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Lobo may be one of DC’s most over the top characters, but I think he's great! In Superman: The Animated Series he became the perfect foil for the Man of Steel.

In this video essay, I explore why The Main Man remains one of the most important episodes of Superman: The Animated Series, how the creative team successfully adapted Lobo for children’s television, and why his chaotic arrival completely changed the scope and tone of the series. I also examine The Preserver, one of the DCAU’s most underrated villains, and the the other side to his ideas about preservation, captivity, extinction, and identity hidden beneath the episode’s comedy.

From bar fights, bounty hunting, and bizarre alien worlds to deeper themes surrounding Superman’s identity as the last Kryptonian, this episode expanded the scope of Superman: The Animated Series forever.

This is the story of how a loud mouthed space biker who was never supposed to work in children's animation became the perfect Superman villain.

Topics covered include:


Lobo’s comic book origins
Simon Bisley and Alan Grant’s reinvention of the character
Adapting mature comic book characters for animation
The Main Man analysis
Superman and Lobo as thematic opposites
The Preserver explained
Superman as the last Kryptonian
Why The Main Man changed Superman: The Animated Series
The expansion of the DC Animated Universe into cosmic storytelling


Chapters:

00:00 Lobo is GREAT!
01:42 The Perfect Superman Foe
02:57 Broadened Horizons
04:23 The Classic Odd-Couple
07:19 The Villainy of The Preserver
09:45 The Preserver's Dark Side
11:11 Why The Main Man Rocks
12:36 Self-Promotion
14:08 Next Time