I recently re-watched these two animated features back to back. I realized I like them both. Which got me to thinking.
a little background
Both are inspired by the DC Comics crossover trilogy of story arcs from the 1990s:
“The Death of Superman” is divided into a trilogy of story arcs; the first is known as “Doomsday!”, which leads to Superman’s death at the hands of Doomsday. The second story arc, “Funeral for a Friend”, which focuses on the immediate aftermath of Superman’s death, began with The Adventures of Superman #498 (January 1993). The final story arc, “Reign of the Supermen!”, began with a prologue in The Adventures of Superman #500 and introduced the Supermen.
The Death of Superman (Wikipedia)
Basically, Doomsday shows up and practically wipes out the Justice League. Superman ultimately gets killed by Doomsday. The world mourns. Four questionable “Supermen” show up relatively out of the blue. Finally, Superman shows back up alive.
Superman: Doomsday
Superman:Doomsday (2007) is very loosely based on the original story. There’s the fight with Doomsday. Superman dies in Lois’ arms. The funeral and the aftermath. But there’s only one Superman who shows up afterward. He’s a clone created by Lex Luthor. Lex has a much bigger role in the story. While the Justice League doesn’t even make an appearance.
Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen
The duet of Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen (2018/2019), however, more closely follows the comic book original story. Most of the basic elements are there. In the Death of Superman, the Justice League is heavily involved in the fight. Superman ultimately dies in Lois’ arms. It ends with the funeral. Reign of the Supermen begins with the arrival of the four unknown Supermen. Lois Lane investigates who the “impostor” are. And it ends with the real Superman returning for the final battle.
my conclusion
So why are they both so enjoyable to me? Shouldn’t one be very much better than the other simply because it follows the original story more faithfully? After some thought, I realized something very important. And it’s a dichotomy that happens a lot when dealing with stories based on superheroes.
One of them is a children’s movie and the other is very much adult fare. Relatively speaking.
Superman:Doomsday is more in the style of Superman: The Animated Series. It has a much lighter tone and the battle, or battles, are not that long or that violent. Other than the fact that Superman dies, I mean.
However, the battle with Doomsday is the focus of the Death of Superman. Other things happen but the battle makes the biggest impression. Seems like it lasts the entire movie. There’s also how beat up the entire Justice League ends up. Reign of the Supermen has a lot of fighting in it too. A lot of it between the four Supermen. Then there’s a major battle with the forces of the ultimate villain. So not really kiddie fare even in animation. They do balance a lot of the violence out by having Lois carry quite a bit of the story investigating the new Supermen. But it’s there. The level of violence is simply unavoidable.
So, yeah, I’m not sure I can give an edge to either of them. I like them both. A lot.
Just for completely different reason.
oh and one more thing
Reign of the Supermen has the best black suit Superman I’ve seen so far. Maybe in any video incarnation…
Just saying.