I’m a simple man. I want my superhero movies to be about good guys versus bad guys. I don’t want superhero movies where a nutcase dresses up as a bat and tries to carve out the heart of Superman.

I’m not saying Batman and Superman need to be best friends.

I just want to see them fighting the likes of Professor Pyg or the Prankster and not each other. Give me a reminder of why I care about these two heroes to begin with.

For the third week of Batman Month, let’s take a look at 2009’s Superman/Batman: Public Enemies from director Sam Liu. This animated motion picture is based on Superman/Batman comic book series from writer Jeph Loeb and artist Ed McGuinness.

The story begins with the United States falling into chaos during a presidential election year. Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown) throws his hat in the ring as a third party candidate and actually wins the election. This, of course, explains the title. If Lex Luthor gets elected president, then Superman and Batman will be declared public enemies. It’s only a matter of time. 

President Luthor has managed to recruit superheroes to work for his administration including Captain Atom, Starfire, Black Lightning, Katana, Power Girl, and Major Force.

Guess what?

Things are actually starting to improve in the United States of America. The economy is great and we’re not at war with anyone, but Superman (Tim Daly) will not bend the knee. He still sees Lex Luthor as a sick man, but with everything going so well, is there really a need for Superman?

Scientists discover that a huge chunk of the planet Krypton (about the size of a small country) is headed toward Earth. With it being made out of solid kryptonite, even Superman won’t be able to stop it. Lex Luthor plans to blow it up with missiles. Still, the president extends an olive branch to Superman on national news to bury the hatchet once and for all. Luthor asks for a private meeting with the Man of Steel, but Batman (Kevin Conroy) warns Superman that it’s a trap. Superman goes anyway and, well, it’s a trap. Lex Luthor has brought Metallo (John C. McGinley) with him, a cyborg made out of indestructible metal and who is powered, naturally, by kryptonite.

Superman gets his butt kicked, but Batman shows up to help. They manage to escape Metallo, but not before the cyborg shoots Superman point blank with a kryptonite bullet. Back at the Batcave, Batman manages to remove the bullet. On national news, President Luthor tells the world that Superman murdered Metallo because he’s under the influence of the kryptonite meteorite headed toward Earth. He offers a billion dollars to anyone who can take out Superman. When Batman and Superman go to investigate the remains of Metallo, they find residual radiation that couldn’t have come from Superman’s heat vision. 

While trying to collect more evidence to clear Superman’s name, the duo come under attack from various villains in DC’s rogue’s gallery in addition to the superheroes working for President Luthor.

Meanwhile, we learn that Lex Luthor is injecting himself with a steroid cocktail  laced with liquid kryptonite. When his plan to blow up the meteor with missiles fails, Lex decides to just let the world burn so he can rebuild it in his image. With time running out to save the planet and clear Superman’s name, leave it to Batman to make the ultimate sacrifice. 

This is another banger from DC Studios, a kind of buddy cop movie featuring two superheroes that couldn’t be more different, but are actually best friends. Plus, you get to see a knock-down, drag-out fight between Superman and Lex Luthor. What more could you possibly want?

Jeff Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, episode284, episode 441, episode 442, episode 443,episode 444, episode 450,episode 477, episode 491, episode 492,episode 493, episode 495, episode 496, episode 545, episode 546, episode 547, episode 548, episode 549, episode 575, episode 596, episode 597, episode 598, episode 599, episode 642, episode 643, episode 644, episode 645, episode 670, episode 686, episode 687,  688, and 689) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.