Superman: The Animated Series
Episode 14
The Prometheon
An underrated gem of an episode, Superman is helping General Hardcastle and friends along with Professor Emil Hamilton stop an asteroid from hitting Earth. It turns out there is a living creature strapped to the asteroid and Superman and Hamilton want to not kill hit. Hardcastle wants to blow it out of the sky. While trying to come up with a better solution the creature awakens and crashes to Earth.
It turns out the creature feeds off fire, heat, explosions. Superman at the suggestion of Hamilton, moved the asteroid into Earth’s orbit. The sun awoke it but Harcastle’s plan of blowing it up would have done the same thing. So everyone was wrong in this situation.
The monster was created by some aliens for labor but it went crazy so they had to banish it. They left easy to translate instructions about its life story. Hamilton determines the best way to stop the monster is to freeze it. There’s a special chemical that can pull this off if Superman get’s the monster in a large body of water. Superman achieves this goal. The monster is likely shipped off to the North or South poles until climate change will eventually wake it up in the distant future.
This was General Hardcastle’s first appearance in the DCAU and while he’s working with Superman in this episode, he’s a complete moron who doesn’t like or trust Superman. He works as a nice foil for Hamilton and Superman. The Prometheon is a solid antagonist whose motives aren’t malicious. It’s just a malfunctioning creation who is following its programing.
It’s a solid villain and credible threat who cannot be defeated with pure strength, Superman has to rely on his wits to stop the foe. It’s a genuinely enjoyable dilemma.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
