History WesternAnimation / SupermanTheAnimatedSeries

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Unlike ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', which used the famous ''Film/{{Batman}}'' theme by DannyElfman, this series uses a theme suspiciously similar to JohnWilliams's theme for the ''Film/{{Superman}}'' movie.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Unlike ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', which used the famous Film/{{Batman}}'' theme by DannyElfman, this series uses a theme suspiciously similar to JohnWilliam's theme for the ''Film/{{Superman}}'' movie.

KryptoniteFactor:
** Kryptonite will remove SUperman's powers while causing great pain, and eventually death after lengthy exposure. The solar radiation of a red sun will likewise remove his powers, but without additional consequences.

* TooDumbToLive: The Kryptonian Science Council, for having blind faith in Brainiac.

* SecretIdentityIdentity: Clark Kent makes it pretty apparent that he is the "real" identity, whereas Superman is the costume; when Pa Kent is unconcerned that Clark has "died," since he can just pick a new name, Clark explains that he ''is'' Clark, he could never stop being who he is, and that he is afraid that being Superman all the time will eventually drive him insane.

* SecretIdentityIdentity: Clark Kent makes it pretty apparent that he is the "real" identity, whereas Superman is the costume; when Pa Kent is unconcerned that Clark has "died," since he can just pick a new name, Clark explains that he ''is'' Clark, he could never stop being who he is, that and he is afraid that being Superman all the time will eventually drive him insane.

* SecretIdentityIdentity: Clark Kent makes it pretty apparent that he is the "real" identity, whereas Superman is the costume; when Pa Kent is unconcerned that Clark has "died," since he can just pick a new name, Clark explains that he ''is'' Clark, he could never stop being who he is.

* AchillesHeel / KryptoniteFactor: Kryptonite, naturally, for Superman - though unlike previous adaptations he is not so powerful that it is the only way to face him. As far as other unique weaknesses go, exposure to the radiation of a red sun (initially interpreted as lack of yellow sun radiation, but subsequently used as the former in JusticeLeague) will weaken him, though this isn't exploited as much.
** Livewire has an absolutely crippling weakness to water. A tiny touch will cause her powers to flare up painfully, and being fully drenched will cause her to go ''catatonic.''
** Parasite gains the abilities of those he copies, but also gains their weaknesses. Throughout his three appearances, he suffers the effect of both of the aforementioned {{Achilles Heel}}s, both times with enough damage to make him go catatonic and [[StatusQuoIsGod conveniently lose his memory of Superman's identity.]]
* AbsoluteCleavage: Interestingly used and averted. Livewire's outfit is cut with a wide lightning shaped V that goes all the way down to her belly button and in all other cases would be a full example of this trope, but thanks to the art style you cannot actually see her cleavage. The comics use the exact same outfit but doesn't use the artstyle seen here, and thus it is visible there.

* SuperEmpowering: An accidental example: when Superman gets struck by lightning the electricity passes through him and hits Leslie Willis. His being part of the circuit not only causes her to survive, but somehow gives her electric powers.

* LightningCanDoAnything: Including turn people ''into'' lightning.

''Superman: The Animated Series'' is an animated television series than ran from 1996 to 2000. After ''[[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman: The Animated Series]]'' proved to be an enormous success, Creator/BruceTimm and Creator/PaulDini turned their attention to DC's other major hero: [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Superman]]. The new series would use the same "back to basics" approach to storyline and art stylings, [[AdaptationDistillation giving the Superman mythos the same timeless feel that they brought to the Batman mythos.]]

Baby Kal-El, LastOfHisKind, is sent away from the dying planet Krypton and lands on Earth, where thanks to the bright yellow sun he develops [[FlyingBrick famous abilities]] far greater than a normal human. He grows up in Smallville, Kansas, where he was found and raised as a human ("Clark") by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who instill within him a powerful sense of right and wrong. As an adult he defends the city of Metropolis as an honest, virtuous hero christened "Superman" by its inhabitants. [[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Not like that nut in Gotham City.]]

* The second arc concerned the character of {{Brainiac}}. [[RetCanon His origin was rewritten for the series]], tying his origin far more closely with that of Superman. Here he is the [[DeusEstMachina computer system]] responsible for the upkeep of the entire planet of Krypton and he darn well knows in the pilot episode that the planet is doomed. However, he does not want the people to know because he is too busy making provisions to save himself. After the planet explodes he becomes an [[OmnicidalManiac Omnicidal]] [[PlanetLooters Planet Looter]], determined to repeat Krypton's fate ad infinitum: collect all the data in the universe, then destroy the originals to keep his collected info from becoming obsolete. His quest brings him into conflict with Superman a number of times [[hottip:*: Though, in practice, most of his schemes just involve trying to rebuild himself from the last time Superman destroyed him. Again, and again, and again...]]

* BigBad: {{Darkseid}}, whose schemes drive the ongoing plot-arc, as opposed to Brainiac and Luthor, whose schemes are more self-contained.

* BilingualBonus: [[spoiler: Dan Turpin's]] funeral is accompanied by the Kaddish, the Hebrew mourning prayer. They got an actual rabbi to recite the prayer.

* CommonKnowledge: "Girl's Night Out", the episode of the {{DCAU}} featuring Batgirl and Supergirl against Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Livewire is commonly thought to be a ''STAS'' episode, but in reality it is officially a ''[[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman: The Animated Series]]'' episode, according to both the episode list on [[http://www.batman-superman.com the official website]] and the fact that it was on the ''BTAS'' Volume 4 DVD rather than Volume 3 of ''STAS'' (which included the last third of the series, including Supergirl's debut).

* CrazyPrepared: Creating typos that spelled Mr. Mxyzptlk's name backwards right before he re-appeared

* {{Crossover}}: The series had three crossovers with ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', confirming the existence of the {{DCAU}}.

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Dan Turpin]].

* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Darkseid. Apokolips is a nightmarish hellhole where he rules as a [[GodIsEvil God]], and he plans to conquer the Earth and enslave the human race purely ForTheEvulz. To say nothing of his ultimate goal of finding the Anti-Life Equation to eliminate TheEvilsOfFreeWill, so that he may remake the universe in his own twisted image.

* [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Everything's Better With Monkeys]]: "Monkey Fun". Yes, the episode's name is ''actually'' "Monkey Fun".

* EvilGloating: Lampshaded and averted in "In Brightest Day":
--> '''Kyle Rayner''': "Wait! Don't you want to talk first? You know, banter back and forth to show me your innate superiority?"

* EvilerThanThou: When TheJoker goes to Metropolis, LexLuthor at first considers him beneath his notice due to his inability to destroy his "[[{{Batman}} mere mortal in Gotham]]". Eventually, they strike up a partnership and the entire time, Lex believes that he's got the Joker's strings. After the Joker fails to kill Superman (though he came DAMN close), Lex decides to betray the Joker. [[NotSoHarmless The Joker anticipates this and turns it right back on him, taking a bomber Lex was building and nearly kills Lex and nearly levels all of the buildings he built in Metropolis (half of the city).]] He's only stopped by the timely intervention of Batman and Superman.

* IgnoredExpert: Jor-El, the former TropeNamer.

* LastOfHisKind: It's revealed that Lobo is one of these, and seems at first that this would be a point that reveals why Lobo's as psychotic as he is...until he nostalgically reflects on how he destroyed his entire planet for a school science project.

* LesserOfTwoEvils: During the events of "The Main Man," both Superman and the psychotic bounty hunter Lobo are imprisoned, on account of both being the LastOfHisKind. Superman breaks out of his cell, and Lobo pleads for Superman to release him, too. Superman initially refuses, thinking that his imprisonment is a fitting punishment. Lobo, understandably enraged, vows that..
--->"It might take me a week, it might take me ''ten years'', but I'm gonna bust out, and [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar kick that big red 'S' of yours all over the galaxy,]] right after I'm done nukin' the Earth into guacamole! And that's *coughs* a promise!"
** In the short time that Lobo was on Earth, he ''built a small nuke'' when simple wanton destruction wasn't summoning Superman quickly enough. And, both from Lobo's canon and his status as a famed bounty hunter, he's a man of his word. It also helps that he's the LastOfHisKind because he created a doomsday device that wiped out his entire planet...for a highschool science project. Needless to say, Superman thinks that allowing the ChaoticNeutral Lobo roam the galaxy is a preferable alternative to the prospect of a fully ChaoticEvil Lobo gunning for Earth's destruction, and lets him go after making him swear to leave the Earth and its people in peace.
** This even gets carried over into the JusticeLeague animated series: after Superman is apparently killed, Lobo shows up at the League watchtower, and the heroes initially believe him there to wreak vengeance for Superman having defeated him. Turns out he thought Superman's departure [[TokenEvilTeammate left a job opening]] for a FlyingBrick.

** In "New Kids in Town", Brainiac has one to ''[[{{Film/Superman}} Superman II]]''

** The episode "Monkey Fun" was apparently a remake/homage to a similar episode of the 60s Superman cartoon.

* NotSoHarmless: In "World's Finest", when TheJoker arrives in Metropolis, the mob, Luthor, and Superman all assume that he must be, at best, a minor irritant, just a powerless whackjob in a weird suit. By the end of the three-part series, he has taken over the Metropolis mob, blown up half the city, and nearly killed both Luthor and Superman. When {{Batman}} shows up, it's pretty clear that Superman and Luthor don't take him seriously either. At first.

** Even though Luthor ''honestly'' had nothing to to do with [[PsychoElectro Livewire]]'s attack on Superman, he still picked up her medical bills due her habit of bad mouthing Superman when she was a DJ.

* PhysicalGod: Darkseid. Superman himself is an arguable example, though he never [[AGodAmI calls himself a god or accepts worship]].

** In the third episode, Martha Kent tells Clark, "I don't want anyone thinking you're like [[BatmanTheAnimatedSeries that nut in Gotham City]]."

* TailorMadePrison: Livewire's cell and the surrounding hallways.

* TooKinkyToTorture:

* VillainessesWantHeroes: Maxima to Superman. And then she met [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Lobo]].

---> '''Darkseid''': And so you are. King of FOOLS! * teleports*

The series would be followed by ''JusticeLeague'' and ''Justice League Unlimited'', which took a large amount of characters and designs from this series.

All three of these arcs were later picked up (and, to some extent, [[ArcWelding merged]]) in the sequel series ''JusticeLeague''.

** In "Stolen Memories", Superman overcomes a laser fired by {{Brainiac}} by punching at it, same as how he overcame a laser in the first [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheatricalCartoons Fleischer Superman Cartoon]].

This series now has a [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/BestEpisode/forum_search_titles.php?open=all#897vdsxu Best Episode crowner]].

* FreezeFrameBonus: In the episode ''Mxyzpixilated'', Jimmy hands Clark a comic strip page featuring the titular Mr. Mxyzptlk. There are other comics on the page, Dini The Meany (parodying CalvinAndHobbes and DennisTheMenace), Gleen (parodying {{Peanuts}}), Dan Danger (parodying DickTracy) and Zub Street (Parodying ''Momma''). The Mxyzptlk strip itself is by Siegel and Shuster, [[MythologyGag the creators of Superman]]. [[http://s852.photobucket.com/albums/ab85/dariaRTthread/Pan02.jpg Check out the screengrab!]]

[[caption-width-right:250:This looks like a job for...]]

[[caption-width-right:300:This looks like a job for...]]

[[quoteright:360:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Supes.jpg]]

* XanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Darkseid brainwashes Superman and turns him against humanity in the series finale "Legacy." If Superman wins, then Darkseid can claim Earth without having ''technically'' broken his treaty with New Genesis, since it was Earth's own hero that conquered it. if Superman is defeated, then one of Darkseid's enemies is destroyed and Earth is laid to ruin in the conflict]].

** At Mr. Mxyzptlk's trial, his wife appears to offer up evidence that his obsession with Superman means he is not responsible for his actions. One of the pieces of evidence she puts forth is a copy of ''ActionComics''.

* TheWorfEffect: Kalibak is voiced by [[StarTrekTheNextGeneration Worf]] himself and always charges Superman to little effect.