Reign of the Supermen

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Reign of the Supermen – 4 out of 5

In my previous review that centered on DC’s adaptation of their “Death of Superman” storyline from the early 90s, I mention how that storyline was a landmark moment in both comics and in my formative years.  Seeing the Big Blue Boy Scout die at the hands of the unstoppable Doomsday was unbelievable enough but the arc that followed soon after his demise; “Reign of the Supermen!”, was something all its own and an oddity unto itself.  Supes dies and suddenly there’s a Superboy decked out in 90s cringe, some super-dude in shades calling himself the Eradicator, an armor-suited Superman named Steel and then a Superman that was the ultimate 90s trope; a Cyborg Superman.  It was fun and absolutely bonkers, to say the least.  I honestly never thought DC would adapt this particular aspect of the arc but, sure enough, they did with Reign of the Supermen and it’s not too shabby.

Any comments, Hawkman?  Just kidding, you once again have no lines.

After the tremendous battle against Doomsday, the hero Superman (Jerry O’Connell) is dead and the world is struggling to figure out how to move on.  From the emptiness left by the hero rises new heroes all clamoring to claim the mantle.  Lex Luthor introduces a clone of Superman, dubbed Superboy (Cameron Monaghan), there’s a mysterious and violent justice-keeper calling himself Eradicator (Charles Halford), a man named John Henry Irons, inspired by Superman’s deeds, wields a giant hammer and builds himself a suit of armor and calls himself Steel (Cress Williams) and a mysterious man who is part machine who claims to be the real Superman brought back to life through technology called Cyborg Superman.  Are these men true heroes out to takeover for the deceased legend or are they out to take over the world?

"The name is Eradicator and I am here to fix your television.  I gave up eradicating."

In the 90s cyborgs were very cool in the world of comics
and I was all about them.  So, I definitely dug
Cyborg Superman.

On one hand, it is cool to see this arc of the “Death of Superman” story be adapted for DC’s animated universe but, on the other hand, the adaptation is kinda weighed down at points and comes off slightly boring.  I gave it a good score because the overall product is good and is able to avoid the minefields that haunts most DC features (namely the open misogyny and their endlessly child-like attempt at looking more mature but always overdoing it and looking more childish than ever) but there’s no denying that this portion of the story doesn’t have the emotional edge needed nor the “umph” to make this really interesting.  Aside from some truly weak points of animation (there are moments that looked like the animators were rushed and just churned out something fast), the biggest downside this feature has is the story drags a lot as it attempts to condense this tale from the comics and somehow juggle the development of 4 brand new characters to the universe.  Overall, it works, but there is no denying that I have some issues with development and pacing.

I didn't know if they were gonna do the black suit/mullet Superman from the comics...
they didn't disappoint.

On the positive side, the action is great.  Seeing these new Supermen go head-to-head against each other and, eventually, the forces that conspired behind their backs is very exciting and really captures the power they each had.  Additionally, as is usual with DC animated films, the voice acting is great.  Everyone from the new crew to the returning cast brings their heroes and villains to life fantastically.  It was also cool seeing Cress Williams (star of Black Lightning) get to claim the role of another DC hero.

Even more impressive is the fact that Williams is playing Shaq playing Steel.

I'm sorry, I thought he was cool in the 90s but now
he just seems dumb.

Reign of the Supermen has its moments and it is definitely cool seeing characters like Superboy (in nearly all his 90s douche charm—sorry, fans, I always felt he was kind of a tool), Eradicator, Cyborg Superman and Steel come to life in the animated world and it was nice to see this side of the “Death of Superman” tale get adapted but the feature isn’t without its fair share of issues.  The story definitely feels too slow for much of the beginning and too rushed toward the end, there is some really weak animation at points and the story has a hard time developing the new characters.  It’s sloppy to say the least but ultimately ends up working and provides a decent, albeit filler-feeling, addition to the library.