Superman vs. The Elite

"I finally get it. Thank you... I made the mistake of treating you people like, people. Now, I understand better... I understand now what the world wants, what it NEEDS. The world needs people in charge, willing to put the animals DOWN! [raises a whirlwind on the Elite]"

"It's never too late for peace, Black."

""Might makes right" has never been a productive philosophy."

"You're right about me. I would never put civilians in harm's way. I won't kill. But you would."

"They saw the ugliness of violence as a solution and it frightened them. It frightened me too when I decided to cross that line and do what you do. It's so easy. Anger, vengeance. Luckily, I'm not you. And I never will be."

"This is a call-out to the shadow cabinets, petty dictators and all-around tossers of the world. You're on notice. We're not bound by lines on a map or political alliances or government bodies of any kind. We are our own bosses, and we have a very simple job. There are the good guys -- namely us -- and the bad guys -- namely anyone who treats anyone else like trash to further their petty aims. We turn bad guys into memories. So mind your manners, lads and lasses or we'll blow your house down. We're the Elite. You asked for us, world. Now you got us."

"You don't have a clue what it means to live in fear, do you? To wonder why no one can stop the bogeymen who knock down skyscrapers or blow up schools. Well, we do. Human beings do. We understand fear all too well."

"[to Superman] No witty retort? Oh, wait. You're in the middle of a seizure. Sorry, mate. I can't read your mind but I sure as hell can muck about with your brain. All those capillaries, like little tubes of concrete. But still vulnerable. It's funny, isn't it? A life of truth, justice and the American, military, capitalist way. In the end, you die on the moon, wondering if your bowels will let go. And tomorrow, the world will go on like nothing happened. Dragged kicking and screaming to a better day."

"[the Elite arrive] He's sending in the B team? I want the boss, not the interns."

"World saved. Humanity lost."

"Superman doesn’t kill bad guys; he stops them and then lets the authorities take over, not just protecting Metropolis but setting an example for every man, woman and child who gazes up at the sky in wonderment at his passing. The problem is, inevitably The Atomic Skull (and every other super-powered maniac, for that matter) is going to bust out and recommence the slaughter. There’s an argument to be made that Superman should just pound him into mush and be done with it. Sure, our beacon of hope would shine a little less brightly…but, then, we also wouldn’t need to worry about a sentient, psychopathic A-bomb killing our children. Enter The Elite—four upstart vigilantes with no qualms about putting the bad guys down for good. Naturally, Superman ends up at odds with these renegades. But though they have enough powers between them to almost equal our hero, this struggle isn’t one of heat vision vs. telepathy. It’s about ideals; and, intriguingly, there’s merit on both sides. How can Superman justify letting a mass murderer live when he clearly cannot be contained or reasoned with? But if he crosses that line, as The Elite are wont to do, what would he be turning himself into? What would he be turning the people he defends into? It’s this ideological tussle, rather than high-flying spectacle, that makes the film engaging."

"Not a shard of Kryptonite to be found in the whole affair, and yet the Man of Steel has never been more vulnerable. As the world rallies behind The Elite, we see that, for all his remarkable gifts, he has no immunity to the pain of rejection nor the fear that he won’t be able to save humankind from its basest impulses."

"Question: For the uninitiated, what was the genesis for the original story of this comic?"

"Question: Do you have a favorite scene in SUPERMAN VS. THE ELITE?"

"Joe Kelly: In the DC realm, I’m very proud of “Justice League Elite” because the characters that pick up from this story are darker and very layered. It’s all about how messy you can get before you become a monster. I love that theme."

"Joe Kelly: The themes that are in Superman vs. The Elite are kind of timeless, but they especially resonate now in a world where the lines between good and bad are not always totally clear—as opposed to Superman, who really wears it on his sleeve. He’s an American icon, so where does he sit in today’s world? I think that’s a legitimate question and one that we can explore in the context of a superhero story."

"Joe Kelly: We wanted to make sure that the conflict between Superman and The Elite wasn’t minimized. We wanted to explore the difference between the two... You only have to turn on the TV to any news channel and there are conflicts going on all over the place where an average guy on the street might say, ‘Man, we need to wipe those guys off the earth. We wouldn’t have any problems if that country wasn't around.’ And that’s something that everybody kind of understands, especially now. We all have that anger, that sense of fear and inner desire to see the bad guys punished. So that’s what The Elite very strongly represent in the film. Like Manchester says, it’s that notion of, ‘find the cancer and cut it out.’ I think that’s a lot easier for an audience to tap into.""

"The plot is pretty simple. A new quartet of vigilantes have captured the public’s attention and approval. Led by the brutally cynical Manchester Black, ‘The Elite’ are all-too willing to do what Superman won’t, which is basically to wantonly murder those who threaten the safety of innocents. As Superman wonders if his absolutist moral code is no longer relevant, society at large must ask themselves what kind of superheroes they really want watching over them. Ten years after the original story was published, the narrative plays less like a rebuttal to the likes of Punisher or Spawn and more like a post-9/11 morality play. The word ‘terrorist’ gets thrown around like it’s a new vocabulary word, and it’s clear that the film is putting Superman in the shoes of the ACLU and the Glenn Greenwalds of the world while The Elite stands for the ‘by any means necessary’ approach favored by the likes of Dick Cheney and Barack Obama."

"In Superman vs. The Elite, the Man of Steel faces his most daunting foe yet: public opinion. In an era where the realities of terrorism and global strife have created a cynical and hardline attitudes about the concept of "justice," Superman's idealistic optimism seems more and more outdated (both in the film, and in the real-world). So when a group of younger super-powered vigilantes known as The Elite appear on the scene, Superman is not prepared for their brutal stance against criminals - nor the resounding public approval that follows."

"The story works in this animated feature as well as it did on the comic book page - primarily because the writer of the comic story (Joe Kelly) also wrote this animated feature version. The plot-points - sketching the modern world and how Superman's idealism is outdated; edgy anti-heroes being more popular than classic super heroes - are all directly addressing questions that fanboys and average people alike have been asking - namely, why does Superman still matter?"

"All in all, Superman vs. The Elite is a Superman flick that's actually interesting to watch for intellectual reasons, but won't blow you away in terms of visual splendor or action. In that sense it's an easy recommend to those who maybe haven't been able to connect with the character in a long time (Batman crowd, looking at you); though it may be less satisfying to the hardcore fans, who already know why they love Big Blue."

"The key difference between the new DC Universe Animated Movie: Superman vs. The Elite and its source material, Action Comics #775, “What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way? ” has nothing to do with the animation style, the voice direction or any of the hundreds of little changes that are necessary when adapting a printed work for the screen, instead it’s all about timing. The comic bears the publication date of March 2001, and even if you do not subscribe to the notion that ‘everything changed after 9/11’ it is impossible to see this new release without contextualizing its story of extreme answers to extreme situations without the events of the intervening decade in mind."

"In his recent Newsarama interview, the writer of the original comic and of the animated adaption, Joe Kelly, described part of his inspiration being the perception that Superman, as a character and a heroic archetype, was that “he’s lame and he’s outdated,” and that is just the impression that the movie gives viewers right at the offset. Immediately framed as corny and old-fashioned by an in-universe childish animated depiction of the hero and his morals, a short string of loving put-downs by an in-the-know, affectionate Lois and even by the clever pop-art style credit sequence that cuts together clips of pre-90s era Superman cartoons, this Man of Steel nevertheless exists in a more ‘realistic’ world as the movie starts to earn it’s PG-13 rating with an attack by the Atomic Skull who is trying to get the hero’s attention by gruesomely disintegrating people at random. One block wrecking brawl later, a debate on the seemingly useless process of incarcerating such villains is interrupted by the outbreak of war between some stand-in Middle Eastern nations. While battling one side’s giant bug monster bio-weapon, Superman is aided by a new group of heroes that will come be known as The Elite: potent telepath and telekinetic Manchester Black, the energy manipulator Coldcast, Menagerie, who controls a legion of symbiotic alien creatures inside her, and The Hat, a powerful conjuror. Initially the five of them work together well, but The Elite’s aggressive attitude and willingness, almost eagerness, to cross moral lines when crime-fighter that Superman is not comfortable with start to concern the Man of Steel and fire-up Lois’ reporter instincts. This new conflict leads events cumulating in a scene that might have been, if not for the nature of the participants, the most graphic ever depicted in superhero animation, a crisis of confidence for and of Superman and the public leading to a high-stakes 4-on-1 battle royal."

"George Newbern - Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman"

"Pauley Perrette - Lois Lane"

"Robin Atkin Downes -Manchester Black"

"Catero Colbert - Nathan Jones/Coldcast"

"Melissa Disney - Pam/Menagerie"

"Andrew Kishino - The Hat"

"Ogie Banks - Terrence Baxter"

"Paul Eiding - Jonathan Kent"

"Dee Bradley Baker - Joseph Martin/Atomic Skull"

"David Kaufman - Jimmy Olsen"

"Grey DeLisle - Young Manchester Black"

"Marcella Lentz-Pope - Vera Black"

"Fred Tatasciore - Perry White"

"Tara Strong - Young Vera Black"

"Henry Simmons - Efrain Baxter"

"Pamela Kosh - Abigail"

"Troy Evans - Pundit"

"Jennifer Hale - Kid Playing Superman"

"Jeff LaPensee - Falling Man"

"Dave B. Mitchell - Shocktrooper"

"Sumalee Montano - Newscaster"

"Laraine Newman - Newscaster 3"

"Nolan North - Pokolistani Ambassador"

"Stephen Stanton - Bialyian Ambassador, Cartoon Superman, Manchester Black's Father"

"Bruce Timm - MI-5 Agent"

"Rick Zieff - Desiccated Man"

"Julie Wittner - Cowering Woman"