After a few attempts at adapting the critically acclaimed “Death of Superman” story arc to screen, DC Comics gives it one more go in a two part solo titular film. Having begun dating Lois Lane and forming the Justice League, Superman tries to balance his life as “Krypton’s Last Son” and reporter Clark Kent. While struggling to come to terms on telling Lois his greatest secret, Superman & the League must contend with a seemingly unbeatable alien beast referred to as Doomsday.

The Death of Superman is a 2018 animated superhero film based on the DC Comics storyline of the same name. It is produced by DC Films & WB Animation. It is currently available on digital download with a Blu-Ray & DVD release to follow on August 7, 2018.

Editor’s Note: This review contains near complete to complete spoilers for The Death of Superman.

Superman takes center stage in one of the best animated films to have ever been produced by DC.

DC tries to rectify past mistakes with the “Death of Superman” story arc by providing fans with an incredibly respectful film that’s truly dedicated to it’s source material. While this film is based within DC’s ‘Rebirth’ continuity & character designs, it never forgets the heart and soul of where it originally came from. The Death of Superman stars a Superman who has finally entered a relationship with Lois Lane as Clark Kent, but trust issues between the two are quickly on the rise. Having to make a near impossible decision in regards to his relationship with Lois, Superman & the Justice League are faced with their greatest threat to date; the unstoppable Doomsday.

The Justice League in “The Death of Superman”.

THE GOOD: The Death of Superman is a compelling, high quality, and surprisingly emotional retelling of a classic comic book storyline in which the Man of Steel gives his all to defeat a seemingly invincible monstrosity dubbed Doomsday. The film picks up in the middle Lois Lane & Clark Kent beginning a relationship and we see that there’s friction due to Clark’s trust issues. After accidentally letting out that he was visiting his family, Clark is forced to bring Lois along due to fear of losing her, but after his parents reveals a bit more than Clark intended he’s put into a compromising position where he must reveal his secret before his worst fear comes true.

Superman reaches a conundrum with Lois Lane.

During a mission in space a team of astronauts encounter heavy space debris which ends up killing them while one of the leaders was awaiting the arrival of Superman. The debris ends up bringing Doomsday crashing down to Earth in Aquaman’s territory near Metropolis. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor; continuing his search for a definitive way to kill Superman sends a team into the ocean to obtain a piece of Doomsday’s DNA, but his team along with some Atlanteans and escapes into the city. After causing tons of destruction, Justice League members Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and Wonder Woman are summoned to the scene, but are easily disposed of by the monster.

Superman & Lex Luthor’s storied rivalry continues in “The Death off Superman”.

Batman enters the battle, but after putting up a solid effort he falls back in order to look after the downed Leaguers. A recovering Wonder Woman then takes on Doomsday alone and puts up an even better fight than Batman did but is ultimately defeated. Meanwhile, Superman is finally able to reveal his secret to Lois after realizing the reality of the Doomsday threat before taking off the face the creature. After confessing his love for Lois, Superman and Doomsday battle to the death with Doomsday continuously getting the upper-hand as the citizens watch on avoiding the destruction of the battle.

Doomsday brings Hell on Earth to Metropolis.

We’ve seen this story maybe a dozen times in comics, animation, and even live-action, but the faithfulness to the source of 2018’s “Death of Superman” puts it above all the other attempts at bringing the story arc to life. It’s quality speaks volumes when people have compared it favorably to The Flashpoint Paradox, which is widely regarded as the greatest DC Animation film bar none. While I’m not entirely too sure that “Death of Superman” is superior to ‘Flashpoint’, I’d openly state that it’s damn close to it in production value and as an adaptation of a legendary comic book arc. This is an extremely dark and violent film, there’s a lot of blood and gore & you have to commend WB & DC for not holding anything back. One thing I wasn’t expecting is how the writers managed to nail the emotion behind Superman’s death. We all know the general comic book rule of thumb, “nobody is truly dead”, and no one is more guilty of bringing characters back from the dead than DC. However, even knowing the end results of the story, seeing all the citizens react to Superman’s death and Lois buying Superman time for one final attack was almost too much to watch. The film ends with three cutscenes hinting at things to come; Superboy, Steel, and Cyborg Superman.

A dark and accurate retelling of a classic DC storyline.

THE BAD: It leaves you begging for more as the hour and twenty-one minutes comes to an end. One issue I didn’t like was how cartoony Lex Luthor sounded. Rainn Wilson’s performance is fine overall, but he reminds me of a more annoying version of Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor and I actually really liked Jesse’s Luthor honestly. Another thing that irked me a bit was the three separate mid & post-credit cutscenes, feels like all three could have been spliced together, a minor annoyance at best.

A hero’s end.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Though it’s a story that feels redundant and done to death, “The Death of Superman” is ironically the greatest non-comic version of the story we’ve ever gotten. Full of loyalty, fan service, and accuracy die hard DC Comics fans and newcomers alike are sure to have a hell of a good time with this one. Otaku Dome gives The Death of Superman a 100 out of 100.