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Superman: Doomsday
Superman: Doomsday is a 2007 American animated superhero film adapted from the DC Comics storyline "The Death of Superman", which focuses on the death and return of the superhero Superman. Released by Warner Bros. Animation, it is the first film in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies.
Despite similar animation styles, the film used new animation models, and is only loosely based on the DC Animated Universe that lasted from 1992-2006, with a few allusions to the older series, as well as the Fleischer Superman series, found in the Fortress of Solitude.
Writer/director Kevin Smith made a brief cameo in the film, during the scene in which Superman apprehends Toyman. As Superman carries Toyman off, a man (modeled after and voiced by Smith) remarks, "Like we really needed him to bust up a mechanical spider, right? Lame!" This is a reference to the Warner Bros. Superman project that he and film producer Jon Peters collaborated on, which never came to fruition. According to Smith, Peters wanted Superman to fight a giant spider in the film's third act. Smith revealed in his interview film An Evening with Kevin Smith that he incorporated this and Peters' other ideas into his script, but that script was never used as director Tim Burton was eventually brought onto the project, and wished to employ a new screenwriter of his own preference. Instead, a giant mechanical spider eventually was used in the climax of the 1999 Warner Bros. film Wild Wild West, which Peters co-produced.
The film was released on September 18, 2007. Before the DVD release, the movie was first screened at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 26, 2007. It made its U.S. broadcast premier on the Cartoon Network on Saturday July 12, 2008.
Superman: Doomsday was exclusively available on DVD with a collectible packaging depicting Superman bursting through the movie's logo. It was the only film in the series originally released without a special edition.
Following a year later was a two-disc special edition DVD release. The special features included a retrospective look at how the Death of Superman comic came to be, a look at voice actors, as well as a Defeat Doomsday game with a 10-minute preview to the next animated film; Justice League: The New Frontier.
Release of a Blu-ray version was announced with a release date of February 26, 2008, but was delayed. Warner Home Video released a new "Special Edition" Blu-ray and DVD, featuring new bonus materials on November 25, 2008.
The film's generous amount of violence and profane language garnered a PG-13 rating from the MPAA. This is the first time an animated Superman project has ever received such a strong rating. Most of the more visceral deaths take place off-camera; however, the fight sequences are very intense. During the Doomsday vs. Superman fight scene, Superman coughs a puddle of blood onto the ground, perhaps the most visual use of blood in the entire film.
The film received favorable reviews from critics. Following the screening at Comic-Con, and its release on DVD, the movie garnered mostly positive reviews, with some reviewers commenting it was a marked improvement compared to other recent DC animated adaptations; some commented it raised the bar for the follow-up to the live-action Superman Returns which had been released the previous summer. Many also agreed it was also better in comparison to the recent animated films Marvel Studios had released based on their characters (such as Ultimate Avengers), in part due to the more adult and action-packed story in keeping with its PG-13 rating. Many reviews spoke highly of James Marsters' and Adam Baldwin's voice acting as Lex Luthor and Superman, while reviews of Anne Heche's portrayal of Lois Lane were mixed.
Not all reviews of the film were positive. DVDTalk.com, while praising the film's look and its technical presentation, called the film "a massive disappointment" and also negatively commented on the film's short running time and its lack of adherence to the storyline of The Death of Superman comics. James Deaux of Earth-2.net gave the movie a score of 5.5 out of 10, claiming the movie was far too overhyped and the result was not a bad, but a mediocre product with "many instances of... lazy writing, confusing animation, a couple of glaring plot holes and some mediocre voice acting." He also criticized the title of the movie given that Doomsday has such a minimal role in the film.[
