Cory Massimino

Review: Superman – The Last Son of Krypton (1996)

October 21, 2020 by Cory

★★★★½

The combination of Paul Dini writing, Bruce Timm visuals, and Andrea Romano voice direction might just be the most perfect creative amalgamation for the superhero genre to ever come together. They are able to craft far more heartening characters and stories than most live-action superhero movies do and with far less screen time. Here they are most creatively indebted to 1) Richard Donner’s brilliant three-act Superman epic, 2) Max Fleischer’s revolutionary Superman animated shorts, and 3) their own previous Batman show which set a new standard for maturity, characterization, and style in animated television.

The television network must’ve really trusted the team behind “Batman: The Animated Series” to let them create a three-part pilot whose first episode didn’t even have the titular character in it (!), let alone many of the character designs, voice actors, and backgrounds. But lucky for us it totally works. Superman’s origin has always been steeped in some strange amalgamation of early 20th-century interplanetary science fiction, Shakespearean tragedy, and Ancient Greek mythology. The Dini/Timm/Romano team hits every one of these nails on the head in their own distinct creation.

The scale of Superman’s origin should reflect the character. It should be huge and grand. Riffing on Donner’s three-act Krypton-Smallville-Metropolis structure, “The Last Son of Krypton” chronicles a story that transcends decades, civilizations, and even galaxies. Part of what makes the Krypton episode so enjoyable is the creators’ fun idea of turning Jor-el into a sort of action hero with a a principled moral compass that mirrors *both* Superman’s heroism and Clark’s dedication to truth. It also just seems fitting to be introduced to perhaps the most innocent of all fictional characters as a baby.

An major stroke of genius in “Last Son of Krypton” was incorporating Brainiac into Superman’s origin, a somewhat wild deviation from the source material that was nevertheless creatively inspired and received well by fans. They greatly elevated Brainiac in Superman’s Rogues Gallery by transforming him into a nemesis of Jor-el’s, the cause of Krypton’s downfall, the last source of the planet’s memories and culture, and ultimately this strange new foil for Superman as a perverted “Last Son of Krypton” carrying on the heritage of the planet without the heart, soul, or wisdom of our hero. Krypton’s suicidal faith in the cold silicone of an information-surveillance computer known as Brainiac also serves a nice contrast with the warmth, sincerity, and love that is later seen with Smallville and the Kents.

It’s made very clear in a touching scene between Clark and the Kents that — in Paul Dini’s interpretation — he is *first and foremost* Clark Kent. The Superman identity is merely a mask; a means to do good. This is notably different than many interpretations of Superman, such as Richard Donner’s, in which case the “Clark Kent” identity is closer to the mask that Kal-el adopts to live amongst people and ultimately grow closer to them. Whereas Donner’s Clark is a clumsy and dorky act used to conceal his identity, Dini’s Clark just feels like him being himself. Being Clark Kent, moving to Metropolis, and pursuing a career in journalism are not really means to any end of “being Superman.” They are just the way Clark decides to live his own life. In this way, Dini’s Superman is one of the most fundamentally human of all Supermen. This is seen again when Clark refers to his biological parents by their first names but to the Kents by “mom” and “dad.”

The coming-of-age sequences are brief, but so well scripted and directed that they exude the heartfelt, uplifting spirit so central to the Superman character perhaps better than any other instantiation. The back half of this three-part episode enjoys all the great aspects of the animated series it launched: from the Dini/Timm/Romano creative team to the character-defining (at least for a certain generation!) voice performances of Tim Daly’s Superman, Dana Delaney’s Lois Lane, and Clancy Brown’s Lex Luthor.

This three-part episode is both a launching pad for the most successful and loving cinematic exploration into the Superman mythos ever and a delightful, imaginative stand-alone story that powerfully tells the poetic story of the last son of Krypton.

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