Showdown | |
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Title card from Showdown | |
Directed by | Isidore Sparber |
Story by | Jay Morton |
Based on | |
Produced by | Sam Buchwald |
Starring | Bud Collyer Joan Alexander Julian Noa |
Music by | Samuel Timberg |
Animation by | Steve Muffati Graham Place |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 9 minutes (one reel) |
Language | English |
Showdown (1942) is the eleventh of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character Superman. Produced by Famous Studios, the cartoon was originally released to theaters by Paramount Pictures on October 16, 1942. [1]
The short starts with a figure dressed as Superman terrorizing Metropolis with various robberies. He is actually a small-time crook who is working for a big-time gangster known as the Boss, who insults him any chance he gets. Every paper in the city runs the story that Superman has gone bad, but Lois Lane does not believe it to be true. As she and Clark Kent read the story at the Daily Planet, an office boy informs them that the editor, Perry White, wants them to cover the opera and gives them two tickets.
At the opera, the Superman imposter sneaks from booth to booth, swiping people's jewelry without them noticing. When one woman cries out in alarm, Lois leaves her seat and walks out into the hallway, confronting the imposter. After a brief struggle, Lois rips the "S" patch off the imposter's chest, and he runs away. Not having seen his face in the darkness, Lois is convinced that Superman has been responsible for all the crimes. As Lois calls the police, Clark exits the booth to follow after the imposter.
Cracking the door open slightly on the roof and noticing the imposter, Clark says, "My double is in for some trouble". Seeing the police cars gather on the street below, the imposter heads back toward the door to the stairwell, where he is confronted by the real Superman. The imposter fires several rounds at Superman, to no avail. He claims his Boss made him do it. Without noticing, the imposter reaches the edge of the rooftop and falls over the edge. Superman swoops down to save him just in time. In the glow of the searchlights, Lois and the police realize that the real Superman is not the criminal.
Hoping for a lighter punishment, the imposter agrees to take Superman to his boss. Superman, without saying a thing, stands in front of the boss' desk. After several moments, the boss tries to hit him with a golf club, then raises a lamp and sees Superman's face, prompting him to press a hidden button that opens a trap door and sends Superman falling into a pit. After the trap door closes, the boss and the imposter push the desk over the door and hide in a vault. Superman breaks out and opens the vault, tearing out electrified bars, only to find that the two have used a welding torch to cut a hole in the wall and escape. A police car is headed around a bend, unknowing that the criminals are coming at them from the other side. Just in time, Superman steps in and stops the cars from crashing, and grabs the two criminals by their collars. Upset at getting caught, the imposter tells his boss, "Next time, you play Superman!" Superman then leaves the two criminals for the police to handle.
Back at the Daily Planet, Clark is dozing off when Lois returns from the crime scene to start work on the story. Clark tells her that he was dreaming he was Superman. Lois responds by saying, "A fine Superman you'd make". Clark replies "Well, I can dream, can't I?"
Smallville is a fictional town in American comic books published by DC Comics. The childhood hometown of Superman, Smallville was first named in Superboy #2. The town, long in an unnamed US state that was first defined as Kansas in Superman: The Movie (1978), is the setting of many Superboy comics where Superboy defends Smallville from various threats. Since the 1978 appearance in Superman: The Movie, Smallville has been a setting in other non-comic book productions featuring Superboy / Superman.
Intergang is a fictional organized crime syndicate appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Armed with technology supplied by the villainous New Gods of the planet Apokolips, they consistently appear as enemies of Superman.
Superman and Lois Lane are a fictional couple. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, both characters, including Superman's alter ego Clark Kent, first appeared in DC Comics' Action Comics #1. They have remained in a complicated relationship ever since. A supercouple and the first superhero comic book romance, they are among the best-known fictional couples and have appeared in multiple media adaptations.
The character of Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and has been continually published in a variety of DC Comics book titles since its premiere in 1938. There have been several versions of Superman over the years, both as the main hero in the stories as well as several alternative versions.
Superman: Doomsday is a 2007 American animated superhero film adapted from the DC Comics storyline "The Death of Superman", which focuses on the death and return of the superhero Superman. Released by Warner Home Video, it is the first film of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and made $10 million in home media sales on a budget of $3.5 million.
The Magnetic Telescope (1942) is the sixth of the seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character of Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. This animated short was created by the Fleischer Studios. The story runs for about eight minutes and covers Superman's adventures in saving the town from a comet drawn toward Earth by a magnetic telescope. It was originally released on April 24, 1942.
Japoteurs (1942) is the tenth of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character of Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The first Superman cartoon produced by Famous Studios, Japoteurs covers Superman's adventures stopping Japanese spies from hijacking a bomber plane and bringing it to Tokyo. This cartoon does not bear the Famous Studios name because that company had not yet been fully organized after Max Fleischer was removed by Paramount Pictures from the studio which bore his name. The cartoon was originally released to theaters by Paramount Pictures on September 18, 1942. Japoteurs was the first Famous Studios cartoon filmed in color.
The Mechanical Monsters is a 1941 American animated short film directed by Dave Fleischer. It is the second of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character Superman. Produced by Fleischer Studios, the story features Superman battling a villainous inventor and his army of giant robots. It was originally released by Paramount Pictures on November 28, 1941.
The Arctic Giant is the fourth of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character of Superman, created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. This animated short was created by Fleischer Studios. The story runs nine minutes and covers Superman's adventures in defeating a giant monster that terrorizes the city. It was released on February 27, 1942. The short depicts a Godzilla-esque scenario while predating the 1954 film by 12 years. The actual Godzilla and Superman would eventually meet in a crossover comic Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong in 2023.
Billion Dollar Limited (1942) is the third of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character Superman. Produced by Fleischer Studios, Billion Dollar Limited centers on a train carrying one billion dollars in gold to the US Mint, which is sabotaged by robbers before Superman intervenes. The short was released by Paramount Pictures on January 9, 1942.
The Bulleteers (1942) is the fifth of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character of Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. This animated short was created by Fleischer Studios. The story runs about nine minutes and covers Superman's adventures as he defends the city against a villainous gang called "The Bulleteers", who are equipped with a bullet-shaped rocket car. It was originally released on March 27, 1942.
Electric Earthquake (1942) is the seventh of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character of Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. This animated short was created by the Fleischer Studios. The story runs for about eight minutes and covers Superman's adventures in stopping a madman from destroying Manhattan with electronically induced earthquakes. It was originally released on May 15, 1942. This is the first of the films to make it clear that the action is taking place in Manhattan.
Volcano (1942) is the eighth of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character of Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. The eight-minute animated short, directed by Dave Fleischer and produced by Fleischer Studios, features Superman's adventures in saving a small island community from a volcanic eruption, and is therefore, the second short about a disaster after Electric Earthquake. It was originally released on July 10, 1942 by Paramount Pictures.
Terror on the Midway (1942) is the ninth of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character of Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. It was the final Paramount cartoon short by Fleischer Studios. The nine-minute short features Superman attempting to stop the chaos created when several circus animals escape their cages and restraints, including a giant gorilla named Gigantic. It was originally released on August 30, 1942, by Paramount Pictures.
It's Superman! is a novel by Tom De Haven based on the comic book superhero Superman. It was released on September 15, 2005, in hardcover and August 29, 2006, in paperback. The premise tells the tale of Clark Kent's beginnings into becoming Superman, set in the 1930s, where Clark befriends a wrongly convicted photographer named Willi Berg, and is then taken from Kansas to Hollywood and finally in New York where he meets Lois Lane, fights Lex Luthor, as he debuts in his superhero persona. Despite the setting, this is not about the Golden Age Superman also known as the Superman of Earth-2; Perry White, the Daily Planet, Lex Luthor's position and his trademark powers are not part of that alternate Earth. Rather, it's a Superman period piece set in the 1930s.
The Mummy Strikes (1943) is the fourteenth of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character of Superman. Produced by Famous Studios, the cartoon was originally released to theaters by Paramount Pictures on February 19, 1943.
Secret Agent (1943) is the last of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character Superman. Produced by Famous Studios, the cartoon was originally released to theaters by Paramount Pictures on July 30, 1943. This is the only short in which Lois Lane doesn't appear, although a female federal agent who looks identical to Lois appears, and is also voiced by Joan Alexander.
Eleventh Hour is the twelfth of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character Superman. Produced by Famous Studios, the cartoon was originally released to theaters by Paramount Pictures on November 20, 1942.
George Taylor is a fictional character appearing in Superman comic books published by DC Comics. He is the editor-in-chief of the Metropolis newspaper the Daily Star. An early Superman supporting character, he was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster as the unnamed editor who gave Clark Kent his first job as a reporter in Action Comics #1. His name was later revealed in Superman #2 (1939). Perry White replaced him as the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet in Superman #7. In the New 52 the character is once again running the Daily Star.
Superman Reborn is a four-part crossover Superman storyline published by DC Comics in 2017, written by Dan Jurgens, Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. The crossover appeared in Action Comics #975-976 and Superman #18-19. The event formally merges the New 52 Superman and the Post-Crisis Superman to form a new singular continuity and history.