Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

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

Worst "Take Your Child to Work Day" ever.

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: this stand-alone Blu-ray and a 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 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Although its 4K counterpart clearly comes out ahead (which, to be fair, isn't always the case for DCAU releases), this Blu-ray offers a decent enough visual presentation for those who haven't yet moved on to the newer format. Battle of the Super Sons' attractive visual aesthetic, which combines more fluidly expressive animation with sweeping, mostly 3D-rendered backgrounds, translates well enough to its native 2K on this single-layered disc, although in my opinion a full 50GB disc would have yielded fewer compression-related issues. Needless to say, there's a fair amount of detail and complexity on display here, and as a result the Blu-ray's lower bit rate can't quite keep up with its visuals during a few key moments. But within format boundaries this is still a good-looking disc, one that features a respectable amount of detail with good color reproduction, strong black levels, and an overall pleasing appearance from start to finish. Those with small to medium-sized displays may not even notice many of its stray (and somewhat unavoidable) shortcomings, so depending on your setup it may not represent a substantial difference. But considering the 4K combo pack is only about $5 more, only those with absolutely no plans to ever use the 4K disc should choose this one instead.

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons 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 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 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 redemption code. Bonus features are quite a bit slimmer than most DCAU titles.

• 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 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.' Blu-ray is fine within format boundaries, but I recommend the 4K combo pack to everyone but those with no plans to transition to UHD.