Superman: The Animated Series

Our Review

Tim Daly’s Superman is the definitive screen Man of Steel for a generation: warm, wry, and quietly strong in a way that makes his decency feel like power rather than naivety. The DCAU’s Superman refined BTAS’s art-deco into a silver-age-inspired Metropolis where Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown, the best Luthor ever voiced) is a corporate titan rather than a mad scientist — and the show understands what the movies keep forgetting: Superman is interesting because of his restraint.

World’s Finest (Batman and Superman’s first meeting) built the DCAU bridge; The Late Mr. Kent is a superb journalism-noir; Apokolips… Now! brings Darkseid in with apocalyptic weight, and Dan Turpin’s funeral — staged after a real-world tragedy — is one of animation’s most quietly powerful moments. Supergirl’s introduction expands the mythology with heart. Three seasons, never a dip.

Verdict: Watch it. The best Superman screen adaptation between 1978 and whatever your modern favorite is.