YMMV / Superman: The Animated Series

• Adorkable: Jimmy gets adorably awkward when he's shy or embarrassed.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Livewire's deserving of sympathy or lack thereof. Now, the main view is that she's a belligerent mean-spirited bigot who became a supervillain because of her own suicidal stupidity, and she has no right to be angry with Superman, having "saved her life after all." However, her last facial expression before the lightning strike conveys the emotional expression of someone gleefully anticipating a lethal event. Some might argue that Superman stole that from her, not to mention that she accidentally lost her biological humanity in the process (not that she often seems bothered by her new metahuman status, brief moments of revenge-seeking for it aside).
  • Relating to Professor Emil Hamilton and his Face–Heel Turn in Justice League Unlimited, after feeling "betrayed" by Superman in the finale, one has to wonder if Hamilton was always a narcissistic Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who took too much pride in being Superman's personal Mr. Wizard ally, or if he was a genuinely good man who sadly never overcame the trauma of seeing just how destructive and dangerous Superman could be if he were evil or brainwashed into being evil. If the latter, did he really join CADMUS in JLU of his own free will or was he manipulated by Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller for their own ends? If the latter, does that make him a victim as well as a villain?
  • Volcana may have become a more generic villain after her debut episode but she's never shown attacking Superman directly again. Is this just coincidence or did she avoid attacking him out of gratitude? If it's just coincidence, we could ask ourselves if she's even all that grateful to Superman anymore after her debut since by the time of Justice League, she basically joined a bunch of his rogues to go on a crime spree not long after Superman's supposed death... which is a pretty funny way of showing gratitude towards someone who helped you out in the past.
  • As it is Superman and Clark Kenting is the rule, it's also entirely possible that it's an Open Secret. Jimmy and Lois know but are too polite to say anything, with Lex Luthor knowing that attacking civilian Clark Kent would be bad form (a Villain with Good Publicity has to keep up an image, after all)
• Angst? What Angst?: For someone who came out of cryosleep (which for her would be like going to sleep and suddenly waking up) and finding out the rest of her family is dead, her world is now a complete lifeless husk, and she's been trapped on ice for years, Supergirl seems to take things remarkably well. Possibly justified in that what she had to endure before was like hell and living with Martha & Jonathan Kent on the Kent Farm in Smallville (plus superpowers) must seem like heaven. A later episode addressed this where Martha and Jonathan get brainwashed by an entity named Unity, and she starts saying It's All My Fault for having gone to visit Clark.
• Animation Age Ghetto: Most of the series was made to the producers' satisfaction, but they were forced to change Supergirl's introductory episode (See What Could Have Been on the trivia page) and obscure Maggie Sawyer's sexuality (See Hide Your Lesbians on the main page) because they were deemed inappropriate for a children's show.
• Base-Breaking Character: Livewire. Bruce Timm said in an interview that he and the guys hoped fans would embrace her as "the Harley Quinn" of Superman's series and, while she has some fans and did eventually get added to the comics (even becoming a member of the Superman Family for a while), Livewire was never as popular or well liked as Harley, seeing as how she had none of the tragic sympathy that made Harley endearing; she tended to be more obnoxious than funny, and she gained her powers from, quite frankly, being a complete idiot and blamed Superman when he, you know, saved her life from being a complete idiot.
• Broken Base: The "Legacy" two-part series finale. Was it an awesome, emotional, action packed, bittersweet finale to the series or was it a rushed, sloppily written mess filled with plot holes and firm grasps on the Idiot Ball that shouldn't have been made as the finale? Some fans are divided between these two opinions.
• Can't Un-Hear It: For many, the voices used for the main characters in this show have become the definitive voices of the characters, such that fans often admit to hearing the voices from Superman: The Animated Series when reading the comic books. The actors from this series would continue reprising their roles for years after the end of the DCAU, spreading this effect across multiple generations.
• Common Knowledge:
  • The crossovers between this series and Batman: The Animated Series are officially hosted by one series or the other, not both. Some people can get confused about which show hosted which crossover episode. For the record, "World's Finest"^note Batman and Superman first meet, then team up against Lex Luthor and the Joker, "Knight Time"^note Superman impersonates Batman while investigating the latter's disappearance, and "The Demon Reborn"^note Ra's al Ghul going after Superman are Superman episodes. "Girls' Night Out"^note Batgirl and Supergirl vs Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Livewire is Batman.
  • A large number of people thought that Lex Luthor was supposed to be reimagined as a black man and Race Lifted back to white during Justice League. In reality, he was always white and the reason he seemed Ambiguously Brown was due to being modeled on Greek-American actor Telly Savalas (hence the tanner skin and fuller lips) and voiced with the baritone of Clancy Brown (who himself is white).
  • A large number of fans ignore that Supergirl is Kara In-Ze, not Kara Zor-El. She is treated as being from Krypton and being Superman's biological cousin. Part of this owes to the fact that at the time, Executive Meddling had something of a tight grip on appearances by Kara, necessitating a Suspiciously Similar Substitute.
• Complete Monster: See here.
• Creepy Awesome: Toyman. A Psychopathic Manchild who averts Expressive Mask, causing a rather disturbing case of permanent Slasher Smile, and later creates a Ridiculously Human Robot who he has a disturbing crush on. And fans love him for this.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Supergirl. This is the most beloved incarnation of the character. She was so well-liked that she became one of the main characters in Justice League Unlimited.
  • Mercy Graves, the hot bodyguard of Lex.
  • Toyman, the most creepy of Superman villains.
  • Mr. Mxyzsptlk proved to be a major hit with fans, thanks to his Laughably Evil tendencies and being voiced by Gilbert Gottfried.
  • His wife, Ms. Gsptlsnz, for some rather obvious reasons. Confusing her as Jessica Rabbit's relative doesn't hurt either.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • The series leans into the Post-Crisis conception of Lex Luthor as a Corrupt Corporate Executive Villain with Good Publicity, which combined with a stellar voice performance by Clancy Brown makes for a thoroughly enjoyable villain oozing with charisma, smugness and menace.
  • Likewise, Lobo is an Ax-Crazy Psycho for Hire, but also a Laughably Evil Iron Butt Monkey whose antics are backed up by a tight rock & roll leitmotif. You couldn't ask for a more entertaining antagonist.
• Fashion-Victim Villain: Almost literally; Lana Lang is at one point accosted by two female thieves wearing extremely bizarre outfits.
• Gateway Series: The series served the role as the introduction of the Superman mythos for a lot of modern fans and provided many people's first glimpses of Brainiac, Mr. Mxyzsptlk, Toyman, and the Jack Kirby "Fourth World" and his extended cast: Dan Turpin, Intergang, Darkseid, Apokolips, New Genesis, the Mother Box, Boom Tubes and other amazing concepts. In addition, the DCAU version of Luthor was the first one to emphasize his scientific acumen (which the movies never tackled) and his Corrupt Corporate Executive revision of The '80s (or as Neil Gaiman called him "skinny Kingpin").
• Harsher in Hindsight: Dan Turpin being killed by Darkseid can be this if you read Final Crisis, in which a dying Darkseid pulls a Grand Theft Me on Turpin himself.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In "New Kids in Town", Martha wants to give Clark and Lana some alone time so they can talk. So she tells Jonathan that The Dukes of Hazzard is on. Bo Duke's actor, John Schneider, would play the part of Jonathan Kent in Smallville.
  • When Young Clark tells Lana Lang about his developing x-ray vision, she asks if he's used this power to peek into the girls' locker room. Five years later, and the Smallville episode "X-Ray" has Clark discover his x-ray vision by accident and ends up inadvertently seeing into the girls' locker room where Lana is changing.
    • Smallville Lana gains Clark's powers in one episode and uses her x-ray vision to see through Clark's clothes.
  • The first episode's ending of Superman simply staring at Luthor who becomes enraged at his silence is very similar to the ending of Lex Luthor: Man of Steel released nearly a decade later.
  • The Grand Finale of Kim Possible features a male-and-female alien duo invading Earth, which many would compare them to Jax-Ur and Mala. For bonus points, both Jax-Ur and Warhok were voiced by Ron Perlman.
  • In the episode "Double Dose", Livewire would free Parasite for a Villain Teamup and later on, she would be betrayed by Parasite and drained by him as a barely concealed metaphor for rape. In the new series My Adventures with Superman, the latest version of Livewire would end up freeing Parasite again as part of a breakout and this time, she touches him in a consensual manner to empower Parasite and turn him into a giant kaiju-sized monster to go on a rampage in the episode "Zero Day, Part 2".
• Les Yay:
  • For no apparent reason, Lady Maxima's personal serving maids are dancers in Stripperiffic clothing. They're first shown giving her a bath.
  • In the episode "Monkey Fun", a woman giving Lois a massage seems to really enjoy working over her body, and looks to be very upset when she leaves.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Darkseid nonchalantly vaporizing Dan Turpin as he leaves Metropolis. That Psychotic Smirk on his face really clinches it.
    • Really, everything Darkseid does is this: he gives weapons to Intergang that cause considerable damage to Metropolis, attempts an Class-4 Apocalypse How on Earth, and later a Class 5 by crashing a comet into it to wipe it out without breaking his treaty with New Genesis, and in the finale brainwashes Superman and turns him against Earth.
  • Also Brainiac for condemning the population of Krypton to a horrible death by hiding the fact that the planet was closer to exploding than even Jor-El knew, because he considered his existence and the knowledge he contained more important even when Jor-El had a practical means to evacuate some to safety.
• Narm: Superman's Roaring Rampage of Revenge on Apokolips in "Legacy" comes to an unintentionally hilarious halt when the Furies appear and Superman actually tries to ignore them after he got done killing a bunch of Parademons with his heat vision, so they just attack him anyway and he actually lets them cling to him as they try to kill him and he continues to allow them to go on attacking him until he just crashes into a nearby statue.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: While the series is well-liked, the tie in game Superman 64 based on it regularly finds itself on lists of the worst video games ever made, and often toward the top. It featured clumsy controls, mediocre graphics, a boatload of glitches, a disorientingly short draw distance (due to Kryptonite Fog), and a horrendously dull plot, where Lex Luthor's diabolical scheme was to trap Superman in a virtual world... and literally make him jump (or fly, rather) through hoops.
• The Scrappy: Considering the way he thought Superman "betrayed" him in the finale and his subsequent Face–Heel Turn in Justice League Unlimited which is considered a major Took a Level in Jerkass move, it's highly doubtful you'll find someone who likes Professor Hamilton ever again. Bruce Timm stated in his Modern Masters book that THEY didn't like Professor Hamilton in the first place. That's why, when debating who Darkseid should kill, they finally came up with Dan Turpin because they weren't allowed to kill Ma and Pa Kent and they felt if they killed Professor Hamilton, it wouldn't have any impact, because they never liked him anyway.
• Squick: In "The Main Man: Part 1", Lobo defeats a giant snakelike creature by ripping its skin clean off its body, exposing the pulsating veins underneath.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Hal Jordan fans disliked how Kyle Rayner got his appearance, origin, and arch-nemesis since it effectively locked Hal out of appearing in the DCAU, apart from a brief cameo in Justice League.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Volcana; introduced as an Anti-Villain with a sympathetic motivation, who had interesting interactions with Superman. All of this is only explored in her debut episode, and all her appearances after that in the DCAU depict her as a straight up villain who only cameos. At the end of her debut episode she was shown to not only be on friendly terms with Superman, but to engage in playful flirting with him that he actually returned. If done right she could have been a romantic rival for Lois or an ally to be added to the expanded League in JLU. The same assessment holds true for Maxima, Queen of Almerac, who appeared in only one episode, "Warrior Queen," as an anti-villain who wanted to marry away with Superman, but in the end she acquired respect for him, and with that lost all of her great potential as a romantic rival for Lois or as a future member of the JLU.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Metallo could in no way be considered a sympathetic character, as he was an unrepentant criminal even before becoming a Man of Kryptonite. However, his anger towards Lex Luthor for taking away his humanity is still very understandable and relatable since Lex took away all his human sensations and left him in a cold, robotic shell, unable to taste, touch, or feel anything. Despite making many appearances, Metallo never again tries to go after Lex and suffers a big case of Motive Decay after his first appearance and even by the time of JLU, Metallo doesn't even try to raise so much as a single protest when Grodd invites Lex to join the Legion of Doom. The subplot of Metallo wanting revenge against Luthor is never brought up again for the rest of the on-screen series proper and when it does get re-visited, it typically happens in Schrödinger's Canon works like the S:TAS comics or in DCAU-based video games that may not even be official canon.
• Tough Act to Follow: Just like its predecessor (Batman: TAS), Superman: TAS is very popular with fans and considered to be the definitive Superman adaptation. There is also the fact that the subsequent different adaptations focusing on the character (particularly the live-action ones) tend to be negatively compared to this series and considered inferior to it. It does help that Superman: TAS managed to be more grounded (by Superman standards) compared to most adaptations while still being lighthearted, entertaining, idealistic, relatable, adventurous, and extremely faithful to the source material and mythology of the original Superman comics with only some minor deviations (some of them have made it into the comics no less), which is one of the many things that the live action adaptations have failed to accomplish (as they tend to be either too campy, dramatic, or, as of recently, depressingly Wangsty and too different from the source material).
• Unintentional Period Piece:
  • "In Brightest Day..." shows struggling artist Kyle Rayner trying and failing to get his art out there the old fashioned way as he works for the Daily Planet Art Department. Today, he would undoubtedly have a Tumblr or Twitter account and probably a DeviantArt account where he could promote his work on line. The episode also reflects how, at the time, Kyle was the main Green Lantern in the comics instead of Hal Jordan.
  • Much like sequel series Justice League, it also tended to reflect the state of DC Comics a lot of the time, hence Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern, Wally West as the Flash, and Supergirl not being a blood cousin of Superman.
• Values Dissonance: "The Late Mr. Kent" has a character legally executed to the gas chamber, without any arguments made about the morality of the death penalty... something that would rustle a lot of feathers in countries that are strongly against it.

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