SUPERMAN: BRAINIAC ATTACKS (2006)

 

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

This DTV animated film used a number of the same voice actors from SUPERMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES, but it's not "in continuity" with that show. Like the live-action film of the same year, it presumes that Superman has been tilting with Lex Luthor for some time and, additionally, that both of them have encountered Brainiac in previous incursions. 

Perhaps because the writers, unlike the director of ATTACKS, had not worked on the aforementioned series, they were able to tap into an aspect of the Superman mythology that the TV show neglected. And that aspect had nothing to do with the Man of Steel's rogues' gallery, but with his on-again, off-again involvement with ace reporter Lois Lane, a subject the teleseries tended to avoid.

Happily, though the DTV was released to profit from the same-year debut of Bryan Singer's problematic SUPERMAN RETURNS, the script here sticks to the classic triangle-conflict. Lois is gaga over the Man of Steel, but can't see Clark Kent for dust. Clark wants Lois to love the Smallville part of him, not just the Kryptonian heritage, and much of his conflict revolves around trying to decide if he'll confess his true nature.

Luthor, ever motivated by envy and spite, seeks to one-up the superhero with a new defensive satellite-system. The system backfires when Brainiac makes a return visit to Earth and takes control of it, forcing Superman to fight both the computer-criminal and Luthor's machines. After the Man of Steel bashes Brainiac to bits, Luthor manages to swipe one of the evildoer's components. Later he reconstitutes Brainiac with the idea of having the knowledge-hungry machine kill off Superman and promote the idea that Luthor has become humankind's new savior. 

Of course things don't go well for Luthor's plan, and in the crossfire between Brainiac and Superman, Lois is bombarded by deadly radiation. Thus the hero's main goal shifts from the protection of humanity to finding a cure for one human, which necessitates his entering the Phantom Zone.

The Zone sequence is too short and underdeveloped, but once Superman's back in the real world, the animators go all out in showing the three-way battle between the invulnerable hero, the computer in a huge battle-mecha, and Luthor in a mechanical battle-suit. I can't be sure, but I got the sense that the animators were trying to come up with action-scenes good enough to rival the best from the old Fleischer cartoons of the forties, with far more attention to kineticism than one sees in other Superman DTV films.

To the writers' credit, the melodrama of the triangle is played out nicely without upsetting the status quo-- and no, of course Lois does not die. Perry White and Jimmy Olsen both provide above-average support-scenes, with Jimmy distinguishing himself by managing to defeat (though not exactly out-fight) Luthor's female guard-dog Mercy Graves. ATTACKS stands as one of the better efforts in the world of Superman cartoons.