| Superman/Batman: Public Enemies | |
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DVD cover art |
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| Directed by | Sam Liu |
| Produced by | Bruce Timm Alan Burnett Michael Goguen Bobbie Page Sam Register Benjamin Melniker Michael Uslan |
| Written by | Stan Berkowitz |
| Starring | Clancy Brown Kevin Conroy Tim Daly Xander Berkeley Corey Burton Ricardo Chavira Allison Mack John C. McGinley C. C. H. Pounder |
| Music by | Christopher Drake |
| Studio | Warner Bros. Animation Warner Premiere DC Comics |
| Distributed by | Warner Home Video |
| Release date(s) | September 29, 2009[1] |
| Running time | 67 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $7,962,636[2] |
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies is a 2009 original direct-to-video animated film adaptation of "Public Enemies" -- the opening story arc of DC Comics' Superman/Batman -- which focuses on Superman and Batman teaming up to prevent a meteorite from striking Earth and take down Lex Luthor, who has been elected President of the United States. The film is the sixth in the line of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line released by Warner Premiere and Warner Bros. Animation. Voice actors from the DCAU reprised their roles, although it is not a DCAU production and is said not to be connected with that universe beyond sharing of voice actors.
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LexCorp's CEO Lex Luthor has been elected President of United States during a severe nation-wide economic depression. Under his leadership, the economy begins to thrive and he assembles a force of government-employed superheroes consisting of Captain Atom, Starfire, Katana, Black Lightning, Power Girl, and Major Force. Meanwhile, Superman and Batman maintain their distrust toward Luthor.
The United States government discovers that a massive Kryptonite meteor is hurtling toward Earth. Instead of asking superheroes for aid and wanting to take credit for himself, Lex decides to destroy it with nuclear missiles. Lex arranges a meeting with Superman in Gotham City under the pretense of forming a pact. This results in a battle between the hired Metallo and Superman and Batman. Following the heroes' escape, Metallo is killed by an unknown assailant. Later that night, Lex pins Metallo's murder on Superman, using footage of their battle to implicate him. Lex claims that the radiation being emitted by the meteor affects Superman's judgment, and he places a one-billion-dollar bounty on the Man of Steel's head.
While breaking into S.T.A.R. Labs, seeking information on the meteor, Batman and Superman find Metallo's remains and realize that intense radiation has killed him. They are then attacked by an army of villains looking to collect on the bounty. The army includes: Silver Banshee, Captain Cold, Icicle, Killer Frost, Mr. Freeze, Gorilla Grodd, Bane, Black Manta, Black Spider, Brimstone, Catman, Cheetah, Copperhead, Deadshot, Kestrel, King Shark, Brutale, Despero, Giganta, Girder, Lady Shiva, Mongul, Captain Boomerang II, Nightshade, Parasite, Solomon Grundy, and Shrike. After some effort, most of the villains are defeated.
The remaining villains are defeated by Captain Atom, who has arrived with Lex's superhero team to arrest Superman. All but Power Girl, whose loyalties are divided, attempt to capture the heroic duo. Superman creates a hurricane using his superspeed, and the two heroes escape with Power Girl.
In Metropolis, Power Girl admits that she feels threatened by Lex, and doesn't believe Superman killed Metallo. Lex's superheroes catch up and the fight begins again, this time with Power Girl aiding Superman and Batman. The Dark Knight realizes that Major Force killed Metallo under Luthor's orders and goads him into admitting it in front of everyone. In anger, Power Girl punches him in the stomach with so much force that it ruptures his containment suit. Captain Atom, ashamed at his complicity in Lex's misdeeds, absorbs the energy, disintegrating Major Force and injuring himself in the process.
Meanwhile, Lex's missiles fail to stop the meteor due to the sheer amount of radiation being emitted. Amanda Waller discovers that Lex has secretly been taking kryptonite steroids, making him lose whatever rationality he had left. Lex decides to let the meteor hit the Earth so that he may rule what remains behind. Batman and Superman break into Lex's lab to retrieve data on the meteor's radiation. They end up in battle with Captain Marvel and Hawkman, eventually emerging victorious with Power Girl's aid. Though Lex is unwilling to relinquish the data, going so far as to erase it from the lab computers, Waller gives them a copy. Batman and Superman fly off to Tokyo to submit the meteor's data to the Japanese Toyman. Waller tries to have Lex arrested, but he injects himself with more kryptonite steroids and dons a power suit. After escaping Waller and the military, Lex follows Superman and Batman.
The Japanese Toyman has built a rocket-propelled spacecraft, intending to use it as a powerful missile to stop the meteor. The ship resembles a giant, robotic composite version of Superman and Batman. With the data, Toyman is able to calculate the necessary reinforcements needed for his own rocket so it won't explode before impact, as Luthor's missiles did. Lex arrives and disables the remote guidance systems. Batman volunteers to fly the ship himself, despite Superman's protests. Though initially faring poorly against Lex and his kryptonite power suit, Superman finally defeats Luthor in the streets of Metropolis in an aerial battle. Batman succeeds in destroying the meteor, and Superman finds him alive and well in an escape pod.
With the truth of Metallo's death public knowledge, Superman is cleared of the murder charge and Luthor is arrested, all the while ranting that he, as President, cannot go to prison. Batman then returns to Gotham while the Daily Planet's star journalist, Lois Lane, arrives and she and the Man of Steel happily embrace.
Although voice-actress Jennifer Hale receives screen credit for playing Starfire, the character does not speak in the released version of the film and she is not credited for playing Killer Frost, a role she reprised from Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. While Corey Burton receives screen credit for playing Solomon Grundy and Captain Marvel, he is only credited for playing Captain Marvel.
| Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (Soundtrack from the DC Universe Animated Original Movie) | |
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| Film score (Digital download) by Christopher Drake | |
| Released | September 29, 2009 |
| Label | New Line Records |
Rotten Tomatoes has only logged three reviews of the movie, one rating it as "fresh" and the other two giving a "rotten" rating.[3] IGN reviewed both the standard and Blu-ray versions of the movie positively, awarding an 8.0 rating.[4] This surpassed IGN's review of Superman Doomsday,[5] Batman: Gotham Knight,[6] and Green Lantern: First Flight.[7] The review score matched that of Justice League: The New Frontier.
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies was released on standard DVD in single and double disc editions, along with a high definition Blu-ray release, on September 29, 2009. Special features for the double disc edition include an inside look of Wonder Woman, Batman: Gotham Knight, Justice League: The New Frontier, and Green Lantern: First Flight, DC Comics' 2009 crossover event Blackest Night, two production featurettes, a sneak peek of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, trailers of Green Lantern: First Flight, Fringe, and Batman: Arkham Asylum, digital copy download, and two episodes of Superman: The Animated Series picked by Bruce Timm. The Blu-ray edition has all the features of the double disc standard definition release including three additional Justice League episodes selected by Timm.
At the DVD sales chart, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies opened at #5, selling 197,626 in the first week for revenue of $3,222,460. As of today, 527,482 units have been sold translating to $7,911,279 in revenue (This does not include rentals/Blu-ray sales). This makes Public Enemies the second highest selling DVD only behind Superman: Doomsday and the third most profitable of the ten movies in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line-up.[2]
The good performance of the Superman/Batman: Public Enemies release has led Warner Premiere and DC Universe to release a sequel, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, based on the Superman/Batman comic storyline "The Supergirl from Krypton". It was released on September 28, 2010.[8]
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