Superman on Television
Superman: The Animated Series - Episode Reviews
Season 2 - Episodes 16-18: "World's Finest"
Original Air Date: October 4, 1997Reviewed by: Jeffrey Taylor
"I'm Batman" - Batman
Superman: The Animated Series followed two highly successful seasons of Batman: The Animated Series from 1993-1995 on the Fox Network. In 1997 when Batman moved to the Saturday morning Kids WB lineup with Superman, Warner Brothers decided to spring-launch the renamed The New Adventures of Batman by airing this 90 minute primetime episode of Superman: The Animated Series with Batman as a guest star. Soon both series were broadcast together as The New Batman/Superman Adventures. The full version of this episode was released on VHS in 1998 and DVD in 2002 with the title, The Superman/Batman Movie. It is also available in the Superman: The Animated Series - Vol. 2 boxed set. In 1997 there was a one shot comic book adaptation called "Batman & Superman Adventures: World's Finest" written by Paul Dini.
During the 1940s, 50s and beyond, Superman and Batman teamed up regularly in the pages of DC Comics. Superman often appeared in Batman's books and vice versa, but both featured together regularly in "World's Finest" from 1941 to 1986. Those stories showcased a Superman and Batman who made a perfect team of like-minded individuals. They got a along swimmingly as pals, much as they did in issues of "Justice League of America."
One of the many changes John Byrne brought to the Superman comics when he rebooted the comic book origins of the character in 1986, was that while Superman and Batman both fought criminals and respected one another, they disagreed with each other's methods. Without traditional super powers, Batman solved crimes with keen detective work, intimidation and occasionally by beating suspects.
Lex Luthor also met the Joker for the first time in this episode. They worked together from time to time in the comics, but after the 1986 comic reboot, Luthor changed from a mad scientist to a Wall Street billionaire business man. Lex in Superman: The Animated Series reflected that change. So while he and the Joker had a common interest in killing both Superman and Batman, the two were at odds whenever they were together. During their first meeting when Joker offered to kill Superman for a billion dollars, Lex asked how he intended to do that when he couldn't even handle a mortal in a Halloween costume.
Much of Batman's cast appeared in this episode, including the Joker voiced by Mark Hamill, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. He was also The Trickster on TV's The Flash, and many more. Hamill had, in the minds of many fans, one of the definitive takes on the character, and his Joker voice was unrecognizable next to his normal voice. The Joker's design was quite a leap compared to his appearance in the comics. He had no lips and his eyes were colored backwards, which is to say his pupils were white while the rest of his eyes were black.
Gotham's favorite dirty cop with a heart of gold, Detective Harvey Bullock, was played by Robert Costanzo (TV's NYPD Blue and Family Ties). He was also in two episodes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Efrem Zimbalist (TV's The F.B.I and Sunset Strip) voiced Bruce Wayne's butler and confidant, Alfred Pennyworth.
Commissioner Jim Gordon was played by the legendary Bob Hastings. He has had an amazing career dating back to the 1950s. Hastings had repeat guest appearances on shows like The Munsters, McHale's Navy, Green Acres, All in the Family and The Duke's of Hazzard. He also guest starred in comic related programs such as The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman and the Adam West Batman.
Early on, Batman: The Animated Series introduced Harley Quinn voiced by Arleen Sorkin (Comic Book: The Movie, cohost with Dave Coulier on America's Funniest People, which was a companion series to America's Funniest Home Videos on ABC in the early 1990s). Harley was an equally demented sidekick to the Joker whose popularity among fans led to appearances in the Batman comics, where she eventually evolved into her own character separate from the Joker. Her purpose in this episode was primarily to be a foil to Lex Luthor's bodyguard Mercy, who was also created for this series and eventually brought into the comics, although not as successfully.
Finally there was Bruce Wayne/Batman himself played by Kevin Conroy (TV's Dynasty and soap opera Another World). Many fans consider Conroy's Batman voice to be among the best. He returned many times for other series and projects. While critics have poked fun at established actors like Christian Bale for their deep, raspy Batman voices, Conroy pulled it off every time without so much as a giggle from fans or critics. During the commentary track on the DVD, creators explained that they often asked Tim Daly to voice Superman a bit lower, but while recording this episode in the same room with Kevin Conroy, Daly's voice seemed to go an octave lower just from their interactions.
Early in the second season of Superman: The Animated Series, the creators knew Batman would guest star, so more time and thought was put into the script than most other episodes, except perhaps the pilot. Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, Alan Burnett and others recorded a commentary track for the first episode in the boxed set DVD, where they discussed that fans of Batman: The Animated Series would often ask when Superman would guest star. Obviously they went the other direction and put Batman into this series instead. He would return later for two more episodes, but Superman never appeared in Batman's series except for an episode of Batman Beyond near the end of that show's run. Batman: The Animated Series aimed for a realistic feel, so the creators decided not to include a more science fiction kind of character like Superman.
Rating - 4 (out of 5): "World's Finest" was an excellent episode and introduced Superman and Batman to each other, but it was far from perfect. For those who saw it as three episodes instead on one animated film, the first episode was light years better than the second or third. Part one had an excellent flow while the second two were mired with ridiculous leaps of logic. Reviewing these separately, part one would rate a five, two would get a four and three would receive a three. The best part was the love pentagon among Lois Lane, Superman, Clark Kent, Batman and Bruce Wayne. Technically it was still a love triangle, but perception is everything.
Lois actually asked Superman on a date after he saved her. Although their love was slightly hinted at a couple of times so far, this was her first outright advance. Later Lois and Bruce Wayne dated. So she liked Superman and Bruce, but not Clark Kent or Batman. Lois even considered moving to Gotham to be with Bruce permanently, until she discovered he was Batman, whom she disagreed with on principal.
Gotham City looked great and had a definitive feel that was separate from Metropolis due mostly from the lighting, even in the night scenes. The Joker and Harley Quinn broke into a museum in Gotham and stole a dragon statue made of kryptonite in order to approach Luthor and get paid for killing Superman. Previous owners of the statue died prematurely, which means that in Superman: The Animated Series, although kryptonite gave off a low level of radiation, it could still affect humans over a prolonged period of time. There's a good deal of variation in the effects of green kryptonite on humans depending on which Superman series you may read or watch.
Superman's first appearance in the episode was just awesome. Lois Lane was reporting from Air Force One when terrorist took over the plane. Lois fought back and was strapped into her seat. Soon the terrorists discovered who she was, "The one Superman always saves?" Superman flipped the plane over and tore off the door. However this was yet another example of escalation concerning Superman's powers. Way back in the pilot, Superman had great difficulty landing a jetliner that was about to crash in Metropolis. The idea was to show that this Superman was not so powerful that he could solve every problem without effort. In the DVD commentary, Bruce Timm explained that they considered that, but decided that if it looks cool, it's right. I have to agree with him this time.
Another difference between this Joker and the traditional Joker from the comics, was that this Joker's smilex gas made people laugh uncontrollably, but didn't kill them. He used it on mob boss Carlini (a reference to Mike Carlin, previous editor of the Superman comic books).
Bruce Wayne needed an excuse to arrive in Metropolis, so he invested in a Lexcorp military project involving robots, which would later attack Superman and Batman. The design of the robots was simple, but when they were shown early on, they appeared to be very small against the background provided and with no other foreground reference. While it's hard to show a sense of scale with non-human objects, they appeared to be the size of a Mars rover. Later they were revealed to be larger than an average human, but they were the same kind of robot.
During Superman and Batman's first meeting, Superman X-rayed Batman's mask and discovered that he was Bruce Wayne. I don't know how I feel about that. It was one thing when Lois learned who he was because Batman's cape and cowl were ripped off, but I saw Superman's action here as a breach of what I consider superhero etiquette. Clark was clearly upset at the end of part one when he got home and discovered a bat shaped tracking device on his cape and saw Batman looking at him from a rooftop across town. Obviously neither would tell anyone else, but I didn't feel at all bad for Superman when it happened.
The next morning at the offices of the Daily Planet, Bruce arrived to pick up Lois and waved to Clark with a polite smile. What a bastard.
Whenever crooks shoot at Superman, they hit him almost every time, but when bad guys shoot at Batman, even when he can't dodge, they miss almost every time. Case in point when Batman went over the side of the building and Joker said, "See that he's street pizza. In this town someone could have caught him!" Batman landed on a window washing platform several stories below the roof. Joker's thugs shot at him so much that the wooden platform he was crouching on fell through, yet not a single shot hit Batman. Obviously this is fantasy, but there's a limit to the suspension of disbelief.
The Joker contacted Superman in Dan Turpin's office at the police station, telling him where to find him by revealing a map on Turpin's computer screen. He made the screen so bright that Turpin would be unable to see it, but Superman could. That was a neat idea. Superman knew Joker had kryptonite, so he arrived in his lead suit made by Emil Hamilton at S.T.A.R. labs, which had been seen in the show before. Usually when Superman would put on that suit to protect himself, it would be damaged and made useless, which is what happened when the Joker shot acid at him from his orchid.
After trapping Superman with the kryptonite, the Joker electrocuted him over and over while Lois watched helplessly. It was pretty brutal actually. After Lois, Batman and Superman were trapped together in a room with kryptonite and poison gas, Batman destroyed the kryptonite by pouring a vat of acid on it. Now, I'm not a scientist, but I don't remember ever learning that radioactivity can be counteracted with acid.
Obviously, Luthor wouldn't have been happy with Joker's failure. He and Mercy attacked the Joker's hideout, and it was one of the best exchanges in the whole series. Lex and Joker argued over the price of killing Superman now that Batman was part of the equation, but Lex, ever the business man, stared down the Joker and demanded he make good on their original contract to kill Superman. During the discussion, Mercy and Harley Quinn fought comedically in the foreground, chasing each other from one side to the other. The lighting/shading in this scene was one of the most dynamic of the series as well. The shadows played across faces in backgrounds providing a level of depth that the show rarely employed.
Even though Luthor was one of the few people who could stare down the Joker, few could do the same to Batman. Later when Batman broke into Luthor's bedroom and knocked out Mercy without even looking at her, Luthor was genuinely afraid, which was rare for him.
Batman has always had the best gadgets hanging around waiting for an appropriate use. In this case, since it was a team up with Superman, he donned a flight pack, but he was shot down quickly. When the Joker saw it, he said, "Suffering from propulsion envy?"
When Luthor's robots attacked, Batman had a rough time with the first one, but later had little difficulty defeating several at once. Before long, Batman led the robot through the streets of Metropolis to the Daily Planet building, specifically the floor where Lois Lane was. Then he worried for her safety and tried to protect her. In the printing press room, Batman told her, "Stay here. I'm the one it's after." The question remains, why lead the robots there in the first place. The obvious answer is that it allowed Lois to rejoin the story and the action, but it was still nonsensical. This was also the scene where Batman's cape and cowl were ripped off, revealing his true identity to Lois.
Later Lois complained that she knew Bruce Wayne was Batman and couldn't put the story in the Daily Planet. Although she had strong enough feelings for Bruce that she was considering moving to Gotham, she decided she couldn't be with someone like Batman.
The reason the Joker and Lex Luthor would never get along is that one will always doublecross the other, often both at once. When Lex invited Joker and Harley to his underground base, he intended to kill them both and escape with the kryptonite so he could kill Superman later on his own terms.
The tables turned and Joker captured Lex and took him into one of Lexcorp's experimental planes, shaped like a boomerang, but quickly painted it with vertical stripes first so that it would look like a smile. During flight, the Joker flew up high and flipped it into a nosedive. The plane was briefly in front of the moon, making it look like a smiley face. It was similar to 1989's Tim Burton Batman movie when Batman flew the Batwing in front of the moon, so it looked like a traditional bat-symbol.
Superman managed to rescue Luthor while Batman saved Harley Quinn, but the Joker appeared to die on the plane as it exploded when dozens of marble sized grenades fell out of his pocket. His body was not found but he certainly would return later, so it's unclear why that was even attempted.
At the end, Bruce Wayne pulled out of the Lexcorp robot deal entirely, further humiliating Lex. As Bruce and Clark parted ways, Clark said, "I thought we worked pretty well together. Not that I want to make it a regular event."
Additional guest stars in this episode included John Capodice (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Gremlins 2: The New Batch) who played mob boss Caesar Carlini and Shannon Kenny (TV's The Invisible Man and Sons and Daughters) as a Female Terrorist. Corey Burton who normally voiced Brainiac in this series, played Binko.
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