Hot on the heels of Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and Batman: Under the Red Hood, DC released the direct follow up to Public Enemies titled Apocalypse. Originally written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by the dearly departed Michael Turner, Apocalypse tells the story of the re-introduction of Kara Zor-El, or as we know her, Supergirl. But how did I think it fared? You know what to do.
[WARNING: SPOILERS INSIDE]This movie starts mere days after the first movie, going so far as to mention that Lex Luthor is getting impeached for his actions in the previous movie. They don’t really acknowledge the financial problems everyone had in the beginning of the last film. There was a little bit of social commentary, however, when Gotham unveiled their unmanned Patrol Blimps. These blimps were meant to search for crimes, but there were Civil Liberty questions. It brought up the idea of freedoms vs. security, which was welcome, even if it was only for a second (but while we’re on the subject, if there’s a city where these would be needed, it’d be Gotham).
The Good: One of the best things was the amount of reverence for the source material. There were a few deviations I liked, a few I didn’t (I’ll get into that later). Some of the deviations I enjoyed were some of the dialogue changes (Batman has a sense of humor! GASP!), as well as the action animation. The scene when Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and an army of Amazons fought a horde of Doomsdays was epic in its presentation, as was the battles with Darkseid, Granny Goodness, and the Female Furies.
And then there was the voice acting. Superman and Batman were both voiced by their iconic voices (at least in my eyes), Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy respectively. And in a coup by the producer Bruce Timm, Summer Glau, best known from Firefly and The Sarah Conner Chronicles, was cast as Superman’s newfound cousin. It was a brilliant move that gave Kara a certain teenage quirkiness. Any other actress probably would have failed at that and Kara would have been bland and uninteresting.
Do you remember the amount of faithfulness to the source material I mentioned? Well, much like Zack Snyder’s work on The Watchmen movie and Robert Rodriguez in Sin City, there are scenes lifted directly from the original arc, and shots that match the iconic panels that I flashed back to reading hardcover and just smiling.
And even when it wasn’t entirely faithful (like the Balloons), they used it to the best of their ability. When we’re first introduced to The Man of Steel, he rushes into save some bystanders from an accident caused by Kara. It was a beautiful scene that could be construed as a Deus ex Machina, but c’mon, what better way to bring in Supes himself?
The Bad: Well, this was mostly due to the story changes. The biggest part that bothered me was the ending. In the original book, Darkseid uses his Omega Sanction on Kara, seemingly killing her. This sends Superman into a rage and he locks Darkseid into the Source Wall. Well, I can understand not pulling a fast one on the readers, as it was a poorly executed scene and the lack of the Source Wall saves and explanations; but simply leaving Darkseid floating in space, defeated was a bit of a cop out. It felt like it was an afterthought almost. At that point, they could have cut the scene on the Kent Farm out all together and it would have been fine.
Also, I did not like how they took out the final scene with all the heroes of the DCU meeting her for the first time was all but dumped. She was still introduced on Paradise Island, but there were no Teen Titans. There weren’t any Outsiders or JSA or even the JLA. It was Supes, Bats, Wondy, Big Barda, and the Amazons. It was a momentous occasion for the character, but here it didn’t feel as special.
There were also some curious character designs, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Continued belowThe WTF: Clark’s face. It looks nothing like Michael Turner’s version of the character, and it just seems douchey.
Overall: The movie is a more than worthy follow-up to another good Superman/Batman movie. That makes TWO good Jeph Loeb adaptations and zero good Morrison adaptations. Balls in your court, Matt. Here’s hoping All-Star Superman can live up to these movies!
Final Verdict: 8.0 — Buy!
