Superman: The Animated Series

Kryptonian scientist Jor-El discovers that the planet Krypton is on the verge of destruction. However, the planet's supercomputer Brainiac denies this is the case to the planet's council and brands him a criminal, as it makes plans to escape after collecting all of Krypton's data. With no choice, Jor-El and his wife Laraprepare to send their only son, Kal-El, to a distant world, before Krypton's inevitable destruction.

Kal-El's spaceship crash-lands on Earth following its intersellar journey, where he is found and adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who name him Clark. A few years later, a teenage Clark, living in Smallville, Kansas, soon discovers he has superpowers, which he quickly uses to save the life of his girlfriend Lana Lang, and soon is told the truth of his origins by his adoptive parents.

A few years after learning of his origins, Clark Kent lives in Metropolis as a reporter for The Daily Planet, while using his superpowers for good as the hero Superman. While Clark finds himself drawn close to his fellow colleague Lois Lane as Superman, he also finds himself dealing with escaped terrorist John Corben, who wreaks havoc with a robotic suit stolen from billionaire Lex Luthor. Meanwhile, an alien ship comes across a Kryptonian satellite, unaware that Brainiac is hidden within its mainframe.

Gangster Bruno Mannheim is running into problems with the mysterious Toyman, who uses children's toys and games to cause violence. After being abducted by Toyman, Lois learns his motivation -- his father had taken a loan from Mannheim and been set up to take the fall when the police busted one of Mannheim's criminal enterprises.

During the opening of a museum, Superman tries to stop two robbers. He fails when he falls victim to the poisoning effects of Kryptonite, one of the exhibited rocks. Lex Luthor sees the surveillance tape of the event and determines that this must be Superman's one and only weakness. Luthor orchestrates a scheme to trap Superman, place him in vicinity of the rock, and put an end to him once and for all.

Janitor Rudy Jones runs into an accident with nuclear waste and becomes Parasite. He feeds on the energy of others, with his number one choice being Superman. In doing so, he discovers Superman's identity.

Thanks to the orchestrations of Luthor, terrorist John Corben becomes Metallo, a skin-covered cyborg with a Kryptonite heart. Luthor then sets the supervillain on a quest to kill Superman, but Corben begins to question his role as Metallo when he lacks any human senses in the progress.

Brainiac, once Krypton's all-knowing planetary computer, comes to Earth as part of his information-gathering trek across the galaxy, and partners with Lex Luthor on the basis of giving technological progress to humanity. But, as Superman discovers, Brainiac's intent after gathering the world's knowledge is to destroy Earth.

Intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo is employed to capture the Man of Steel for the rare-species-collecting Preserver, who is obsessed with keeping endangered species in captivity to protect them and prevent their extinction. Superman, the last Kryptonian, is the latest catch for his collection. Upon realizing that Lobo is the last Czarnian (having killed all the others himself), he betrays the bounty hunter and adds him to the collection as well.

Superman and Lobo team up to escape the Preserver's holdings. Additionally, they must fight off a vile band of competing bounty hunters who share a vendetta against the "Main Man."

Clark's high school sweetheart Lana Lang, who is now a famous fashion designer, comes to Metropolis where she and Lex Luthor become a celebrity couple. Lana still has strong feelings for Clark; even worse, she had long ago connected Clark to Superman. Hoping to become his sidekick (and lover), she puts her own life in danger by spying on Luthor's arms sales to gain incriminating information.

Bruno Mannheim's Intergang terrorizes Metropolis with hi-tech weapons from a mysterious backer (Darkseid's minion Kanto), while SCU Inspector Dan Turpin goes on a personal hunt for answers. Turpin has been the subject of media jokes that Superman must do everything, until Superman appears on camera saying it was actually Turpin who saved Superman's life by stopping one of the deadly weapons. In the end, Manheim meets his new boss, the evil lord Darkseid, bent on conquering the universe, and filling Mannheim with dread.

When embittered scientist Earl Garver goes into a coma before revealing the location of a ticking bomb, Superman risks enlisting the Parasite to drain the information from Garver's mind. It then becomes an internal struggle in Parasite's mind as Earl tries to tempt Parasite with visions of power, whereas Rudy Jonesargues that it is simply best to defuse the bomb and accept the reward of better living conditions while serving his prison sentence.