Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, the newest Direct to Video release from the DC Animated Universe, is now available for your collection on DVD and Blu-ray! Adapted from the first story arc of the current series, this new animated adventure focuses on the World's Finest Heroes as they face off against the President of the United States, Lex Luthor! But can they stop Lex's evil schemes when he is the man running the country?

Story:
The current economic situation has degraded to the point where marshal law must be declared. A change is needed, and that change comes in the form of Lex Luthor running for President of the United States! Once elected, Luthor is quick to fix the current situation and help return the world to financial stability. In order to further his control over the population, he has enlisted the aid of several well known superheroes and villains, including Power Girl, Captain Atom, Black Lightning and Major Force. As if there wasn't enough to deal with, it is discovered that a Kryptonite meteor the size of a small country is about to crash into the Earth! Luthor offers Superman the chance to work for him, being that he is the President, but Superman declines. Luthor proves that he is always prepared and has Metallo attack Superman! Batman intervenes and saves Superman, but it seems that Metallo is killed during the fight! Luthor initiates the next step in his plan and offers a Billion Dollar bounty for Superman and Batman so that they can be brought to justice for the murder of Metallo. With villains and heroes coming out of the woodwork to claim the bounty and the impending doom of a giant meteor, Superman and Batman have their work cut out for them.

Cast:
This animated project features an all-star voice acting lineup of Clancy Brown (Lex Luthor), Kevin Conroy (Batman) and Tim Daly (Superman). Andrea Romano and Bruce Timm were able to reunite the talent that we have grown to know and love and now we get to hear them together again. Public Enemies also features the talents of John C. McGinley as Metallo, Xander Berkley is Captain Atom, CCH Pounder returns as Amanda Waller, Smallville's Allison Mack plays Power Girl, and Star Trek: The Next Generation/Reading Rainbow's LeVar Burton is Black Lightning. Bruce Timm even gets in on the action and voices Mongul.

Special Features:
Blu-ray-
-Explore the Dynamics of the Evolving Relationship Between Two Classic Super Heroes in A Test of Minds: Superman and Batman

-Dinner with DCU and Special Guest Kevin Conroy – Extended Version

–Exclusive Sneak Peek at the DC Universe's Upcoming Justice League Crisis on Two Earths: The next project in the DTV line features a script from Dwayne McDuffie that was originally intended to be for a Justice League Unlimited Animated Feature (yes this is confirmed during the featurette to be the same script). Many of us were looking forward to seeing the continuing adventures of the JLU series, but it seems that idea was put on hold for the time being and that they at least wanted to move forward with a slightly modified story. The sneak peek does include a more detailed look and some great new sequences from the new project as well as an in depth look at the newest voices behind the characters.

-Behind the Scenes of the Blackest Night

-Bruce Timm Presents 6 Bonus Cartoons

-Explore 4 other DC Universe Animated Movies

-1080p Video

DVD Features-
-The DVD version has the same features but it is presented in Standard Definition.



Overall:
I really enjoyed this release more than I have the previous DC Animated DTV projects. The fact that this was more of a direct adaptation seemed to allow for a bit more consistency with the characters and they were able to really jump into more of the action rather than focusing on a lot of setup. This was the first time we really got to see a bigger DC Universe outside of the DCAU Cartoons, and it was a real treat to see so many cameos of iconic characters. Watching an animated Batman and Superman vs Hawkman and Captain Marvel battle was something truly spectacular. But I do have to point out that it was disappointing that this was such a short release, clocking in at 67 minutes. There was a decent amount cut from the original story (including one my favorite Clark/Bruce interactions of all time regarding breaking into the White House to stop Lex Luthor) and I really felt that they could have done more with the story to stretch it out and make it a bit longer. Also, I don't quite understand the hype in getting LeVar Burton to be the voice of Black Lightning when he only has one sentence in the entire film. Getting another chance to hear Kevin, Clancy, and Tim reprise their respective roles as these characters is something that will never get old. I grew up listening to these guys as the voices of my childhood heroes, and I know that many fans agree that any chance that we get to have them reunite is something worth watching.

ComicsOnline gives Superman/Batman Public Enemies 4.5 out of 5 World's Finest Stories.