why was he so weak on the animated series?

I mean i just whent back and watched darkseid chaines him up then supergirl had to save him i mean why was he so weak?

I mean even a lazer could hurt him like ironman lazer

at that point in time the creators felt that it would be too hard to write stories with a Superman that had the same power level as the Superman in the comics so the depowered him

He seem well rounded out to me, he was still able to have a good fight with Darkseid.

I hear he feels like he lives in a world made of cardboard.

That might have something to do with it.

I prefer a Superman who has to struggle. The villain should always appear more powerful or dangerous in some regard, else the tension lacks.

@jonsmith: i sometimes thank that wasnt the same universe the animated series was that or they powerd him up in the justice league and unlimited

The question you should really ask why the hell does Kryptonite appear so damn much in the animated series and why the hell is Superman so stupid compared to the comics version?

@danhimself said:

Succinct and accurate.

The "World of Cardboard Speech" and his fights with Darkseid were actually done to appease the fans who were extremely dissatisfied with Superman's power level. He was getting beaten up by Toyman's Kangaroo robot for heaven's sakes.

He wasn't "weak" per-say (just look at some of his higher scale feats from Superman the Animated series and the rest of the DCAU)...he just had some low showings half the time.

No (at least, if your going with Movie Iron Man. Then again, apparently, all you need to take out movie Iron Man is some minor super strength and a little bit of heat to take out Movie Iron Man)...

I think I watched an interview with Dini, Burnett and Timm (or read one) that where they said that they decided to depower Superman so that the audience could appreciate the difficulty it took him to perform Superhuman feats.

Nope. They're in the same Universe alright.

uh yeah it was the same universe, superman mentioned the first time he met darkseid he made the public hate him. and that was from an episode of the superman animated series

LOL.

To be fair though, that's such a ludicrously awesome invention that I could buy it hurting him out of shear ludicrous awesomeness.

In one of the episodes he said he takes hits so no one else has to.

That was an episode of Justice League (not unlimited). It was the one where Grodd makes his return and tries to use their well hidden dislike for one another (REALLY well hidden. I mean...my god. Before that point, I thought they had little problems with one another. They certainly weren't as dysfunctional as the Avengers or X-Men...though maybe Grodd took their minimum amount of disliking one another and exaggerated it) to try and beat them along with his Secret Society of Super villains.

@w0nd: oh yeah i forgot about that

@perezite: Right. Some of the stuff they said to each other was harsh too. I loved how they just forgot about it though.

They're just that professional man.

Everyone was pretty de-powered in the DCAU. My friend & I used to joke that you just needed a taser to take them down (it seems they all went down when hit with an electrified pole - especially MM, biggest jobber ever).

Why do people complain about characters like Silver Surfer and Solar but love Dues Ex Supermana?

Part this, and part a concentrated effort to make Batman the most valuable character. Dont get me wrong, I loved/love Superman the Animated Series, Batman the Animated Series, and the two Justice League Series, but it never sat well how they punked Supes all the time.

I really hope, if/when they make another Superman or Justice League cartoon, we get to see a roughly comic book powered Supes!

Because the writers thought television viewers wouldn't be entertained if Superman could accomplish feats and defeat foes too easily.

I really don't agree with that since Superman was in the Superman: The Animated Series not Batman: The Animated Series....so Superman's power levels had nothing to do with Batman

Did you watch the series when they aired? There were two crossover arcs to my knowledge: "Knight Time" and "World's Finest". "World's Finest" surely glorified Batman. And Justice League, Justice League Unlimited are sequels to those two series. Also, if you watched em when they originally aired, the promotional materials generally featured both.

Disagree all you want, but this is seems pretty apparent to me.

I did watch them when they originally aired but crossovers or not there's no reason to depower Superman in his series to make Batman look better in another series....Superman was depowered way before the crossovers or Justice League and JLU...Batman's standings have to be a little bit better than normal because he's hanging out with people who can fly, lift mountains, run faster than the speed of sound, and shoot rays from alien power rings....he has to have a reason to be there...plus everyone in the DCAU was depowered not just Superman

and the writers said even before the show aired that they were going to depower Superman to give him more challenges

Not everyone was depowered, Batman was overpowered and pulling off some crazy **** at times that not even the league members could do.

He saved the day all the time. He saved Superman's a** in World's Finest and dated his girlfriend. He saved Superman's a** in the first episode Justice League. I may remember wrong, but he was even the most effective against Amazo in an episode because he didnt have any powers to copy.

I am pretty sure part of the reason everyone else was weakened was to balance them with Batman.

The only time I can recall where Bats wasn't OP, was when the League fought Hades.

All I know is that it seemed like Supes was just there to get "Worf"ed.

I think he was just inconsistent. Sometimes he was easily thrown by Batman, not fast enough to stop a plane, etc...

But sometimes he was very strong, and they made a point of that. Like how he just flicked Grodd with one finger and sent him flying 50 feet. And mostly when he absolutely beat up Darkseid in the last episode (until Darkseid was cheap and used a weapon)

@justthatkid: yeah they were, but all characters are nerfed in tv shows and movies. You gotta look at the characters' powers relative to each other. Considering Darkseid survived the explosion in JL and Doomsday trashed Justice Lord Superman before he lobotomized him, then, they are very strong for tv show standards. In the show, Superman was one of the most powerful beings so he wasn't that weak. Look at relative to the other characters of the show. All characters are bound to be weaker in the shows compared to comics

Ummm...Darkseid DIDN'T survive that explosion...he died. He fucking GOT OWNED by that explosion. What happened was that Luthor was trying to bring back Brainiac using some evil dark mage hot chick as a living phoenix down to resurrect him. Luthor, however, either miscalculated or the evil dark mage chick did it intentionally before she freakin' died, and instead brought back Darkseid...who was amped by Brainiac tech.

@perezite: sorry, that was my bad

@perezite: I hate it when people say Batman was overpowered. He didn't even do alot of crazy stuff, in fact my brother and my father would call him weak because he would get beat up so much.

1. I'm fairly certain Superman saved his ass from AT LEAST one fiery death at the end of World's Finest. Harley too.

2. I'm fairly certain that Superman paid him back when that martian demon dog floored Bats.

3. No...he was most effective because he had a chunk of Kryptonite and at that point, Amazo also copied their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Note that, even then, Batman couldn't stop Amazo from escaping. When Batman confronts him again and tries the Kryptonite thing on him again...Amazo has already transcended the League's weaknesses, essentially says, "Kryptonite!? Bitch! Get that shit out my house Bat-son!" and proceeds to properly bitch smack Batman aside. For a master strategist, he really wasn't counting on Amazo's abilities to transcend and really didn't seem to have a contingency in case the Kryptonite thing didn't pan out.

4. Probably. He has pretty good "supposedly" peak human abilities...though, if you hate the fact that he always seemed to hold his own in combat a little too well, there's always that episode with Wonder Woman's long lost extremist feminists sister who wants to kill off all men, Aresia, where she straight up knocks Batman out when they go toe to toe early in the episode.

@lilben42 said:

I know. That's why I was asking Mr. Question Avatar...what's his face...

Asking me what?

What Batman was doing that the League couldn't.

@perezite: Ok poor choice of words on my part, apologies for that. But he does things and survives against guys that he normally wouldn't. Examples can't recall any since its been forever since I watched both series.

But hey? Comic logic, so doesn't really bother me.

On the plus side, his enemies were weak as well.

They felt like they needed to decrease his strength in order to make the villains more of a threat.

Say, you ever watch Avengers: EMH?

Well, as others said, many believe he was holding back as not to hurt someone, as seen in his "World of Cardboard" speech. Personally, I think he was VERY strong in Justice League/Unlimited

-He beat the crap outta Darkseid when Orion couldn't, almost killing him.

-He defeated Mongul in "For the Man who has everything" even though a heavily armed Wonder Woman couldn't

-He beat Captain Marvel in a one on one fight

-Flicked Grodd, a 500 plus pound gorilla with one finger, hard enough that he flew at least 30 feet

-Was easily holding a plane up with one hand at the beginning of "Clash"

-He beat Captain Atom EASILY despite being weaked by red sun punches

-He beat Pre Chaos Magic Grundy without breaking a sweat

-If we count Justice Lord Superman feats, he Lobotomized Doomsday

He has a good list of high end feats to balance out the low end ones.

One hand?

@perezite: Yup, he reached up with his hand to get his earpiece, and had the plane in the other hand...I think. May have to re watch the show.