Superman: Up In The Sky

Superman: Up In The Sky (Abbreviated as  Superman: UITS  ) japanese: (スーパーマンアップインザスカイ) hepburn: (Sūpāman: Appuinzasukai), is a 2016 Japanese-American 2D-CGI Hybrid Anime series, based on the DC Comics superhero Superman, the 2013 film Man of Steel and the DC Extended Universe created by Zack Snyder, The Dark Knight Trilogy created by Christopher Nolan, The Arrowverse and various other DC properties.

Developed and Produced by Marc Guggenheim, Sam Register, Charles Roven, James Tucker, Emma Thomas, Deborah Snyder,  Geoff Johns , Eiko Tanaka and Shinsaku Tanaka, Created Co-Edited and Co-Dubbed by Warner Bros. Animation in conjunction with (in English) 4K Media Inc. (Now Konami Cross Media NY), animated by Studio 4°C (the animation staff comprised of those who had previously worked on the projects Harmony and Tweeny Witches as well as several that would work on 2019's Children of the Sea ), Co-Directed by Sam Liu and Toshiyuki Kubooka and written and edited by Greg Weisman, David S. Goyer, Matthew Drdek, Lloyd Goldfine, Junki Takegami, Shinji Obara, Koji Yamamoto, Dan Jurgens, Alan Kingsberg, Keto Shimizu, Joe Kelly and Beth Schwartz, with Japanese and English Dub music by Tamiya Terashima and Robert J. Kral and Max Surla respectively.

The series' main story takes place two after an alternate continuity of the events of Man of Steel, where Superman is six years younger than in the DCEU (English Dub), flew up and away from Metropolis instead of into the city during General Zod's invasion and did not kill Zod, but rather flew him back to the Black Zero, lured his followers back, lifted the ship into deep space, using the Phantom Drive to send them and their ship back to the Phantom Zone. The anime follows Superman/Clark Kent/Kal-El as well as his cousin, Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) (who debuts in the 3 part pilot "The Last Daughter" and frequently provides narration for the first season, similar to Connor in the 4Kids dub of Cubix) as he attempts to protect Metropolis and the world from a number of threats, while also balancing his job as a reporter for the Daily Planet, his relationships with his co-workers, friends and Mother, along with meeting and fighting along side and against a number of other DC heroes and villains as the series progresses. All characters are designed to resemble their portrayals in film and TV.

In the United States, the Anime debuted on the 10th of June, 2016 with a Two-Part special "The Last Daughter" on Cartoon Network, airing on Tokyo MX and AT-X in Japan the week before. (This was due in part to both Japanese and English versions being made and edited around the same time.) It aired a day later on The CW's One Magnificent Morning (OMM) programming block (as part of a test initiative to reintroduce animation into the block, following the end of its predecessor, Vortexx.) and on October 6th on Canada's Teletoon. The Opening Theme for the English dub, composed by Kral, had been previously used for the end credits of the 2012 Animated film Superman vs. The Elite, as well as the main theme for 2007's Superman: Doomsday.

Season One
The series takes place in a universe borrowing elements from a number of DC Film, Comic and TV continuities (Mostly Live-Action), with a number of alterations. Two and a half years after saving the Human Race from General Zod in 2013, Clark Kent/Kal-El aka Superman, has become the most beloved and valued superhero in the City of Metropolis and on Earth, protecting humanity from a variety of threats, while also enjoying a steady job as a reporter at the Daily Planet News Company, alongside fellow reporter and love interest, Lois Lane, Photographer, close friend and secret Government Agent, Jimmy Olson and Perry White, the Planet's quick tempered but well intentioned editor.

After an introduction to his work, in The Last Daughter, Superman, while in his Fortress of Solitude in Ellesmere Island, Canada, picks up a nearby distress signal coming from deep under the Nares Strait with a near identical frequency to the Fortress itself. (the Fortress being an abandoned Kryptonian Scout Ship as in the Snyderverse) Later investigation with the aid of S.T.A.R. Labs leads Superman to discover a heavily damaged Kryptonian Scout Ship under the ice, where he finds most of the crew long dead, save for one Stasis Pod left undamaged, containing a teenage girl with blond hair, in a Kryptonian explorer's uniform. Bringing the crashed ship back to S.T.A.R's main laboratory in Metropolis, S.T.A.R's head scientist, Dr. Silas Stone, reveals that the girl's DNA is a close match to Superman's.

The pod suddenly malfunctions and the girl, panicked by the sudden shock of awakening, ends up accidentally flying into the city. After being brought back to the labs, following several miscommunications, Superman is able, via super hypnosis, to transfer his knowledge of English into the girl's brain and the girl reveals herself as Kara Zor-El. Niece to Jor-El and Kal-El's formerly older cousin. Kara explains that many years before the destruction of Krypton, her father, Zor-El, a brilliant scientist just like his brother, had developed an experimental environmental shield that could protect an entire city by terraforming the land in stood on, hoping to use it for peaceful purposes. After being warned of Krypton's destruction by Jor-El, however, Zor-El used the shield and an atmosphere generator to save Krypton's third largest city, Argos, which miraculously survived the rest of the planet's demise, leaving it's people the only Kryptonians remaining. Hardened by the destruction of their world and their loved ones, the people of Argos became hardened, but did their best to survive and thrive in their new situation, until the day General Zod and his followers located Argos and using the World Engine, began to slowly convert the soil into the first Kryptonite, after failing to force the Argonians into submission, slowly killing them instead.

Explorer crews were rapidly formed from Argos' youngest and brightest citizens and Kara became leader of her own troupe. However, during her crew's scouting mission to the Milky Way, her entire crew was wiped out by an escaped criminal, Dev-Em. Kara was able to subdue Dev-Em and lock him and herself in Stasis pods. After discovering the amount of time that has passed and being told that the pod next to her had been forced open, Kara despairs, knowing that not only is Dev-Em most likely free on Earth, but that her family has also perished with the rest of Argos. Accepting his responsibility, Clark agrees to find her a home and sets her up in Smallville with Ma Kent on the Kent Farmstead, while creating a cover story for her. After learning about her Cousin's work on Earth, Kara seeks to join him in protecting humanity to honour the memory of her friends and family.

Heading back to the Fortress with the key Clark left her, she activates the Ship's A.I. in the form of her uncle, who gives her a similar Kryptonian uniform to her cousin's. Empowered by her Uncle's words of encouragement, Kara takes up the name Supergirl and begins protecting her new home, much to Superman's concern. This catches the attention of Superman's recently minted nemesis, Lex Luthor, CEO of Digital media and tech corporation LexCorp, who locates and recruits Dev-Em to help him destroy his arch enemy. Eventually, Dev-Em is defeated by Supergirl and Superman and dropped off in the Phantom Zone using the Drive. Luthor manages to avoid detection and Kara stays with her Cousin in Metropolis, enrolling in a High School in New Troy to learn more about her new home.

The rest of the series shows Kara and Superman working together to protect Metropolis and the World from Luthor and a series of other other threats such as Metallo, The Parasite, Mxyzptlk, The Prankster and Toyman, who are introduced as the series progresses. (This also includes a two part crossover with an alternative variation of the Nolanverse Batman titled World's Finest where not only did The Joker play a part in the events of The Dark Knight Rises, but where Batman continued to be a crimefighter in Gotham with an extended Bat Family which includes Tim Drake's Robin and John Blake as Nightwing.) All the while, an unseen threat from space (later revealed to be Brainiac) is foreshadowed in a number of episodes.

In the season finale,  Collector of Worlds , Kara, after frequent nightmares about a mysterious threat from space, which causes her everyday life as both herself and Supergirl to be greatly affected, reveals her full origin to Clark at the apartment of Jimmy Olson, who she's been living with throughout the series in a kind of younger-older sibling relationship. When she was a child, Krypton's capital city had been Kryptonopolis, until the day that a highly intelligent, alien android entity known as  Brainiac , had invaded and captured the entire city, shrinking it down for his collection, as he abducts and collects major cities from every civilisation he comes across in order to gain more knowledge. It was this event that caused Kandor to become the new Capital and Kara and her family to move to the backwater Argos.

Upon discovering that Lex Luthor possesses a chunk of Kryptonite of his own, as established at the end of Metallo 's debut episode,  Green Machine , Brainiac makes a deal with Luthor, promising to make him  Merchant King of Metropolis  in exchange for Superman and Supergirl. With the aid of Metallo's Kryptonite heart, the two are delivered to Brainiac's ship and shrunk down into Kryptonopolis, only for Luthor be betrayed as Brainiac reveals his plans to destroy the earth and add Metropolis to his collection. As the city is shrunk down and bottled, The Kryptonopolites aid The Super Cousins in their escape with help from a set of experimental solar mirrors. After regaining their full size, Superman is forced to fight Brainiac and his drones head on while Kara rescues both Metropolis and Kryptonopolis along with a barely functioning regrowth ray. Superman blows up the ship and takes the fight to Earth, where Brainiac, overwhelmed and terrified by the chaotic and unregulated activity of Earth and its lifeforms, self destructs upon seeing his orderly worldview shattered. Metropolis is restored and the bottled Kryptonopolis is given a place in the Fortress of Solitude until it can be enlarged once again.

In the final scene of season one, Luthor, humiliated by Superman's rescue of the world once again, contemplates that either Superman will doom humanity or something will be Superman's Doomsday.

Season Two
Season Two introduces viewers three new Villains to the show's cast in the form of Bruno Mannheim, Bizarro and Livewire as well as Doomsday. It also Introduces Bibbo Bibbowski, his nephew Leo and more of the extended Bat family, including Batgirl and The Huntress in a Riddler episode, Versions of Synder's Wonder Woman and Aquaman, and The CW's Arrowverse heroes are also introduced over 3 episodes. The season also adapts the death of Superman storyline and leads to one of the few instances where Death is formerly acknowledged in a 4Kids property. The long running season sub-plot involves Lex Luthor detecting a Phantom Drive somewhere in the Australian Outback and using it to try and summon General Zod, Instead frees and contains Doomsday who, in this adaption, is the last surviving Alpha-Male of the former dominant species on Krypton that ruled the planet until modern Kryptonians evolved into their intelligence and drove them to extinction, sending the last surviving member into the zone as its 1st inmate. Over the course of the 3 part finale 'After Doomsday ''. Doomsday escapes, Clark Reveals his true identity to Lois and seemingly dies in battle with the monster, Supergirl takes over as Metropolis' primary defender, Jimmy Olson's Cover is exposed and The characters of Steel, Superboy, The Eradicator and Hank Henshaw's Cyborg Superman are introduced. In the end, Henshaw's true identity is revealed and deprived of his Superman disguise, resurrects Doomsday as a Cyborg to help take over the world, only for Superman, resurrected by the Eradicator's healing and more powerful than ever, to return in a Solar abortion suit (A nod to Tim Burton's Superman Lives) and, with the help of the Earth 's other heroes and his new Solar Flare power, defeats Henshaw and the Cyborg Doomsday. In the aftermath, Jimmy Olson is relocated by ARGUS after revealing that he knows Clark' s true identity and receives a smartwatch with a direct hotline to Superman, Supergirl and Superboy, now calling himself Conner Kent, begin a friendship, Luthor is finally arrested, Metropolis gains two new defenders in Superboy and Steel and the heroes of Earth that helped defend Metropolis in the aftermath of the Doomsday crisis are brought together by the government to form the Justice League.

Season Three
Season 3's main focuses are Superman's role within the Justice League as Co-Leader alongside Batman, the changes in his life following the end of season 2, Kara and Conner developing from friends to family and the Introduction of larger and more serious threats. Terra-Man and the Clay Ramsay Kryptonite Man are also introduced as new Villains alongside Professor Ivo and A.M.A.Z.O, Felix Faust, Solomon Grundy, Per Degaton and the Injustice Gang and Darkseid, who replaces Lex Luthor as the series' main antagonist. In the season's 1st episode,  The Hero City , Kara remarks on the changes that have occurred in Metropolis and the world since Superman's resurrection. Mainly the recent incarceration of Lex Luthor, The new openness between Clark and Lois, her sisterly and Niecely relationships with Conner Kent and John Henry Irons and the recent strengthening of the Superhero community following the formation of the Justice League, who are now stationed out of an orbiting satellite base, designed and funded by both the Department of Defence and Wayne Enterprises. Secretary of Defence, Calvin Swanwick, acts as the League's government liaison. Other government characters include President Thomas Martinez, his VP and Superman's childhood Friend Pete Ross, a returning Jimmy Olson and the leader of the ever growing  Glory Party , G. Gordon Godfrey. An Alex Jones-esc conspiracy theorist and an outspoken opponent against all metahuman activity, but mostly Superheroes.

The series Introduces Civic City, Pennsylvania and the Justice Society of America in the two part episode  Heroes Forever". The team is made up of Jay Garrick's Flash, Alan Scott's Green Lantern, Al Pratt's Atom, The Sandman, Kendra Munoz-Saunders' Hawkgirl, Terry Sloane's Mr. Terrific, Rex Tyler's Hourman and Khalid Ben-Hassin's Dr. Fate (here a composit of Kent Nelson and the former called Khalid Nelson) and Abby Hunkle's Red Tornado who appears near the end of the special as a Cyborg with Wind Manipulation powers, The Society is closer in design and execution to their Smallville and Post-Flashpoint counterparts in terms of concept and design and existed from 1988 to 2002 under Teen President Prez Rickard and President Jonathan Horne who brought the JSA under the employ of Government Metahuman regulating agency Checkmate for the remaining five years of their existence until the Events of  What happened 15 years ago '' (a reference to the 9/11 attacks) where the team retired after Checkmate attempted to turn them into a branch of the Military for overseas combat purposes. The agency being later dissolved and replaced with Task Force X after Checkmates backup plan, JSA contemporaries  The Seven Soldiers  were all led into an ambush and seemingly destroyed. With help from Supergirl, Superboy and Robin, the League and Society discover that the remnants of Checkmate lived on as a terrorist organisation headed by their old, Time Travelling nemesis, Per Degaton, who reforms the JSA's nemesis team, the Injustice Society to finally wipe out the legacy's of both generations. Both teams leave on good terms by the end with a scene from Lex Luthor teasing the formation of the Injustice Gang. A later episode  Born on a Monday  would see Superman team up with Alan Scott to help take down his resurrected, decay inducing zombie nemesis and IS founder, Solomon Grundy.

The season ends on the two part episode  Darkseid Of The Moon  where G. Gordon Godfrey is revealed to be an member of a god-like race of alien beings from the planet

Divergences

 * Tom Wayland was hired as a Voice Director and Voice Actor for the show by Warner Brothers, following his dismissal from The Pokémon Company, following accusations of rape from a convention worker in 2015. Wayland pled his case to WB and was hired onto the company's animation department. With his new position, Wayland was able to hire better legal help and take his accuser to court with better publicity, following the wrap up of the first season, successfully clearing his name. This, in turn, led to the accuser being backlisted from a number of conventions. Although she and the original poster of her accusations would later protest the court's decision on Facebook, a slew of online backlash and mockery led her to close her account. Wayland would stay with Warner afterwards and was hired as a full time Voice Director in 2018, as well as being invited back by 4K Media as a VA for the third season of Yu-Gi-Oh: Arc-V and subsequent future projects.
 * As a result of Tom Wayland's publicised victory, Neil Kaplan and Quinton Flynn were also spared their accusations as well. Part of the MeToo movement, overall, was greatly destroyed.
 * Zack Snyder was a fan of the show and the dub and openly expressed his love for the Anime on Social Media. This, in turn, would lead to Snyder working closely with Geoff Johns to improve the DC Extended Universe, adopting several aspects from the Anime for future movies. Creative differences between Johns and David S. Goyer, would lead to the latter leaving Warner Brothers and all future DC movie projects in 2018 after the series finale of UITS, his spot being filled by Greg Berlanti in the Cinematic capacity and his place in the Animation Department filled by Comic veteran, James Robinson.