January 17th, 2019 
Jackson Murphy 
Reign of the Supermen is the latest DC Universe animated movie and the follow-up to last year’s “The Death of Superman”. It’s based off the popular 1992-93 comic book storyline. Earlier this week, both films screened in more than 500 theaters in North America through Fathom Events. I recently caught-up with the cast and crew at “Reign”‘s World Premiere.
Director Sam Liu always envisioned this story to be told across two films. “10 years ago, we did “Doomsday”, and it was supposed to be this movie,” he said. “But the whole “Death of Superman” saga took place in at least a year’s worth of comics over multiple comic books. So it was hard to tell that story within one movie. Inherently, it is two parts. It’s his death, and then these four superman show up. To tackle all that in one movie, structurally, as far as how people take in stories, I think would’ve been difficult.”
Writers James Krieg and Tim Sherdian faced the dilemma of balancing the well-known source material with the ability to take creative liberties. “The thing I think we try to do on this and all the properties we adapt from the comics is that we try to give you the movie you remembering reading – rather than it beat for beat,” Krieg told me. “So we try to collect all the moments that are iconic – as many as we can.”
“There’s no way to do beat for beat”, added Sheridan. “There’s just no way to do it. And by the way, it’s already been done. If you love it beat for beat, panel for panel: go read the comics again. They’re wonderful.”
“Reign” is the second act of an emotional saga for the Man of Steel – a character that has been a lifelong influence on several cast members. Tony Todd (the voice of Darkseid) loved flipping through the comics as a kid. “My aunt would give me $2 a week, and I would end-up spending it at a newsstand buying 80-page DC comics for 25 cents a pop. And that was my early reading material.”
Jackson (left) with writers James Krieg and Tim Sheridan
Emmy-winning character designer Phil Bourassa (“Young Justice”) is a superhero animation staple. “Every kid likes Superman… I think,” Bourassa said. “The first imagery I saw of him was probably the old George Reeves serial playing on TV at my grandmother’s house. And I remember loving the artwork of Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. He did the primary design work for the Kenner Super Powers.”
Actress Toks Olagundoye (“DuckTales”) lends her voice to Cat Grant. She vividly remembers seeing the Christopher Reeve “Superman” films as a girl in Nigeria: “I watched the first three films over and over and over again.”
Cameron Monaghan, the voice of Superboy, has altered his position on Superman over the years. “I was always the kid who was a little more of the Batman kid. My best friend was the Superman and Aquaman kid.” As Monaghan got older, he began to understand the light and dark side balance in the superhero world. “The symbol of hope, I think, is very important in these character archetypes with someone like Superman,” he said. “So when I got into my late teens, I started getting more into that character. And with this film, I was able to brush up on my history of the characters a bit and dig into Superboy.”
And then there’s Jerry O’Connell. Voicing Superman, without question, is one of the highlights of his career – right up there with marrying wife Rebecca Romijn (who voices Lois Lane) and having their kids. “I’m in awe of what DC Animation does,” he said, sporting a Superman T-shirt. “They’re the best as far as I’m concerned.”
Jerry O’Connell (right) with Jackson Murphy
As for working with his wife and embodying iconic characters, O’Connell told me, “We try and do something a little different with Lois and Clark. With characters that have been done a few times – and done very well – you want to bring your own thing to it, but you don’t want to change it up too much, because you don’t want anyone in the comments section to get freaked out.”
Reign of the Supermen is the latest in a string of animated superhero hits, including Best Animated Feature Oscar frontrunners Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Incredibles 2. For Sam Liu, this is the golden age of cinematic superhero stories. “When I was a kid, we had to wait five years before one would, potentially, come out. And that’s all we got. And now, there’s a handful of them, at least, coming out every year. In animation, it’s sort of the same way. When I was doing series work, I would tell people that if I was a kid right now, my mind would be exploding. There’s so much good stuff out there.”
You can watch Reign of the Supermen on digital right now. It will be released on DVD on January 29th. As Tony Todd put it to me bluntly, “Hopefully people will just go out and spread the word. Tell people! There’s another comic book company besides… the other one.”
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