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The Battle of the Superheroes!
Original Airdate - March 25th, 2011
The Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader do battle after Superman is infected with red kryptonite. Batman must find a way to turn Superman back to his old self because he is going to need all the help he can get when Lex Luthor unleashes his latest scheme on Metropolis.

Written by Steven Melching
Directed by Ben Jones
Reviews by Andrew, klammed
Media by Warner Bros. Animation
Cast
Diedrich Bader - Batman
Vicki Vale - Gabrielle Carteris
King Tut/Toyman - John DiMaggio
Lois Lane - Sirena Irwin
Brainiac/Perry White - Richard McGonagle
Jimmy Olsen - Alex Polinsky
Mr.Mxyzptlk/Luthor - Kevin Michael Richardson
Superman - Roger Rose
Robin - Jeremy Shada

Music
Theme Written and Performed by Andy Strumer
Music by Michael McCuisition, Lolita Ritmanis, Kristopher Carter
Media


Bonus Images:



Review (by Andrew)
Although I'm fairly certain this is supposed to be the third episode of season 3 rather than the first one, this was a very good way to start off the season. Batman and Robin fighting one of the most obscure villains in the Bat family? And it's handled perfectly with not being too serious or too over the top, and introduced nicely as one of "Batman's Strangest Cases." Although nothing really significant happens, it is simply entertaining and gets you prepared for the absurdity of the main story.

I'm going to say this is quite possibly the weirdest episode of Brave and the Bold, so far, or at least one of the top weirdest. Everything starts off fairly normal-ish to introduce Superman into his first major role in the show, but not his first appearance. We previously saw him - briefly - from behind along with Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter. They, too, are supposed to be having proper appearances later on, though. The episode doesn't take long to spiral into utter absurdity as they attempt to shove in references to Superman's various silver age antics that have become rather infamous over the years. Of course, as with most times that writers attempt to showcase such things, it creates a bit of confusion as they put far too much in here and eventually it's difficult to separate the main plot from a flashback cutaway. I'm curious as to whether this was made the debut of season 3 in order to highlight Superman's debut, or if this was seen as some sort of companion to the recent direct-to-DVD All Star Superman. The various anecdotal romps are incredibly similar in their randomness and lack of context to previous scenes like All Star Superman, but I have to give them credit that it's vastly more entertaining All Star Superman mostly because it highlights that most of Silver Age Superman is simply too silly to attempt to present in any serious tone. But, I digress.

The episode, although chaotic, is certainly one of the best throughout the show. Certainly its weirdness is near off the charts, but there was nothing that I find overly flawed. The only nitpick I really have with this show would have to be Batman's highly illogical solution to Superman's corruption from the Red Kryptonite. Batman picks a needless fight with KRYPTO RAGE Supes citing that the red kryptonite will only corrupt him for 24 hours - and it's almost out. Well, as King of Metroplis - complete with silly Pope hat - Superman was simply sitting around asking for gifts from the people. Granted, he was a jerk about what they gave him, but he wasn't harming anyone. This would have been an adequate way to spend the time until the corruption inevitably wore off, yet Batman for some reason found it a good idea to pick a fight with Superman. I'm willingly to chalk this up to them adapting Silver Age silliness, in which most of our favorite heroes lack the powers of Captain Hindsight and dabbled in needless fighting to solve the simplest problems. Such is comic life.

Of course, despite attempting to shove a bit to much of Superman's strangest mythos into the story, they also manage to tastefully sneak in a few bits related to Lois and Jimmy's equally absurd histories. Jimmy's quirky mischievous when it comes to attempting to learn Superman's secret identity didn't get too weird, and the references to Lois' creepy history with attempting to lure Superman into family life with her with very clever.

Overall, this was simply a good episode. There was a lot of disappointment in attempting to dabble with the oddities from the golden and silver ages of DC lore throughout season 2, with seemingly very little of it really turning out very well. This, however, has certainly shown that they seem to have figured out exactly how far to go in the goofiness and made for a very fun episode. Highly Recommended!

Review (by klammed)
It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's Superman! Superman, yes, it's Superman in the flesh! What a great way to head off the third season after such a long hiatus between the airing of the last episode and this one. The opening in Metropolis was well executed, a nice blend of the Silver-Age look along with a healthy dose of futurism, perhaps a nod to Superman: The Animated Series from the 90s? The Big Blue's design was incredible as well, that yellow S symbol is finally getting some animation time on the back of his cape.

Roger Rose manages a very classic Superman baritone, and nicely modulates to that of Clark Kent. Again, loving the little details of Clark Kent's bumbling nature, dropping the hat then knocking the stand over and things like that. Didn't think much of the too chubby Luthor design, but that's only because I've been used to our Modern Age cleaned and preened version. Kevin Michael Richardson does a commendable Luthor though, and shows off his range by playing Mr.Mxyzptlk in this episode as well.

To go through a panel for scene comparison through this episode between various shots and the Silver-Age Superman stories would take too long, but let's just say there are a whole chunk of them, with ample tribute to the Jimmy Olsen tales. Olsen himself is done well, and together with Lois gives us one of the best lines of the episode, "Superman's turned into a real di-" "Different person." It's interesting how the whole Superman's pal relationship was presented in this episode, with Jimmy pretty much hoping to get as much as he can out of Superman, while still being a naive fanboy. Lois too, was a source of humour in that respect, and rogue Superman's comeback was hilarious.

Yes folks, Superman goes rogue again. I know it's constantly been done, and it did feel a bit meh when it first happened, but this one makes it, in true Batb style, beyond amusing. A tribute to various Superman covers again, and some truly funny scenes like Superman trapping a cat in a tree, or "EARTHQUAKE!" while shaking the city of Kandor (admit it, you know you've wanted to yourself). The best part was seeing the showdown between Batman and Superman Dark Knight Returns style. No wait, let me clarify that. Dark Knight Returns with additional tribute to Justice League Unlimited's epic 'Destroyer' fight scene, practically board for board. That alone was worth the whole episode for me. With them being able to use previous animation material like that, I hope we'll be getting some sort of Dwayne McDuffie tribute down the line.

In all, decent intro to the world of Superman, and now to wait for that Trinity episode.

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