Plot summary: Talia al Ghul brings trouble to Metropolis, which means it’s time for another Batman/Superman team-up!
Notes and Trivia
Episode: 52 (S3.E11)
Original Air Date: September 18th, 1999
Directed: Dan Riba (13)
Written: Rich Fogel (11)
Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD & Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (32)
Music: Michael McCuistion (14)
This is another episode I originally reviewed as part of a BTAS crossovers grab bag on The Reel World, but it’s getting the full review treatment here.
As I alluded to last episode, there are some designations that make this and the upcoming two-parter as ‘Season 4’ of STAS. That’s a ridiculous thing to adhere to though, so this is all still Season 3 as far as I’m concerned, which seems to be backed by whoever put the DVDs etc together.
Olivia Hussey takes over from Helen Slater as Talia al Ghul. She would keep the role for the Batman Beyond episode ‘Out of the Past‘
Ra’s was alluded to in the previous crossover, ‘Knight Time‘, with Robin stating Nightwing and Batgirl were following a lead about “an old man… Ghoul, something?”
Recap
Talia al Ghul and The Society of Shadows break into a train carrying items to Metropolis for a ‘Tribal Arts’ exhibit in Metropolis, seeking a “shaman’s staff.”
Superman thwarts their robbery but Talia has disabled the brakes and then blows up a portion of the bridge up ahead, forcing Supes to let her get away with the staff so he can save the passengers… with an assist from Batman!
Bruce scolds Clark for interfering with his ongoing investigation but then allows him to join in, taking him to an abandoned Society hideout to look for clues.
Elsewhere, Talia poses as Lois to trick Superman into rescuing the wrong woman, all so she can unleash the power of the Shaman’s Staff to capture him. Don’t ask where she was hiding it.
An incredibly elderly Ra’s reveals to Superman that he needs his strength as the Lazarus Pits are having diminished effects due to his massive overuse of them.
They take him to Mese de Oro, an ancient city Ra’s uses as a secret base. Superman attempts to escape, and while he’s subdued by the staff again, Ra’s ostensibly dies in the fracas!
Undeterred, Talia and Ubu (remember him?) begin a life force transfer using the staff. Batman of course arrives to stop it, but Ra’s is revived and hulked the fuck out.
During his rampage the staff is destroyed and a cave-in begins. Ra’s elects to try and save Talia, while Superman gets Batman to safety. There’s no sign of either al Ghul in the aftermath and the heroes part ways with a joke. Cute.
Best Performance
This is quite a tricky one because it’s a solid ensemble with multiple people getting a moment or two to shine but nobody truly stands out.
David Warner ages himself up nicely, sounding suitably frail and close to death. He’s a little less good when he’s a roided-out monster at the end though. Olivia Hussey is pretty sassy in the first half but then kind of fades into the background later. Tim Daly is good too, clapping back at Bruce as best he can.
Kevin Conroy is on fine form here, talking smack to Superman as always. His sarcastic quips about Superman being too gung ho, and the notion of faxing his itinerary whenever he’s visiting Metropolis are nice. It’s a shame his goodbye to Lois is so brief because I think Conroy would have crushed an extended version of that scene, though I get what they were going for.
Speaking of which, Dana Delany’s jealous jabs at Bruce about Talia and vulnerably bearing her soul when he pulls his disappearing act are lovely. But her appearance is very brief.
I suppose I’d give it to Conroy, but this is barely second gear for him. Common Conroy W? Is that a thing? Whatever, I’m old.
Episode Ranking
Roooough stuff with Lois making a joke about all the “commotion over a bunch of beads and blankets.” Just big big yikes. Also revealing Ra’s helped the Conquistadors sack a city to get his massive personal wealth started is… I don’t know if I would say funny? A choice though! Like he is a bad guy I suppose.
Anyway, fun to see Superman take precisely zero damage from Batman goons. Obviously Bruce wouldn’t have much trouble with them either, but he’d at least have to dodge and parry rather than simply shrugging off their attacks. That serves to set up an exchange with Talia that I’ll talk about more below, where we get to see how Superman’s raw might can be overcome if you’re smart enough. Then that boomerangs right back around at the end of the episode when Superman hits Ra’s with a ‘kill me or save Talia’ conundrum, the exact same gambit used against him in this and many other episodes. Cute writing.
With BTAS behind me, it’s always nice to get to see Batman go to work again. I enjoyed his little raid on the jet hanger to take out all the Society operatives. I appreciated the touch of him steering a dude’s hovercraft into an explosion but making sure to grapnel them both to safety first. Dope shot of him emerging from the flames as a moving shadow when he interrogates the last guy, too. I’d say that scene was probably the highlight of the episode, but it does make me question if running a few minutes from a different (better) show should earn you points or be disqualified from the considerations. To me the point of these team-ups and crossovers is to see them play in each other’s worlds, which ‘World’s Finest‘ and ‘Knight Time‘ did, but this one didn’t quite as much. Sure, Bruce is in Metropolis, but he’s exclusively tangling with his own Rogues Gallery, in BTAS style locations, with BTAS style music playing. I held this against ‘Showdown‘ which was just a Jonah Hex pilot, and to a lesser extent I held it against ‘In Brightest Day…‘ so it feels like I should hold it against this too. It’s a perfectly mediocre episode of BTAS, but this is STAS.
Empowering Ra’s with Superman’s strength is a solid idea, but the results are kind of brief, with Batman catching a beatdown and then Clark learning a lesson to win the day. The tense Lois & Bruce reunion is juicy… but also far too brief. Twist that knife, baybeeee! I’m not saying it’s one of the worst episodes in the show or anything, I just feel like I can’t overly reward them for it. If you think that’s weak, that is your right. I would counter that this is only rated so highly because people like Batman.
- Obsession
- The Late Mr. Kent
- Brave New Metropolis
- Apokalips… Now!
- Unity
- World’s Finest
- Livewire
- Double Dose
- Fun and Games
- Warrior Queen
- Knight Time
- Father’s Day
- Little Girl Lost
- The Hand of Fate
- The Last Son of Krypton
- Ghost in the Machine
- Stolen Memories
- Action Figures
- The Prometheon
- In Brightest Day…
- Tools of the Trade
- The Demon Reborn (NEW ENTRY)
- The Main Man
- Mxzypixilated
- Blasts from the Past
- Target
- The Way of All Flesh
- Solar Power
- Where There’s Smoke
- Protoype
- My Girl
- A Little Piece of Home
- Feeding Time
- New Kids in Town
- Superman’s Pal
- Little Big Head Man
- A Fish Story
- Speed Demons
- Two’s a Crowd
- Absolute Power
- Identity Crisis
- Heavy Metal
- Monkey Fun
- Bizarro’s World
Rogues Roundup
Ra’s al Ghul (David Waner) (first appearance)
As with the other borrowed BTAS villains, I’m assessing Ra’s (and Talia) in a vacuum.
Batman labelling Ra’s as more dangerous than The Joker and Lex Luthor combined may rub a certain generation of Batman fans the wrong way… but it’s probably a fair comment. We all love Joker, but his ambitions rarely extend beyond a single city, while Lex generally has a public image to maintain. Ra’s has Lex’s resources without being in the public eye, while setting his sights on the entire world and being much more of a physical threat than Joker.
To hear that and then see him at his most feeble is a fun juxtaposition, and of course serves as a prelude to ‘Super Ra’s’. Being strong enough to slap The World’s Finest around with relative ease is cool, and they make sure to give you a small taste of the full Ra’s experience on top of that, as he first strikes and then saves his daughter. In fact this may be the first time in the DCAU that he put Talia over his other goals, so I guess congrats on the growth… but you did this, bro!
Anyway, the final package ends up a smidge underwhelming despite that strong setup in my opinion.
Talia al Ghul (Olivia Hussey) (first appearance)
I mentioned above how Superman is effortlessly able to defeat the League’s goons. Talia remaining calm in the face of that challenge and then actually besting him temporarily just makes her look much cooler. As always the way to beat Superman isn’t to fight him, but to force him to go somewhere else. She not only does that but blows him a sarcastic kiss while making her exit. And then dresses up as Lois and fakes her impending death just to get Superman’s attention??? This diva.
It’s a shame she spends most of the rest of the episode just standing guard over Supes with the Shaman’s Staff though. They do toss in the stuff with her not wanting Bruce to die near the end, which was nice, but then she just gets the ‘are they dead?’ treatment. Boo.
That may read more negative than positive depending on your psychological profile, but I think Talia had a better episode than Ra’s. I’ll put her just ahead of her fellow BTAS alumni, Harley.
- Livewire
- Darkseid
- Toyman
- Lex Luthor
- Unity
- The Joker
- Queen Maxima
- Parasite
- Metallo
- Karkull
- Brainiac
- Mr. Mxyzptlk
- Talia al Ghul (NEW ENTRY)
- Harley Quinn
- Granny Goodness
- Kalibak
- Volcana
- Ra’s al Ghul (NEW ENTRY)
- The Gotham Rogues
- Lobo
- Luminus
- Sinestro
- Project Firestorm
- The Female Furies
- DeSaad
- Detective Bowman
- Bruno Mannheim (and Intergang!)
- Steppenwolf
- The Preserver
- Bizarro
- Kanto
- Mercy Graves
- The Prometheon
- De’Cine
- Mala & Jax-Ur
- Corey Mills
- Earl Garver
- Titano
- Weather Wizard
The Matt Signal 
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