Superman is dead, after the dramatic events of The Death of Superman, and now, six months later, four new Supermen are trying to take his place. No one initially knows who they are or where they came from, just that they are sporting familiar colors and each has a big "S" on his chest.

Reign of the Supermen is an animated movie that picks up where Death left off. Lois Lane is trying to put the pieces of her life back together, Clark Kent is still presumed missing in the aftermath of Superman's cataclysmic battle with Doomsday, the Justice League is trying to pick up the slack without its most powerful hero, and Superman's body is missing from his tomb.

The four new Supermen are distinct from each other, as well as from the original. One is a partial clone, created in Lex Luthor's laboratories using a mixed bag of DNA. One is Iron Man with a hammer and cape. One is a Kryptonian construct that believes criminals should be killed. And one is a cyborg, created from the shattered body of an astronaut whose crew Superman failed to save (although he initially tries to convince the public -- and Lois -- that he is what remains of the original Superman.

I'm not a fan of comic-book storylines that dramatically kill and then resurrect main characters. (I don't care how effectively they've been used in the years since their resurrections, but Bucky Barnes and Jason Todd should have stayed dead.) This storyline is of course one of the most notorious examples of that publishing strategy, which has been used so often it is routinely mocked even by fans. Of course, we all knew Superman wasn't going to stay dead for long.

That said, this movie is a solid adaptation of the comics, and disregarding that overused trope, it and the preceding film are entertaining animated features. Although, let's be honest, Lois Lane's role in the denouement stretches even the boundaries of suspension of disbelief in a cartoon movie.

Admittedly, too, the ending feels a little rushed and leaves some threads hanging, but what do you expect when DC limits its animated features to a length of 80 minutes?

Voice actors from Death reprise their roles here, including Jerry O'Connell and Rebecca Romijn as Superman and Lois Lane, plus Jason O'Mara as Batman, Rosario Dawson as Wonder Woman, Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern and (sigh) Rainn Wilson as a whiny Lex Luthor.

My dip into the deep end of DC's animated movie pool in recent months has come up with mixed results. Of those I've seen so far, I'd say The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen are among its better successes.