"Brave New Metropolis" is the twelfth episode of the second season of Superman: The Animated Series, and the 25th of the overall series. It depicts Lois being transported into an alternative dimension where she has been killed by Intergang, and Superman, distraught over Lois' death, has teamed up with Luthor to turn Metropolis into a police state. After Luthor learns that Lois is "still alive", he tries to have her killed so that he can keep Superman under his control.
Plot[]
Out at S.T.A.R. Labs, Jimmy and Lois are being shown a machine built by Professor Hamilton that is based on the Phantom Zone projector. It's supposed to provide a window into other dimensions, but it doesn't seem to work. However, when Lois looks between the machine's two posts, she notices the glass between them looks cracked while anything around the posts is whole. As she looks over it, however, she gets too close and is pulled into the alternate dimension.
"The men who saved Metropolis".
Lois ends up in a decrepit and destroyed S.T.A.R. Labs and heads off to Metropolis. The streets seem to be deserted, however, and Lois discovers a large statue of Superman and Lex Luthor's heads declaring them "the men who saved Metropolis". Lois is then confronted by Turpin, who demands to see her curfew card. When he finds she doesn't have one, he attempts to arrest her, but a group of shaggy men break into a building and start firing on him. Amongst these men is Jimmy, who runs into Lois. Before he can say anything, however, Superman arrives and violently stops the gang. Jimmy drags Lois away before they're noticed.
Jimmy leads Lois away and explains to her that she's supposed to be dead: while she was working on an Intergang piece, and they attempted to kill her with a car bomb. However, Lois remembers that Superman saved her. Jimmy, however, claims that Superman was actually too late, and became brutal and turned the city into a police state.
The duo arrives in a building filled with more downtrodden people and Jimmy reveals that his mission was to steal a rock of Kryptonite. Unfortunately, a group of soldiers led by Mercy arrives and take the people into custody. Lois is taken to Luthor, who expresses some surprise at her being alive, yet he finds that he cannot deny it. Deciding that she's too dangerous to be kept around, he tells Mercy to kill her. Fortunately, Mercy and Lois run into Angela Chen, who distracts Mercy long enough to allow Lois to take Mercy's gun and escape.
Lois up against deadly forces.
Lois runs through the city and climbs up a large Superman/Luthor monument and fights off a group of police helicopters. In spite of this victory, she is injured and Superman soon arrives. However, when he sees his target is Lois, his demeanor instantly changes. He saves her from falling when she faints and takes her somewhere safe. All of this is witnessed by Mercy, who reports to Luthor.
Elsewhere, Lois explains about her origins and Superman explains that his Lois' death shocked him into realizing that his heroics were futile. He decided that he needed to take control to stop all crime. Lois wonders why he would go so crazy just over her, and Superman admits that he was in love with her. Lois slaps him and is angered not only at hiding his feelings for her, but for joining up with Luthor as well. Superman claims that Luthor is in check, but when he learns of his true actions, he becomes enraged and confronts his partner.
Faced with certain death, Luthor starts his fast-talking and then reveals he now has the chunk of Kryptonite Jimmy had stolen. Lois tries to save Superman, but Mercy stops her. As the two women fight, Luthor tells Superman that he'll smooth-talk the people of Metropolis and become their savior. Just as he says this, the rebels arrive and reveal they know Luthor's true intent. Luthor runs and Mercy tries to follow but is tripped and the crowd advances on her. Luthor manages to escape in a flying vehicle, but Superman goes after him. All of Luthor's attempts to shake his enemy off the vehicle come to naught. But when Superman gets too close to catching him, Luthor uses his Kryptonite to force him away. Unfortunately for Luthor, Superman damages the vehicle enough to cause it to go out of control. Luthor is unable to eject, and crashes into the side of the monument bearing his own face, killing him and marring the statue in his likeness.
Lois and Superman kiss each other goodbye.
With Luthor gone and Superman in check once again, he and Lois go to S.T.A.R. Labs and discuss the rebuilding of Metropolis and Superman regaining the public's trust in due time. However, a portal opens, and our world's Superman comes through, calling Lois back home. The alternate Superman swears that even though he's losing Lois again, it won't change things for the city. Lois kisses the alternate Superman and then returns home. Back at home, she decides to never let her own Metropolis to suffer the same fate as the alternate one and invites Superman to dinner.
Continuity[]
- Professor Hamilton's machine uses technology from the Phantom Zone projector which was first discovered in "Blasts from the Past".
Background information[]
Home video releases[]
- Superman: The Animated Series, Volume Two (DVD)
- Superman: The Complete Animated Series (DVD)
- Superman: Doomsday (2DVD, Blu-ray only)
- Superman vs The Elite (2DVD, Blu-ray only)
- Justice League: Gods and Monsters (Blu-ray only)
- Superman: The Complete Animated Series (Blu-ray)
Production notes[]
- The van that Superman blows up features reused footage from "My Girl", specifically the scene in which Mr. Eelan blows a vat of hot lead off its support.
- Likewise, when the motor of Luthor's jets catches fire, the ensuing explosion features reused footage from the gas canisters that Superman ignites in "The Way of All Flesh".
Production inconsistencies[]
- After Luthor runs away some of the resistance members go after him including an old man, however after Lois trips Mercy, some of the resistance members, including the old man, surround her.
Trivia[]
- The title of the episode is inspired by Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
- This episode's theme would later echo in the Justice League two-parter "A Better World", with a much greater scale of Superman's fascist oppression.
- First time Lois kisses Superman, albeit an alternate dimension's version of him.
- The "S" worn by alternate Superman is based on the SS logo. This "S" logo was also used by Overman, a version of Superman who landed in Nazi Germany just before the start of World War II and helped put an end to the Final Crisis along with many other Supermen from many different Earths.
- Luthor's tactic of weakening Superman with a chunk of Kryptonite, fleeing in an airship when confronted by reinforcements and having an accident would later be repeated in the Justice League episode "Injustice For All, Part I", the only differences being that Luthor had a heart attack and was narrowly saved from crashing in the latter.
Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Tim Daly | Superman Superman (alternate) (uncredited) |
| Dana Delany | Lois Lane |
| Joseph Bologna | Dan Turpin (alternate) Cop (uncredited) |
| David Kaufman | Jimmy Olsen Jimmy Olsen (alternate) (uncredited) |
| Clancy Brown | Lex Luthor (alternate) Revolutionary (uncredited) |
| Lisa Edelstein | Mercy Graves (alternate) |
| Lauren Tom | Angela Chen (alternate) Broadcaster (uncredited) |
| Tress MacNeille | Revolutionary |
| Victor Brandt | Professor Hamilton |
Quotes[]
Alternate Lex Luthor: The insolence. The outright rudeness. She's definitely the genuine article. |
Lois: Hey, I'm not finished! |
Alternate Angela Chen: Lois? Lois Lane? My God, it's you, it's really you!! You're alive, after all these years! Can you loan me a dollar? |
Lois: So, I am Lois Lane, but I'm not the Lois Lane that you knew... |
Alternate Superman: You never knew what I felt about you. I never knew, till you were gone. |
Alternate Superman: I never thought I'd lose you... twice. |
Superman: So that was me? |