Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Superman: Man of Tomorrow’ On Demand, an Entertaining Animated Quasi-Origin Story of the Man of Steel

Superman: Man of Tomorrow arrives on VOD to help DC wonks nurse any hangovers from binging Fandome trailers and reveals and what forth. It appears to be a standalone story loosely based on the recent comic of the same name (and following the buttoning-up of the DC Animated Movie Universe earlier this year with Justice League Dark: Apokolips War), and may be perfect viewing for those of us who aren’t in-for-a-penny/in-for-a-pound on all this franchise stuff.

SUPERMAN: MAN OF TOMORROW: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Teenage Clark Kent watches a corny old movie about a bug-eyed space alien hiding his appearance from Earthlings — and he starts crying. As if puberty wasn’t bad enough, you know? Jump forward a handful of years, and early-20s Clark (voice of Darren Criss) is a lowly intern fetching coffee for the other Daily Planet reporters. He pals up with a janitor guy (Darren Criss), which seems like a totally superfluous narrative aside, but don’t be so sure of yourself there, smartypants.

They’re covering a space-rocket launch via Star Labs, a division of LexCorp Amalgamated Corporate Amoral Enterprises Inc., and smack in the middle of Lex Luthor’s (Zachary Quinto) press conference, Lois Lane (Alexandra Daddario) pins him against the wall for fraud. The rocket takes off, malfunctions and zooms toward the heart of the city. Janitor Guy turns around, and Clark is gone — he’s put on goggles and a leather aviator helmet and flown lickety-split through the air to grab the rocket and CHUCK IT INTO OUTER SPACE.

You see, he’s not Superman yet, with the big “S” and red cape and curl. He’s the “flying man” in Daily Planet headlines, although Lois is on the story like stink on a skunk, and she wants to call him a “super man.” Perry White (Piotr Michael), the paper’s verbally abusive editor who fosters toxic competition among his employees, pooh-poohs her branding in a classically delicious case of dramatic irony. And then a space freak named Lobo (Ryan Hurst) arrives to bounty-hunt the kid from Krypton. He chomps cigars, rides a badass intergalactic Harley, swears a lot, blasts not-yet-Superman with space leeches and wears a ring wearing a big rock of kryptonite, which does not bode well for our hero.

Their highly destructive scuffle craters large portions of Star Labs, unleashing a purple gloop which consumes Janitor Guy, and turns him into an energy-consuming monster that looks like the unholy offspring of the Xenomoph and Kokopelli. Not-yet-Superman has his work cut out for him. He needs some help, and might get some, some of it from honorable types (Martian Manhunter!), and some of it from the opposite of honorable types (no spoilers, but you probably already know it!), because DRAMATIC IRONY, and because he’s still the naive kid from Kansas who’s learning he’s much much much much much much much more than that.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: I’m not sure if Man of Tomorrow deserves the superlatives piled upon upper-crust DC animated films such as Batman: Mask of the Phantasm or Batman: Under the Red Hood, but it’s definitely pretty good.

Performance Worth Watching: Ike Amadi is terrifically deadpan as the kinda esoteric weirdo hero Martian Manhunter.

Memorable Dialogue: Clark talks to Lois right after her big scoop lands Lex Luthor in prison:

Clark: What do you do now? You’ve already taken down the most powerful man in the world.

Lois (eyebrow raised): Have I?

Sex and Skin: If you’ve ever wanted to see cartoon Superman’s naked butt, here’s your opportunity.

Our Take: As far as Superman sort-of-origin stories go — those without the usual instances of Krypton blowing up and toddler Kal-El lifting a tractor, at least — Man of Tomorrow is fast-paced, engaging and laced with just enough spicy subtext to keep it from being a flimsy action exercise. It’s absolutely better than Man of Steel, but making the comparison is akin to preferring being not dead to being dead.

Director Chris Palmer and writer Tim Sheridan keep the narrative taut with a sturdy balance of character-building and large-scale action, of humor and a sense of dramatic consequence. The dialogue is crisp (take an exchange between Clark and Martian Manhunter: “I thought martians only existed in movies?” “Those movies are terrible.”) and not overly expository; even the self-referential stuff is modulated so it’s funny but not distracting. Janitor Guy eventually morphs into Parasite, a creature that devours energy, so walloping it or blasting it with eye lasers only makes it stronger — and it becomes a walking, pointy-toothed, cataclysmic symbol of human greed and corruption. It should run for president, rimshot!

My quibble with the movie is the grating distraction that is the Lobo character, who renders a comic-booky endeavor a little bit too campy for those of us with more civil tastes. See, he’s a space alien who seems to be an amalgamation of a methed-out Juggalo, the bad-guy bikers from Every Which Way But Loose, Wolverine, a pirate and a rocking gothster who listens to too much Danzig. They must get American TV on whatever planet he’s from. He’s dumb and annoying and he sucks. But he wouldn’t have arrived on Earth to start fights — and therefore destroy things and threaten human lives and crack open purple gloop canisters and precipitate other troubling incidents — if Clark had kept a lid on his superpowers, a choice he struggled to make after understanding that there’d be consequences either way. So there’s some subtext for you, and if it’s not wholly original, it’s still a compelling bit of moral wrangling that these type of VOD endeavors don’t necessarily need, but absolutely makes them stronger stories.

Our Call: STREAM IT. With solid animation and even better storytelling, Superman: Man of Tomorrow is thoroughly enjoyable. Whether this animated movie holds true to the spirit of the many comic series bearing the same title, well, I’ll leave such hair-splitting to the passionate swotters and poindexters out there, and assert that it’s likely to please, at the very least, mid-level DC dabblers (raises hand) and transitory passersby.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Where to watch Superman: Man of Tomorrow