From the Archives: Review of Superman: Red Son
My thoughts about the DC Animated film based on the graphic novel of the same name.
As I've stated in previous Substack writings, I've wanted to share some posts from my now-defunct author website from time to time.
This week, I decided to share one of my reviews of DC Animated Universe movies: Superman: Red Son. I'll probably pull out a few more reviews in the coming weeks, given that I have some things going on in real life.
Once I get past the next few weeks, I'm hoping to get some more original items, though I would like to cover some things related to my comic book geekery, or perhaps something related to sports cards.
When the NFL season gets closer, I'll likely switch gears and talk more about the NFL at that time -- though I suppose there may be something about the November election, too.
At any rate, here's my previous review of Superman: Red Son.
The animated film adaptation of Superman: Red Son approaches the Elseworlds concept in a few ways that differ from the source material, but still gets to the heart of the story.
The graphic novel posed the question about what the world would be like if the infant Kal-El's rocket landed in the Soviet Union rather than in Kansas. Superman becomes a representative of the Communist regime, but what does that mean regarding his approach to what is best for society?
The animated film takes the base conflict of the graphic novel, in which Superman opposes Lex Luthor, only now as a representative of Communist ideals, while Luthor represents the American ideals of capitalism, but still has his own agenda.
But the rivalry takes greater complexity here. Whereas Luthor is usually portrayed as a megalomaniac who wants to be revered, in Red Son, he's more of a representative of what America often is, in that it stands for good but with important flaws and sometimes questionable methods.
As for Superman, he still seeks to protect the world and humanity, but in his quest to stand for the best of humanity, he struggles with the idea about what a collective society means. He finds it's not that simple for everyone to accept his ideas and principles, when there are those who see his methods as coercive.
The film, like the graphic novel, does explore the concept of how the balance of power in the Cold War would shift if the Soviets had somebody like Superman on their side, while America was scrambling to catch up. In a way, it does reflect how the space race unfolded, in which the Soviets took the early lead, but America caught up and eventually passed the Soviets.
There are plenty of elements from the film that carry over from the graphic novel, such as the emergence of a Batman in the Soviet Union (one who opposes Superman's rule), the role of Wonder Woman in events (and her conflict over whether or not Superman really stands by his ideals) and how Lois Lane plays into events (though her involvement in the film is reduced from the graphic novel). And the role of Brainiac in the film lines right up with his role in the graphic novel.
The animated film is a fun way to see the events of the graphic novel come to the screen and the voice cast does a good job. There are moments, however, in which the writers tried to place events in the conceits of the world today, rather than the conceits of the Cold War (which the graphic novel does a much better job).
And the film does miss out on elements of Lois Lane and her relationship with Lex Luthor. In the graphic novel, the two are married to one another, but there's a lot explored about their complicated relationship. The film doesn't go into as much depth with that relationship, though, focusing more on the Superman-Luthor rivalry.
I do recommend people seek out the graphic novel, because even if you aren't a comic book fan, it's worth exploring the question about how things would turn out if the Soviets had gained a greater advantage over America and what that would have meant for the Cold War.
But even though the film has its flaws, it's a nice companion piece to one of the more interesting concepts explored in Elseworlds.