Superman was a hit at the box office, rightfully so, launching the first chapter of the DCU, titled Gods and Monsters. But, if co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran want to build a new DC Universe with staying power, they don’t need to look to Marvel’s Infinity Saga for inspiration. They should turn back the clock to 1996, when Superman: The Animated Series quietly nailed a formula that still feels fresh almost 30 years later.
Coming off the heels of Batman: The Animated Series, Bruce Timm and Paul Dini faced a unique challenge: how do you make the “boy scout” interesting in a post–Tim Burton, grunge-inflected ‘90s? The answer was deceptively simple — they leaned into what made Superman, and Clark Kent, distinctly human while still letting him soar.
