SUPERMAN: MAN OF TOMORROW | An Outlander or a Savior? | Movie Review (Spoiler-free)

Superman: Man of Tomorrow is a DC animated film released in 2020 (on Digital). The film was directed by ‘Chris Palmer’ under the banner of Warner Bros. Animation and was the first installment in DC’s new animated universe called ‘The Tomorrowverse’.

The film’s cast included Darren Criss (Superman/Clark Kent), Alexandra Daddario (Lois Lane), Ike Amadi (Martian Manhunter), Ryan Hurst (Lobo), and Zachary Quinto (Lex Luthor).

Plot

Central Idea

It’s a Superman origin story from his arrival on Earth as a baby to learning to use his powers for people of this planet. The whole story’s main focus is ‘acceptance’.

Story

The film starts with Clark, just a boy now, watching a movie about aliens with his friend. Clark’s friend gets scared when he sees an alien in the movie and says: ‘Aliens are scary. Aren’t you glad they’re not real?’. That’s where Clark gets very upset and disturbed from assuming that the people of Earth will always fear him and never accept him after knowing his truth.

Now Clark lives in Metropolis and works as an intern in a newspaper named ‘Daily Planet’. But that’s just half the story as he also flies around the Metropolis helping people around as the mysterious ‘Flying Man of Metropolis’.

Clark’s time in Metropolis was going quite well as an intern in Daily Planet and as the ‘Flying Man’, until Lobo (an intergalactic bounty hunter) attacks and tries to kill the ‘Kryptonian’. During that battle, out of Supe’s knowledge, Rudy a janitor at S.T.A.R Labs gets infected by one of Lobo’s weapons later becoming the ‘Parasite’.

The Parasite has the power to absorb anyone’s energy by merely touching them, resulting in taking Supe’s powers and making him weak. He then asks Luthor for help because due to him getting weak he can’t stop Parasite alone.

Characters

Superman/Clark Kent

There’s not much to talk about his character as everyone already knows who Superman is and it’s just a start so they haven’t shown much of his character development. But its good to see a new soft approach towards the character because in DC’s previous animated universe (DCAMU) they didn’t really show much of Supe’s backstory as it was more focused on Superman instead of Clark Kent so it’s good to see the beginning of becoming ‘THE SUPERMAN’.

Lois Lane

Lois has always been badass but here I think they took the ‘Badass’ part really seriously. From the way she talks to the way she dresses, all was quite different from what we’ve seen of that character in recent years.

I’m not saying that I’m not happy with it, I actually loved her in the film… I was just surprised as I never expected to see a goth Lois Lane wearing a leather jacket, though casting Alexandra as her voice was a good decision.

Lois’ entry was my favorite part of the film. Simply… she totally nailed it in that scene, the way she bashed Luthor in front of the whole press… Damn!

Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor has always been my favorite villain from the DC Universe. In the film, he plays a vital role in helping Supe to stop the Parasite. Although, his character didn’t have much screen time obviously he’s going to have a big role in the ‘Tomorrowverse’ as Supe’s villain as now he knows about Supe’s weakness and his power source.

Lobo

Lobo nailed every scene he was in, as expected. If you’ve seen his other adaptions in different DC films, you know what to expect from him. If I define him in one sentence, it would be: The guy is Happy-Go-Lucky and doesn’t give a Damn. The character was a ‘Stress Relief’ for the story’s intensity.

Superman’s Mentor

From what I know of this character, his parents and his biological father (Jor-El) are his mentors. That’s what we saw in Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel’. For Clark, his parents can surely be his mentor but Superman needs someone who has gone through what he’s going through right now. The feeling of being an outsider.

Someone unexpectedly shows up as a mentor to Superman who counsels him in what he’s going through, someone like him, someone who can understand his situation. Who was he? To know that you’re gonna have to watch the film. I’m not going to spoil it for you.

Animation

It was a good step from the studio to completely change the animation style of the ‘Tomorrowverse’ compared to DC’s previous animated universe. This way they conveyed a message to the audience telling them that this would be totally different from the previous one.

There’s this… ahhmm… softness (I can’t find a better word to describe it) in the animation that gives elegance to each frame of the film.

What does the Film want to Say?

The action in the film was quite mediocre, but that’s not the best part of it. The movie tries to say what Zack Snyder was conveying through his DCEU films.

Earlier I talked about Clark’s fear of being feared by the people of Earth when they’ll know his truth. The fear of rejection and hatred by considering himself an outsider.

The Question is… Are the people of Earth going to accept an outsider this powerful living among them? Jonathan Kent, Clark’s father said in ‘Man of Steel’:

“When the world finds out what you can do it’s gonna change everything.

Our beliefs, our notions of what it means to be human.

Everything…

People are afraid of what they don’t understand”.

And the answer is given by Jor-El:

“You will give the people of Earth an ideal to strive towards.

They’ll race behind you.

They will stumble.

They will fall.

But in time…

What Should you Expect from it?

The movie neither has many appreciable action sequences nor an engaging story. If you want to watch an animated superhero action film with jaw-dropping action sequences and an exquisitely written story, then there are other better options. Don’t waste your time on this one.

But if you understand these characters and want to experience a new approach towards them then you’re surely gonna enjoy it. The story will connect you with the characters and give you a new perspective on them. Watch the film not for its action but for the story it wants to tell… Watch the film to know… Are the people of Earth going to accept him as their friend and savior or hate him for being an outlander?