The Mechanical Monsters

The Mechanical Monsters^[1] is the second of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character Superman. Produced by Fleischer Studios, the short details Superman battling a villainous inventor and his army of robots. It was originally released by Paramount Pictures on November 28, 1941.^[2]

The Mechanical Monsters
Title card from The Mechanical Monsters
Directed by	Dave Fleischer
Story by	Seymour Kneitel Isidore Sparber
Based on	Superman by Jerry Siegel Joe Shuster
Produced by	Max Fleischer
Starring	Bud Collyer Joan Alexander Jackson Beck
Music by	Sammy Timberg Winston Sharples (uncredited) Lou Fleischer (uncredited)
Animation by	Steve Muffati George Germanetti
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Fleischer Studios
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	November 28, 1941 (1941-11-28)
Running time	9 minutes (one reel)
Language	English

Plot

An inventor is using robots to steal money from local banks. Clark Kent is covering a museum exhibit of the world's rarest jewels for the Daily Planet. He is greeted by Lois Lane, who intends to cover the story as well. A robot infiltrates the museum while the police fail to stop it. Museum visitors, including Clark and Lois, flee as the robot begins loading the jewels into a compartment within its torso. While Clark phones in the story, Lois sneaks into the robot's compartment. It leaves the museum and flies off. Clark notices Lois is gone. He goes back into the phone booth and becomes Superman.

A scene from the short detailing one of its titular robots on the attack

Flying high above the city, Superman spots the robot and uses his X-ray vision to see Lois inside it. He lands on the robot and struggles to open its compartment. The robot maneuvers upside down and throws him off into an overhead power line, tangling him in its wires. Its compartment opens up and all the jewels fall out, while Lois hangs on until the robot flips back over. As Superman frees himself from the wires, the robot arrives at the lair. Lois refuses to tell the inventor what became of the jewels, so he lowers her towards a pot of molten metal in what appears to be an industrial foundry.

Superman knocks down the door to the inventor's lair. His robots surround and pummel him, but Superman is undeterred and defeats them, sending the inventor running. The inventor threatens to drop Lois into the metal's pot if Superman comes nearer. Superman flies to Lois and catches her. The inventor then attempts to douse them in the metal, but Superman shields himself and Lois from it using his cape. Superman seizes the inventor and turns him in. The stolen jewels and money are recovered. In the office, Clark compliments Lois for her article covering the whole story; she remarks that she owes it all to Superman.

Cast

• Bud Collyer as Clark Kent / Superman, a police officer and the inventor of the titular robots
• Joan Alexander as Lois Lane
• Jackson Beck as the narrator

Production notes

The short film marks the only instance in which Superman is depicted using X-ray vision in a Fleischer short.^{[citation needed]}

References in later works

The Mechanical Monsters is the first story (from any medium) that features Clark Kent using a telephone booth to discard his street clothes and change into Superman. This plot device would thereafter become commonly associated with the character.^[3]

The Mechanical Monsters is referenced in Hayao Miyazaki's animated film Castle in the Sky.

The short film was parodied on The Disney Afternoon series The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show in the Pith Possum segment "Darkness on the Edge of Black" (part of episode 2).

Historians also point out the similarity between the robot in episode 155 of the anime series Lupin the Third Part II, "Farewell My Beloved Lupin" (also written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki), and the ones in The Mechanical Monsters.^[4]

One of the short's titular robots is seen on display in Superman's Fortress of Solitude in the 2007 animated film Superman: Doomsday.

During a second season episode of the HBO drama television series The Wire, a character can be seen watching The Mechanical Monsters on television, paralleling a robbery that is about to occur.^[5]

In 2011, animator Robb Pratt posted the short Superman Classic to his YouTube channel. In the short, the hero confronts giant robots, most of which are seen flying in the same manner as the ones from the short; at one point, he picks up a toy robot that also somewhat resembles one of them.^[6]

In 2013, Sean "Smeghead" Moore, creator of the web series Cinematic Excrement, created a humorous commentary track for the short.^[7]

Between 2013 and 2015, comic book creator Brian Fies released a webcomic entitled The Last Mechanical Monster, which acts as a sequel to The Mechanical Monsters.^[8][9][10]

In the Young Justice episode, "Og Htrof Dna Reuqnoc!", the second news report about Superman is shown to have been broadcast on November 28 at 19:41 and accounts his battle with "mechanical monsters".