrontation against Mageddon in the last issue and the JLA/Sandman issue with Supes deciding to risk his life when he had no powers to save the life of single child.

I didn't perceive any of that specialness in the animated series. Superman was just a super-powered lug who hit things until they broke. Brave New World didn't seem more than the standard issue evil Superman story. Legacy would have been more interesting if they'd been able to do some follow-up episodes where Supes had to regain the trust of the public.

Very well put. I call Bull*hit on people who say Supes lacks depth as a character or isn't as complex. He wouldn't be around for the last century if he wasn't a phenomenal character for writers to explore. I think it's much too easy to just show Supes "punch things till they break" rather than explore his motivations, his sense of being alone, the issues he has personally and how he fits into the world.

Granted I want tons of epic action/adventure, but I'm also not a 5year old child and look at any comic interpretation(whether animated or live-action) as a chance to deeply explore Clark/Superman as a character.