Superman AS: World's Finest

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

https://sfdebris.com/videos/animation/supermantas2.php

Long time coming.

Many people think the Justice League was the first cartoon ever to put the two heroes on screen at the same time, but this came before even that.

[Jonathan101]

Superman: TAS had a bunch of crossover episodes after Batman- Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman and Dr Fate all showed up.

Batman: TAS had it beat though- an early episode sees him teaming up with Zatanna. Etrigan showed up later on as well. Both B:TAS and S:TAS had additional Batman / Superman crossovers (as well as a Batgirl/Supergirl one).

About the only thing that wasn't set up in Justice League was Lex Luthor learning from "Worlds' Finest" that all of the previous owners of a Kryptonite Dragon statue died of radiation poisoning- kind of funny that either Batman OR the Joker could have told him that the ring he was carrying was going to kill him.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Also the one where Clark teams up with Tim.

[AllanO]

About the only thing that wasn't set up in Justice League was Lex Luthor learning from "Worlds' Finest" that all of the previous owners of a Kryptonite Dragon statue died of radiation poisoning- kind of funny that either Batman OR the Joker could have told him that the ring he was carrying was going to kill him.

To be fair they may have just assumed that as a super genius he would figure out that radiation is bad for you.

My favourite crossovers in the DCAU separate the Justice League (although I guess more concurrent with it) are probably the ones that involve Static, especially the one where he visits the future.

This was a pretty good movie. I did not see much of the new Batman show (it was on at weird times and with odd airing order if at all where I lived in Canada), I had seen most of the original BTAS, I have never gotten used to the squinty designs they used.

Having seen stuff like this I was ready for Justice League when it came out. Of course I was already primed by watching Super Friends back in the day as a very young boy. Also those times Scooby Doo teamed up with Batman...

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I ran through all the episodes on DC Universe streaming and there were a ton that I couldn't remember for the most part. Really fun to go over the ones I do remember, able to anticipate lines 27 years since you heard it.

[stellar_coyote]

I remember Linkara was talked about superhero crossovers and the dangers of having one hero overshadow the other and while it's become especially clear that the heads of the DCAU really favored Batman over most of their heroes it doesn't show up quite so much here.

Still considering that one of Superman's foes is the Toyman, you'd think he would be better prepared against the Joker.

[BBally81]

Great review as always, looking forward to more Superman TAS reviews down the line. The one I'm looking forward too is the episode, "The Late Mr. Kent". A nice take on the detective noir trope as Clark Kent investigates a murder and tries to prove a man's innocence, which is also reminisce of several Golden Age Superman stories where the escapades of Clark and Lois investigating crimes was part of the formula.

In fact, many Golden Age superhero comics were basically detective stories only featuring men and women in capes and outfits performing incredible physical feats. That was because in the pre-superhero years, detective stories were all the rage in comics alongside the comedy, Scifi and adventure romps.


youtu.be/j0pOBo2BhK0

[BunBun299]

I love this story. It should have been the basis for Superman and Batman meeting on the big screen, rather than The Dark Knight Returns. Don't get me wrong, DKR was a great comic, but it doesn't work as a first encounter between Clark and Bruce.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I first saw this movie on HBO, weirdly enough. At the time I thought it was like all the other DCUAOM lineup, as I also saw Justice League: Doom on it.

I like how people like this 3-part television play more than the $500 million movie.

[Rocketboy1313]

Superman: TAS had a bunch of crossover episodes after Batman- Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman and Dr Fate all showed up.

Batman: TAS had it beat though- an early episode sees him teaming up with Zatanna. Etrigan showed up later on as well. Both B:TAS and S:TAS had additional Batman / Superman crossovers (as well as a Batgirl/Supergirl one).

About the only thing that wasn't set up in Justice League was Lex Luthor learning from "Worlds' Finest" that all of the previous owners of a Kryptonite Dragon statue died of radiation poisoning- kind of funny that either Batman OR the Joker could have told him that the ring he was carrying was going to kill him.

I the director's commentary for the Season 4 of "Superman" Bruce Timm and co explain that the reason there were so many crossovers as the series went on is that Superman/Batman was supposed to transition to "Justice League" so they wanted to establish a number of heroes beforehand.

BUT THEN!

The WB decided they were more kid oriented and didn't want any characters that were not teen focused, so Timm and Co pivoted to "Batman Beyond" and "Static Shock" which were about young heroes. They even had a rough work up of a Justice League that was about training Teen Heroes (LONG before Young Justice), which had Impulse, Robin, and a teen girl version of Cyborg.

(I can't find the video of the teen team, but there is a terrible image of it in this blog).
https://movies.stackexchange.com/questi ... -show?rq=1

After a few years and some deals with Cartoon Network they got Justice League off the ground.