Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Alien starfish and the Kryptonite-flavored water.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 16, 2022

First debuting in World's Finest Comics back in 1973, the "Super Sons" -- a deadly tag team comprised of Superman and Batman's full-grown sons Clark Kent, Jr, and Bruce Wayne, Jr. (real original, guys) -- appeared sporadically in print during that decade, resurfacing occasionally in the 1990s before finally getting a total makeover in 2017 complete with better names. Re-launching the pair as a team several years younger than their former versions, it targeted the tween crowd with a light-hearted coming-of-age tale and DCAU's new animated production, Battle of the Super Sons, carries that torch proudly. Beginning with a quick origin story for Supes himself, it segues into his son Jonathan's trouble with bullies at middle school, inability to fit in, and disappointment with Dad, who never shows up to his baseball games. Once Jonathan begins to develop uncontrollable powers, Clark and Lois decide that it's as good a time as any to finally reveal the truth to their son. He takes the news surprisingly well and, before you know it, they're off to Gotham City to consult with The Caped Crusader himself, who struggles to keep his bratty assassin son Damien in check.

Battle of the Super Sons is framed around two main narrative elements: a mysterious attack on the Watchtower space station, reluctantly guarded by Green Arrow, that leads to a global threat... and the much smaller but still-important relationship between two very opposite kids. Naïve but optimistic farm boy Jonathan is still learning to harness his powers as they develop, while cocky Damien, recently nursing a severely bruised ego after failing to be voted into the Teen Titans, is nonetheless a fearsome fighter who doesn't readily accept the Super-rookie. Nonetheless, their shared problem -- a mass takeover of Earth's citizens by Starro the Conqueror (newbies may remember him from The Suicide Squad) -- brings them together after every other superhero is mind-controlled, including their dads.

There are a few narrative detours along the way, of course: Lois has her own path to take other than "mom", including a meeting with president Lex Luthor, and there's also plenty of kinetic coming-of-age developments for young Jonathan, who along with his dad is given the lion's share of attention here. (Batman doesn't show up until the 23-minute mark and Damien soon after, and the former doesn't play a large role in the story despite his top billing.) That's perhaps my only real issue with Battle of the Super Sons: its pacing. as the story spins its wheels in the early-going while playing a little fast and loose with major events, investigations, and battles in the home stretch. (It also dips into pretty creepy and violent territory several times during the second half, which may disturb younger viewers.) But this is still a very entertaining, engaging, and accessible production, one that's a lot of fun at times and features an extremely attractive visual style that, in my opinion, all combine to make one of the better DCAU movies in recent memory.

In other words, Battle of the Super Sons was a pleasant surprise for yours truly, and if you're fully on board with its characters you'll probably agree. Other that those tonal shifts during the second half it's a very accessible show for all double-digit audiences, and one that two or more generations of DC fans will likely enjoy bonding over simultaneously. Warner Bros. offers Battle of the Super Sons in two different flavors: a stand-alone Blu-ray and this more worthwhile 4K combo pack, which proves its worth with a technical presentation that better supports this type of visual style. Sadly, both options come up short in the bonus features, but this is still a release well worth looking into.

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Warner Bros.' 4K editions of DCAU titles are sometimes hit-or-miss, as the studio's revolving door of visual styles and subject matter sometimes don't make a jump to 2160p/HDR fully worth the extra expense. Battle of the Super Sons is a clear exception, though: its extremely colorful and attractive visual aesthetic, which combines more fluidly expressive animation with sweeping, mostly 3D-rendered backgrounds, looks outstanding in 4K. (There are a few stiff moments where the foreground and background elements struggle to compete with each other, but they're few and far-between.) Although this is still to my knowledge a 2K upscale, Battle of the Super Sons' more delicate and smooth linework, as well as more refined edges and expressive uses of color, appear significantly more robust and pleasing than on the Blu-ray edition (linked below), which in comparison tends to struggle a bit during critical moments. The HDR enhancement also adds a boost to vivid and muted colors alike, from the pop of more fantastic locations (the opening Krypton scene, the Fortress of Solitude, the Watchtower, and more) to a much tighter relationship between soft hues and deep blacks. Color really does most of the driving during key moments, and after watching this 4K presentation the Blu-ray just can't compete. The 4K disc's more efficient compression and increased disc space also leads to virtually no compression artifacts, from banding to posterization. Overall, this is a very nice visual presentation indeed.

For my thoughts on the included Blu-ray edition's decent but inferior 1080p transfer (which is where these screenshots are all sourced from), please see my separate review of that title.

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Invariably, the scope of Battle of the Super Sons' Earth-shattering story all but guarantees a robust and crowd-pleasing DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix, and that's exactly what you'll get on both discs included here. There's little to say other than what's expected: dialogue is uniformly crisp, channel separation is very strong, low-frequency effects kick in at opportune moments, and there's plenty of rear-channel usage to heighten the mood. The mostly orchestrated original score also sounds great, very full and dynamic, and it's balanced cleanly with everything else. Absolutely no complaints here, although a full-blown Atmos track would have likely brought this mix even closer to perfection.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are offered during the main feature and all extras.

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Much like past releases, this two-disc set ships in a standard keepcase with attractive cover art, a matching slipcover, and a Digital Copy code. Bonus features are slimmer than most DCAU titles and found on the Blu-ray disc only.

• Rival Sons: Jonathan and Damian (14:41) - This short behind-the-scenes featurette takes a look at the separate starring characters, their history on the printed page, coming-of-age tales, and the long road to this animated adaptation, with comments from several first-hand participants such as producer Jim Krieg (in ghostly Kal-El form), DC creative director Mike Carlin, supervising producer Rick Morales, director Matt Peters, and screenwriter Jeremy Adams. A clinical psychologist is also interviewed for some reason.

• From the DC Vault - Two classic episodes of Batman: The Animated Series presented in 1080p with lossy 2.0 audio, a sonic half-step down from their counterparts on WB's complete series set. This double-length adventure starring Batman, Robin, Ra's al Ghul, Talia, and of course Ubu originally aired during the first season.

• The Demon's Quest, Part One (22:22)
• The Demon's Quest, Part Two (22:18)

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

DCAU's Battle of the Super Sons offers a very entertaining adventure that, several creepy moments aside, double-digit audiences of all ages can enjoy. I went in with limited expectations but had a lot of fun with this one, as its accessible approach and attractive visual aesthetic give it a very broad appeal indeed. Warner Bros.' 4K combo pack advances on the stand-alone Blu-ray edition with a superior appearance, although the audio mix and slightly underwhelming bonus features are the same on both options. Firmly Recommended, it's a disc well worth looking into.