Animated Film Review: "Superman vs. The Elite"

Based on a comic from 2001, this newest DC animation film pits Superman against a very formidable group of foes. During a political conflict in Europe, a new team called the Elites saves the day with Superman, led by their telekinetic and telepathic leader, Manchester Black. Superman cautiously befriends them, but when they kill one of the escaped villains Superman recently put in prison, they receive worldwide adoration. Whether world sees what these new heroes are willing to do. Unlike Superman, who serves the law and doesn't play judge, jury, and executioner, these new heroes are willing to take the steps that need to be taken. When Superman challenges them publicly, he loses public favor, and is challenged to a final battle by the Elite. During the battle, he lets himself seemingly be killed, before turning the tide on the Elite, killing two of their members and laser beaming the power focus of Black's brain. Then, he reveals that he actually didn't kill anyone, but his robots took them for power elimination at his fortress and subsequent transport to prison.

This was a very good story. Superman is so powerful, and so characteristically good, it's difficult to think of a truly dangerous villain for him. This story showed that perhaps his greatest threat is not something physical, but something that challenges what he stands for. Once he lost public favor, he became weak and crippled. Of course, the Elites were a bit overboard, killing too freely and being too power hungry. And Superman showed there was a fine line between what he does, and what the Elite became by giving into anger.


Still, it bring up an interesting point. I was discussing TDK and Batman Begins with a colleague recently, and he was saying he didn't like those films because Batman doesn't kill the enemy. Scarecrow and the Joker weren't killed by Batman, but presumably sent to prison. In a real world, it would make sense to kill them, stopping them from causing more harm. But the counter-argument to that is that heroes given free reign, who place themselves above the law, can lose sight of what made them heroes, and led them to become worse than those they sought to defeat. The way the public seemed to fear the seemingly evil, murdering Superman showed that that's not who they wanted as their hero, even though they thought they did. Overall, an excellent story, probably one of DC's best animated films to date.