"Identity Crisis" is the sixth episode of the second season of Superman: The Animated Series and the 19th of the overall series. It depicts the birth of Bizarro. Superman suddenly finds himself face-to-face with a seemingly perfect copy of himself, but soon discovers this copy is actually imperfect and becomes a chalk-white creature with impaired intellect and all of Superman's powers. Now Superman must try to save Metropolis and Lois from this creature's "heroic" acts.
Plot[]
"Superman" saves Clark Kent.
A young boy clings tightly to an electrical tower and is too afraid to climb down. His friends then spot Superman, who flies up to the boy and safely brings him to the ground. After a brief lecture to the kids, Superman takes off and notices a police chase unfolding outside the city; right after the police is Lois's car. Superman intercepts the car the police are pursuing, but since it all happens on a winding mountainous road, Lois nearly drives off the edge while Clark is accidentally thrown out of the car. Superman catches a confused Clark and then cautions him and Lois to be more careful, to which Lois jokingly asks him if he ever knew her to play it safe. Superman smiles and suggests discussing it over dinner. Lois agrees to meet him on the Daily Planet's roof at 8 P.M. After that, Clark decides to take a walk, being shocked to see his alter ego flying around.
Superman, meanwhile, continues his work and saves a falling helicopter from crashing. After the job is done, he is unexpectedly approached by the real Superman, who sarcastically asks him for an autograph. Suddenly, the Superman impostor starts to develop white patches on his skin and blames his double for this, attacking him. However, after a brief exchange of fists, he falls onto a nearby building and begins to groan in pain. The real Superman then tells him that he doesn't look so good, to which his opponent, now looking more like a pale zombie, hits him and swiftly flies away.
Bizarro returns to his creator.
The Superman imposter then arrives at Lex Luthor's laboratory in the mountains and, standing in the doorway, tells him that he has a problem. Luthor smirks, calling it an "understatement." Inside the laboratory, Luthor's Superman begins to complain incoherenty that he is confused by the encounter with another Superman earlier that day. However, Luthor doesn't explain anything and orders him to calm down. Still, the creature keeps questioning what's going on, prompting Luthor to ask a nearby scientist, Dr. Teng, why his creation doesn't follow his orders. Dr. Teng replies that he warned Luthor that the alien DNA was unlike anything they had cloned before. He then suggests quitting the project and getting rid of the other clones they have created, but Luthor strongly objects, explaining that "one glitch" is not a problem but an opportunity to learn. Dr. Teng agrees, acknowledging that at least his programmed memories are holding, although parts of his brain are clearly damaged. Meanwhile, the strange Superman finally gets to see his reflection and questions what he is. Mercy Graves snidely dubs him "Bizarro", which only angers him. He then flies back to Metropolis to prove that he is Superman.
Bizarro "fixes" a drawbridge.
Having arrived in the city, Bizarro starts to perform his own brand of heroic "feats". At first, he hurls a wrecking ball crane toward a city park in order to "save" a building from demolition, then nearly causes a large vessel to crash into a drawbridge. Fortunately, Superman manages to prevent all the consequences of Bizarro's heroics, while Bizarro, irritated by Superman's presence, shouts that he is not the real Superman and flies away.
Later that night, on the Daily Planet's roof, Lois waits for Superman to arrive for their date, but she is horrified to see Bizarro coming instead. Soon after, the original Superman appears, and Bizarro attacks him, trying to protect Lois. He slams Superman into the massive "Daily Planet" globe on top of the building, sending it flying down. Then Bizarro comes back to Lois, but she, seeing him again, slips and falls off the roof. Bizarro catches her, and promising to always save her, flies away holding her in his arms. Superman, meanwhile, catches the globe and puts it back on top.
Lois on a date with Bizarro.
Bizarro takes Lois to a restaurant, where he incoherently explains his confusion about the situation with the other Superman and himself. During the talk, Lois takes out a tape recorder and learns about the laboratory where Bizarro was created. He then offers to fly her there, to which she agrees. Upon arrival, Lois discovers several capsules containing more duplicates of Superman, and she wonders who is making them. Luthor then suddenly replies, "Me", stepping out of the shadows. He explains that he collected a few drops of Superman's blood from the floor in his museum after Superman's fight with the mechanical dinosaur.[1]Meanwhile, Bizarro becomes agitated at the sight of the other clones and Luthor's unkind remarks about him, but he is quickly subdued by an electrical discharge. Luthor then decides to destroy the laboratory, and thereby all the evidence. He orders Dr. Teng to initiate the auto-destruct process and Mercy to start his helicopter. At the same time, Bizarro recovers and goes on a rampage, blocking the exit door and destroying the main terminal, which means the auto-destruct is now impossible to cancel.
Bizarro saves the day.
Fortunately, Superman had learned about the laboratory from Lois's tape recorder that he found in the restaurant where she was with Bizarro. Upon arriving at the place, he unblocks the exit but must confront Bizarro once more. While Superman and Bizarro fight, Luthor and Dr. Teng manage to escape from the collapsing building, but Lois becomes trapped under a large piece of rubble. Superman rushes to free her, and as he does, Bizarro realizes that the real Superman is not actually a threat. Soon after, the ceiling begins to fall, but Bizarro catches it, telling Lois and Superman to leave. Lois calls Bizarro a hero, and they fly away just before the laboratory explodes. On the way to Metropolis, Lois asks Superman if he thinks Bizarro has survived, to which he replies he doesn't know, but Bizarro turned out to have a good heart. Lois concludes that it's only natural since he came from good stock.
Continuity[]
- Lex Luthor alludes to the mechanical T-Rex that he pitted against Superman and Lois in "A Little Piece of Home". As he explains, the Kryptonite rock planted in the room weakened Superman to the extent of making him bleed. Luthor then collected a sample of Superman's DNA and used it to create Bizarro.
Background information[]
Home video releases[]
- Superman: The Animated Series, Volume Two (DVD)
- Superman: The Complete Animated Series (DVD)
- Superman Super-Villains: Bizarro (DVD)
- Superman The Complete Animated Series (Blu-ray)
Production notes[]
- Joe R. Lansdale, who had previously penned a few episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, has stated he found the script "difficult" as he wasn't accustomed to writing for Superman, so Robert Goodman ended up writing the script himself, while Landsdale received story credit.[2]
- When Bizarro destroys the lab's terminal, the ensuing explosion is reused footage from the gas canisters that Superman ignites in "The Way of All Flesh".
Production inconsistencies[]
- When the duplicate Superman deteriorates into Bizarro, his suit similarly decays to signify his degenerated status, even though it should remain unchanged since it is not part of Superman's physique.
- Dr. Teng sets the self-destruct to two minutes, yet the time between the on-screen activation and detonation is around three minutes.
Trivia[]
- This version of Bizarro is based on the Post-Crisis Bizarro first appearing in The Man of Steel #5 (1986). The episode also shares some similarities with the storyline "Bizarro's World!" (1994), where, in one scene, Bizarro attempts to "fix" a drawbridge before a passing boat.
Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Tim Daly | Superman/Clark Kent Bizarro |
| Dana Delany | Lois Lane |
| Clancy Brown | Lex Luthor |
| Lisa Edelstein | Mercy Graves |
| Robert Ito | Dr. Teng |
| John Rubinow | Helicopter Pilot |
| Joe Lala | Maitre D' |
| Kendall Cunningham | Tommy |
| Ryan O'Donohue | Boy #1 |
| James Cronin | Boy #2 |
Quotes[]
Boy #1: What if he dies? |
"Superman": All right. Who wants to explain what you were doing up there? |
"Superman": It's a date! |
Lois: Hey, Smallville, you alright? |
Superman: (to "Superman") Excuse me. I know you're a busy guy, but I'm dying to get your autograph. |
Bizarro: What am me? |
(Bizarro crashes through Lex's Lab ceiling) |
(Superman saves some people at a wedding from a falling crane) |
Bizarro: Me am Superman! Me am hero! |
Bizarro: Me no am Superman. You am Superman. Superman save Lois. |
Lois: Do you think he survived? |
References[]
- ↑ See "A Little Piece of Home"
- ↑ Batman: The Animated Podcast episode 27. Read My Lips - Joe R. Lansdale, Amanda Meadows, Geoffrey Golden