Scene Anatomy 101 04.09.08: Superman Doomsday

Posted by George H. Sirois on 04.09.2008

Time for the animation to show the live-action how it’s done…




Over fifteen years ago, the writers on all four Superman comic books gathered together for their annual meeting of the minds and were angry. Real angry. Why were they angry? Because they had a perfectly good storyline that would generate readers with the marriage between Lois Lane and Clark Kent. This was going to be huge, over fifty years in the making!

The problem was that the producers of ABC's hit show "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" liked that idea and wanted to use it on their show. They just didn't want DC Comics to use it before them, so the comic writers were restricted from going forward with it.

What's a writing staff to do??? Well, a couple years after writer Jerry Ordway would half-jokingly say "Let's just kill him" whenever they were stuck, they decided to take Jerry up on his "idea." Dan Jurgens also contributed an idea that would feature just a 22-page fight between Superman and a brand-new villain that would be powerful enough to put the Man of Steel down for the count. In time, this villain would be given the name Doomsday, and in November of 1992, issue #18 of "Superman: The Man of Steel" kicked off a 7-issue-long path of destruction. The culmination would be the 22-page brawl through Metropolis that Dan Jurgens had dreamed of, issue #75 of "Superman."



This storyline and the "Funeral for a Friend" and "Reign of the Supermen" storylines that followed it were immensely popular with both regular readers and non-readers. It was such a huge hit that Warner Bros. was desperate to use this as the premise for a fifth Superman film. Producer Jon Peters' reputation for taking successful formulas and trying them himself reared its ugly head and many different attempts to turn this epic tale into a 2+hour film never got past the script stage.

The most famous of all the script attempts was by writer/director/actor Kevin Smith. His anecdote in the "An Evening with Kevin Smith" DVD fully explains his dealings with Peters and his ideas, including Superman spending the whole movie not flying and not in the red and blue suit, and of course polar bears and giant spiders. I happened to read this script off of the Internet, and considering all of Smith's limitations that were put in front of him, it wasn't bad. Wasn't great, but wasn't terrible either.

When Tim Burton signed on as director, he had several different screenwriters take similar shots at this storyline, and each one became less and less representative of what Superman is all about. After many ill-fated shots at this story, Tim Burton eventually left the project and various other directors signed on and eventually left. Of course, we all know how this turned out, with Bryan Singer stepping in and pitching a brand new story for his writers to turn into Superman Returns.

Everyone thought the original attempts to turn The Death of Superman into a movie came and went, and eventually the story reached its fifteenth anniversary. In September of 2007, however, fans were shown that another part of Warner Bros. had been working on their own telling of Superman's death and eventual rebirth. WB Animation – responsible for the Batman and Superman animated series – took the initiative and created their own stand-alone animated feature that was released directly to DVD. It was directed by Lauren Montgomery, Brandon Vietti and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm co-director Bruce Timm and it was called…



Obviously, many changes had to be made in order to bring the story from over a whole year's worth of issues into a 75-minute feature film, but somehow the directors and writer Duane Capizzi pulled it off by incorporating Superman's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor more into the plot. In this film, Luthor (as voiced by James Marsters) gets a report from his excavation team that they have discovered a creature that was buried beneath the earth's surface, and this creature begins tearing through the team and anything else in its way.

Meanwhile, Superman (voiced by Adam Baldwin, who I thought did a great job but I'm still not sure why Tim Daly wasn't brought back) and Lois Lane (voiced by Anne Heche, who did well but long dark hair doesn't suit her as well) have been in a six-month-long relationship and during that time, Superman has kept his alter-ego a secret from her. She has her suspicions about him being Clark Kent since he leaves the Daily Planet at the beginning of the film to go to Afghanistan right before Lois' time with Superman at the Fortress of Solitude. Superman insists on keeping the secret for her own safety, but she believes that it is because of a very humanlike fear of commitment.

Unfortunately for them, they're unable to discuss this issue further because Superman hears the news about the creature that is known as Doomsday. He takes Lois with him back to Metropolis and puts her away from Doomsday's direct path, then flies to have his fateful battle with this force of destruction. The battle that takes place is truly brutal and well-deserving of the film's PG-13 rating. The two titans tear each other apart in a knock-down drag-out brawl that Dan Jurgens can certainly be proud of.

It's not much of a spoiler to say that Superman sacrifices himself at the end of this battle to put down Doomsday once and for all. The moment where he breathes his final breath is a truly captivating one that really should have been seen in theaters. It's a shame that those responsible for the live-action version could never find the proper script, but thankfully we have this one.

Considering the short running time this feature has, you would think that the filmmakers would have Superman die and then quickly start up the story dealing with his rebirth, but thankfully that doesn't happen. Instead, we are given the grieving process, which in my opinion was the most emotional and effective part of the whole comic book epic. Here, we are only given a fraction of the time that they spent in the comics, of course, but what we get is very special.

Lois is completely distraught over the loss of the man she had fallen in love with, but she couldn't tell anyone about it. All she could do was try to move on and the best way she knew how was to come to work. But that didn't do any good, since Clark's empty desk was so close to hers. Finally, after a very convincing argument by Perry White (voiced by Ray Wise), she takes his advice and looks for someone who is grieving just as much. On Clark's desk is a picture of his mother Martha, so she drives to Smallville to see her.

Lois rings the doorbell and Martha (voiced by Swoosie Kurtz) answers it.

MARTHA: Yes?

Lois does her best to keep her voice from cracking.

LOIS: Mrs. Kent? I'm Lois Lane. I'm from the Daily Planet.

Martha cuts her off, and is very careful to choose her words. She has no idea how much Lois really knows and there's no way she would dishonor her son's memory by telling her his secret.

MARTHA: I know who you are, Miss Lane. My son talks about you quite often.

LOIS: He's the reason I've come to see you.

Martha is trying just as hard as Lois to keep her composure. She doesn't want to start breaking down since, like I said before, there's still no word about Clark's "trip" and she wants to keep the story that Clark has devised alive. Thankfully, Clark was smart enough to tell his mother that was where he was supposedly going.

MARTHA: Has… there been word from Afghanistan? I've been… I've been so worried.

Now it's Lois' turn to cut Martha off. There's no point in continuing the charade anymore about where Clark is.

LOIS: Mrs. Kent, you know as well as I do that your son…

She struggles to say the next words, but she has to get them out. Only then can she finally come to grips with herself that everything that happened was real, and that Superman is gone.

LOIS: … died in Metropolis last week.

There. It's out. She finally said it. And Martha's face turns from concerned to angry. This is not the time for the press to come banging on her door for an exclusive interview with "Superman's Mom."

Lois can see Martha's mood change and quickly tries to defuse the tension.

LOIS: Look, I'm not here as a reporter-

Martha's arms fold across her chest, keeping her emotions more bottled up than before. If she claims she's not here as a reporter, then who is she here as?

MARTHA: Then why are you here, Miss Lane?

When Lois answers, she starts to feel herself spilling out her words, since she just can't hold them in any longer.

LOIS: I don't know… exactly. Maybe it's… I don't know if he told you, but we had been seeing each other for the past few months… romantically. I mean… I know the rest of the world adored him and misses him now that he's gone…

And now, Lois begins to break down. Tears start to roll down her face, and everything that she has held in for so long is coming out like a dam breaking.

LOIS: … but no one else on this whole stupid planet can know what it felt like to really love him. To be loved by him… or how it feels now every minute of every day… like I'm… broken. Like I'm the one that freakin' monster pounded on.

Lois puts her hands over her face and begins to sob into them. Martha sees all of this and her demeanor changes again from anger to sorrow to thankfulness. She has been spending all her time alone in Smallville since her husband Jonathan is long dead, and there hasn't been anyone she can talk to about her son being killed. She couldn't even go to the funeral since that would betray Clark's secret.

But now, here was someone who was deeply in love with Superman and was aware of who he really was, and she was just as crushed as her. Each of them finally has each other to console and comfort in these trying times.

Martha reaches up and pulls Lois' hands down from her face. She smiles at her as she speaks.

MARTHA: You know… I was just about to put on a fresh pot of coffee. You look like you could use a cup.

And that allows Lois to smile for the first time since before Superman's death.

LOIS: God, yes. Thank you.

Martha allows Lois to come inside the house. The healing can finally begin for the both of them.

Watching this scene makes me wonder how all those attempts at putting The Death of Superman on the big screen fell apart so badly. The filmmakers here were able to keep all of the elements that make the character so special – including the red and blue suit and ability to fly, what a concept! – and tell this story so effectively. Sure, the discovery of Doomsday and everything that happens afterwards doesn't follow the comics to the letter, but it still works. The battle between Doomsday and Superman is an epic slugfest, the last moments of Superman's life are very chilling, and most importantly, the period immediately following his death is incredibly powerful.

The writers on the comic all agree that the story leading up to Superman's death isn't nearly as important as the period of time afterwards, when the world is given a glimpse of what it would be like without the Man of Steel. This is what made this story more than just another obstacle for Superman to get past, and it was heartbreaking for fans when DC Comics actually ceased production on all four titles for three months. That way, readers were able to get a period of time in the comics without Superman and then a period outside of the comics without him.

Thankfully, the filmmakers had the same philosophy, and even though the second half of the film is vastly different from what was in the comics, there is still that crucial period of time where there is no sign of a superhero in Metropolis. We're given the time to grieve just like the other characters are, and it is moments like this one between Martha and Lois that give this storyline the added weight that it needed to succeed.

It's a shame that those responsible for the live-action version of this story had visions of polar bears and giant spiders dancing in their heads. All they had to do was just pay attention to what makes this character special in the first place and they could have had something. Oh well. At least we have Superman: Doomsday, where the animation department had to show the live-actioners – just like they did with Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker – how it's done.

Next week, we'll be taking a look at a scene from a film that was discussed in a recent 411 Movies Zone podcast. It has something to do with the universe and who is trying to be master of it. Until then, Class Dismissed!


-- George H. Sirois