List of Superman: The Animated Series episodes

As Krypton nears destruction, scientist Jor-El tries to discover a way to save the doomed planet. This episode tells of Clark's arrival on Earth and his discovery of his Kryptonian heritage as Kal-El. This pilot episode was originally aired as a one-hour episode instead of three smaller parts.

The Kryptonian scientist Jor-El is collecting data from an ice field on the planet Krypton. After obtaining the samples he needs, Jor-El escapes an earthquake and an attack from a Kryptonian creature. Jor-el analyzes the data and discovers that rising pressure from Krypton’s core will eventually destroy the planet. The computer Brainiac, which is in charge of monitoring all major operations on Krypton, denies this. Jor-El is unable to convince Krypton’s rulers of the planet’s impending doom, and his recommendation to transport all Kryptonians to the Phantom Zone to escape the explosion proves unpopular.

When Jor-El confronts Brainiac on the matter, he notices that it is downloading all the data it has collected about Krypton, preparing to flee with it into space. Brainiac reveals that he was aware of Krypton’s mounting pressure long before Jor-El did, but decided not to inform the populace, concluding that saving all the information about the Kryptonian civilization would be just as good as saving the civilization itself. If Brainiac were to be honest, the Kryptonian government would frantically put it to work on an evacuation plan, preventing it from downloading the data in time. Jor-El considers opening fire on the supercomputer, but decides against it as that could possibly wipe out all memories of Krypton.

Brainiac orders the Kryptonian police to arrest Jor-El, but he manages to evade them for the time being. Once home, he and his wife Lara send their only son, Kal-El, into space moments before the planet explodes, all but wiping out the Kryptonian race. Brainiac had escaped to its satellite just before.

Trivia:

Kal-El’s spaceship crash-lands on the faraway planet Earth, and he is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent. Martha decides to adopt the baby boy despite Jonathan’s protests, and names him Clark.

Jumping forward to Clark’s years in high school, he discovers that he has extraordinary speed, strength, and can even see through walls. He uses his super powers to rescue a family in a gas station accident, and his girlfriend Lana Lang is surprised that he emerged unscathed.

Jumping forward a few years, Clark is now living in Metropolis as a reporter for The Daily Planet. Billionaire Lex Luthor is giving a demonstration of LexCorp’s latest robotic battle suit when it is suddenly stolen by terrorists. A super man, sporting blue tights and a red cape, emerges from nowhere to stop two of the terrorists. The third terrorist fires a missile at a plane, forcing Superman to abandon the chase to save the plane from crashing in the city.

Soon, reports of the strange new superhero start appearing on the news, and Perry White tells Lois Lane to land an interview. Meanwhile, the terrorist who escaped, John Corben, is using the battle suit to wreak havoc throughout the city. After a tough battle, Superman manages to defeat the suit and take Corben out of the armor, ending with the well-known line “Shall we go a few rounds without the suit?”

Meanwhile out in deep space, some extraterrestrials retrieve the Brainiac satellite. Brainiac kills the aliens and takes over the ship, linking himself online with their computer.

Trivia: This is the first three part episode of the series.

Gangster Bruno Mannheim is running into problems with the mysterious Toyman, who uses children's toys and games to cause violence. When he abducts Mannheim and Lois, Superman must put a stop to his deadly games.

During the opening of a museum, Superman tries to stop two robbers. He fails when he falls victim to the poisoning effects of Kryptonite, one of the exhibited rocks. Lex Luthor sees the surveillance tape of the event and determines that this must be Superman’s one and only weakness. Luthor orchestrates a scheme to trap Superman, place him in vicinity of the rock, and put an end to him once and for all.

Janitor Rudy Jones runs into an accident with nuclear waste and becomes Parasite. He feeds on the energy of others, with his number one choice being Superman. In doing so, he discovers Superman's identity.

Thanks to the orchestrations of Luthor, terrorist John Corben becomes Metallo, a skin-covered cyborg with a Kryptonite heart. Luthor then sets the supervillain on a quest to kill Superman, but Corben begins to question his role as Metallo.

Brainiac, once Krypton's all-knowing planetary computer, comes to Earth as part of his information-gathering trek across the galaxy, and partners with Lex Luthor on the basis of giving technological progress to humanity. But, as Superman discovers, Brainiac's intent after gathering the world's knowledge is to destroy Earth.

Intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo is employed to capture the Man of Steel for the rare-species-collecting Preserver, who is obsessed with keeping endangered species in captivity to protect them and prevent their extinction. Superman, the last Kryptonian, is the latest catch for his collection. Upon realizing that Lobo is the last Czarnian (having killed all the others himself), he betrays the bounty hunter and adds him to the collection as well.

Trivia:

Superman and Lobo team up to escape the Preserver’s holdings. Additionally, they must fight off a vile band of competing bounty hunters who share a vendetta against the “Main Man.”

Clark’s high school sweetheart Lana Lang, who is now a famous fashion designer, comes to Metropolis where she and Lex Luthor become a celebrity couple. Lana still has strong feelings for Clark, so she decides to put her own life in danger by spying on Luthor’s arms sales to gain incriminating information.

Bruno Mannheim's Intergang terrorizes Metropolis with hi-tech weapons from a mysterious backer, while SCU Inspector Dan Turpin goes on a personal hunt for answers. Turpin has been the subject of media jokes that Superman must do everything, until Superman appears on camera saying it was actually Turpin who saved Superman's life by stopping one of the deadly weapons. In the end, Manheim meets his new boss, the evil lord Darkseid, bent on conquering the universe, and filling Mannheim with dread.

When embittered scientist Earl Garver goes into a coma before revealing the location of a ticking bomb, Superman risks enlisting the Parasite to drain the information from Garver's mind. It then becomes an internal struggle in Parasite's mind as Earl tries to tempt Parasite with visions of power, whereas Rudy Jones argues that it is simply best to defuse the bomb and accept the reward of better living conditions while serving his prison sentence.