All-Star Superman (4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review)

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

All-Star Superman is the DC Animated Movie based on the 12-issue comic book series of the same name by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. In this story perennial Superman supervillain Lex Luthor (voiced by Anthony LaPaglia) executes a masterplan to kill Superman (voiced by James Denton).

After he exposed to a massive dose of radiation due to a plan set in motion by Lex Luthor meant to kill him, the Man of Steel is dying and his powers fading away. With little time left, Superman decides to experience life as he never has, with number one on his agenda being revealing his identity to Lois Lane (voiced by Christina Hendricks). Superman is content to fade away with the love of his life Lois by his side until the truth about Lex Luthor’s plan is uncovered – he wants to rule the world and have the powerful alien out of the way. The Man of Steel must muster all his remaining strength to take on the battle of his life to save the planet one last time from Lex’s evil plan.

I must confess that I have never read the 12-issue arc of comics this film is taken from, but I have to imagine there is a lot left out. The film feels like some exposition is missing, but the action is top-notch as usual for a DC Animated Movie. The visuals are superb, with gorgeous character designs and detail in backgrounds, dazzling colors and well-crafted action sequences. The voice cast are also on the money with LaPaglia voicing an icy cold Lex Luthor and Hendricks a very sweet and charming Lois Lane.

The Video

Judging by this 4K Ultra HD release of All-Star Superman, a 2011 feature that was previously released on Blu-ray, Warner has gotten much better at upscaling their digital productions to 4K HDR. Some of their early 4K releases of these DC Animated Movies had serious issues with banding and noise, but none of that is apparent here. The film is presented in a 1.78:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) encodement. The HDR10 metadata has a MaxLL of 281 nits and MaxFALL of 161 nits. These aren’t exactly spectacular HDR numbers that bring a lot of extra brightness and specular highlight ‘pop’, but colors are a bit ‘juicier’ over the Blu-ray and there is good dynamic range overall.

The Audio

All-Star Superman gets an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that is the usual combination of deep low end, aggressive discrete effects in the surrounds and clear dialogue for these DC animated features. It does not rise to the level of a reference theatrical release, but it is enjoyable and good for this genre.

The Supplements

There are only two new bonus features included, both on the 4K disc, and they include interviews with the crew on the adaptation and the Silver Age comics. The rest are previously released featurettes and the usual sneak peeks and relevant episodes from DC TV series.

Bonus Features:

• An All-Star Adaptation (1080p; 00:07:57) (NEW)
• An All-Star Salute to the Silver Age (1080p; 00:07:16) (NEW)
• The Creative Flow: Incubating the Idea with Grant Morrison (1080p; 00:09:35)
• Commentary by Producer Bruce Timm and Writer Grant Morrison
• All-Star Superman Digital Comic
• Superman Now (1080p; 00:33:45)

On Blu-ray Only:

• Green Lantern: Emerald Knights “Sneak Peek” (1080p; 00:11:40)
• Superman/Batman: Apocalypse “Sneak Peek” (SD; 00:12:12)
• Bruce Timm’s Picks:
  • Blast from the Past, Part 1 (SD; 00:19:53)
  • Blast from the Past, Part 2 (SD; 00:21:26)
• Batman: Under the Red Hood Trailer (SD; 00:01:19)

The Final Assessment

An entry in the Superman canon that fans of the Man of Steel will likely enjoy, All-Star Superman offers excellent visuals, lots of action, and strong audio and visuals on 4K.

All-Star Superman is out on 4K Ultra HD Combo April 18, 2023, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

• Rating Certificate: PG (for sequences of action and violence, language including brief innuendo, and some sensuality)
• Studios & Distributors: DC Entertainment | Warner Bros. Animation | Warner Premiere | Studio Distribution Services (SDS) Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
• Director: Sam Liu
• Written By: Jerry Siegel | Joe Shuster | Grant Morrison
• Run Time: 76 Mins.
• Street Date: 18 April 2023
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: HDR10
• HDR10 Metadata:
  • MaxLL: 281 nits
  • MaxFALL: 161 nits
• Primary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Secondary Audio: French DD 5.1 | Spanish DD 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH | French | Dutch | Spanish