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The sequel to Superman/Batman: Public Enemies and the first sequel in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line, based on The Supergirl from Krypton (2004).

The film begins with a huge meteor crashing into Gotham Bay, alerting the attention of Batman to the scene. The meteor turns out to have contained a spaceship belonging to a girl possessing the strength and powers of Superman. In her confusion and fear, she causes enough damage to warrant Batman using kryptonite to subdue her. Awakening in the Batcave, she destroys Batman's scanning equipment, but her attempt to flee is halted by Superman. Able to understand her language and provide her reassurance, Kal-El learns she is his cousin, Kara Zor-El.

Superman offers to take the young Kara under his wing, despite Batman's suspicions, and teach her how to live among the humans. However, Darkseid knows of her arrival and makes plans to use Kara for his own means.

The Direct to Video adaptation is based on The Supergirl from Krypton story arc in Superman/Batman. Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly reprise their respective roles from the first feature as Batman and Superman, and Susan Eisenberg returns as Wonder Woman, whilst Andre Braugher voices Darkseid and Summer Glau voices Supergirl.


Tropes featured in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse include:

  • Absurdly-Spacious Sewer: Wonder Woman and Big Barda go for a stroll through one on Apokolips.
  • Adaptation Title Change: The original arc it's based on was called The Supergirl from Krypton after Kara's original debut and simply Supergirl in the collected editions.
  • Adaptational Badass: In the comic books, Darkseid's fight with Superman ended badly for him, getting beaten all across space until Superman trapped him in the Source Wall. In this movie adaptation, Darkseid is able to give as good as he gets, gain the upper hand over Superman even when he's being speed-blitzed to hell, and only goes down in the end when Superman gets a little bit of assistance from Supergirl.
  • Adapted Out: Bernadeth, another member of the Female Furies who was in the comics, isn't in the movie version. Then again, in the comics, she spent the entirety of the Furies' fight with Wonder Woman and Big Barda on the sidelines with Granny. The comic version of the scene at the end when Superman introduced Kara as Supergirl also had the Justice League of America, the Justice Society of America, the Teen Titans, and The Outsiders in attendance.
  • Adaptational Attractiveness: The Female Furies are noticeably more attractive this time around with Lashina, for example, wearing little more than a bra as her top and Stompa much slimmer.
  • All Women Love Shoes: Kara gets really excited when she passes by a shoe store.
  • And I Must Scream: Darkseid ends up floating alone and unprotected through the vacuum of space.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
    Kara: I've been chased, shot at, kidnapped, beaten up, had my mind controlled and I Broke a Nail.
  • Art-Shifted Sequel: Public Enemies tried to emulate the art syle of Ed McGuinness, who drew the comic version of PE. This movie has an art style trying to emulate the late Michael Turner, who drew The Supergirl from Krypton.
  • Artifact Title: Unlike the previous film, this one focuses more on Supergirl. And most of the scenes with Superman and Batman have Wonder Woman, making it more Power Trio-based.
  • Artistic License – Economics: Early in the movie, Supergirl panics and destroys what Batman said was "$50,000 worth of custom hardware." Realistically, such hardware would likely cost well above $50,000. Custom hardware, particularly ASICs, can often cost millions of dollars.
  • Artistic License – Physics - Early on, we see a blimp damaged, and it promptly falls towards the ground like a plane. They're called "lighter-than-air craft" for a reason, folks.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Darkseid, neither Superman nor Kara is able to handle him alone.
  • Badass Normal: Batman takes out Supergirl, meets an army of Doomsday clones with a "bring it on" attitude and defeats Darkseid by holding his entire planet hostage.note 
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Wonder Woman and Barda against the Female Furies.
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished:
    • Played straight when Kara faces off with her cousin on Apokolips. Well, she did break a nail.
    • Averted once Darkseid arrives in Smallville - Kara is even more beat up than Superman at the end.
  • Big Bad: Darkseid, God of Evil, who wants to make Kara his agent.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Superman is overprotective of his cousin.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: What Darkseid does to Kara. Superman eventually snaps her out of it.
  • Brick Joke: After rescuing Kara from Apokolips, Bruce reminds remind Clark that he still owes him a new computer after Kara destroyed it. Clark reminds Bruce back that it will take a while for him to pay him back due to "reporter's salary".
  • Buffy Speak: "I can help [rebuild your house]. I'm good with a hammer, I can... pound... I'm a good pounder."
  • Clone Degeneration: The only possible explanation for the semi-even battle on Paradise Island, since the real Doomsday did not just kill Superman, but took out the entire Justice League first.
  • Clothing Damage:
    • Happens to Kara a lot.
    • Superman's suit gets pretty torn up when Darkseid attacks him in Smallville
  • Combat Stilettos: Kara wears platform shoes during her time as a Female Fury.
  • Conservation of Ninjutsu: The pre-battle overhead view shows that the army of Doomsday clones outnumber the Amazons by at least two-to-one, but the Amazons still hold them back and even Batman, normal human though he is, is able to best them in hand-to-hand combat. The fact that they are clones might cover this, except they apparently retain enough strength to knock Superman to the ground and cause him visible pain.
  • Continuity Nod: The opening scene featured a radio announcer giving a synopsis of the events of the first movie, including the kryptonite asteroid and President Luthor's impeachment. Much of the information has little bearing on the plot of this film, but it does set the stage for Supergirl's arrival, explaining where the Kryptonite meteor shower came from.
  • Darker and Edgier: It is lighter than the last DC Animated Movie, but still provides a darker tone and events than Public Enemies.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Batman.
  • Death Glare: Superman pulls out a range of them, varying from Tranquil Fury at Darkseid, to a more ordinary protective older cousin glare at some boys who were ogling an oblivious (and bent over) Kara, and promptly scuttle off.
  • Disaster Dominoes: Much like the comics, Kara's introduction involved crashing the Batboat, having a dock worker come onto her, her breaking his fingers, one of his co-workers get smacked when he tried to defend to the man, Kara disrupting traffic, having the GCPD fire at her, and accidentally trashing a blimp.
  • Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Kara, especially when she first arrives.
  • The Dragon: Kara was this to Darkseid during her stint as leader of the Furies. It was a short stint but she did a pretty good job.
  • Evil-Detecting Dog: Subverted. Krypto does not seem to like Kara at all, a fact that Batman points out given that he is a good judge of character. However, Superman believes his dog is just being a little overprotective and Kara herself is quite evil-free.
  • Evil Costume Switch: Skin-tight red and black pants with a black bra and Combat Stilettos? Is it supposed to be a surprise that Kara ends up temporarily evil?
  • Evil Makeover: Kara's costume becomes more revealing and metallic post-brainwashing.
  • Evil Mentor: Darkseid to Supergirl.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Andre Braugher leans his deep voice to Darkseid.
  • Exact Words: Darkseid promises not to come after Supergirl again. He never said he wouldn't go after Superman himself.
  • Eye Beams: Comes in Heat Vision (Superman) and Omega (Darkseid) flavors.
  • Fake Ultimate Mook: Doomsday.
  • Fanservice:
    • Supergirl is completely nude when she first arrives, then ends up wearing only an overcoat. She also seems to have a fondness for Stripperiffic outfits when she goes shopping with Clark, and winds up wearing a bra during her tenure as a Fury.
    • Big Barda is introduced wearing only a towel, and you can see her shadow while she gets dressed.
    • The Amazons are shown in very loving detail. Just about all of them.
    • Hell, even the Female Furies who tend toward the Gonk are depicted as notably more attractive this time around.
  • Fauxshadow: We're explicitly shown that the Furies are being sent to abduct Kara, and later we see a shadowy group of female warriors trying to abduct her, including one who uses what appears to be a whip (a la Lashina). But it turns out to be Amazons (including Wonder Woman with her lasso).
  • Groin Attack: While fighting to save Big Barda from Guillotina's grasp, Wonder Woman leaps over Guillotina's sword sweep to flatten her with a flip crush before rolling a kick straight into Granny Goodness' groin.

  • Hoist by His Own Petard:
    • Kara directs Darkseid's Omega Beam back at him while flying.
    • Kara is able to banish Darkseid by utilizing a skill that he taught her.
  • Hollywood Healing: Batman looks pretty good for a guy who got the crap beat out of him by Darkseid.
  • Humans Are Bastards: Darkseid believes this, and heartily approves.
  • I Broke a Nail: Kara's final complaint after the Apokolips adventure is that she broke a nail.
  • Idiot Ball: It seems the Amazons and Wonder Woman of all people pick this up when they go to seek out Kara to train her to control her abilities. Apparently Wonder Woman assumed Superman to be such an unreasonable person that simply requesting she be trained was out of the question. Instead they opted to kidnap her, whilst her cousin was with her. Made worse that when things eventually calm down, Kal-El actually sees the reason in the move and agrees even after being attacked.
    • The arming code for Darkseid's entire cache of planet-destroying hellspores is not only in human alphanumeric (Ωλ7XL9), but is also weaker than the average email account password.
  • Ink-Suit Actor: Unknown if it was intentional, but Granny Goodness does look a bit like Edward Asner in drag.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Superman to Kara in her time as a Fury.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Batman, very a much a Good Is Not Nice hero who is not interested in letting Kara run around the outside world without being able control her powers and arranges to have her dragged off the by the Amazons. As we see, he does have a point with that.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Barda.
  • Larynx Dissonance: Edward Asner is once again voicing Granny Goodness, so naturally, this trope got invoked.
  • Limit Break: When Superman realizes that the Doomsdays are pushing back the Amazons, likely to overwhelm them, he stops holding back and destroys the lot of them with his heat vision.
  • Magic Skirt: Kara first appears naked, then gets her hands on a trenchcoat, after which her flight powers are awakened. This involves her flipping upside down a few times. You do the math.
  • Market-Based Title: It's generally believed by fans of the comics that WB's disappointment at Wonder Woman (2009) not meeting WB's expectations is the reason the movie is called Superman/Batman: Apocalypse and not Superman/Batman: The Supergirl from Krypton.
  • Misplaced-Names Poster: A variation. The opening credits show the logos of the superheroes/villains that appear in the movie, but the actors' names shown alongside them don't match, with the exception of Batman/Kevin Conroy. Andre Braugher (Darkseid) appears with the Superman logo; Tim Daly (Superman) appears with the Wonder Woman logo; Summer Glau (Supergirl) appears with a logo resembling Big Barda's helmet; and Edward Asner (Granny Goodness), Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman), and Julianne Grossman (Big Barda) appear with a helmet logo for Darkseid.
  • More than Mind Control: After she is freed, Kara confesses she fears this about how Darkseid took control of her; Superman firmly dismisses that, noting that Darkseid has many resources and specialists to bend anyone's will to his control.
  • Mugging the Monster: A naked Kara wanders confused into an alley, having just woken up from her rocket, and is spotted by three workers. One of them mistakes her for a prostitute and decides to play Lothario only to have his hand crushed and be slammed through a wall. The second tries to help his friend. The third wisely proclaims he's not with the other two and offers her his coat.
  • My Sister Is Off-Limits: Clark gives the Death Glare to a couple of teenage boys who were eyeing Kara.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • The searchlight-laden police blimps seen patrolling Gotham in the opening of the movie refer to the opening of Batman: The Animated Series.
    • The suit of Mister Miracle (Barda's husband) is hanging in Barda's superhero closet.
    • Big Barda asking Wonder Woman if she didn't leave an invisible plane in her driveway.
    • The radio news reader is named Vicki - presumably Vale.
    • The jetpack rig Batman uses on Apokolips looks very much like Orion's.
    • The "Welcome to Smallville" sign and the Kent farm look exactly like they do in Smallville.
  • Naked on Arrival: Kara.
  • Near-Villain Victory: Darkseid almost kills Superman in the climax of the film before Kara intervenes.
  • Nerf: Darkseid's Omega Beams are far weaker than they are in the comics, acting more like standard heat vision than the automatic One-Hit Kill they usually are.
  • Only Six Faces: The main characters are all visually distinct from one another, but they blur together with supporting characters to an extent that almost seems deliberate. The writers seem to realize this, since when Lyla dies her name is actually spoken aloud so that it is clear whose body is being held. Apparently this is actually the case in the movie, as Harbinger is not able to recognize herself in a prophetic vision, mistaking her own body for Supergirl's. The weird thing is, while it may be said that her face was never visible in the vision, Kara's hair is clearly a lighter shade of blonde, exactly like the figure in the vision.
  • Papa Wolf: Superman. Any indication of someone even attempting to harm Kara is pretty much Kal-El's Berserk Button.
  • Parental Fashion Veto: When Clark takes Kara out shopping, one outfit she tries on is very revealing. When Clark disapproves, she decides it's perfect.
  • Powerful and Helpless: In a gambit to rescue Supergirl, Batman has armed the hellspores on Apokolips which Darkseid uses to turn other planets into fire pits. When they go off, the planet will be destroyed. All of Darkseid's power and threats won't make Batman disarm the bombs, and he is forced to give in and release Supergirl.
  • Power Incontinence: When Supergirl first arrives on earth she has a lot of trouble controlling her powers. This results in several scenes where her laser vision activates that she cannot turn off, and even an occurrence of her floating off the ground and being unable to get down again.
  • Red Shirt Army: The Amazon soldiers who engage the Doomsday clones. By the end of the battle, there's barely enough of them to form a single-file line, out of what appeared to be an entire battalion.
  • Refusal of the Call: Barda initially refuses to get them to Apokolips, preferring her mundane life on Earth. She eventually comes around and agrees to come with them.
  • Secondary Character Title: Calling it Superman/Supergirl: Apocalypse would have made more sense. Batman gets nowhere near as much screen time and Wonder Woman appears as often as he does.
  • Sexy Villains, Chaste Heroes: The female Furies, but Kara especially during her brief stint as their leader, are very revealing. Wonder Woman wears her regular outfit, but Barda wears full-body armor.
  • Shopping Montage: What was a throwaway gag in the original story becomes an extended sequence here.
  • Show, Don't Tell: The movie features many time jumps (ranging from a few hours to a few months) and attempts to reveal what happened in this missed time with clumsy exposition. Kara shares only a single scene with Lyla, during which they both talk about how great it is that they are best friends and have been for several months. However, never is there a scene showing Kara and Lyla forming a friendship. Much of it simply has to be taken on faith that it happened at all, and it lessens a lot of the impact of the events on-screen.
  • Space Is Cold: Darkseid's body freezes solid in the void of space when he is sent there after Kara reconfigures his Mother Box.
  • Staring Down Cthulhu: Batman does this to Darkseid, while nearly getting strangled.
  • Stripperiffic:
    • Lashina's outfit (in both the movie and the comic it is based on) can be summed up as "her traditional mask, a pair of pants, and a bra."
    • Kara tries on numerous outfits while touring Metroplis with Clark, several of which he adamantly refuses to let her wear. When she joins Darkseid, her top is essentially just a bra.
  • Statuesque Stunner: Big Barda appears to help rescue Supergirl.
  • Swiss-Cheese Security: Apokolips might have plenty of roving bands of bloodthirsty monsters, but actually having somebody stationed near the room filled with planet-busting bombs, or having a guard outside the door to Darkseid's chambers, seems to be expecting too much.
  • Teens Love Shopping: When Clark takes sixteen-year-old Kara to a shopping mall in Metropolis, she quickly becomes fascinated with the different and colorful stores, and gets to combing shops and pick out clothes immediately.
    Kara: "Oh my gosh, that was so much fun! I'm going to love being an Earth girl!"
    Clark Kent: "You've certainly got the shopping part down."
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Though Superman would never intentionally kill anyone, he does warn Darkseid to never come back.
  • Throwing Your Shield Always Works: Wonder Woman does this at least once.
  • Tornado Move: Superman attacks Darkseid with a flurry of punches and heat vision blasts so fast it generates a tornado around them.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Batman drives Darkseid into this when he reveals that he supposedly armed the hellspores to destroy Apokalips. Darkseid goes into a rage and nearly beats Batman to death while thundering "YOU DARE?!"
  • What Measure Is a Mook?: It is explicitly stated that Granny Goodness and Darkseid exploit brainwashing and conditioning in their soldiers, forcing people to fight for them, so why does nobody seem at all concerned when they are killing off the Female Furies?
  • What Measure Is A Nonhuman: It is only after Diana points out that the Doomsdays do not bleed that Superman begins to stop holding back, and after he kills (destroys?) the group she comforts him with the fact that they were not really alive at all.
  • Witch with a Capital "B": Kara uses it on Granny Goodness. One wonders why, when Gilotina calls Barda a bitch later on. Then again, Superman is the one who taught Kara English...
  • Worthy Opponent: Batman for Darkseid. He's impressed that Batman was willing to blow up Apokolips to defeat him.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: Wonder Woman in her teamup with Barda against the Furies.
  • You Did What You Had To Do: After explaining to Superman that the Doomsday clones were not really alive (See What Measure Is A Nonhuman above) Diana consoles him with the fact that "you did what you had to do."
  • Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: The movie seemingly ends with Clark getting ready to introduce Kara to his adoptive parents. Cue Darkseid coming out of nowhere and punching Superman through the front door.

 
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Supergirl vs Darkseid

Kara dodges Darkseid's Omega Beams until she can use him to shield herself against them.

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Main / DeadlyDodging

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