Superman Red Son/YMMV

• Crazy Awesome: Lex Luthor's introduction. A top scientist at STAR Labs, he's taking a coffee break playing (and winning) fourteen simultaneous games of chess while reading Machiavelli's The Prince and also listening to a teach-yourself-Urdu tape on a Walkman of his own invention "to keep my mind occupied".
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: "These shores are off limits, Comrade." Cue the ass kicking.
• Fridge Logic:
  • The Soviets sure do invoke "God" a lot when they talk...
    • Soviet Russia wasn't as un-Christian as most people think. While the Communist government dismantled the Church as an institution, most Russians remained Christians in their private lives and the Soviet government soon accepted that they couldn't undo centuries of Christian tradition in Russia. Stalin himself actually helped to revive the Russian Orthodox Church in order to whip up support for the war against the Nazis.
    • Even so, Superman was literally raised as believe in Communist doctrine, and made his way into Stalin's inner circle. Maybe Stalin was more impressed with his abilities then his religious beliefs?
  • We never get to see how Luthor makes the world the 'Utopia' it is by the end. Like, what, did everyone just spontaneously decide to be Mary Sues? He used Capitalism and the Invisible hand of the Free Market did it? Communism done right (as in with no Superman interference)?
    • All that matters is that whatever means we use, humanity can triumph on its own. We don't need a parent figure guiding us like children. And Luthor's government seems to not be like any we've seen to date. He has artists, scientists, and philosophers in his governing body.
    • Actually, its implied that his government is not much different from Superman's own, and that Lex actually borrowed a lot of the socialist ideas to make the economy work, not free-market stuff. The main difference is probably that despite socialist economics, it is unlikely to be egalitarian in any meaningful way. As for humanity not needing a parent figure, thats more or less what Luthor has made himself- Big Brother 2.0. After all, he still rules the world, and he is still Lex Luthor.
  • Kal-L's ship lands in Ukraine in 1938, yet the story begins in the early 1950s... Superman would be 14-15 at most.
• Fridge Brilliance: The ultimate example is when Superman implies that the reason he survived Luthor's black hole was that Luthor rounded off a decimal point when calculating Superman's density! See Xanatos Roulette on the main page for the full context on this.
  • It could be argued that since Luthor desired to destroy Superman, not just defeat him, that even in the ending that even though Lex began a Golden Age for all of humanity, Superman surviving just ended up as yet another of his schemes against him. And to bring the point home, Superman literally had the last laugh as he witnessed Lex's funeral, even 2,000 years later. However, Superman despite surviving didn't try to take over the world again, and just lived quietly. In other words, Lex didn't really checkmate him, he just tipped his king piece over and chose to resign.
  • Stalin and Superman getting along finely is rather funny, given that "Stalin" literally means "Man Of Steel"
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the canon one-shot Superman: The Earth Stealers, a cosmonaut commented that it's a "pity such a magnificent hero did not land in Mother Russia when he came to Earth!"
• It Was His Sled: Averted. The idea of a Communist Superman completely overshadows the twist ending. Even Injustice 2 doesn't actually seem to remember the ending.
• Memetic Mutation: The Sexy Bat-Hat. You know you want to touch it.
• Narm Charm:
  • How some people view Batman's hat.
  • For some, the voices on the motion comic take you out of the story with how cliché they are in such a dark tale. For others, that's where the fun is.
• Sacred Cow: Red Son is generally regarded as Elseworlds' best. Criticize it at your own risk.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks: The animated movie is, for the most part, a very faithful adaptation of the comic. But many didn't care for the change to the Twist Ending or chucking out the examination that Superman and Luthor weren't so different in favour of a safer America Saves the Day ending.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • A lot of scenes show the canon Superman characters doing random things to show how their lives are different without Superman, even though they have zero connection to the plot. Examples: the Kents, Lois Lane and the Daily Planet staff, etc.
  • Of all the Superman characters who did appear, Supergirl is notably absent. Couldn't she have landed in the US and really upped the arms race?
• Xanatos Wrote This Character: Lex Luthor. Seriously, a formula to fix the US budget? Erasing the deficit to non-existence? Arranging a space-satellite crash in Metropolis knowing Superman will definitely show up to save its citizens despite being at war with them? Condemning Lois to a loveless marriage, but knowing full well she'll never leave him? Quadrupling the standard of living of the U.S. and turning it into an economic superpower soon after civil unrest within a year of taking office? And there's that whole Brainiac contingency plan he apparently set up forty years back? To say nothing of the Mary Suetopia he creates after Superman is gone.
• What an Idiot!: You've gotta love how Pyotr is totally confident of his ability to defeat Batman once their plan to overthrow Superman is complete, right after Bats kidnapped him from his own private car.