Most people adore Batman: The Animated Series, but there was also Superman: The Animated Series. These are the best and worst episodes of the series.
Superheroes are experiencing their Golden Age right now - at least when it comes to films and television shows. The likes of MCU, DCEU, and the Arrowverse have made superhero stories into a common point of interest. Before that happened, superheroes were far from mainstream.
Yes, they have been successful movies in the past (such as the Batman movies by Tim Burton) but all in all, superhero stories were mostly associated with the younger audiences. That was also the case of Superman: The Animated Series that followed in the footsteps of another series about Batman. Superman: The Animated Series had a lot of amazing episodes but also some that weren't so great.
Every story has to start somewhere, and every superhero has its origin story. Superman: The Animated Series kicked off with two episodes focused on Superman's beginnings. That might not sound particularly exciting for those who already know Superman's origin, but the story is so iconic that every interpretation of it deserves the fans' attention. Plus, it leads the audience to Krypton which is very different from Earth and fascinating to discover.
Superman's Pal isn't a bad episode but it simply doesn't rank as high as others do. As the name suggests, it focuses more on Jimmy Olsen, one of Superman's best friend, at least when non-superheroes are concerned. Jimmy's life gets more complicated when the public learns about his friendship with the Man of Steel. The episode included some nice moments but overall, it's rather forgettable, and the animation also contains several weak spots (for example, in one scene, Jimmy doesn't have his eye pupils painted in).
Superman is as close to invulnerable as superheroes go - but even he has a weakness, his Kryptonite. The fifth episode of the first season introduced Kryptonite which is an important part of the Superman lore. Because the audience knows the Kryptonite can genuinely hurt Superman, they're all that more worried for him. Lex Luthor is a delightful villain, as always, and he uses his intelligence to come up with a dangerous plan of how to bring Superman down.
Just like any superhero, Superman also has villains who are better-known, and some that won't be familiar to the general audience. Lex Luthor and Doomsday belong among Superman's most iconic villains.
But Volcana, the supervillain with the power of pyrokinetics, doesn't stand on the top alongside them. It's hard to take her seriously, most likely because she wears an outfit that looks like a bikini. Older superhero shows haven't always been kind to female villains, and this is one such example.
Their shared mission in the DCEU left a lot to be desired - but in the comics, Batman and Superman usually make a great duo. Even when they don't always agree on things and have the same opinions, they're still friends. The two-episode story World's Finest sees the heroes working together when Batman warns Superman that Lex Luthor wants to kill him by using Kryptonite... once again. What makes the story even better is that besides Superman and Batman, it also features the Joker, Harley Quinn, and other iconic characters.
Superman: The Animated Series deals with several controversial topics that are somewhat out of place in a show primarily oriented on the young audience. As the title suggests, Obsession focuses on a supervillain who stalks a fashion model he's obsessed with. It's very far away from more typical Superman stories, so the best things about the episodes are the easter eggs it contains (such as Shazam himself, Billy Batson, blending in with the rest of the crowd).
The worst opponents are often those who have no clear plan - who just enjoy causing chaos and having fun. It's difficult to stop them and they keep coming back, making the hero's life difficult.
Superman learns this lesson when he encounters the villain with the most unpronounceable name, Mister Mxyzptlk - who's a powerful imp from another dimension who loves playing pranks. What follows is a fast-paced, funny episode about two beings who try their best to trick one another.
Supergirl is a superhero in her own right but she didn't get as much opportunity to shine as she would deserve - not until she got her solo live-action TV show. In Unity, Supergirl returns to Smallville only to find out something is seriously wrong, and she has to deal with the villain of the day - who's a preacher. The plot has little to offer, and Supergirl deserves better - even though she has a few funny jokes in the episode.
Superman's girlfriend, the brave journalist Lois Lane, sometimes draws a short stick in Superman stories. However, she has to stand firmly on her two feet when Lois ends up in an alternate version of Metropolis in another reality where Superman and Lex Luthor side by side rule the world as tyrants. The story would deserve more space than just 22 minutes. But the questions of what-if? are always interesting in the comics, and Brave New Metropolis uses the inspiration from the iconic sci-fi work Brave New World to create a memorable episode.
The second-season episode Monkey Fun is one of the episodes with the lowest rating. It focuses on Lois Lane's monkey companion who returns from space and starts causing troubles. The plot is exactly as bizarre as it sounds, and the episode itself does very little to improve on the initial impression. In the end, it comes across as a strange experiment that didn't quite work out.
