Superman: The Animated Series
Episode 18
Speed Demons
Superman meets the Flash!!! It doesn’t get more exciting than Superman’s first superhero crossover. Yes, there was his episode with Lobo, but Lobo was a villain in that episode and he’s more of an anti-hero. This is a legit future Justice League member who is going to race Superman for charity.
Little do they know, the duo are being manipulated to generate energy for The Weather Wizard who wants to hold the world hostage with his weather control device. It’s really a ridiculous plan. The man can control the weather. He can make billions by selling his device to governments. Plenty of locations want water for dams, snow for ski season, proper sunlight/rain balance for crops. Instead of marketing his invention for countless amounts of money he holds the world ransom for pennies on the dollar of what it’s actually worth. In the process he tries to kill his own brother who actually invented the machine when he doesn’t want to participate with the plan. Superman and Flash save him though.
Send this idiot to Arkham. If you look at someone like the Mad Hatter who made a million dollar invention but turned evil after being rejected by a woman he was obsessed with, that makes sense. It wasn’t a crime for money, it was a crime of love. Weather Wizard is small-minded.
Superman and Flash team-up and stop him. He goes to jail. They agree to finish their race but we don’t learn who won. Also, Weather Wizard is a weak villain without his weather staff. He loses that in this episode but goes on to return in Justice League with it again. We already know he wasn’t the inventor, so how does he recreate his destroyed device? The brother he tried to kill gives him a second one? Doubtful. Lots of plot holes.
Overall since Flash is in it, the episode holds up. But we have another weak poorly executed motivation from a Superman rogue. We never learn which Flash this is in the DCAU. Is it Barry Allen? It’s a different voice than his Justice League actor but voices get recast often in the DCAU. Is it Wally West, the hero we love in Justice League? Best guess is this is Barry Allen since the costume is a little different and the voice is different.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
