Western Animation / Superman vs. the Elite

Manchester Black: You think that's it? It's not over, you poncy twit. If you think I'll just go to jail and rot, you're living in a dream world!
Superman: Good. Dreams save us. Dreams lift us up and transform us into something better. And on my soul, I swear that until my dream of a world where dignity, honor and justice are the reality we all share, I'll never stop fighting. Ever.

Superman vs. The Elite is a movie in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line based on the Superman story, "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?" (Action Comics #775), centered on the Man of Steel dealing with a new group of anti-heroes called "The Elite", who kill criminals, earning them public acclaim. Superman opposes this, and attempts to take them down before things get worse.

The plot in both the original comic and the movie is based on Superman's effectiveness at being a superhero in the much darker, cynical world of comics that grew in the 90's, ultimately questioning if his old fashioned moral standards are still relevant against the more ruthless villains of the present day.

The voice cast features George Newbern reprising his Justice League role as Superman, David Kaufman reprising his DC Animated Universe role as Jimmy Olsen, Pauley Perrette as Lois Lane, and Robin Atkin Downes as Manchester Black, leader of the Elite. On top of that, the writer of the movie is Joe Kelly, the same man who wrote the original comic the movie is based around.

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Tropes:

• Abusive Parent: Manchester Black's father was apparently an abusive drunk.
• The Ace: Superman, naturally. He's powerful, and intelligent.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: The Hat's blue hair is changed to black.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • The personalities and abilities of The Elite are more fleshed-out. Rather than being introduced as brutal anti-heroes to begin with, they're more slowly developed and revealed. It helps that the movie and the original comic share the same writer, Joe Kelly. The film also adds the character of Vera Black, Manchester's sister.
  • Manchester Black is given a full origin story unlike the comic which left his background vague.
• Adaptation Title Change: The original story, as noted above, was called "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?", likely to keep it simple.
• Adaptational Badass: Due Adaptation Expansion, the Elite alike get to show a lot more of their fighting chops than they did in the original story.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Vera Black didn't appear until after her brother died in the comics, while here she shows up to give Lois info on the Elite.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Superman, to a lesser extent. In the comic, Superman only pretends to lobotomize Manchester Black by essentially giving him a flash-bang concussion. Here, it's left ambiguous, though the flash-bang still happens which seems to hint he didn't actually lobotomize Black. Anyone who didn't read the comic won't know any of this, however, and assume Superman did the dirty deed. Besides, it's a logical third option for the original dilemma of whether to kill supervillains or put them in a Cardboard Prison.
• Adaptational Modesty: Menagerie wears a revealing outfit, but her comic counterpart was clearly naked outside of the alien creatures covering her (Menagerie even still has her outfit when the alien creatures leave her body in this film rather than being left naked as she was in the comic story). Coldcast in the comic was bare chested in the comic aside from his chains, here he wears a shirt.
• Adaptational Villainy: Atomic Skull is far more villainous than his comics counterpart, who never went so far as to massacre innocent civilians to draw Superman out, and even pulled a Heel–Face Turn.
• Adapted Out: Lex Luthor appears as the US president for a few panels in the original comic book and he's left out in the animated version.
• Age Lift: In the comic, Manchester Black was drawn looking close to middle-age, and made a comment implying his father died in World War II, which given the comic was published in 2001 would mean Black was pushing 60. Even with the film's simplified character designs, it's pretty clear that this version of the character is significantly younger.
• The Alcoholic:
  • The Hat is constantly boozing. Complete with Vomit Discretion Shot.
  • Also, Manchester Black's father was an abusive alcoholic. Probably.
• All-Loving Hero: Deconstructed. While people do admire Superman, it's not hard to understand their frustration with how his ideals often put them in danger.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Efrain Baxter is this to his teen son, Terrence.
• And I Must Scream: The living ship had been under the thrall of The Elite. Superman frees it.
• Animal-Vehicle Hybrid: Bunny.
• Anti-Hero: The Elite can be considered this or straight-up villains, given how quick they are to use killing people as the best solution to the world's problems.
• Artistic License – Physics: Near the end of the film, Superman says that Coldcast went into orbit at Mach 7. The escape velocity of Earth is Mach 33, meaning that it'd be impossible to leave Earth's gravity without exceeding that speed. Of course, Superman could have simply pushed Coldcast into orbit with Super-Speed.
• Ascended Extra: Lois Lane has more screen-time and is more active in the movie than the comic.
• Asshole Victim:
  • The Atomic Skull. He murdered innocent people at the start of the movie, and killed more people when he broke out. It's easy to understand why the people of Metropolis were cheering when Manchester Black killed him. Although it is deconstructed in that while the Atomic Skull is a terrible person, his death serves as a demonstration of people not understanding why Superman doesn't just kill all of his enemies.
  • Manchester's father. Maybe.
  • While they aren't as bad as Atomic Skull, the leaders of Bialya and Pokolistan are both jerkasses and warmongers. Their deaths at the hands of The Elite evoke some Nightmare Fuel, but not much sympathy.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Superman tells Manchester Black that the Elite can't continue to kill people and call themselves heroes. Black counters with "Why not? Your government does it all the time!" Superman has no response.
• Artistic License – Physics: Neutrinos do nothing. In fact, there's billions of them passing through your body right now.
• Ax-Crazy:
  • Atomic Skull, who gleefully murders countless innocent people just to draw Superman out.
  • The Elite to a lesser extent. For all their talk of improving the world it's clear that they enjoy killing.
• Badass Crew: The Elite.
• Badass Longcoat: Manchester Black wears a long coat.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work:
  • The Elite kill Atomic Skull, a villain that Superman had previously spared and had just proven to be too powerful to imprison though really, he only escaped due to a power-failure.
  • The Elite also kill the leaders of Pokolistan and Bialyia, ostensibly defusing the violent tensions between the countries. Whether this actually works is not explored, though something like an Evil Power Vacuum coming up next would have been unsurprising. And if the Elite tried to fix things their way more permanently, they'd become the dictators.
• Bad Powers, Bad People: The Elite subvert this. They have superpowered abilities but working with Superman in rescuing people from a collapsing subway demonstrates that they can use their powers to save people, they just aren't any good at it and have no desire to learn.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: The team's ship allows the Elite to stand on the moon without fear of oxygen deprivation and such. Could possibly be played straight or justified with Superman depending on what origin story the author went with.
• Batman Gambit: Pulled off by Superman against the Elite, based on his observations of their behavior, especially Manchester Black's tendency towards dramatics and monologuing rather than simply trying to kill Superman as quickly as possible.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: The people wished Superman would just eliminate the bad guys, and they got it.
  Superman: See?! I finally bought what you've been selling!
• Beware the Nice Ones: Superman seems so ineffective and not-badass being a boy scout next to The Elite, but the moment he plays by their rules, the entire WORLD quakes in terror.
• Beware the Superman: The Elite embody this. Then towards the end, Superman appears to decide their way is the right way and he becomes as scary as Doomsday or Darkseid.
  Female UN Delegate: Is... is that Superman?
  Male UN Delegate: ...Not anymore.
  • And earlier:
    Superman: I made the mistake of treating you people like... people... the world needs people in charge who are willing to put the animals down.
• Big Bad: Manchester Black, a new super who has a more authoritarian and murderous approach to crimefighting.
• The Big Damn Kiss:
  • An unwanted kiss from Menagerie to Superman.
  • At the end, a perfect one with Superman and Lois.
• Bittersweet Ending: Sort of. Superman manages to prove his point and show everyone that his way of thinking is better than the Elite's, but it took mass shock therapy where he scared them into realizing it. The display may well have caused nightmares in the witnesses for years to come.
• Black Eyes of Crazy: Not exactly crazy, but Manchester Black's eyes turn, well, black when he uses his telekinesis.
• Blatant Lies: Manchester Black tries to convince Superman to allow telepathic communication because he hates the sound of his own voice. Coldcast tells Superman not to believe it and says the only thing that shuts up Manchester Black is a soccer game.
• Blood from the Mouth: Superman of all people is not immune to oral bleeding, courtesy of the Elite's powers.
• Body Horror:
  • What Manchester Black does to a bunch of Bialyian soldiers and terrorists with his telekinesis and telepathy.
  • Menagerie comes off as this due to the grotesque symbiotic alien bioweapon that she is bonded with. When Superman poisons her symbiote suit, they vacate her. Painfully.
• Boom, Headshot!: Manchester Black kills Atomic Skull by firing a blast that shatters his head.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Much more so than the comic it's based on. Superman adamantly sticks to his Thou Shalt Not Kill policy, but it's shown that in doing so, it allows highly dangerous and crazy Supervillains a good chance at escaping their Cardboard Prison and coming back to kill way more innocent people down the line. The Elite actually killing the villains means they'll never have the chance to harm innocent lives again, but it's also shown that it's incredibly easy to become desensitized to death this way and start becoming judge, jury, and executioner for smaller crimes or even perceived slights, stop caring about collateral damage so long as the main threat is dealt with^note It's show that the Elite are so used to just killing the problem that, when presented with a situation where they can't just kill a bad guy to save someone, they have no clue how to use their powers in order to save people and there's a high chance that people who jump to this as the first solution likely aren't the most stable lot to begin with. Superman proceeds to show them, as well as the world, just how terrifying it would be if he thought murder as the first and only solution was okay.
• Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Manchester Black has telepathic and telekinetic powers, both typical mental powers. On the other hand, Superman has Flying Brick powers, standard brawn abilities. Inverted somewhat as Superman's flying-brick power template doesn't prevent him from using his intelligence to deceive Black into thinking he's gone as dark as the Elite.
  • As far as actual intelligence goes, it's completely inverted. Superman is The Cape and frequently makes use of his intelligence throughout the movie. Manchester Black, the villain, is a brute who resorts to violence and destruction in every situation he's in. Rather tellingly, the Elite's biggest challenges, saving civilians from a collapsing train tunnel and defeating Atomic Skull, are accomplished with Superman's guidance, not Black's leadership.
• Break Them by Talking: Superman, of all people, delivers a particularly menacing line to Manchester Black.
  How does it feel, Black? How does it feel to be deconstructed? To be the victim?! To watch your dreams DIE?!
• Bring My Brown Pants: Hat says something along the lines to this when Superman stops playing nice.
  Hat: I'm getting a tight sphincter here, 'Chester...
• Broken Pedestal:
  • In the movie version Manchester Black and the rest of the Elite deeply respect and admire Superman when they first meet him, even standing speechless for a bit. Of course, all that goes right out the window when he tries to enforce Thou Shalt Not Kill on them.
  • The Elite start to gain public support for their willingness to kill, but the people are noticeably terrified of them when they try to kill Superman.
• Broken Tears: When Manchester is utterly defeated, he's brought to his knees and starts crying. Not because he lost his teammates or even because he lost. He's crying because a paragon like Superman has turned into nothing more then a gleeful murderer, at least that's what he thought at the time.
  Manchester Black: This isn't you... you don't do this!
  Superman: I do now.
• Brought Down to Normal: How Superman actually stops The Elite, in a strange departure from the comic where he merely pretended to have lobotomized Black while actually disabling his power temporarily.
• Cain and Abel: The Black siblings. Manchester is the Cain and Vera is the Abel.
• Call-Back:
  • In one scene The Hat pulls a net out of his hat and offers it to Superman, referencing the incredibly cheesy Superman show seen at the beginning of the movie as a Take That!.
  • And during the final fight, Superman uses his heat vision to cut out the abnormality in Black's brain that gave him his powers, echoing Black's pre-fight monologue in which Black promised to "cut out" the cancers plaguing the world. In the comic issue this story is taken from, it's actually a bluff — Supes used his heat vision to give Black a localized concussion that temporarily disabled his powers. Whether or not he did the same in the film is left up in the air.
• The Cameo: The Bottle City of Kandor (with some tiny specks which appear to be its residents' vehicles flying around the city) appears for about ten seconds when The Elite visit the Fortress of Solitude to threaten Superman.
• Captain Ersatz:
  • The political show at the first half of the movie is similar to The O Reilly Factor, however the pundit is clearly meant to be an imitation of Rush Limbaugh.
  • The Elite are also a pastiche of The Authority, in terms of designs, power and morals.
• Captain Geographic: Manchester Black, sporting a Union Jack on his chest, named after a major British city, and using (grossly incorrect) British slang in pretty much every sentence he utters.
• Cardboard Prison: One of the many tropes in this movie that gets deconstructed. A huge reason why Superman's method is shown to be problematic is that the prison system, in classic comic book fashion, is totally incapable of making sure the criminals Superman puts behind bars stay behind bars.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The robots from the Fortress of Solitude. They're later revealed to been helping Superman avoid collateral damage when he appeared to go berserk.
• Cherry Tapping: Once Superman depowers Black, he dispassionately gives Black a few slaps across the face. Coming from Superman, however, they send Black reeling like he's taking haymakers from a heavyweight boxer.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: After Menagerie gives Superman a huge smooch after a successful mission, Lois gives Clark the cold shoulder.
  Lois: So was it the trashy outfit, or should I start gluing slugs to my face? Maybe an iguana?
  Clark: It was a moment. Pam was overexcited.
  Lois: 'Pam'? One team-up and she's 'Pam'? [throws remote at Clark]
• Cool Starship: "Bunny," an organic ship that can teleport between dimensions and looks like a giant fish.
• Creepy Monotone: Superman adopts this when he apparently decides to take out The Elite. Their way. Bonus points if you recognize that George Newbern uses the exact same voice when he plays Sephiroth.
• Crippling Overspecialization: The Elite are adept at using their powers to kill and to break things, and that's it. When they try to save civilians in a collapsing train tunnel Manchester Black's solution is break in and drag the people out, and is at a loss when he's told there is no time due to the tunnel's imminent collapse. They are able to help Superman save the civilians, but only by following a plan Superman came up with in the first place. Manchester Black openly admits that the Elite are skilled with their powers in fights, but not particularly when it comes to rescuing civilians.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • When Atomic Skull grows giant and breaks out of prison, he dominates the fight with the Elite until Superman shows up. Superman does better than the Elite, but Atomic Skull proved too powerful even for him.
  • Superman vs. the Bialyan Air Force. Without a single loss of life.
  • Subverted in that the Elite are certain they've defeated Superman this way. Played straight afterwards by Superman in finally dealing with the Elite.
• Curse Cut Short: Black says "Holy shi-" right before he has to shield himself from the after effects of Superman traveling at Mach 7.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Lois Lane, of course. Clark has his moments too:
    Lois: If she knows anything, I'm the Martian Manhunter.
    Clark: There go all my fantasies.
  • The Elite members live by this trope... as long as they're winning.
• Death by Adaptation: Atomic Skull gets killed by Manchester Black, when he was still alive in the comics.
• Death Faked for You: In a variation, Superman lets Manchester Black (and the world) think he's killed most of the Elite until he reveals it was all part of his Batman Gambit.
• Deconstruction: The Elite come off as the stereotypical dark, cynical anti-heroes about how all villains are free to be tortured and should just be killed because that would make the world better. They then show that they decide who the villains are, and that "people who endanger innocent lives" can apply to more than just criminals and terrorists. Superman at the end seemingly uses the exact same solution onto them, showing them just how utterly terrifying and horrible that way of thinking is, not just because it's coming from someone as pure and good as Superman, but his retaliation also shows what happens if the other side can fight back against people like the Elite: a massacre. Superman seems to enjoy throwing it back in their faces a little too much.
  Superman: How does it feel, Black? How does it feel to be deconstructed? To be the victim?! To watch your dreams DIE?!
• Decon-Recon Switch: Thou Shalt Not Kill tropes. Just like the comic, this is the major theme of the whole movie.
  • Deconstructed: By allowing villains to live and be imprisoned in improper prisons or not executed, Superman's actions leads to Joker Immunity, where many people die, villains go unpunished and have reasons to go on, and survivors cheer for Well Intentioned Extremists like the Elite, who, for example, killed Atomic Skull, stopping his terrifying actions. But...
  • Reconstructed: The Elite start by killing criminals, then try to kill Superman, then decide to blow up the city when he seemingly becomes like them... showing that killing can lead into Jumping Off the Slippery Slope and He Who Fights Monsters territory. When Superman acts as if he's abandoned his non-killing policy, thus showing how powerful he really is, he terrifies the entire world, and seemingly doesn't care about collateral damage or people. Then it turns out to be a Batman Gambit to show the world how horrible it would be if he started murdering criminals. It works.
• Delinquent Hair: Manchester with his hair dyed purple.
• Department of Redundancy Department: This exchange regarding Superman's in-universe show:
  Clark: Proceeds from the show go to charity. And yes, I have someone looking in on it and yes, we have an iron-clad contract.
  Lois: And do you have creative input?
  Clark: —Did I mention that the proceeds go to charity?
• Devil's Advocate: Superman engages in a debate before the United Nations with Professor Baxter who seems to be one of his intellectual opponents, but makes it clear that he strongly agrees with Superman and is merely playing the part.
• Disney Death: Superman himself at the end. Menagerie, Hat, Coldcast, and Lois (in the movie) also suffer this in the aftermath.
• Dirty Coward: The Elite are cocky, arrogant, and cheerfully murderous antiheroes who enjoy killing bad guys and lecturing Superman on how his morals are outdated... as long as they're the ones on the giving end, not receiving it. When Superman stops holding back and uses their own rules and logic against them, they sing an entirely different tune; by the end, Black, Brought Down to Normal and at Supes' mercy, breaks down and cries like a scared child on live TV.
• Disc-One Final Boss: The film initially seems to have a Big Bad Ensemble of rampaging supervillain the Atomic Skull and the warring dictators of Bialya and Pokolistan, but new supers the Elite kill all three and prove to be far more dangerous.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The Elite decide to kill Superman for punching Black, because he disapproved of them killing the leaders of Pokolistan and Bialyia. They look it as a statement of war against the world's "favorite heroes."
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: The Elite hijacks every screen in the world to announce their violent crusade against evil.
• Dreadlock Warrior: Coldcast of the Elite has dreadlocks.
• Enemy Mine: Despite their disagreements, Superman and the Elite do manage to work together against Atomic Skull.
• Energy Absorption: Coldcast doesn't just have the ability to send out energy, but can absorb it as well.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: After Menagerie is wounded in the climax, Coldcast cares more about her safety than fighting Superman.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Also in the climax, Manchester Black is willing to catch civilians in an attempted collateral damage attack on Superman, which Coldcast tries to stop him from engaging in shortly before his Disney Death.
• Evil Brit: Manchester Black is British and a violent psychopath.
• Evil Is Bigger: Inverted with Manchester Black, who is smaller than Superman. Atomic Skull on other hand is bigger than Superman after Hulking Out.
• Evil Is Easy: This is why Superman has his moral code.
• Evil Laugh: When Superman pulls one on the Elite, it's safe to conclude that they're way beyond screwed.
• Evil Lawyer Joke: Atomic Skull cracks one when he mentions the people he's killed in order to draw out Superman, dismissing that his victims being lawyers means their deaths don't matter.
• Exactly What I Aimed At: In the final battle, Manchester Black thinks Superman is trying to use his heat vision on him and mocks him for it.
  Manchester Black: Heat vision? You can barely stand, let alone fry my face!
  Superman: I'm not aiming at your face! (cue abnormality in Black's brain being destroyed)
• Exact Words: When Superman talks about Bialya and Pokolistan's leaders making peace, Manchester Black tells him that it's too late. Superman argues it's never too late for peace, but Black states he meant that literally, the Elite killed the leaders of both countries.
• Experienced Protagonist: Superman has been acting as a hero for what is made out to be years. His experience shows in the moments where he and the Elite do work together to save civilians from a collapsing train tunnel and against Atomic Skull, their success comes from Superman's guidance.
• Explosive Decompression: What Superman claims happened to Coldcast. Emphasis on claimed.
  Superman: He went into orbit at Mach 7. If you had super-hearing, any second you'd hear the pop.
• Expy:
  • The Elite are based upon The Authority.
  • The Hat is a blatant expy of Jigen Daisuke; just shave off his beard and replace the smoking with drinking. However, since both this and Lupin III were done by TMS Entertainment, it's not surprising.
• False Dichotomy:
  • The argument put forth by the show is it's either Superman's way or the Elite. Fact is, you can punch holes at both views, though obviously more at the Elite's. By having a Thou Shalt Not Kill rule, the argument is that Superman is making a mistake for allowing ridiculously dangerous psychopaths like the Atomic Skull to kill again, even if he gift-wraps those criminals to be dealt with by a broken system that does not take appropriate measures to keep them safely removed from society forever. However, The Elite are portrayed as being ultimately no better than the villains they fight because they take it upon themselves to decide who deserves to die. There's also their disregard for the civilians who become Collateral Damage in their battles.
  • To the film's credit, while the Elite are ultimately shown as going too far, a good part of the film focuses on how ineffective Superman is at solving the world's problems. A point hammered home when Terrence Baxter supports the execution of Atomic Skull after the villain killed his father (and escaped the Cardboard Prison Superman sent him to). It's a harsh criticism when most comics sidestep the issue of Joker Immunity. While Superman can inspire, he cannot change people who don't wish to be changed. It's up to society at large to decide how to deal with these issues, not vigilantes passing judgment on one another.
  • As if to refute this argument, Terrence later begs Superman not to kill Manchester Black, echoing his father's sentiments.
• Family-Friendly Firearms: The bank robbers in the Superman cartoon wield cartoonish laser guns, likely in mockery of the censorship many superhero shows once faced (and, at least for TV, seem to be coming back due to the Aurora, CO shooting).
• Fanboy: Despite calling out Superman for not killing Atomic Skull, Efrain Baxter admits that he's a fan.
• The Fettered: Superman. He is an adamant believer that since he no legal authority to kill he should not kill, even though he is clearly tempted to after his first fight with Atomic Skull.
• Five-Token Band: The Elite is this: A white British man with telekinetic powers, an Asian male with Imagination-Based Superpower, an African-American male who can absorb and/or release energy, and the only female with green skin, with the power to release monsters from her body.
• Finger Gun: Manchester Black makes his gesture when he telekinetically blows up Atomic Skull's... well, skull.
• Flight: Superman and all of the Elite, it seems. Plus the robots.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In his fight against the bioweapon bug monster Superman initially doesn't fare very well. Once he stops holding back however, he curb-stomps it. Guess how his final confrontation with the Elite goes.
  • Also, the Elite only win against the Atomic Skull — one of Superman's lesser opponents — because of Superman's guidance. No matter how big they talk, Superman is more than a match for all their powers combined.
  • When attempting to save civilians from a collapsing train tunnel, the Elite quickly run out of ideas when Manchester Black's initial solution, which involved brute force, was shot down. They are able to save the civilians, but only because of Superman's planning. It quickly demonstrated that the Elite resolve everything with violence and brute force.
  • When Vera tells Lois that Manchester killed dozens of innocent passengers on the train when saving her life, it foreshadows the fact that Manchester doesn't care about Collateral Damage at all.
• Forgot About His Powers: At one point Coldcast uses a neutrino blast, described as an "EMP for organics", and accidentally hits Superman. It clearly weakens Superman and he even slips into unconsciousness, but Coldcast never uses it when the Elite fight him. Although, Coldcast went straight for a gigantic energy blast instead, demonstrating his team's obsession with spectacle and overkill. And he probably couldn't use the neutrino blast after generating the ludicrously powerful blast he tried to kill Superman with — Manchester Black tells him to level the area, and he replies he can't after using so much power.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Manchester Black, courtesy of British intelligence. The other members of the Elite are implied to have similar backstories.
• Genius Bruiser: Superman. He packs all the muscle and raw power one would expect, and when the chips are down he proves smarter than the Elite at every turn.
• Give My Regards in the Next World: Before killing Atomic Skull, Manchester tells him to 'give his regards to Satan'.
• Gone Horribly Right: The Elite spend most of the movie convincing people that Superman's morals are outdated and that Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? is the new, better way of doing things, mocking Superman's protests. When Superman finally decides to "buy what [they've] been selling," words cannot describe the horror they have unleashed.
• Good Is Dumb: Averted. When there's something to be done that's more complex than beating up bad guys, the Elite are at a loss and Superman's the one with the plan.
• Good Is Not Soft: Superman. He shows how brutal he can truly be - even non-lethally.
• Guile Hero: Superman. He proves Good Is Not Dumb when he fakes turning violent against the Elite. He proves to be a Consummate Liar and has dozens of civilians to who are in on the act to make it more convincing while having dozens of robots around to make sure it only looks like his fight with the Elite is killing people.
• Ground Pound: Superman. From space.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Superman eventually decides to give the Elite an object lesson in this by pretending to stoop to their level of resorting to lethal force.
• Hero Insurance: Invoked. In fact, Manchester thinks Superman won't attack him when he's in the city with all the "sheep" around.
• Heroic Spirit: What allows Superman to prove his way of doing things is better than the Elite's.
• Hollywood Atlas: Manchester Black's home area of Britain is classic grimy industrial landscape, likely intended to be the eponymous city. The area where Superman and the Elite meet subsequently is clearly the white cliffs of Dover.
• Hulking Out: Atomic Skull grows bigger after he breaks out of prison for a rematch with Superman.
• Human Shield: Black's plan for when he and Coldcast teleported back to Metropolis, believing Superman wouldn't fight them when they were around so many civilians.
• Hypocrite: Manchester calls Superman a "self-righteous hypocrite". Speaking of hypocrites, that's just one of the many ways in which he complains about being given a taste of his own medicine. Didn't you say Might Makes Right?
  • Manchester also calls the Elite the heroes that world wants, but also preaches Might Makes Right and that anybody who opposes the Elite will be killed.
• Hypocritical Humor: When Manchester Black is requesting Superman allow him to use his telepathy to show his backstory, Manchester states that he hates the sound of his own voice. Coldcast quickly tells Superman not to believe that.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: Early in the film, Superman is getting tossed around by a bioweapon until Black points out that it isn't alive and tells him to stop holding back. Superman defeats it in seconds. Later, Superman appears to be nearly outmatched by the Elite to the point where the Elite think they've killed him in a Curb-Stomp Battle. Since they've apparently forgotten the earlier incident, he demonstrates just how outclassed they are. Manchester realizes it too late.
  Manchester Black: He's been playing us this whole time!
• Idealist vs. Pragmatist: The primary conflict is Superman's idealistic Thou Shall Not Kill superhero-ing vs the Elite's much brasher By Any Means Necessary style. Initially, the public supports the Elite's willingness to kill, tired of revolving prison doors, but the group devolves into a Might Makes Right philosophy that gives them sole discretion to execute anyone they deem a baddie. Then they decide it's time for Superman to die. After a brawl where it initially appears the Elite succeeded, Superman gives them A Taste of Their Own Medicine, unleashing a can of whoop ass that shows that Superman with no mercy would be a very bad thing.
• Idiot Ball: Whoever thought it was a good idea to hook up the same security power grid to the villain that was supplying the energy was definitely carrying one.
• Imagination-Based Superpower: The Hat can use his hat to create anything he can think of.
• In-Series Nickname:
  • Menagerie is called "Pam."
  • Manchester is sometimes called "Chester."
• Intrepid Reporter: Lois Lane, as usual.
• Ironic Name: "The Elite". They consist of a violent sociopath, a destructive brute of a man, a biological horror who is also a nymphomaniac, and an alcoholic magician who barely gives a damn most of the time. While government trained, they don't exactly behave as flawlessly as you'd expect their team name would imply.
• Irony: When Black addresses the world during Superman's initial confrontation with the Elite, he mentions that people needs surgeons (The Elite) to metaphorically cut out the cancers of society rather than heroes like Superman. Superman defeats Black by using his X-ray and heat vision to cut out the abnormality in Black's brain that enabled his telekinetic powers.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: The Elite jump suddenly from killing villains and dictators for a confused mixture of For Great Justice and saving innocents; to being ready to cheerfully kill Superman because he disagrees and openly declaring a "rule" that Might Makes Right. Which rule, by the way, would imply that the dictators and villains were doing nothing wrong...
  • In fact, this is one of the major arguments Superman's side makes in this film: if your heroes consider it perfectly acceptable, even normal, to kill their opponents, what's to stop them from broadening their definition of viable targets? And if they start going off the edge, how do you realize it's happening before it's too late and you have a full-fledged super-psychopath on the loose? Note that, in the film version at least, the first major sign that the Elite are turning into the story's true villains are when they start to set themselves up as Judge, Jury, and Executioner, ready to "avert" Villains Act, Heroes React by "preemptive elimination of threats."
• Kick the Dog:
  • Manchester Black makes an offhand comment about removing his Cool Starship's ability to feel emotions after discovering it was sapient, even claiming it was more "humane" to do so. This comes back to bite him later.
  • A literal example when the Elite are first introduced, hovering near a dock. The dock workers had been feeding a stray dog, which begins to bark at the Elite. Menagerie sends her slug-creatures after it, followed by the dog's cries of pain as it's Killed Offscreen.
• Kneel Before Zod: Superman bitchslaps Manchester to the point where 'Chester falls to his knees and starts blubbering like a wreck.
• Knight of Cerebus: Atomic Skull. The Elite have their share of comedic moments, but he doesn't. The movie has some comedic moments before he appears, but when he shows up on his killing spree to lure out Superman, the humor stops. When breaks out of prison later, Superman's refusal to kill him after another killing spree causes public opinion to overwhelming swing in favor of the Elite when Manchester Black does kill Atomic Skull. After the second fight with him, the Elite's humorous moments largely fade, with the humorous moments they do have mostly serving to reflect what horrible people they are.
• Knight Templar: The Elite see themselves as heroes and are willing to resort to violent and cruel methods to deal with the world's problems. Subverted with Superman.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Superman has a big chin, as tradition, though more so in the movie due to the cartoony art style.
• Logical Weakness: On the Moon and trapped in the eye of a whirlwind Superman created, The Hat flies up to try and stop him. To his credit he'd have a better chance than most as Superman isn't invulnerable to magic. But before he can speak an incantation, he's choking for air despite being shielded by magic. As Manchester Black notes, The Hat's force field lets air through so he can breathe and at the rate the wind is spinning which is 500 miles a minute, The Hat's lungs collapsed in the vacuum.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: Menagerie summons odd slug-like horrors from... some part of her body.
• Made of Iron: Superman receives one of the worst beatings he's taken short of Doomsday. It's nowhere near enough.
• Make an Example of Them: Aside from wanting to get back at Superman for hitting Manchester Black, the Elite also want to kill him as a warning to anybody else who opposes them.
• Men of Sherwood: Superman's detachment of robots at the Fortress of Solitude handily yank civilians out of harm's way and take custody of the defeated members of the Elite in the finale battle without any trouble when Superman couldn't have done all of that himself.
• Might Makes Right: invoked Manchester Black is portrayed in the wrong for arguing that. Later on, Superman completely deconstructs this by faking his Moral Event Horizon and pretending to kill Manchester's team, showing that his might does not make it right at all.
• Mook Horror Show:
  • The Elite slaughtering terrorists invading Biyalia. The ways Manchester and Hat dispatch the soldiers are particularly horrifying.
  • Superman taking out The Elite one by one.
• Multinational Team: The Elite - Manchester Black is obviously British, Coldcast is American, The Hat is Chinese, and Menagerie could be from anywhere, but is possibly Latin American^note It is mentioned in the comics that she is Puerto Rican.
• Mundane Utility: Superman uses his super speed just so he can type 5000 words a minute and beat Lois to the headline. He must go through a lot of keyboards.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: The Elite believe in this wholeheartedly. They unambiguously become the villains when they take this mindset to its logical conclusion and try to kill Superman for the crime of disagreeing with their methods.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Although only seen for a split-second, Vera Black's arms are gray, a nod to her comics counterpart Sister Superior. The mechanical arms in the comics were the result of a childhood accident.
  • The way Lois refers to Superman's "S" references this dialogue from Superman: The Animated Series:
    Lois: Nice 'S'.
    Clark: Excuse me?
  • The opening credits features shots of Superman from Superfriends.
  • The cheesy Superman Adventures cartoon has a scene transition which uses the same scene-transition sound effect from Challenge of the Superfriends.
  • Atomic Skull mentions the Meta-Gene Bomb which gave him his powers.
• Never My Fault: Professor Baxter's son blames Superman for his father's death when in reality it's mostly his own because he's the one who dragged his father into the danger zone just so he could get a close-up look at The Elite. Near the end, just as Superman is seemingly about to finish off Manchester Black, he pretty much admits to finally understanding why Superman didn't kill Atomic Skull back then.
• '90s Anti-Hero: The Elite deconstruct the trope. They consider themselves above the law and will kill anybody they deem evil. While they start off by killing criminals and terrorists, they move onto killing leaders of countries, expecting that to fix everything. When Superman disagrees with them, they even decide to kill him.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The pundit briefly scene in the opening, and who later debates Professor Baxter, is clearly based on Rush Limbaugh.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: The story gets a lot of points for playing to both spectrums of heroic and villainous as Superman has a much bigger point to make than his own personal values; made especially poignant for George Newbern delivering another, decidedly more sinister version than the original one in the comics... complete with the Sephiroth voice.
  Manchester: They all saw. Everyone on Earth saw what you did. They know you're no better than the rest of us. There's nothing special about you.
  Superman: Yes, they did see. 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.
• Noodle Incident: Perry White offhandedly mentions that Brainiac ate Boston.
• No-Sell:
  • When Superman decides to take things to the next level, 15 suns exploding in his face and his capillaries getting crushed by telekinesis don't mean nothing.
  • Subverted when Manchester Black pulls his mountain-venting Wave-Motion Gun attack on Superman. The fact he can still damage him even with the gloves taken off is nothing short of incredible. Double Subverted in that it still doesn't really amount to much in the end.
• No Shirt, Long Jacket: Manchester's appearance. That's not a Union Jack shirt. That's a Union Jack tattoo (you can actually see his nipples and navel in some shots).
• Non-Indicative Name: Coldcast's powers are electricity-based; they have nothing to do with cold or heat.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Manchester attempts this on Supes at the end. Superman scoffs, "Chester..." and proceeds to show that he had taken precautions.
• Oh, Crap!: The Elites do this when Superman gets serious. And so does the rest of the world.
  Manchester Black: Bugger me, he's playing it our way.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After Superman subdues Atomic Skull he is cleary tempted to finish him off.
  • Manchester Black is a Smug Super, so when Superman asks for The Elite's help saving people from collasping subway tunnel and Manchester has no idea on how the team can assist, you know that his team can't think of ways to use their powers that don't involve hurting people or breaking things.
• Oral Fixation: Manchester Black chews on an unlit match, replacing the cigarettes from the comics.
• Original Position Fallacy: Manchester and his team operate under a philosophy of Might Makes Right and consider it the best response to kill anyone who's threatening violence against others. They're horrified when Superman (who's stronger than all of them) responds to their violence in kind or so it seems.
• Pacifism Backfire: The Atomic Skull goes on a killing spree merely to draw Superman out, and when he's subdued non-lethally, quickly breaks out and kills even more people. When Superman still insists on upholding Thou Shalt Not Kill despite all of that, the people of Metropolis all side with the Elite and cheer them on when Black kills the Skull.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Jonathan Kent almost went off on a neighbor who was badmouthing his son.
  • In a more tragic case, Efrain Baxter lost his life to save his son from Atomic Skull's blast.
• Pass the Popcorn: Coldcast implies this of Pokolistan and its leaders when he fights 2 of their soldiers in Bialya.
  Coldcast: They have microwave popcorn in your terror-ass country?
• Pay Evil unto Evil: The Elite's modus operandi is to punish killers by killing them. Which, much to their horror, they find they're not immune from themselves.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Superman, obviously.
  • Coldcast and Manchester Black, particularly the latter, whose Psychic Powers are capable of punching a hole in a mountain and whose Wave-Motion Gun effect can stagger an all-out Superman.
• Person with the Clothing: Hat. Guess what he's wearing.
• Precision F-Strike: By British standards.
  Manchester Black: (to Superman) You're an inconceivable wanker.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Black calls Superman a "poncy twit" after Superman reveals his ruse and how he beat the Elite. He also called Superman's disabled state after Coldcast accidentally K.O.ed him "spastic".
• Psychic Block Defense: Superman has a series of psychic blocks to prevent his mind from being read; Manchester Black acknowledges that said blocks are the best he's seen. Of course, these blocks don't stop Black from telekinetically pinching the blood vessels in Supes' brain to give him the equivalent of a stroke.
• Psychic Nosebleed: A couple of mooks that Manchester Black Mind Probes start bleeding from their orifices. Manchester even suffers from this during his fight with Atomic Skull.
• Psychic Powers: Manchester Black's are so powerful that he can punch a hole through a mountain.
• Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat: The Hat, except with demons.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: During the final fight, Superman explains how he neutralized Black's powers.
  Superman: "I scanned your brain for abnormalities. And when I found one, I cut. It. Out." Bonus points for tapping himself on the head with each period.
• Purple Is Powerful: Atomic Skull is colored purple and is able to turn everyone he touches into ash.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Manchester Black tries to invoke this after Superman's defeated his team, pointing out that his victory has come at the cost of compromising the very principles he sought to uphold. Then Superman reveals it was all an act; the Elite are alive (albeit badly hurt) and his robots prevented any casualties.
• Qurac: Bialya and Pokolistan are at each other's throats in this movie. Since they both have nukes and have violent border disputes, they may be standing in for India and Pakistan, with the rhyming names and both sides being nuclear powers.
• Reconstruction: Modern portrayals of Superman try to tone down the "American Way" part of his creed for fear of it coming across as too nationalistic. This story instead embraces it and reveals what he means by the American Way, specifically the capacity to not be afraid of those more powerful than you. The Elite briefly win people over with their choice of lethal action but Superman shows that those methods are a result of fear.
• Recursive Fiction: It is established in the film that Superman actively licenses out his likeness for animated productions in order to help spread his message.
• Recycled Soundtrack: The main theme from Superman: Doomsday is used in this film when Superman does something heroic and as the credits theme (it helps that Robert J. Kral, the man who made the soundtrack for Superman Doomsday, did this soundtrack as well).
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Once Superman begins stomping the Elite, his left eye adopts a red tint. Though it's possible it's just from a burst blood vessel in his eye.
• Required Secondary Powers: As Manchester Black points out, the Hat may have a magical shield, but it's not a self-contained environment. He still needs to breathe.
• Ret-Canon: A few of the things this movie established about Manchester Black later made their way into canon (such as the Finger Gun gesture).
• Sapient Ship: The Elite's ship "Bunny," actually an alien life form that came from another dimension. Black mentions that when they discovered this, they removed the ship's ability to feel emotion, forcing it to be their slave. This comes back to bite them when the Superbots fix that and offer to return it to its home dimension.
• Sarcastic Clapping: Manchester Black does this at one point.
• Secret-Keeper: Lois and the Kents, of course, know that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person.
• Scare 'Em Straight: The Elite attempt this through their use of deadly force, announcing to the rest of the world "See, we killed these guys, and we'll do the same to you if you don't straighten up." Superman demonstrates the flaws in this by pretending to adopt their methods in his battle with them, utterly decimating them and appearing to kill all of them save for Manchester Black. It works.
• Scary Black Man: Coldcast is African-American and very intimidating.
• Self-Made Orphan: Manchester Black killed his own abusive father.
• Shaped Like Itself: After the Elite kill the leaders of Pokolistan and Biyalia, Manchester Black describes them as being "dead as a bunch of dead wankers."
• Ship Tease: Coldcast and Menagerie have moments where it's hinted that they romantically like each other.
• Shock and Awe: Coldcast's powers are electricity-based.
• Shout-Out: Superman's lucky numbers are 4, 8, 15...
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: A particularly potent one on Superman's view of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism:
  Manchester Black: You think that's it? It's not over, you poncy twit. If you think I'll just go to jail and rot, you're living in a dream world!
  Superman: Good. Dreams save us. Dreams lift us up and transform us into something better. And on my soul, I swear that until my dream of a world where dignity, honor and justice are the reality we all share, I'll never stop fighting. Ever.
• Sickly Green Glow: Manchester's telekinesis is often accompanied by a green aura, coupled with Black Eyes of Crazy.
• Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: The Elite represent the cynical, "pragmatic" option of just killing the enemy and intimidating anyone who might oppose them into submission by virtue of sheer firepower. They mock Superman for his idealism and principles...until the Big Blue Boyscout puts on a pretty graphic display of how it can be used against them.
• Slasher Smile: Just look at the page image for the film's Nightmare Fuel sub-page.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: The film thoroughly and intelligently explores this trope. While it winds up picking a side, it never resorts to being preachy about it and we are still presented with defensible arguments for the opposing side.
• Smooch of Victory: Menagerie gives a kiss to Superman after a mission (which he gives no indication of wanting). Lois does not approve.
• Smug Super: Manchester thinks highly of himself because of his powers.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the original comics, Pamela/Menagerie ended up getting lobotomized by Manchester Black. Here, all that happens to her is losing her powers.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Discussed. Lois questions why Clark doesn't bring in other heroes to help.
• Super-Scream: Superman does this to the Atomic Skull when he has him in a bear hug. Supes shouting "LET GO!" creates a shockwave that not only makes the Atomic Skull release him, but shatters the windows of several nearby buildings and cars. Skull thought it was a nice trick.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Early in the movie Manchester Black recounts how he used his powers to stop a train from hitting his sister. We find later that stopping a train in that way killed a number of people.
  • Superman enforces his Thou Shalt Not Kill rule after Atomic Skull breaks out of jail on goes on a killing spree. This causes the people of Metropolis to side with the Elite when he advocates for sparing the villain when they want to kill him.
  • The Elite murder the leaders of Pokolistan and Bialya, and explain this to the people of the former. We don't see them praise the Elite, instead, the people are terrified.
  • While public opinion had been swinging in favor of the Elite by the time they face Superman, the ordinary people watching the fight are still horrified once it sets in that Elite plan to kill Superman.
• Stock Footage: The monitor room in the Elite's headquarters shows scenes from Justice League: Doom, namely the bound and gagged police officers being rescued by The Flash.
• Stylistic Suck: The in-universe Superman cartoon is painfully cheesy to the point that even Lois points out how badly it sucks.
• Superdickery:
  • When Superman decides to break his Thou Shalt Not Kill rule. It turns out he just knocked out or disabled the Elite and had his Superman robots carry people off to make it appear as if they had died. In effect, Superman weaponized this trope to demonstrate why he shouldn't fall to the Elite's level.
  • A lighter example early on: although Superman is a highly ethical and moral hero, he's not above using his superpowers to steal a hot story (usually about himself) from Lois. At least he's honest and upfront about it before he does it. This is a common element to their working relationship across all adaptations. It's likely that the whole conversation is a Running Gag between them and is their way of flirting.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Justified with The Elite, as you can always see cameras broadcasting everything they do floating around them.
• The Symbiote: Menagerie is bonded to an alien bioweapon.
• Talking the Monster to Death: After a VERY long, sound beating on The Elite, Superman explains to Black why he's the way he is.
• This Cannot Be!: The Elite's collective reaction when Superman is still alive after they seemingly killed him.
  The Hat: No frigging way.
  Manchester Black: Cool it Hat. Coldcast?
  Coldcast: Nothing could have... That was like 15 suns exploding in his face.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: A unique take: the argument isn't necessarily that killing bad guys is always wrong, but that treating it as the first and only solution is a dangerous path, especially if one enjoys killing. Hammered in by Clark pointing out that he saw a kid inspired by the Elite to want to be part of the group because it'd be fun to kill bad guys, showing the toxic mindset the Elite are creating.
• Too Dumb to Live: The leaders of Pokolistan and Bialya. They still want to kill each other despite the Elite's warnings, which apparently aggravated them more, because despite the fact that they explicitly stated they aren't siding with anyone, the Elite sided with one of them.
• Tornado Move: Superman does this to The Elite while having Glowing Eyes of Doom. Cue Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Trainstopping: When Black recounts his origin story to Superman, he mentions how he used his powers to stop a train, saving his sister, who had fallen on the tracks. What he left out was the fact that his actions killed a dozen people on said train.
• Tranquil Fury: Superman uses this to terrifying effect in order to make his fake executions of the Elite a lot more believable.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior:
  Clark Kent: I heard a child say that he wanted to be in the Elite when he grows up because "it would be fun to kill bad guys." Fun to kill.
• The Unfettered: The Elite. They initially demonstrate a willingness, nay, eagerness, to kill criminals. But the more the movie goes the more they show how little principles they have, murdering the leaders of two entire countries, and preparing to kill Superman after he punched Manchester Black after he disapproved of the move. When Superman is pretending to be out to kill the Elite, Manchester Black is prepared to destroy Metropolis, just to save his own skin.
• Unflinching Walk: Manchester Black can punch a hole through a mountain with a thought. Superman treats it like a strong gust of wind when he takes the kid gloves off.
• Unreliable Narrator: When Black reveals his past to Superman, he leaves out certain elements - for example, that he killed his father, and that when he stopped the train from killing his sister, he ended up killing about a dozen people. He also implies that his sister died, only for Lois to discover that she's still alive and working as an agent.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The still alive Vera is this from Manchester's point of view when he and the Elite barge into the Fortress of Solitude.
  Manchester Black: Vera's a sweet kid, but she turned into quite the establishment bitch, didn't she?
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Terrence advocates for The Elite to kill Atomic Skull due the latter having murdered his father. After Manchester Black does so, he goes back to cradling his father's corpse. This realization likely contributed to Terrence trying to talk Superman out of killing Manchester Black.
• Versus Title: Superman vs. The Elite.
• Villain Teleportation: The Elite can teleport to spaces between dimensions, which frustrates Superman to no end.
• Villainesses Want Heroes: Menagerie acts this way towards Superman. Lois is not amused. Although to be fair, Menagerie seems to want everyone.
• Villain Has a Point: The Elite are not wrong that Supes' Thou Shall Not Kill policy leads to the villains re-offending and killing more people, and the civilians do agree that some villains need to be killed. The problem is when killing becomes their first response to any problem, resulting in a Knight Templar mentality.
• Villainous Breakdown: Manchester becomes a terrified wreck once Superman gets serious.
• Violence is the Only Option: This is The Elite's underlying philosophy, which leads them into conflict with Superman. It's notable that Superman defeats them through a combination of force and a Batman Gambit that demonstrates how their beliefs can lead to disastrous consequences.
• Voice of the Legion: Superman, while in space. The first indication that the gloves are now off.
  "I finally get it. Thank you."
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Black reveals that the Union Jack on his chest isn't a t-Shirt. That's a tattoo.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Manchester Black can manifest his Psychic Powers in this fashion, using it to punch a hole through a mountain with relative ease. Notable in that this attack heavily damages Superman even after he took the gloves off.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Manchester's enormous Union Jack tattoo that covers his entire chest. Because he's British, you see.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Elite, at least before they jump off the slippery slope. While they admire Superman, they truly believe that their brutal, fascistic approach to heroics, which would culminate in their ruling the world by force as de facto dictators, is the only way to save humanity from itself.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Deliberately averted by Superman himself, as part of his Friend to All Living Things shtick. Even going up against a gruesome giant rampaging monster, Superman holds back initially and tries not to mortally wound it until he finds out that it's not actually alive - showing that he would uphold his non-killing rules not only against non-humans, but even against totally inhuman monsters.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: Manchester Black appears to be in a state of constant quantum fluctuation between Brummie, Scouse, Yorkshire, Cockney and Glaswegian.
• What You Are in the Dark: Superman is facing off four incredibly powerful metahumans, all of whom have a despicable lack of respect for life, none of whom have any qualms about killing him for sport, and he has lost almost all of the support of every person on Earth. He has every chance and every reason to take The Elite down violently, permanently, and no one will blame him for it. And so he goes out and proves to the world what he truly is: He's Superman.
  • Manchester on the other hand demonstrates how, for all his talk about improving the world, that he will destroy an entire city full of innocents just to save his own skin.
• White-and-Grey Morality: Superman is definitely a good guy, but the Elite, rather than bad guys, are at worst Anti Heroes; they do display actually heroic intentions, and hurting Black's team-mates typically is his Berserk Button. In addition, while the film does end on the side of Superman, his black and white views of the world are heavily questioned not just by the Elite, but Lois and the ordinary citizens who suffer every time a villain Superman has spared escapes and kills more people. Neither solution is perfect, but White is considered the better choice in the end.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: The Elite's method of beating the bad guys revolves around this. Superman decides to show them precisely why a superhero should not do this.
  Black: You crazy son of a bitch! You killed my team!!
  Superman: Your team of killers. And guess what? They won't be killing anyone else.
• Women Prefer Strong Men: Managerie's boyfriend in the Elite is Coldcast, but it's a Running Gag that she's attracted to Superman as well. She likes her big boys.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Manchester Black and the Elite are convinced they are heroes carrying out necessary acts to improve the world. They would be if they were in a dark comic like The Authority, but they are in a Superman story so their attitude instead makes them into villains.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • Superman tries this over and over with Manchester Black. It doesn't take. He also explains that sending this message to humanity as a whole is the reason for his championing of idealism and his refusal to kill:
    Superman: We have to show the world that there's a better way. The people can be better.
    Manchester Black: But that's the problem. They can't.
  • And Superman's note for Lois, which was never shown in the comics: BELIEVE ALWAYS BELIEVE
• You Can Barely Stand: Manchester states this word for word to Superman during their fight after he blasted him. Supes promptly depowers him.

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