SUPERMAN: MAN OF TOMORROW (2020)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, psychological*

This standalone Superman film is much better than the thoroughly mediocre product that so often appears from the DC Animated Universe, yet it's just not quite outstanding enough to give it more than a "fair" rating.

I certainly appreciate that the Tim Sullivan script, directed by Chris Palmer, makes a studied attempt to give Superman a consistent character beyond "Big Blue Boy Scout." This is particularly surprising in that the DTV is said to be derived by Mark Waid's "Birthright" continuity, an arc I read but found underwhelming. From glancing over a summation of the comic book series, I see barely any common points, except that both narratives take place at the outset of the Man of Steel's superhero career.

It helps that in this particular iteration, Clark Kent's foster parents are still alive on their farm, which allows the hero to visit them for input on his desire to help his adopted people. The viewer gets to see young Clark interning for the Daily Planet at a time when Lois Lane rockets to prominence, breaking a major story that gets Lex Luthor put in prison for the first time. In his first few attempts at saving people, the fledgling hero wears a makeshift disguise, which will lead to the making of the iconic costume after his clothes get shredded by his first major challenge-- 

LOBO?

Really? I mean, I realize that Lobo always offers Superman fans the prospect of good basic brawls, spiced by the alien biker's scorn for the hero's scout-like personality. But Lobo isn't really a great vehicle for introducing Superman to his alien heritage, much less introducing him to kryptonite. Lobo's been sent by some unnamed alien villain to bring back the hero dead or alive, so that the evildoer might be responsible for giving the bounty hunter a ring of the Green Death. Yet Sullivan's script not only drops the subject of Lobo's employer, even Superman seems utterly uninterested in the matter.

Sullivan does considerably better by giving this version of Superman his first meeting with a future fellow Justice Leaguer, J'onn J'onzz the Martian Manhunter. J'onn not only helps out against Lobo, he uses his formidable mental powers to give the Man of Steel some perspective on his Kryptonian backstory. The script doesn't enlarge on how the Last Martian came to live on Earth, despite the fact that he's aware of Earthlings' propensity for xenophobia. He uses his shape-changing powers to keep a low profile, and he suggests that Superman may want to do the same thing. The exchanges of the nascent superheroes on the dubious nature of defending mankind is easily the best psychological aspect of TOMORROW, though I also appreciated that Lois doesn't immediately become lovestruck the first time she sets eyes on the Hunk of Tomorrow. (Since the entire story is a justification of Clark's career, perhaps his destiny is the "tomorrow" referenced, since the phrase isn't used in the script.)

The real Big Bad of the story is not either Lobo or Luthor but The Parasite. This character is not based upon the first incarnation that appeared in the Silver Age, but a latter-day Bronze Age iteration that first appeared in the FIRESTORM comic. Whatever the provenance of the second Parasite of the comics, this one at least shares that character's name, Rudy Jones (so that TOMORROW seems to be "jonesing" on characters named Jones). Rudy gets exposed to toxic chemicals as a result of the fight between Superman and Lobo, and he quickly mutates into a freakish being who can suck energies and memories out of anyone, normal or "super." This ALIEN-style Parasite thus becomes the dominant threat that results in an uneasy alliance between Superman, J'onn, Lobo and Luthor.

Though the Parasite arc is ably done, he too doesn't really seem to fit in a story devoted to Superman's initial adventures. So the Manhunter from Mars is the only "added" character who really works in such a context, at a period when Superman hasn't even met Batman (though Ma Kent mentions that she got the idea of giving her heroic son a cape in imitation of the Gotham Knight's ensemble). Still, compared to many of the lame DC DTVs I've reviewed, it's refreshing to find one that's at least a little better than average.