Superman Batman: Public Enemies

[Dick Whitman]

They couldn't get Malcolm McDowell or Powers Boothe back for Metallo and Grodd? Either too expensive or scheduling issues, nuts.

Since all the roles have been recast except for the big three and Waller (contrary to earlier reports), I think it's more a matter of "didn't choose to" rather than "couldn't." Bringing back Conroy, Daly, Brown, and Pounder is an exception to the usual policy of using a different cast each time.

Agreed. Also everyone is forgetting that all 4 of those returning actors have never all worked together before. Conroy, Daly, and Brown are a reunion from the Superman series. But Pounder had no role there. She is from JLU in which George Newburn played Superman. So even those 4 were not recreating the cast of a particular show. Its a hybrid cast

Also to the point of scheduling conflicts ummm yeah ITS POSSIBLE! Sorry to single Anwar but too often in cases like this I noticed a tendency the to think the producers of various shows have the magical ability to force actors to return regardless outside factors. My point being, its very possible they may have asked other actors to return for this who could not or would not return. There is no reason for them them to explain this to us. It would just be disappointing.

 

[Anwar]

Oh I know, it's just that McDowell and Boothe were both just such great actors for Metallo and Grodd...

 

[Samurai8472]

Small comments

There's only so much fist flying and rubble SFX you can stand before your eyes gloss over or you just fast foward.

I wonder if parents will object to Luthor calling Amanda a bitch

I wonder if it was intentional for the Superman/Batman symbol on the destroyed rocket to look like the 1989 batwing.

 

[Christopher]

I wonder if it was intentional for the Superman/Batman symbol on the destroyed rocket to look like the 1989 batwing.

Haven't seen it yet, but I'd guess it's the same logo from the comics this is based on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Superman-batman_8_cvr_-_large.jpg

After all, the '89 Batwing was itself based on Batman's logo at the time, the oval emblem designed by Carmine Infantino in the '60s.

 

[Samurai8472]

Argh, should have been more specific

The pod/Superman& Batman logo looked like the bat wing. Ofcourse it's in the general Bat symbol shape.

I actually like it

 

[Broccoli]

I liked it. Solid A-.

It was awesome to have Daley, Conroy, and Brown all back. However, there was something strange about Brown's voice. He definitely gave a different style to Luthor this time around, which was somewhat disappointing to me.

I also love that they kept a lot of the banter between Supes and Bats. That was probably my favorite part of the comics. Good to see it ported here.

Up thread, I read some complaints that there should have been more opposition to Luthor's candidacy. There might have been (and probably was if you can read into the Weekend Update segment joke). You also have to take into account that it was just a quick montage to get viewers up to speed that Luthor was president. Also, considering that the previous administration was doing a lousy job, as suggested in the movie, and that Luthor did such a good job, as mentioned several times in the movie, that if there was any opposition to Luthor as president, it went away.

 

[Mr Light]

It's a shame they didn't mention how Luthor saved Gotham from No Man's Land and then freely offered the B13 technology to Metropolis. Those were the two real reasons he got elected. Of course those events would be hard to explain in a soundbite!

 

[Admiral_Young]

I don't think it was neccessary for them to show how Luthor began his campaign, I actually really loved the prolouge showing snippets of his campagin. All through the movie it felt like the comic book continuity rather than just an adatpation. Even though as I said this felt like this could take place in the TimmVerse, it also had its own feel as well. Superman's mentioning of his death for instance. Metropolis didn't seem to have the B13 technology so it's possible this was an alternate world...although I believe there was a line from Batman who mentioned Luthor selling his soul to the devil. This could have been a reference to his deal with Lena and his alliance with the Alien Armada which of course leads to the Imperilex War.

 

[Anwar]

I think that was a reference to when Luthor literally sold his soul to the Devil, or more accurately, Neron.

 

[davejames]

Eh, wasn't too crazy about this one. Even for an animated superhero movie, the plot was farfetched and ridiculous beyond belief. I didn't buy any of it for a second, from the giant meteor that can only be stopped by a giant robot missle (would all those other superheroes really just stand by and let Luthor take care of this?), to the way Lex is able to turn everyone against Superman.

Maybe in the comic, with that great McGuinness art, it didn't matter as much. But here, it's REALLY obvious the story just doesn't work.

The only thing that saved it for me was the great animation and the voice work from Daly and Conroy.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Seen Farscape?

They used a wormhole/stargate/space bridge to shunt a few paltry missiles closer to their target.

Stick one end of the portal into our sun and see what spits out the other end at this ele.

Why was Hawkman's job to beat up Batman?

That guy has a Thanagarian Warship somewhere on the planet which probably has the tech in it to blow up planets as easily as dinky little asteroids.

The Atom could have shrunk the bugger to the point a fire crack could have pulverised the green bastard.

Chronos could have sent it in time one way a few minutes eitherside and then earth's own solar orbit would have put the planet out of harms way.

Isn't this 101 for Green Lanterns? Even Kyle held a hundred stolen planets in place during that Brian Gitched oversized book I enjoyed so much when the earth stealing cradle started to go fubar.

Mister Miracle could have boomtubed the bugger off somewhere safe, since his teleporting tech is 14 billion years ahead of anything earth could produce.

The story was stupid.

How close to light speed was thing moving that we didn't have 20 years it was on it's way?

 

[Gryffindorian]

I saw the DVD last night. Although it wasn't bad, I missed Nightwing and the rest of the Bat family's appearance. I think I'm going to pick up the TPB, which I enjoyed reading in the store years ago.

 

[CommodoreKong]

I watched Public Enemies a few days ago and for the most part I liked it. I actually read the graphic novel a few weeks before this adaption came out, and for the most part I thought the changes worked very well.

There were only a few changes I didn't like, such as how they took out the superheroes breaking into the White House to save Batman and Superman (which I'm sure they took out for time, I wish WB would let them increase the length of these movies by 10-15 minutes if they need it), the removal of the Green Lantern, and Batman piloting the ship instead of Captain Atom (which he could of done even without future Superman, doing it to show he has completely changed his mind about Luthor).

Other then that I thought the DC team put out another good movie. I still need to watch some of the bonus features.

 

[Samurai8472]

I just went back to the graphic novel to refresh myself. Shame they took out the 1966 batmobile hanging over Batman's head.

"Clark, what the hell are good villains?"

and the proceeding dialogue is basically line by line.

Now I wish Marvel would adapt some comics into DTV movies. My picks would be "Ultimate Iron Man" and the "Extremis" story.

 

[GeorgeKirk]

I liked it. Luthor framing Superman for Metallo's murder was a much more believable rationale for the price on his head than in the comic, in which Luthor asserted that the meteor was all Superman's fault and everyone just went along with him.

 

[CommodoreKong]

I liked it. Luthor framing Superman for Metallo's murder was a much more believable rationale for the price on his head than in the comic, in which Luthor asserted that the meteor was all Superman's fault and everyone just went along with him.

I have to agree with you on that, Luthor blaming the meteor on Superman in the comic was really stupid. Blaming Superman for the death of Metallo made so much more sense, and was much more believable.

 

[davejames]

I liked it. Luthor framing Superman for Metallo's murder was a much more believable rationale for the price on his head than in the comic, in which Luthor asserted that the meteor was all Superman's fault and everyone just went along with him.

It was certainly better, but I still didn't buy it. After all the good Superman has done over the years, and all the COUNTLESS times he's saved the planet, people are going to suddenly turn on him because of one dubious video showing Metallo being smushed by a car?

I'm pretty sure people would be willing to cut him a little more slack than that (if they even believed Luthor's story in the first place). And if it really WAS under the influence of kryptonite, people would be understanding of that too (it wouldn't be the first time they'd seen him affected, after all).

I certainly love any story where the hero is wrongly accused and hunted as a criminal, but this one just wasn't thought out well at all.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

I thought also that it was the closest of the new line to having a TimmVerse feel to it.

I agree about it having a TimmVerse feel to it but I didn't enjoy it so much compared to what came before. It's a bit too quick and crazy.

Is it just me or if you "look sideways and squint", you could almost see this as a continuation of the DCAU.

Luthor obviously survived his experience with the Anti-Life Equation, and somehow or another Galatea redeemed herself to become Power Girl, but those are the only BIG obstacles I can see...

I liked it. Luthor framing Superman for Metallo's murder was a much more believable rationale for the price on his head than in the comic, in which Luthor asserted that the meteor was all Superman's fault and everyone just went along with him.

It was certainly better, but I still didn't buy it. After all the good Superman has done over the years, and all the COUNTLESS times he's saved the planet, people are going to suddenly turn on him because of one dubious video showing Metallo being smushed by a car?

I'm pretty sure people would be willing to cut him a little more slack than that (if they even believed Luthor's story in the first place). And if it really WAS under the influence of kryptonite, people would be understanding of that too (it wouldn't be the first time they'd seen him affected, after all).

I certainly love any story where the hero is wrongly accused and hunted as a criminal, but this one just wasn't thought out well at all.

There have been a few times in the comics that the people were shown as being ambivolent about Superman (usually at Lex's instigation), so it's not beyond belief. In the context of the Timm-verse this fits right in after the whole Darkseid debacle in Superman's own series plus some of the events in Justice League.

 

[Gryffindorian]

I liked it. Luthor framing Superman for Metallo's murder was a much more believable rationale for the price on his head than in the comic, in which Luthor asserted that the meteor was all Superman's fault and everyone just went along with him.

It was certainly better, but I still didn't buy it. After all the good Superman has done over the years, and all the COUNTLESS times he's saved the planet, people are going to suddenly turn on him because of one dubious video showing Metallo being smushed by a car?

I'm pretty sure people would be willing to cut him a little more slack than that (if they even believed Luthor's story in the first place). And if it really WAS under the influence of kryptonite, people would be understanding of that too (it wouldn't be the first time they'd seen him affected, after all).

I certainly love any story where the hero is wrongly accused and hunted as a criminal, but this one just wasn't thought out well at all.

I was thinking of the same thing. If this had happened in real life (assuming Superman was part of our universe), people would be questioning Luthor's veracity and the authenticity of the video.

 

[Broccoli]

^ Who said they were not? We didn't see any reaction from "normal people" in the movie. The heroes going after Supes, besides Major Force, didn't seem to like doing it, only that they had to.

Of course, Superman then going on the run probably didn't help matters much. The whole "Why would a guilty man run?" mindset.