History Characters / DCAUSupermanTheAnimatedSeries

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler: He was killed off to show how dangerous Darkseid was.]]

* AntiVillain: In her debut episode; the only reason she turned to crime was to collect enough money to leave the USA and escape the government agents trying to take her back as a living weapon. Sadly, this has inexplicably disappeared in ''Justice League'', where she is despicted as a straight villain.

* FlyingFirepower: She can fly and has pyrokinesis.

* PlayingWithFire: She has the pyrokinesis, the ability to start fires with one's mind.
* RapunzelHair: Her hair arrive almost at the foots.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In ''Justice League'' she shows a willingness to kill using her powers in this episode, which brings the character to a more sinister level than before.

* ThereWasADoor: "Door" is one of many concepts he doesn't grasp. Like "ceiling."

* YoureNotMyFather: Hates Darkseid with every fiber of his being.

* EvilIsPetty: He murdered Dan Turpin for no other reason than to stick it to Superman. Once he learns just ''how much'' it hurt Superman, he promises to kill ''more''.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Through brainwashing Superman in "Legacy," he is indirectly responsible for Cadmus being formed after Superman's rampage in ''Justice League Unlimited'' (and to an extent, [[spoiler:Superman's ally Emil Hamilton to pull a FaceHeelTurn and joining Cadmus]]). He also share this title along with the Justice Lords, whose existence also upgrades Cadmus' agenda, and Brainiac, who uses the Cadmus arc to further his own personal agenda. Along with Brainiac, he is also considered to be this of the entire DC Animated Universe.

* CaptainErsatz: Of the pre-Crisis {{Supergirl}}, Kara Zor-El (who was later rebooted into post-Crisis continuity). The reason that she wasn't Kara Zor-El outright was that DC had the editorial mandate of "Superman is the last Kryptonian, period." So the writers had to slightly modify her origin and name to fit the series.

-->"

* MamaBear/ PapaWolf: When Brainiac [[spoiler:went back in time]] to kill a teenage Clark before he could become Superman, Martha pulled a shotgun on him to defend her son.

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-->'''Voiced By:''' Creator/MichaelYork (''Superman: The Animated Series''), Creator/CoreyBurton (''Justice League Unlimited'')

-->'''Teen Clark:''' It's not true. I'm not a freak. I'm not. (''punches a wall'') '''''I'M NOT!!'''''

* IAmNotLeftHanded: In his struggle against Doomsday in 'the Doomsday Sanction', he takes a brutal beating until he's forced to go all out. And in the grand finale of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', he unleashes all his strength on {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} after giving him ''[[TropeNamer the]]'' WorldOfCardboardSpeech.

--> '''GrimDark Superman:''' I always thought if I set an example...did enough ''good''...I could make a real change. I didn't realize I was in a war. Then, suddenly, ''you'' became a casualty in that war.

--> '''Superman''': "I knew you wouldn't be able to change his mind"
--> '''The Flash''': "Yeah, how?"
--> '''Superman''': "Because I've felt the same temptations that he has. They're pretty strong."
--> '''The Flash''': "So you’re not such a Boy Scout after all?"
--> '''Superman''': "[[HeroicSelfDeprecation Never even made it to my first merit badge]]."

-->'''Lois Lane:''' Bizarro?
-->'''Dan Turpin:''' You know this guy? Figures. All the whackos come to you.

* UndyingLoyalty: Or pretty awful close. Even after Superman has gone on a crusade for [[{{ComicBook/Darkseid}} a monstrous alien overlord]], Jimmy still isn't ready to give up on his pal. Although (understandably) reluctant to approach the BrainwashedAndCrazy Superman, when the hero returned to normal, Jimmy was one of his only friends. When asked for his opinion by a news crew, he vehemently retorts:

* WhenIWasYourAge: Quotes this to Lois, telling her that he didn't have computers of fax machines. Lois interrupts him and says "Yeah, yeah, and you walked ten miles on your bare feet to work every day."

* HappilyMarried: Neither of them get into quarrels.

* SeenItAll: In the ''Justice League'' episode "Comfort and Joy," Clark brings [[ComicBook/MartianManhunter J'onn J'ozz]] home for Christmas. Despite his green skin, red eyes and UnderwearOfPower, they don't give it a second thought and warmly welcome him into their home.

[[folder: Professor Hamilton]]

* BadassBystander: Single-handedly turns the tide against {{ComicBook/Darkseid}}. With Superman [[BadassInDistress captured and publicly humiliated]] in order to cow humanity into hopelessness, Turpin alone flips off the triumphant Darkseid and rallies the crowd behind him. He leads a counterattack, singlehandedly frees Superman, defeats several Parademons, and helps fend off the forces of Apokolips until [[TheCavalry the forces of New Genesis arrive to liberate Earth]]. Now, while it's true that the ''viewers'' already knew Turpin was a tough cop, Darkseid had no clue who this guy was and thought he'd conquered Earth by defeating its greatest champion. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, this also counts as a DyingMomentOfAwesome, as the fleeing Darkseid kills Turpin out of spite, prompting Superman to deliver this quote at Turpin's funeral:]]

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: She had a crush on Clark since they were ''twelve'', and they were dating during High School. In the present they broke up, but she still has some feelings for him.

* ManipulativeEditing: In "Superman's Pal," Angela has a quote by Jimmy Olsen altered from "I don't think I'd be real comfortable with that. [...] But it's not like I'd call us pals or anything" to "Real comfortable. I'd call us pals."

[[caption-width-right:309:"[[IOwnThisTown I own Metropolis]]."]]

--> '''Steel:''' Gotta hand it to you, Luthor; ''nobody'' would think to look for [[BaldOfEvil you]] here.

--> '''Martian Manhunter''': In many ways, Lex Luthor represented the very worst of humanity.
--> '''Superman''': And yet, [[spoiler:he died to save the world.]]

!!{{ComicBook/Brainiac}}

--> '''Superman:''' ...this time, I'm not going to stop until you're nothing but a greasy smear on my fist.

* {{Determinator}}: His fight with Superman, in his first episode. He WILL NOT GIVE UP.

---> '''Oberon:''' Do yer worst, ya old cow!
---> '''Granny Goodness:''' You ''wound'' Granny! ... but not as badly as Granny's going to wound ''you''...

* TheSociopath: Lex has [[LackOfEmpathy zero empathy]] and even less loyalty; doesn't matter how long or well you have served him, he ''will'' screw you over if it serves his interests. He is involved in arms dealing, terrorism and a host of other murderous criminal enterprises, and later on he willingly and eagerly agrees to help Brainiac destroy the Earth and enslave the universe in return for [[AGodAmI godhood]]. He is [[{{Narcissist}} utterly self-centred and egomaniacal]] and tries to kill Superman because he [[EvilIsPetty refused to work for him]]. He has absolutely no redeeming qualities and is out completely for himself.

* LaughablyEvil: His smug attitude and tendency to be easily fooled into saying his name backwards results in a lot of hilarious moments.

* RealityWarper: He can use his powers to alter reality in several ways, such as turning the Daily Planet staff into animals or bringing Rodan's Thinker to life.

* BodyHorror: After he merges with [[spoiler:Lex]].

* GenericDoomsdayVillain: In ''JLU'', Luthor accuses him of being one when he points out that [[spoiler:Brainiac's purpose is to gain all the information about creation...and then destroy it for no other reason than that it's what he was programmed to do]]. Brainiac himself seems to come to agree on some level, as he agrees to [[spoiler:merge with Luthor so that they can actually ''use'' that information to remake the universe in their image]].

* UsefulNotes/GreenIsBlue: He is frequently referred to as "green." He is, in fact, blue.

* NotSoStoic: In "Knight Time," he suddenly starts making emotive facial expressions when Superman attacks his spaceship.
** He also sports a PsychoticSmirk when he thinks he has Superman captured in "Stolen Memories."

* RoboticPsychopath: He is a machine and his quest for knowledge has resulted in entire planets being wiped out.
* SelfServingMemory: When he demands that Luthor rebuild him in "Ghost in the Machine," he chooses to refer to the events of their last meeting as "[Luthor's] betrayal," conveniently forgetting that Brainiac was the one who had attempted to follow his ''modus operandi'' of taking all information on the planet and then blowing it up while Luthor had apparently been willing to keep his end of the bargain.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Killer Frost does this to him in "Alive!".

[[folder: Lashina]]

[[folder: Mad Harriet]]

[[folder: Stompa]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Kanto]]
[[/folder]]

* LoopholeAbuse: At the end of "Apokolips...Now!", he is forced to agree to stop trying to invade Earth or face the wrath of New Genesis. He spends the rest of the series scheming various ways to strike out at Earth without violating the letter of his agreement. After gaining Braniac's powers, he no longer has to worry about violating the treaty, because he is confident he can destroy New Genesis if they try to stop him.

* NighInvulnerable: He is capable of taking a lot of damage.

* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler:When he performs his FaceHeelTurn, by first stealing some of Supergirl's DNA after feeling betrayed by Superman to create a weapon against metahumans and then willingly joining Cadmus to oppose Superman (and then the Justice League) also due to feeling threatened by Superman (forgetting, or possibly not caring, why Superman did it in the first place), in the process he is then responsible for the chaos he and his conspirators cause in the Cadmus arc. In addition, he turns from the friendly and curious AbsentMindedProfessor into a heartless FantasticRacist BitchInSheepsClothing MadScientist with a NeverMyFault idealism about his actions. These actions are considered to be Hamilton's MoralEventHorizon and why DCAU fans considered him to be TheScrappy.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: It's not known what's happens to Hamilton after his connections to Cadmus has been revealed and the Cadmus arc ends, some DCAU fans think that Hamilton apologized to the League for actions after his HeelRealization, while others think Hamilton was jailed as in the next episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' set after the previous arc that Waller is glad not all members are in jail, implying Hamilton is one of those prosecuted. There is also a possibility after hearing the news of Galatea's defeat (or death, depending on the viewer's interpretation) or guilty over the fact Hamilton and rest of Cadmus had been an UnwittingPawn for Lex Luthor and Brainiac to have Earth doomed or realizing that Cadmus is about to be defeated by the Justice League and he would have to live amongst metahumans roaming free and he would be prosecuted for his actions, Hamiliton could have [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide]] to [[DirtyCoward avoid living with either fact]].]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: He sided with Cadmus because he believed Superman had gone out of hand.

* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler:When he performs his FaceHeelTurn, by first stealing some of Supergirl's DNA after feeling betrayed by Superman to create a weapon against metahumans and then willingly joining Cadmus to oppose Superman (and then the Justice League) also due to feeling threatened by Superman (forgetting, or possibly not caring, why Superman did it in the first place), in the process he is then responsible for the chaos he and his conspirators cause in the Cadmus arc. In addition, he turns from the friendly and curious AbsentMindedProfessor into a heartless BitchInSheepsClothing MadScientist with a NeverMyFault idealism about his actions. These actions are considered to be Hamilton's MoralEventHorizon and why DCAU fans considered him to be TheScrappy.]]

* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler:When he performs his FaceHeelTurn, by first stealing some of Supergirl's DNA after feeling betrayed by Superman to create a weapon against metahumans and then willingly joining Cadmus to oppose Superman (and then the Justice League) also due to feeling threatened by Superman (forgetting, or possibly not caring, why Superman did it in the first place), in the process he is then responsible for the chaos he and his conspirators cause in the Cadmus arc. These actions are considered to be Hamilton's MoralEventHorizon and why DCAU fans considered him to be TheScrappy.]]

* CanonForeigner: She was created exclusively for the cartoon, the only other continuity featuring her being the comic continuation of ''Series/{{Smallville}}''.

** In "Tools of the Trade", Irons bears a strong resemblance to basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, probably because he debuted during Season 2, which first starting airing in 1997, the same year, that ''Film/{{Steel}}'' movie (where he was played by O'Neal) was released.

* NeverMyFault: He gets cancer from manipulating [[GreenRocks Kryptonite]] for years. He blames it all on Superman, saying that he would never had caught the disease if Superman didn't oppose him the first place.

* TookAlevelInBadass: In the original Superman cartoons, Luthor served as businessman and TheManBehindTheMan and GreaterScopeVillain behind various Superman villains. He was also easily outranked by Joker, Brainiac and Darkseid in terms of scale, and in the final episode he was a ButtMonkey that a depowered Superman landed a head-butt on. However, the minute Luthor became a criminal mastermind in the Justice League cartoons and lapsed back to his Silver Age get-up (Purple Suit, Orange Jumpsuit), he became far more dangerous and powerful than ever before, believably becoming a League-level threat (second only to Vandal Savage, Brainiac and Darkseid), and even getting the upper hand on Batman in a fight in their ''Injustice for All'' fight.

* PetTheDog: As unbelievable as it sounds, he does this at one point. After Bruno Mannheim installs an explosive at an important laboratory with the help of a few Parademons on Darkseid's orders, Darkseid [[KickTheSonOfABitch leaves Mannheim]] [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness to die in the explosion]], but right before doing so, he uses his Omega Beam to teleport the Parademons to safety.

* IronWoobie: Deals with a lot of physical and emotional pain, especially after the events of "Legacy".