Western Animation / Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons is a 2022 all-CGI animated movie produced as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. It stars Jonathan Samuel Kent, an upbeat boy who discovers his father is Superman, and Damian Wayne, the moody son of Batman, who meet and quickly have to save the Earth from Starro the Conqueror.

The cast includes Jack Dylan Grazer as Jon, Jack Griffo as Damian, Travis Willingham as Superman, Laura Bailey as Lois Lane, and Troy Baker as Batman.

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Battle of the Super Sons provides examples of:

• Action Mom: Lois is the embodiment of an Intrepid Reporter. Once she's freed from Starro's control by Jon's heat vision, Lois barges into Lex's office while packing an Aerosol Flamethrower to burn Starro as she'd already expected him to be taken over. She broadcasts this on the internet in the hopes that Jon would be able to use this to stop Starro.
• Adaptational Dye-Job: Lois Lane's usual violet eye-color in animation and comics are now green here.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: It's implied that the Starro spore that latched onto baby Kal-El's ship at the start of the film was the main Starro controlling the rest by the present, meaning that sending Kal-El to Earth saved Starro from being killed on Krypton.
• Adults Are Useless: Principal Cunningham, the headmaster of Jon's school, is a living embodiment of one of the most common miscarriages of justice found in any school setting, both in fiction and in reality: "Spare the Bully, Punish the Victim". While he defends Melvin's bullying by saying he is going through mental issues, Jon was clearly standing up for himself.
• Aerosol Flamethrower: Lois packs a hair spray can and a cigarette lighter when going to Lex Luthor, the president of the United States, to ask him to issue an emergency national broadcast to warn everyone about the threat of Starro. She insists the lighter is just in there as a reminder since she quit smoking, but soon whips the can and lighter out to burn Starro when it reveals it has already possessed Lex. She then tells Jon that Starro is weak to intense heat and to "burn this motherfu-" before the broadcast cuts out.
• Age Lift: Wally West appears to still be a teen Kid Flash around the time of Jon and Damian's tenures as heroes, when in the comics he'd be an adult with his cousin, Wallace "Ace" West becoming the new Kid Flash.
• Angry Guard Dog: Krypto is furious when Jon and Damian break into the Fortress of Solitude and chases them down while repeatedly firing his heat vision. He only stops when the digitized AI modeled after Jor-El appears and tells Krypto to heel and sniff Jon, upon which Krypto quickly realizes that Jon is Clark's son and licks him.
• Animal Lover: While less pronounced than his comic counterpart's menagerie of pets, Damian clearly loves Batcow and is irritated when Jon tells him that she needs milking since it'd imply that Damian is neglecting her. Jon similarly enjoys spending time with the animals on his family farm while doing chores with his dad, milking Batcow anyways and handing a pail of her milk to Batman.
• Anime Hair: Damian spikes his hair up in his Robin costume, but combs it down in his civilian wear, presumably to avoid drawing attention.
• Ascended Fanboy: Jonathan was already a fan of superheroes, especially Superman and Batman, so he couldn't be happier to learn that not only is he half-alien and has powers, his own father is Superman himself.
• Badass Normal: Batman and Robin, as usual, manage to keep up with superpowered heroes through their skills, wits, and gadgetry.
• Big Bad: Starro is the enemy attacking Earth and who Damian and Jon must put aside their differences to fight.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: Jon's powers start manifesting on his birthday, something he describes as the best birthday present ever. But that night, Superman and Batman are mind-controlled by Starro along with the rest of the Justice League and Teen Titans, leaving only Jon and Damian to save the world.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Starro has Damian and Jon surrounded by the Justice League and Teen Titans near the climax of the film. Damian points out that Starro could simply slap spores on them and be done with them, but Starro decides that Jon and Damian have been too much of a thorn in its side to bother and has Green Arrow try to shoot Damian dead with an arrow instead. All this does is activate Jon's Nigh-Invulnerability and give the boys a chance to fight back.
• Book Ends:
  • Jon's journey in the movie begins and ends with his Little League baseball game. At the start, he strikes out because he can't focus with Melvin's jeering and Clark's absence getting to him. At the end, his parents and his new Best Friend Damian are all there to support him, with Damian silencing Melvin with a paralyzing Pressure Point attack. This, combined with Jon's newfound confidence and superpowers, lets him bunt the ball far away enough to easily run around the bases.
  • Similarly, at the start of the movie, Clark leaves Jon with an awkward excuse to save the Watchtower from burning up in orbit. At the end of the movie, Jon and Damian purposefully crash the Watchtower in an attempt to burn Starro up in atmospheric reentry. The boys are saved from an untimely doom by a newly freed Clark, who catches the bridge of the Watchtower just in time as the rest of it falls to pieces.
• Brick Joke: At the beginning of the movie, Damian shoves Jon off a cliff in the Batcave to try and get him to fly. At the end of the movie, Damian shoves Jon off a watertower while dryly remarking, "Still can't fly."
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Downplayed. Jon doesn't like school and is clearly more interested in doing farm chores with his dad than studying. His motivation to study drops even more after developing superpowers like his dad's. But it's pointed out that he consistently maintains high grades to keep his spot on the Smallville Junior High baseball team. He also comes to some clever inferences from what his parents tell him and brings up the idea of him and Damian fighting each other's fathers to beat them.
• Butt-Monkey: Jonathan's bully Melvin Masters is paralyzed by Damian using pressure points twice in the film as a joke.
• The Cameo: Cyborg, Aqualad, Hawkman, Blue Beetle, and Speedy appear on the screen of the Batcomputer. Meanwhile the Penguin is essentially this to help show how Batman is far more brutal than Superman.
• Casting Gag: Jon's enthusiastic ascended superhero fanboy attitude early on is quite similar to Jack Dylan Grazer's role as Freddy Freeman in Shazam!.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Jon and Damian have this kind of exchange along with It Has Been an Honor at the end of the movie when they're willing to burn themselves to death along with Starro in atmospheric reentry if it means saving the world. Despite their impending doom, Jon and Damian are perfectly calm about the whole situation and even share a laugh and a fist bump.
• Character Development: Jonathan starts the film as an Ascended Fanboy who can't wait to become a superhero, but during the invasion starts to realise the dangers involved and by the end understands what Clark meant that being a hero requires sacrifice. Damian also changes from being incredibly arrogant and mean to Jonathan to becoming a better team player, even agreeing at the end that he and Jonathan should keep working together as the Super Sons. Batman himself also gets a bit of development; Bruce's parenting of Damian is largely painted by his son's role as Robin and is never really openly affectionate to him, but near the end when he and Superman reunite with their sons after the Watch Tower crashing, Bruce warmly embraces Damian and later takes him for a traditional father-son outing (i.e. watch Jonathan's baseball game).
• Chekhov's Classroom: Lois gives Jon advice on how to write his report for school at the beginning of the movie, telling him to "find your angle" and that "in most stories we already know the ending". Clark also returns home and tells Jon about a seemingly frivolous article he's writing about new discoveries involving the strange behavior of ants in relation to their Hive Mind and queen. This information leads to Jon and Damian's "Eureka!" Moment in deducing the origin of Starro's Alien Invasion and how to free the world from its influence.
• Chekhov's Gun: While rushing to get to work on time, Lois grabs a hair spray can instead of the water bottle before Jon reminds her what she took. Lois keeps the hair spray anyway, saying that she might need it later. She does need it later, when she has to smuggle an Improvised Weapon past the Secret Service and use it against the spore attached to Lex Luthor.
• Chekhov's Skill: Jon is a member of the Smallville Junior High baseball team, but strikes out due to being unable to focus between his dad's absence and Melvin's jeering. At the end of the film, Jon bats Starro into the upper atmosphere after Clark tosses Starro as part of a combo attack.
• Clark Kenting: Given a couple of tongue-in-cheek lampshades. Clark reveals himself as Superman to his son by wearing the costume and floating in mid-air, in his glasses which he then removes. That night he gives his son a present which is his "first step in becoming a superhero". Turns out it's a pair of glasses.
• Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Several characters are referred to by their codenames. However Jonathan isn't called Superboy since he notes that it's taken, likely referencing Conner Kent.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Near the end of the film, Jon and Damian send the Watchtower into the atmosphere in hopes of burning Starro up in reentry. But while Starro is badly burned from nesting near the bottom of the Watchtower, Jon and Damian aren't even sweating even as the rest of the infrastructure below them is lit ablaze.
• Curse Cut Short: Since the movie rated PG-13, the more egregious curses tend to be cut short by something. For instance, the broadcast cuts out when Lois yells at Jon to "Burn this motherfu-". Similarly, when confronting the brainwashed Teen Titans aboard the Watchtower, Damian remarks, "We're in deep shi-" just as Martian Manhunter tears the bulkhead doors open.
• Die or Fly: Damian tries to invoke this by shoving Jon off a cliff in the Batcave when Batman says that Jon's powers might activate in the face of severe stress. All this does is force Superman to rescue Jon, who is understandably reeling from his near-death experience. Played straight when Jon throws himself in front of an arrow meant for Damian, which activates Jon's Nigh-Invulnerability just in time to save his life. Becomes a Brick Joke at the end of the film when Damien shoves Jon off a water tower... still nothing.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Justified; Lois uses President Luthor's authority to make an Emergency Broadcast to warn everyone about the alien invasion. Instead Luthor turns out to be infested as well and uses the broadcast to activate all the other parasites.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: As usual, Krypton blows up in the prologue.
• Establishing Character Moment: At the beginning of the film, Jon is shown struggling with how to write a decent report on his parents, "the most boring couple in the universe". While his mom tries to give him some advice, he constantly points out the things she's forgetting in her rush to make it to the Daily Planet. He then immediately rebels against his mom's instructions to not look for his birthday present. This shows how he's Brilliant, but Lazy with a mischievous streak.
• Foil: Since their relationship is the main focus of this movie, Jon and Damian are naturally foils to each other. Jon has no experience as a superhero and spends much of the story trying to figure out his powers, but growing up as a regular farm boy in Smallville means he's generally friendly with people and he was raised by loving parents. Damian, on the other hand, is a trained fighter and a competent sidekick to his father Batman, but being raised by assassins has done no favors for his social skills or ability to work with others.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Jon and Damian start out on fairly bad terms, due to Jon's naivete and Damian's arrogance causing them to annoy the hell out of each other. After some Teeth-Clenched Teamwork and Character Development the two form a bond and are actively referring to each other as friends by the end.
• Freudian Excuse: A possible interpretation in the case of Melvin Masters. Principal Cunningham says he has issues and is hurt. The debatable part is that Cunningham's words may not be entirely accurate given how much we've seen of Melvin.
• The Ghost: Conner Kent, Ra's al Ghul, his daughter Talia, and Alfred are mentioned but don't appear.
• Go for the Eye: Lois Lane kills the Puppeteer Parasite possessing President Luthor by stabbing it with a desk flag stand, but when Jonathan tries to kill the full-sized Starro with his heat vision, Starro either closes its eyelid or just blocks the eye beams with its tentacles or a metal plate.
• Hate Sink: The audience can't hate Starro because he's that kind of villain who's hard to come by in real life. You can however, hate Melvin Masters for being the immature bully that he is. He constantly heckles Jonathan at his baseball games and is clearly envious that he isn't on the team due to his poor grades. He also wants to make Jon his homework slave and gets into a fight with the boy. But the karma gods, embodied in the form of Damian, aren't mocked, so Melvin gets stunned into near-immobility – twice.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When a mind-controlled Green Arrow fires an arrow at Damian, Jonathan leaps in front of it, much to Damian's surprise who immediately feels guilty and complaining how he was starting to like him. Luckily Jonathan had developed invulnerability by this point, and the two work together to fight the heroes. Later Damian and Jonathan realize that the best way to kill Starro would be to crash the Watchtower and have it be burned during reentry. Because this has to be done manually, they place all the unconscious heroes onto ships and send them back to Earth. Thankfully Superman is freed from this and is able to save the boys.
• Homework Slave: Melvin complains that the only reason he isn't on the Smallville Junior High baseball team is because his grades aren't high enough to be a "nerd" like Jon. Melvin then suggests Jon do all of his homework for him so Melvin can join the team.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Jon suffers from a case of New Powers as the Plot Demands as his abilities only develop when he needs them in high-stress situations. Even after getting his powers he has no idea how to use them do his inexperience, struggling to lift the key to the Fortress of Solitude because he doesn't know how to best use his Super-Strength. He gets significantly better as the movie goes on, as best shown when he cuts a tree down with his heat vision to use as a bat to knock Starro into the upper atmosphere.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: While he doesn't admit it, Damian really wanted to be part of the Teen Titans and was hurt when Wonder Girl explains how they voted to not make him an official member. After she tells him how he's not a team player and doesn't care about anyone, he spends some time moping and talking about how he would form his own team to assault Titans Tower to prove how well they would work together. Naturally he relishes the moment when Wonder Girl calls him to explain how they changed their minds after he saved them, and he ends up hanging up on her after saying he will have to think about it before going to Jonathan's baseball game.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: The principal of Jonathan's school insists that Melvin has issues and for Jonathan to give him a chance and empathize with him rather than push him away. Whether or not this is true, Melvin constantly belittles Jon who is consistently shown to be Melvin's intellectual, moral, and (post-superpower awakening) physical better. This clearly irks Melvin, who props up his paper-thin ego by jeering at Jon's positive traits.
• Insufferable Genius: Damian is an expert martial artist, pilot, hacker, and detective. He's also got an ego the size of Jupiter and lords his experiences as an ex-assassin over Jon to try and get him to fall in line.
• Kill It with Fire: Starro is vulnerable to intense heat, meaning that Jon's Heat Vision and other repeated sources of fire and heat can be used to injure it. The finale reveals that the main Starro is far less vulnerable than its spores, meaning that heat vision will only bother it rather than seriously hurt it. This convinces Jon and Damian to plunge the Watchtower into the atmosphere in hopes that the heat of atmospheric reentry would kill Starro. But Starro only goes down for good when Clark tosses it at Jon to bat it back into the upper atmosphere, the resulting atmospheric friction finally burning it to ashes.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Damian ends up being thrown into the same abyss he pushed Jonathan into.
• Like Father, Like Son: As Superman notes, Damian and Jonathan's first interaction reminds him of when he met Batman. Batman however disagrees, claiming that he had been far nicer than his son.
• Monologuing: Lampshaded when Damian complains about Jor-El talking as much as his dad does. Later Starro plays it straight, Evil Gloating how it's going to take over the Universe.
• Mythology Gag: Plenty of references regarding both Superman and Batman.
  • Superman's leitmotif carries a few notes from The Animated Series theme.
  • Like earlier versions of the Superman mythos prior to the 1952 television series, Jonathan and Martha Kent are dead.
  • The Fortress of Solitude is largely based on its 1978 counterpart, but with darker lighting and blue crystals. Jor-El even drops the "spanning the 28 known galaxies" quote. Jonathan also quotes the opening monologue from the same movie while reading a history book.
  • Batman claims that he was nicer when he and Superman first met, but are they referring to "World's Finest", how they met in the comics, or some other retelling?
  • During a fight between the two, Jonathan exclaims that he manages to knock Batman out "with one punch", referencing the famous JLA storyline when Batman knocked out Guy Gardner with a single blow.
  • Jon's junior baseball team is the Smallville Crows, reflecting the high school football team in Smallville. They're up against the Midvale Spartans. In the Silver Age, Midvale was where Superman hid Supergirl away as Linda Lee, and in Man of Steel the high school football team was called the Smallville Spartans as a nod to director Zack Snyder's previous work.
  • When mulling over a superhero name he can use, Jon mentions "Superman-Two". This and "Superman Secundus" were used in prior stories for Clark's son and heir and direct successor in the future, basically precursors of Jon in different continuities.
  • The Teen Titan members are nearly all the same lineup and character designs from Young Justice (2010).
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Jon is still growing into his powers throughout the movie, developing them one after the other as the plot needs them. This works to his detriment when he picks a fight with Melvin after developing Super-Strength. Jon expects to already have Nigh-Invulnerability already as a Required Secondary Power, only to earn a black eye when he dares Melvin to do his worst.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Starro declares that the people of Earth should be happy that there is now no crime, no inequality, and no want with everyone under his control. Damian points out that Starro's endgame is to suck the planet dry of resources before moving on to find another world to parasitize, which Starro makes no attempt to deny.
• Odd Friendship: Like their fathers, Jonathan and Damian slowly become friends during the film despite the former being a half-alien who grew up on a farm while being new to super heroics and the latter is a trained assassin who has been a crime fighter for some time.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • When Superman does an X-Ray vision sweep of the Watchtower, this is his response and he tells Batman they've got to get the hell out of there. Seconds later they're attacked by a possessed Martian Manhunter.
  • Damian and Jon realize that Lois had been taken over when she says that her son breaking into a tub of ice cream she keeps hidden is a great idea. Then Damian's Seen It All air is seriously compromised when Lois jumps onto his jet in mid-flight and punches her way into the cockpit.
  • When Damian opens the doors from the Watchtower hangar bay, he sees the brainwashed Teen Titans and Martian Manhunter staring at him. He immediately closes the door and remarks, "We're in deep shi--" just as Martian Manhunter tears the doors back open.
• Out-of-Character Alert:
  • When Jon and Damian are first confronted by a brainwashed Lois, Damian insists she is even though Jon is skeptical. Damian tells Jon to test her to confirm his suspicions, leading to this exchange:
    Jon: Hi, Mom. Um, when we get home, can I go play video games and maybe break into that tub of ice cream you try to hide from me in the freezer?
    Lois: [in Creepy Monotone] Of course, dear. That sounds like a marvelous idea. Now, come over here and give me a hug.
    Jon: Yeah, she's been taken over.
    Damian: Told you.
  • Zigzagged when Lois, now freed from her brainwashing, goes to President Lex Luthor for help. He agrees...on condition that Lois retract the attacks she's made on his reputation in the Daily Planet and support him in the next election. Lois snarks that she now knows Lex hasn't been compromised because It's All About Me with him, even during an alien invasion. Turns out Lex has been compromised, but Lois knew that in advance because he agreed to meet with her in the first place.
• Parents as People: Clark and Lois clearly love Jon with all their heart, but their busy lives as reporters (as well as Clark's "other job" as Superman) mean that they're frequently absent in Jon's life. Jon is especially hurt when Clark doesn't show up to his baseball game like he promised he would, wondering if Clark values his job over his son. On Bruce's end, he's Married to the Job and has only recently even learned of Damian's existence, and therefore has a hard time connecting with Damian beyond his role as his sidekick.
• Power Perversion Potential: Defied. Lois tells Clark that they won't be able to send Jon to school if he has X-Ray vision, for obvious reasons.
• Pressure Point: Damian uses a technique he learned from his grandfather, Ra's al Ghul, to instantly render Melvin catatonic by jabbing him in the chest. He then remarks that Melvin will recover... in a week. Damian repeats this when Melvin tries to jeer at Jon again at the baseball game.
• Race Lift: Jimmy Olsen is African-American.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": After making fun of Jon the entire movie, Damian is devastated when Jon takes a shot from Green Arrow meant for him, responding with, "No! No no no no no!" He's relieved when it turns out that Jon's Nigh-Invulnerability activated in a nick of time.
• Required Secondary Powers: Subverted. When Jon realizes he has Super-Strength, he assumes he also got his dad's Nigh-Invulnerability at the same time and dares Melvin to "do [his] worst". This turns out to be a mistake and Jon is next seen in the principal's office with a bruised eye.
• Sociopathic Hero: As usual, Damian has a very warped view on right and wrong due to growing up with Talia and Ra's for the first ten years of his life. He pushes Jonathan off a cliff to test his powers while bragging how he's killed people, temporarily paralyzes Jonathan's bully through a pressure point twice, tells Jonathan to kill a mind-controlled Lois, and mentions that he will kill Batman if he has to. However he's still a hero who's prepared to sacrifice himself at the end of the film to kill Starro and genuinely wants friends, and while still finding it funny to push Jonathan off the Smallville water tower, Damian does come to care about him.
• Soft Water: When Lois is brainwashed by Starro into attacking Jon and Damian aboard the Batjet, Jon manages to blast her off with heat vision above lake, which she falls into and emerges unharmed despite falling off a plane moving at a reasonable cruising speed.
• So Much for Stealth: Damian brags how the spacecraft's stealth technology and the codes he's hacked will enable them to enter the Watch Tower undetected. Then he opens the hanger doors and finds the possessed Teen Titans and the Martian Manhunter staring at him.
• The Stoic: Batman is obviously this, which is why it's more noticeable when he expresses his worry about Damian and hugs him at the end which even surprises Damian.
• Super-Empowering: A single occasion seems to show Starro's spore able to do this on a host, when Lois is easily able to hold on to the outside of the Batplane while it's flying, then pound repeatedly on the canopy glass with her fist and break through it, and then is thrown off the plane and into the pond, all without being injured in even the slightest.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Jonathan's principal defends Melvin's actions by saying the latter is suffering from mental issues. But is this a legitimate Freudian Excuse, or his own analysis?
• Taking the Bullet: Damian dares a brainwashed Green Arrow to shoot him right in the chest while trying to fast talk and Indy Ploy his way out of a ring of brainwashed superheroes. Jon instead throws himself in front of the arrow, but is saved by his Nigh-Invulnerability being activated in response to this stressful situation.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Jon and Damian are not happy to be working with each other initially. They get better as they overcome trials as a team.
• Telephone Polearm: Starro meets its end when a freed Clark hurls it at Jon, who knocks Starro into the upper atmosphere by using an entire tree as a baseball bat, burning the monster up with atmospheric friction.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Jon develops his Heat Vision for the first time when in a state of extreme emotional distress and frustration with his dad's constant excuses for being absent. Batman theorizes that Jon's powers will naturally activate in traumatic, high-stress situations, which Damian tries to put to the test by shoving Jon off a cliff in the Batcave. This largely proves to be true throughout the movie, as Jon develops his Super-Strength while confronting his bully Melvin, the ability to leap long distances while fleeing an angry Krypto, and Nigh-Invulnerability by taking an arrow meant for Damian.
• Unskilled, but Strong:
  • Jon's Super-Strength and Heat Vision make him a force to be reckoned with, but he's completely new to the superhero business and doesn't know how to fight or properly leverage his new superpowers. As a result, a brainwashed Batman is able to run circles around him and even get him in a painful arm lock despite Jon's superior strength.
  • The brainwashed Justice League and Teen Titans may still have their superpowers, but Starro is clearly unable to use them beyond the basics. The brainwashed Wonder Girl simply charges and screams at Jon rather than using her lasso for anything beyond a strangulation tool. Similarly, the brainwashed Superman never uses his X-ray vision to locate the boys, instead slowly proceeding through the storage room they're hiding in and peering behind every stack of crates.
• Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Damian has a pet cow which he keeps in the Batcave, and naturally Jonathan can't help but note how weird that is. Damian also seems unaware that his cow needs to be milked, and is insulted when Jonathan tries to help him do it.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Damian and Jonathan grow into this over time, despite at first hating each other. They'll snipe at each other all day but are still willing to take a bullet for one another. At the end of the film, Damian paralyzes Melvin to silence him at Jon's baseball game while shouting some awkward words of encouragement. Later that same day, Damian gives Jon the equivalent of a birthday punch by shoving him off a building.
• Virtual Ghost: Jor-El left a digitized library of the sum total of Krypton's knowledge from all 28 known galaxies in the universe along with an AI modeled after himself to guide Kal-El once he came of age. Jon and Damian meet this artificial Jor-El when they enter the Fortress of Solitude to analyze the sample of Starro that Damian retrieved from Batman.
• The Voiceless: The only Teen Titan to have a speaking role is Wonder Girl, while the rest and Martian Manhunter don't say anything.
• Weak, but Skilled:
  • Batman is a master martial artist whose skills let him come out on top even when he's outnumbered and outgunned. When a brainwashed Batman is pitted against Jon, he's able to dodge Jon's Heat Vision and clumsy brawling with ease and briefly subdues Jon with a painful arm lock. But Jon manages to knock him out in one hit with his Kryptonian Super-Strength once he does manage to get a punch in.
  • While not as skilled as his father, Damian proves his chops when battling the brainwashed Teen Titans, using gadgetry to take down Kid Flash and Beast Boy while deftly using Combat Parkour to dodge their attacks.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: In the tradition of family films from The '90s, Jonathan is upset about how often Clark has to leave and how he misses his baseball games, but once he learns he's Superman he's overjoyed and forgives him.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: A variation; Starro does have the Green Arrow shoot Jon, but only after Evil Gloating and averting the more sensible course of having them mind-controlled like the other heroes.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: During the battle against the mind-controlled heroes, Jonathan at first apologizes when he hits Wonder Girl. Then he realizes that she is trying to kill him and that he should be fighting back.
• Wretched Hive: Jonathan had assumed that what he read on the internet about Gotham was simply exaggerated, but even spending only a few minutes in the city leads him to realize that it really is bad.
• Your Mom: While bickering with Melvin in front of school, Jon says Melvin's mother should be sorry for giving Melvin his ugly mug.
• Youthful Freckles: Jon has a cluster of freckles beneath each eye to reflect his youthful exuberance and joy over learning that he has superpowers and is the son of the greatest superhero in the world.

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