Bruce Timm created some of the best DC stories and adaptations in his DCAU. His Batman: The Animated Series is considered the best iteration of the Dark Knight on screen. However, when he co-created Superman: The Animated Series with Alan Burnett, he did not feel that the show received the response it deserved.
Superman: The Animated Series ran for four seasons and 54 episodes on Kids’ WB from 1996 to 2000. Similar to Batman: The Animated Series, the Superman show also received critical appreciation for its writing and mature themes. But some fans complained that it could not live up to the quality of the Kevin Conroy show and Bruce Timm did not agree to it.
What did Bruce Timm say about Superman: The Animated Series?
It can’t be denied that Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series were much different in their approach. Both shows had their share of unique aspects that made them impressive but very different from each other. When the Superman show first started airing, the audience was surprised to see Bruce Timm‘s fresh approach to the Last Son of Krypton.
Several fans thought that Bruce Timm disliked Superman, but he clarified to Comicology that “Superman’s just not as intrinsically cool as Batman”. During an interview with The World’s Finest, reflecting on the mixed reception of the Justice League series, the Timmverse creator explained that they can never please all the fans with a show.
Bruce Timm highlighted that the fans compare every new show with their previous classics. Something similar also led to Superman: The Animated Series receiving the most harsh and unfair criticism.
“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!”
The 63-year-old animator has agreed that he likes Batman more (via Looper) but that does not mean he hates Superman. He had always respected and admired the Caped Kryptonian and admitted that he was proud of how he and his co-creators did justice with the Superman show by maintaining the balance between comic book accuracy and their fresh modern take.
What is Bruce Timm’s favorite scene from Superman: The Animated Series?
Bruce Timm admitted to CBR that Kids’ WB did not interfere in their creative choices for the show. He was surprised when they let him explore Superman’s origin story through a span of 3 episodes in the animated series. Although the Batman series had some mature themes despite being a kids’ show, they had to tackle some Fox Kids censors. Comparatively, Kids’ WB was “very easygoing”.
They also explored one of the darkest and most emotional events from the Superman show when a brave police officer Dan Turpin is killed by Darkseid during the ending of the Apokolips… Now! story. Bruce Timm said to The World’s Finest that the most emotional moments are his favorite scenes.
However, his most favorite is the climax of Apokolips… Now!, which he hailed as the “Ragnarok of sob scenes”. Bruce Timm explained that the beautifully sad scene of Dan Turpin’s funeral hit very hard and even many fans wrote to him about its devastating impact on them- “that baby fires on every emotional cylinder”.
It can be undoubtedly said that the Superman and Batman shows did better than most of the live-action iterations attempted by DC. Now it will be interesting to see if James Gunn can give a coherent and interesting DCU that can impress both cinephiles and comic book lovers.
Superman: The Animated Series can be streamed on Max.
