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Superman Unbounding Along – WonderCon Screening Report

Published Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:55:52 -0500

Last updated Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:31:52 -0500

Will Romine writes for Bleeding Cool. You can follow him on Twitter.

I attended the panel consisting of the world premiere of Superman:Unbound, followed by a Q and A session with the talent behind it.

Warner Bros' cinematic handling of DC properties has been mixed except for in one area: animation. The folks who handle the direct to DVD animation over at Warners consistently give us animated interpretations of favorite comic book story lines that appeal to both the fanboy and the novice viewer. Superman: Unbound continues this streak.

The film is based on the Geoff Johns arc Superman/Brainiac. Usually, when these direct to DVD features adapt a story line from comics, they choose a self contained story with some historical significance. However, Johns' story here is a fairly recent storyline and doesn't have the "foundational" significance of a Batman Year One or a Dark Knight Returns. Furthermore, this arc lead to a lot of changes in the status quo of the pre-New 52 DCU, from the death of Pa Kent to establishment of New Krypton.

My fear was that the end of this movie would only leave us longing to see the ramifications of the story play out. Thankfully, Superman: Unbound is faithful to the full breadth of the source material and leaves us with a sense of "completeness"

The voice cast was spot on. present at the panel were Matt Bomer, who plays Superman, and Molly Quinn who plays Supergirl. However, as an orchestra is nothing without their conductor and voice director Andrea Romano was there too, to take her bow.

In a perfect world, no one would be allowed to leave a voicemail without first being coached by Romano. She has shown the skill of identifying talent and ability where it may not be obvious. A case in point is with Zor-El.

Zor-El is a fairly significant character in this film. The voice behind this role would have to hit the perfect note of decisiveness and paternalism. You would have to get the idea that Supergirl's father was someone who had lost it all and was determined to get it back, while still treasuring what he had left. Romano's inspired choice for this role? Stephen Root! Mr. Milton Waddams himself. Nobody else in a million years would have made that choice. That's why there are billions of nobodies, and only one Andrea Romano.

The rest of the voice cast was also superb. I fear Warners missed the boat by not at least considering Matt Bomer for Man of Steel, but I'll have to reserve judgement on Henry Cavill until this summer. Molly Quinn delivered a certain level of "spunkyness," recognizing the core of who Supergirl is – a teenager taking orders from the baby she was supposed to protect.

I've been to 6 Warners Animation panels in my time as a professional geek and they often spill teasers for the future. This time, though, they were tight lipped about their plans.

They did confirm, however, that the next film to be released will be Justice League : The Flashpoint Paradox. Kevin Conroy will be involved, "but not as we expect."

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