There were a lot more Batman TAS than Superman TAS. Even then. I could easily name 15 Batman the TAS that pulled on the heartstrings.
Superman TAS, not so much.
1-"Brave New Metropolis", alternate reality where Superman becomes a fascist enforcer out of despair for a dead Lois, vowing never to allow that to happen again.
2-"The Late Mr. Kent," Without spoiling the rest of the episode, Superman gets to
3-"Legacies, part 1 and part 2," this was the series finale. Masterfully executed.
4-"Identity Crisis", the first episode with Bizarro, played for sadness more than laughs.
5-"Ghost in the Machine", Lex Luthor and his bodyguard Merci get a rare does of humanization.
6-"Stolen Memories", Superman finds information about Krypton for the first ime and learns more about it's demise.
I've seen some things covering Captain Marvel. Now the movie had bad acting, huge plot holes, a wooden actress who was a PR nightmare and a bunch of other flaws, but the biggest flaw is that it was pretty boring. Captain Marvel is about as powerful as Superman. Maybe too powerful to make a good story. Superman is arguably too powerful to make a good story. Superman gets a free pass on this often because his character debuted over 80 years ago. Is that good enough?
For the most part, in my opinion, the
best Superman stories are usually on par with mediocre Batman stories, unless Superman's concept is challenged. Superman's classic character is optimstic and positive. I wonder if that fits the zeitgeist of the late twentieth century, early twenty-first century? Then there is the power creep problem. Stan Lee once said he didn't want any single hero to be unquestionably more powerful than all the others and that is a good goal to strive for.
Injustice Gods Among Us and the animated series show
Brave New Metropolis show what would happen if Superman lost his hopeful idealism and the accompanying restraint.
The Death of Superman and it's sequel
Rise of the Supermen challenges Superman's invulnerability and infallibility.
There was another Superman story I liked. I don't know if you ever watched Batman Beyond, a show and comic book series where an octagenarian Bruce Wayne passes on the mantle of Batman to Terry McGuiness. There was one two part episode where he met an octagenarian Superman. There was also a tie-in comic book. I kind of liked this old Superman. He was still badass but he wasn't as strong or as fast as he used to be. "They used to say I was faster than a speeding bullet, but now I can barely keep pace with them, and the bullets grow ever faster." Superman also had to deal with the angst of losing all his loved ones. He successfully managed to keep Lois and everyone else he cared about safe, but because of his Kryptonian DNA, he had to watch Lois die of old age while he was still spry. That's a problem you cannot fight with super powers.
Then my min went back to Young Justice, because it always does, that show is perfection, for me at least. Both DC and Marvel have comic book characters that don't seem to age, they just occasionally get rebooted. Young Justice is essentially about the young sidekicks preparing to take on their mentor's mantles so the characters
do age but they didn't just go forward, they went backwards. They created a backstory where superheroes in the 1930s through the 1960s formed a group called the Justice Society of America which gradually fell apart as the heroes grew old and died without replacements, then a new batch of heroes started showing up in the 80s and 90s and they formed the Justice League.
I'd like to see a future series where Superman, and maybe a few others, had their super debut in 1940s or June 1938 if we want to be sticklers. Superman could be the same optimistic powerful character from a simpler time, but he would have generational issues with the heroes that came later. If he was in his twenties in 1940 that woul make him a centinarian. The comics say Kryptonian DNA expands the life span, but it might be interesting if he was half the strength of his prime or less. He'd be a resource, but he couldn't effortlessly fix every problem.
It would also be a good setup for establishing the stakes whenever the younger weaker heroes have to deal with returning monsters and villains from the past that Superman defeated. Thinking back to the
Percy Jackson series where Ancient Greek monsters recycle. "How was this monster last defeated?" "Hercules smashed it under his foot." "Hmm, I cannot exactly crush him underneath my Nikes."
The danger of making Superman a stand-in for "the good ol' days" is that it would imply that times were better back then and they weren't. Every generation has it's own challenges. I like to avoid 'Member Berries in my media.
But anyway, if Hell froze over and I became in charge of a DC reboot, that's what I would try. I would take the massive legacy of DC characters and spread them out across the decades making Superman the oldest superhero still alive and kicking.
Anyway, it's Batman month, and this is ostensibly a Batman thread.