Both Batman and Superman were meant to inspire; one lived in the shadow of fear, the other in the light of hope. The two superheroes have similar goals in life: they want to thwart evil while leading separate lives in order to defend their city and its citizens. They follow different paths that pit them against the most evil villains; they are neither allies nor rivals.
Batman and Superman, no matter what, never lose sight of who they are and, thus, are adamant about upholding their moral standards. There is a fundamental distinction in the characters’ origin stories, even though at times it seems like they are more alike than different.
Bruce Timm, who contributed to the creation of DC’s animated universe through the television shows Batman: The Animated Series (B: TAS) and Superman: The Animated Series (S: TAS), feels that the main distinction between the origins of these two superheroes is the sheer scope of their tales.
Bruce Timm’s Insight on the Key Disparity in Batman and Superman’s Origin Tales
The genesis of Batman is a tragic tale. In it, he is shown pledging to exact revenge on criminals for having witnessed his parents’ murder as a child. He develops his vigilante image, trains, and passes the evenings observing Gotham’s streets while waiting in the shadows until a scenario arises that calls for his intervention.
In contrast, Superman/Kal-El was born on the planet Krypton, an alien world. In an attempt to preserve his life, just before a catastrophic event destroys his planet, his parents send him to Earth. His spacecraft touches down close to Smallville, the eventual home of Superman, in the American countryside. Although both origin stories have been told numerous times and in various formats, Bruce Timm stated that Superman had “the best origin story” in a 2021 interview with CBR.
Drawing parallels between the two superheroes, Timm said that Batman’s origin is more of an “incident,” whereas Superman’s is larger and allows for live-action coverage. In B: TAS, Batman’s origin story was wrapped up in a matter of minutes. But Superman has a series of events to catch up with, which Timm was able to depict for three full episodes in S: TAS. Why?
The animator-writer, 63, replied:
“The thing about Batman’s origin story is it’s an incident. It’s something that happened. It’s not a whole episode, it’s six minutes of screen time. Superman’s is epic. It’s got all kinds of biblical stuff in it and a huge scale. We knew it was a great way to say, right out of the gate, this is not B: TAS [Batman: The Animated Series] again, this is something really different. We’re going to spend the entire first episode on another fricking planet. I just couldn’t resist it.”
Timm took his sweet time exploring Superman’s origins in the animated series, while Batman’s origins in B: TAS were alluded to but never shown.
Bruce Timm’s Artistic Approach to Designing Krypton
Bruce Timm went on to say that he enjoyed designing the look of Krypton, which was unlike anything we would ever see (via CBR).
“I love the origin story and getting to design Krypton from the ground up into something that didn’t look like the Christopher Reeve movie or specifically like anything from the comics, was a super fun blast. All the rest of it is great too: the Smallville stuff warms the cold corners of my heart. When you get to Metropolis, you get introduced to Dana Delany and Clancy Brown — what’s not to love?”
Though some fans may argue otherwise, Bruce Timm told Comicology that “Superman’s just not as intrinsically cool as Batman”. Well, in an interview with The World’s Finest, the creator of Batman Beyond discussed the conflicting reactions to the Justice League series and said that a show can never win over every fan.
Also, Timm brought up the fact that viewers evaluate each new program in light of their favorite old episodes. A similar circumstance resulted in Superman: The Animated Series being unfairly and severely criticized. Timm shared:
“When Superman first came on, all I heard was ‘they didn’t nail it like they nailed Batman’. The same with the WB ‘revamp’ Batman and Batman Beyond. Now that Justice League is on, suddenly all our previous shows are gold!”
Superman: The Animated Series takes viewers on a lighthearted journey from the very beginning, with a plethora of surprising and entertaining storylines. This was the second DC Animated Universe series, following Batman: The Animated Series.
Both Batman: The Animated Series & Superman: The Animated Series are streaming on Max.
