History YMMV / SupermantheAnimatedSeries

** "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE20GirlsNightOut Girls' Night Out]]", the episode of ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'' featuring Batgirl and Supergirl against Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Livewire is commonly thought to be a ''Superman: TAS'' episode, but in reality it is officially a ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' 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 ''Superman: TAS'' (which included the last third of the series, including Supergirl's debut).

** ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}, who later appeared in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' and was the [[BigBad top threat of the entire DCAU]], is the EvilOverlord of the wasteland planet Apokolips, and ultimately desired total dominion over all life in the universe. To achieve this end, he forever seeks the cosmic power of the Anti-Life Equation to use as the ultimate weapon. Incapable of love or empathy, [[AbusiveParents he abused his loyal son Kalibak]], handed over his adopted son Scott Free to be tortured and brainwashed by [[EvilOldFolks Granny Goodness]], and attempted to [[OffingTheOffspring murder his other son]], Orion, for opposing him. His [[BadBoss servants are likewise subjected to torture or death should they fail him]], or even question him. Setting his sights on conquering Earth, Darkseid launched a full-scale invasion on the planet, only relenting when the planet was declared off-limits by Apokolips' sister planet, New Genesis. To compensate, Darkseid murdered [[spoiler:Dan Turpin]] solely [[EvilIsPetty to spite Superman]]. He would make numerous more attempts to conquer or annihilate the planet, including attempting to destroy it with an asteroid and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashing]] Superman into leading an attack on his adopted world, turning the Man of Steel into a pariah for years. He later attempted to use Brainiac's programming to collect the Anti-Life Equation and bend the universe to his will, leading to his death in a battle with Superman. [[BackFromTheDead Upon his resurrection]], Darkseid immediately launched another invasion on Earth, not out of a desire for power, but solely to make Superman suffer. Ruthless and tyrannical, Darkseid is Superman's greatest enemy, and [[ThouShaltNotKill one of the few villains]] he has [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness outright tried to kill]].
** ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, who also appeared in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' as a threat surpassed only by Darkseid, is a {{robotic psychopath}} and [[TheCollector collector of data]] who views himself as superior to all organic life. Once the [[AIIsACrapshoot supercomputer]] responsible for running Krypton's day-to-day affairs, Brainiac lied to the Council of Elders about the planet's impending doom, prioritizing saving himself over preserving the lives of his creators. Escaping into space, Brainiac roams from world-to-world, assembling all of a planet's information, and then destroying the original in order to increase the value of his stolen memories; his objective is to repeat the process across the universe until he has "[[OmnicidalManiac destroyed all of creation]]". Along the way, he murders the crew of a spaceship that was investigating his presence, tries to [[GrandTheftMe steal Superman's body for himself]], and [[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E12DividedWeFall eventually]], after [[FusionDance fusing]] with ComicBook/LexLuthor, tries to wipe out the entire universe in one fell swoop, aiming to rebuild it in his own image. [[LackOfEmpathy Void of remorse]], and possessed of a bodycount in the billions, Brainiac cared for nothing but [[ItsAllAboutMe his own survival]], and his mission of bringing about "the end of all things."

** Livewire. Now, the main view is that she's a belligerent mean-spirited bigot who became a supervillain and she has no right to be angry with Superman, having "saved her life after all." However, her last facial expression conveys the emotional expression of [[DeathSeeker someone anticipating, with glee, a lethal event]]. And not only did Superman steal that from her, he ultimately robbed her of her biological humanity. Of course, it was her own stupidity that got her there in the first place...

** Volcana may have become a more generic villain after her debut episode but she's never shown attacking Superman directly again. Maybe her way of showing her gratitude was to never attack him?

*** At one point, Superman complains that he isn't used to all the sneaking around that comes with impersonating Batman. Robin then responds by saying all the stealth is "half the fun". It seems that someone over at Rocksteady had [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries the same idea]].

*** At one point, Superman complains that he isn't used to all the sneaking around that comes with impersonating Batman. Robin then responds by saying all the stealth is "half the fun". It seems that someone over at Rocksteady had [[Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries the same idea]].

*** At one point, Superman complains that he isn't used to all the sneaking around that comes with impersonating Batman. Robin then responds by saying all the stealth is "half the fun". It seems that someone over at Rocksteady had [[BatmanArkhamSeries the same idea]].

** [[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS3E2KnightTime "Knight Time"]] (where Superman teams up with Robin to find out what happened to a missing Batman, even impersonating him briefly) is similarly confused as a BTAS episode.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Livewire. Bruce Timm said in an interview that he and the guys hoped fans would embrace her as "the Harley Quinn" of Superman's series and, while she has some fans and did eventually get added to the comics (even becoming a member of the Superman Family for a while), Livewire was never as popular or well liked as Harley, seeing as how she had none of the tragic sympathy that made Harley endearing; she tended to be more obnoxious than funny, and she gained her powers from, quite frankly, being a complete idiot and blamed Superman when he, you know, ''saved her life from being a complete idiot''.
* BrokenBase: The “Legacy” two-part series finale. Was it an awesome, emotional, action packed, bittersweet finale to the series or was it a rushed, sloppily written mess filled with plot holes and firm grasps on the IdiotBall that shouldn't have been made as the finale? Some fans are divided between these two opinions.

** "Girl's Night Out", the episode of the ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'' featuring Batgirl and Supergirl against Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Livewire is commonly thought to be a ''Superman: TAS'' episode, but in reality it is officially a ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' 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 ''Superman: TAS'' (which included the last third of the series, including Supergirl's debut).
** "Knight Time" (where Superman teams up with Robin to find out what happened to a missing Batman, even impersonating him briefly) is similarly confused as a BTAS episode.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: See [[AwesomeMusic/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries here]]

* GatewaySeries: ''Superman: TAS'' served the role as the introduction of the Superman mythos for a lot of modern fans and provided many people’s first glimpses of Brainiac, Mr. Mxyzsptlk, Toyman, and the Jack Kirby Fourth World and his extended cast: Dan Turpin, Intergang, Darkseid, Apokolips, New Genesis, the Mother Box, Boom Tubes and other amazing concepts. In addition, the ''DCAU'' version of Luthor was the first one to emphasize his scientific acumen (which the movies never tackled) and his CorruptCorporateExecutive revision of TheEighties (or as Creator/NeilGaiman called him "skinny Kingpin").

** The second episode has a passenger plane hit with a missile and nearly crash into Metropolis. To make it worse the missile was fired by a ''terrorist''[[note]]okay so they're more like mercenaries, but everyone called them terrorists in the episode[[/note]]. Similarly, the first part of "The World's Finest" has a scene where terrorists take over ''Air Force One''.
** The finale of "World's Finest" has the Joker firing missiles on multiple buildings, sending them crashing to the ground.
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Dan Turpin's funeral in "Apokolips Now" has become this, following the death of his voice actor Joseph Bologna.

** In "New Kids in Town", one of Clark's classmates screams at ComicBook/{{Brainiac}}, calling him [[StarWars Darth Vader]] as a joke. Creator/CoreyBurton will later on voice his predecessor, [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars Count Dooku]].

** In "Knight Time", Brainiac's line to [[spoiler:Superman disguised as]] Batman, "You are every bit the detective your followers on the Internet believe.", has gotten funnier in light of the rise of social media sites like Website/{{Twitter}} and Website/{{Facebook}} and their copious use of the MemeticBadass trope.

** A female Guardian (seemingly head of the council) appears in the episode "In Brightest Day...".

** In the episode "Bizarro's World" a nuclear missile detonates a few miles above Metropolis. A few months later, in "Apokolips... Now!, Part 1", a nuclear power plant melts down just off the coast. To put it mildly, the cancer rate in Metropolis is about to become... impressive.
** Don't forget the Joker's rampage in "World's Finest". He blew up quite a few buildings before he was taken down.

** "Prototype" has the infamous moment where Superman is temporarily blinded by the insane Sergeant Mills, leading to a bunch of sporadic piano music to start playing, but instead of coming off as creepy, it's unintentionally hilarious - as is the way Superman gets smacked around by Mills while blinded.
** Superman's RoaringRampageOfRevenge on Apokolips in “Legacy” comes to an unintentionally hilarious halt when the Furies appear and Superman actually tries to ignore them '''after''' he got done killing a bunch of Parademons with his heat vision, so they just attack him anyway and he actually lets them cling to him as they try to kill him and he continues to allow them to go on attacking him until he just crashes into a nearby statue. His encounter with Granny Goodness is also pretty bad and ends up not being as chilling as it was meant to be. TV censorship at its worst.

* TheScrappy: Considering [[spoiler:the way he thought Superman "betrayed" him in the finale and his subsequent FaceHeelTurn in WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited which is considered a major TookALevelInJerkass move,]] it's highly doubtful you'll find someone who likes Professor Hamilton ever again. Bruce Timm stated in his Modern Masters book that THEY didn't like Professor Hamilton in the first place. That's why, when debating who Darkseid should kill, they finally came up with [[spoiler: Dan Turpin]] because they weren't allowed to kill Ma and Pa Kent and they felt if they killed Professor Hamilton, it wouldn't have any impact, because they never liked him anyway.
* {{Squick}}: In "The Main Man," Lobo defeats a giant snakelike creature by ripping its skin clean off its body, exposing the pulsating veins underneath.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: In "Little Big Head Man", Mister Mxyzptlk's powers are taken away by his superiors and has to spent three months on Earth powerless. During that time, he must at least do one good deed. This alone would have been a good plot that might have explored Mxyzptlk's character and his fifth dimensional home. Unfortunately this is just used as a [[DeusExMachina Deus ex Machina]] so that Superman can win his fight against Bizarro. It doesn't help that this is Mxyzptlk's last appearance in the ''DCAU''.

** Lois Lane in "Target". She's put herself in danger multiple times, but at least usually she didn't know how dangerous it was or at least ''tried'' to take some kind of precaution. Here, she knows exactly how dangerous her unknown enemy is and she's actually has police protection. During a phone conversation with Clark she suddenly realizes who's trying to kill her. What does she do? She sneaks off to confront them face to face. While Clark and everyone else still thinks she's under police protection. If it hadn't been for Luthor just happening to call Clark to give him a vital piece of information, she would have been dead by the end of the episode.
** In "The Main Man," Lois goes after Lobo with a metal pipe... ''after'' she's already seen him shrug off multiple punches from Superman.

** The Janitor who hands his Walkman headphones to Livewire in "Double Dose." There's a "No Electronics" rule for a reason, pal. For that matter, the security guard who takes said janitor's watch, but fails to also collect the Walkman. How do you miss that?

* BrokenBase: The “Legacy” two-part series finale. Was it an awesome, emotional, action packed, bittersweet finale to the series or was it a rushed, sloppily written mess filled with plot holes and firm grasps on the IdiotBall that shouldn't have been made as the finale? While most lean towards the former point of view, the latter has gained popularity in recent years.

** In "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E10DoubleDose Double Dose]]", Livewire sees Superman wearing a rubber suit and jokes that "[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar the Boy Scout brought protection]]". Starting in 2002, the scouts would mandate that condoms be available at the World Scout Jamboree, a policy that continues to this day.

** In "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E10DoubleDose Double Dose]]", Livewire sees Superman wearing a rubber suit and jokes that "[[GettingCrapPastTheRadar the Boy Scout brought protection]]". In 2018, there was a rumor going around that the scouts would distribute condoms at the World Jamboree.

* BrokenBase: The 'Legacy' two part series finale. Was it an awesome, emotional, action packed, bittersweet finale to the series or was it a rushed, sloppily written mess filled with plot holes and firm grasps on the IdiotBall that shouldn't have been made as the finale? While most lean towards the former point of view, the latter has gained popularity in recent years.

** Similar to the extent of Creator/KevinConroy and Creator/MarkHamill (as Batman and Joker, respectively), Creator/ClancyBrown is often seen as having one of the definitive interpretations of Lex Luthor, perfectly mixing a fierce thuggishness with haughty megalomania.

** "Girl's Night Out", the episode of the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse 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 ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' 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).

** Supergirl. This is the most beloved incarnation so that she became one of the main characters in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited''.

* GatewaySeries: ''Superman: TAS'' served the role as the introduction of the Superman mythos for a lot of modern fans and provided many people’s first glimpses of Brainiac, Mr. Mxyzsptlk, Toyman, and the Jack Kirby Fourth World and his extended cast: Dan Turpin, Intergang, Darkseid, Apokolips, New Genesis, the Mother Box, Boom Tubes and other amazing concepts. In addition, the DCAU version of Luthor was the first one to emphasize his scientific acumen (which the movies never tackled) and his CorruptCorporateExecutive revision of TheEighties (or as Creator/NeilGaiman called him "skinny Kingpin").

** Superman's RoaringRampageOfRevenge on Apokolips in ''Legacy'' comes to an unintentionally hilarious halt when the Furies appear and Superman actually tries to ignore them '''after''' he got done killing a bunch of Parademons with his heat vision, so they just attack him anyway and he actually lets them cling to him as they try to kill him and he continues to allow them to go on attacking him until he just crashes into a nearby statue. His encounter with Granny Goodness is also pretty bad and ends up not being as chilling as it was meant to be. TV censorship at its worst.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: In S3 E5:"Little Big Head Man" Mister Mxyzptlk's powers are taken away by his superiors, and has to spent three months on Earth powerless, during that time he must at least do one good deed. This alone would have been a good plot that might have explored Mxyzptlk's character and his fifth dimensional home. Unfortunately this is just used as a [[DeusExMachina Deus ex Machina]] so that Superman can win his fight against Bizarro. It doesn't help that this is Mxyzptlk's last appearance in the DCAU.

* MagnificentBastard:
** ComicBook/LexLuthor, all the way.
** Darkseid as well, manipulating Superman into a completely no-win situation.
** The Joker in ''World's Finest''. He fooled everyone, even Luthor himself.

* ToughActToFollow: Just like its predecessor (''Batman: TAS''), ''Superman: TAS'' is very popular with fans and considered to be the definitive Superman adaptation. There is also the fact that the subsequent different adaptations focusing on the character (particularly the live-action ones) tend to be negatively compared to this series and considered inferior to it. It does help that ''Superman: TAS'' managed to be more grounded (by Superman standards) compared to most adaptations while still being lighthearted, entertaining, idealistic, relatable, and extremely faithful to the source material and mythology of the original Superman comics with only some minor deviations (some of them have made it into the comics no less), which is one of the many things that the live action adaptations have failed to accomplish (as they tend to be either too campy, dramatic, or, as of recently, depressingly [[{{Wangst}} Wangsty]] and too different from the source material).

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The tie in game ''Superman 64'' is the poster child for bad adaptations and bad games in general.

* ToughActToFollow: Just like its predecessor (''Batman: TAS''), ''Superman: TAS'' is very popular with fans and considered to be the definitive Superman adaptation. There is also the fact that the subsequent different adaptations focusing on the character (particularly the live-action ones) tend to be negatively compared to this series and considered inferior to it. It does help that ''Superman: TAS'' managed to be more grounded (by Superman standards) compared to most adaptations while still being lighthearted, entertaining, idealistic, adventurous, relateable, and extremely faithful to the source material and mythology of the original Superman comics with only some mild deviations (some of them have made it into the comics no less), which is one of the many things that the live action adaptations have failed to accomplish (as they tend to be either too campy, dramatic, or, as of recently, depressingly [[{{Wangst}} Wangsty]] and too different from the source material).

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Volcana; introduced as an AntiVillain with a sympathetic motivation, who had interesting interactions with Superman. All of this is only explored in her debut episode, and all her appearances after that in the DCAU depict her as a straight villain who only cameos. At the end of her debut episode she was shown to not only be on friendly terms with Superman, but to engage in playful flirting with him that he actually returned. If done right she could have been a romantic rival for Lois or an ally to be added to the expanded League in JLU.

* ToughActToFollow: Just like its predecessor (''Batman: TAS''), ''Superman: TAS'' is very popular with fans and considered to be the definitive Superman adaptation to the point of which that the subsequent adaptations focusing on the character (particularly the live-action ones) tend to be negatively compared to this series and considered inferior to it. There is also the fact that ''Superman: TAS'' managed to be more grounded (by Superman standards) compared to most adaptations while still being lighthearted, entertaining, idealistic, relateable, and extremely faithful to the mythology of Superman comics with only some deviations, which is one of the many things that the live action adaptations have failed to accomplish (as they tend to be either too campy, dramatic, or, as of recently, depressingly [[{{Wangst}} Wangsty]]).

** While almost to the extent of Creator/KevinConroy and Creator/MarkHamill (as Batman and Joker, respectively), Creator/ClancyBrown is often seen as having one of the definitive interpretations of Lex Luthor, perfectly mixing a fierce thuggishness with haughty megalomania.

** While almost to to the extent of Creator/KevinConroy and Creator/MarkHamill (as Batman and Joker, respectively), Creator/ClancyBrown is often seen as having one of the definitive interpretations of Lex Luthor, perfectly mixing a fierce thuggishness with haughty megalomania.

** Lois Lane in "Target". She's put herself in danger multiple times, but at least usually she didn't know how dangerous it was or at least ''tried'' to take some kind of precaution. Here she knows exactly how dangerous her unknown enemy is and she's actually has police protection. During a phone conversation with Clark she suddenly realizes who's trying to kill her. What does she do? She sneaks off to confront them face to face. While Clark and everyone else still thinks she's under police protection. If it hadn't been for Luthor just happening to call Clark to give him a vital piece of information, she would have been dead by the end of the episode.

* TheScrappy: Considering [[spoiler:the way he thought Superman "betrayed" him in the finale and his subsequent FaceHeelTurn in WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited,]] it's highly doubtful you'll find someone who likes Professor Hamilton ever again. Bruce Timm stated in his Modern Masters book that THEY didn't like Professor Hamilton in the first place. That's why, when debating who Darkseid should kill, they finally came up with [[spoiler: Dan Turpin]] because they weren't allowed to kill Ma and Pa Kent and they felt if they killed Professor Hamilton, it wouldn't have any impact, because they never liked him anyway.

** The same counts for Creator/DanaDelany as Lois Lane, particularly because Delany has regularly voiced Lois over the years, and her voice-acting handles Lois' snark incredibly well.

** Dan Turpin's death in "Apokolips... Now" is even sadder due to the death of his voice actor Joseph Bologna in August 2017.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Volcana; introduced as an AntiVillain with a sympathetic motivation, who had interesting interactions with Superman. All of this is only explored in her debut episode, and all her appearances after that in the DCU depict her as a straight villain who only cameos. At the end of her debut episode she was shown to not only be on friendly terms with Superman, but to engage in playful flirting with him that he actually returned. If done right she could have been a romantic rival for Lois or an ally to be added to the expanded League in JLU.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Volcana; introduced as an AntiVillain with a sympathetic motivation, who had interesting interactions with Superman. All of this is only explored in her debut episode, and all her appearances after that in the DCU depict her as a straight villain who only cameos.

* AnimationAgeGhetto: Most of the series was made to the producers satisfaction, but they were forced to change Supergirl's introductory episode (See WhatCouldHaveBeen on the trivia page) and obscure Maggie Sawyer's sexuality (See HideYourLesbians on the main page) because they were deemed inappropriate for a children's show.

** Dan Turpin's death in "Apokolips Now" is even sadder due to the death of his voice actor Joseph Bologna in August 2017.

** Really, everything Darkseid does is this [[spoiler: he gives weapons to Intergang that cause considerable damage to Metropolis, attempts an Class-4 ApocalypseHow on Earth, and later a Class 5 by crashing a comet into it to wipe it out without breaking his treaty with New Genesis, and in the finale brainwashes Superman and turns him against Earth.]]