X

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

Continue with Facebook Continue with email

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

Superman: Unbound

Offering herself as a hostage, Lois Lane is caught in an aerial confrontation between her terrorist captors and the unpredictable Supergirl before Superman arrives to save the day. Soon after, knowing Superman's civilian identity, Lois attempts to get Clark Kent to make their relationship public despite his fear of the consequences, but their argument is halted by a Daily Planet staff meeting before Kent leaves when they are being alerted to a meteor. Intercepting it, Superman learns the meteor to be a robot and that he promptly defeats before activating its beacon and taking it to the Fortress of Solitude. With help from a fear-filled Supergirl, Superman learns the robot is actually a drone controlled by a being named Brainiac, a cyborg who was originally a Coluan scientist who subjected himself to extensive cybernetic and genetic enhancements. As Supergirl reveals from her experience with the monster, Brainiac seized and miniaturized Krypton's capital city of Kandor prior to the planet's destruction with her father and mother attempting to track him down before they mysteriously lost contact with Krypton. Fearing more drones would come, Superman goes flying all through the galaxy in an attempt to track down Brainiac before finding his drones attacking a planet. Though he attempted to stop them, Superman witnesses Brainiac capture the planet's capital like he did with Kandor before firing a Solar Aggressor missile to have the planet be consumed by the exploding sun. The explosion knocks Superman unconscious and he is brought upon Brainiac's ship, coming to in the examination room and fighting his way through the vessel before he discovers a room full of bottled cities prior to being attacked by Brainiac. At this point, confirming that he spared Krypton because of its eventual destruction, Brainiac reveals that he has been collecting information of all the planets he visited before destroying them. Using Superman's spacecraft, Brainiac decides to chart a course to Earth while sending Superman into Kandor. Inside Kandor, his strength waning due to the artificial red sun, Superman meets his uncle Zor-El and aunt Alura. After spending time with them, Superman formulates a plan and escapes Kandor using the subjugator robots. From there, Superman disables Brainiac's ship and spirits Kandor to Earth. At that time, Lois learns from Supergirl of why Superman left and alerts the Pentagon for a possible invasion by Brainiac as he eventually repaired his ship and arrives to Metropolis. Despite everyone, including Supergirl, doing their best to fend his drones off, Metropolis is encased in a bottle and both Superman and Supergirl are captured. Having hooked Superman up to his ship, revealing that Earth offers nothing to him, Brainiac tortures Superman to obtain Kandor before destroying the planet. However, telling his captor what Earth means to him, Superman breaks free and then frees Supergirl and convinces her to stop the Solar-Aggressor from hitting the sun. Remembering Zor-El's words about Brainiac's ideals, Superman knocks him out of the ship and they crash into a swamp. As he fights Braniac, Superman forces the cyborg to experience the chaos of life itself outside of his safe, artificial environments he created. Eventually, the combined mental and physical strain reaches its toll on Brainiac as he combusts and is reduced to ash and molten machinery. After restoring Metropolis, taking Kandor to another planet to restore it to its normal size to establish a Kryptonian colony, Superman makes his love life with Lois as Kent public with a marriage proposal. However, placed in the Fortress of Solitude, Brainiac's remains are still active.

Loading. Please wait...

Content not available in your region? ExpressVPN can help you stay connected wherever you are. Get 4 extra months FREE with TV Guide's exclusive offer.

Cast & Crew See All

Matt Bomer
Superman
Stana Katic
Lois Lane
John Noble
Brainiac

Featured Video

Superman: Unbound
Superman: Unbound
1:29

1:29 Superman: Unbound

Awards

  • 2014 - Golden Reel Award - Best Sound Editing - Direct to Video - Animation - nominated
  • 2014 - BTVA Special/DVD Voice Acting Award - Best Male Vocal Performance in a TV Special/Direct-to-DVD Title or Short - nominated
  • 2014 - BTVA Special/DVD Voice Acting Award - Best Female Vocal Performance in a TV Special/Direct-to-DVD Title or Short - nominated

You May Also Like See All

Pinocchio
Ratatouille
Spirited Away
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Popular Movies See all movies

Elemental

1 hr 41 mins
Set in Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together, Elemental introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.
58   Metascore
2023 Animation, Action & Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Drama

The Year Without a Santa Claus

0 hr 51 mins
Mrs. Claus tells us about the time Santa had a bad cold and decided to take a vacation from Christmas. Two of his elves, Jingle and Jangle Bells, decided to go out with Vixen to find children to convince Santa that the Christmas spirit is still important to everybody else. But they must get past Heat Miser and Snow Miser before they land in Southtown, USA, where it never snows for Christmas. Heat and Snow can't agree to let this change, but Mrs. Claus knows their mother, Mother Nature.
1974 Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Music

Our Friend, Martin

1 hr 0 mins
This is the story of a Black teenager named Miles, who goes on a class field trip to the museum of learning what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did for humanity, but at first his mind is focused on wishing he could be playing baseball instead. But the trip turns into an exciting adventure when he and his best friend Randy, who is white, are sent back in time, where they meet Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at several points during his life.
1999 Animation, Action & Adventure, Drama, Family, Documentary

Cars

1 hr 56 mins
Hotshot race car Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is living life in the fast lane...until he hits a detour and gets stranded in Radiator Springs, a forgotten town on Route 66. There he meets Sally, Mater, Doc Hudson (Paul Newman) and a heap of hilarious characters who help him discover there's more to life than trophies and fame.
73   Metascore
2006 Animation, Action & Adventure, Comedy, Family, Sports

Avatar: The Way of Water

3 hr 12 mins
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, “Avatar: The Way of Water” begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.
67   Metascore
2022 Animation, Action & Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Sing 2

1 hr 50 mins
With his theatrical company a local success, Buster Moon is dreaming of bigger things. Unfortunately, when a talent scout dismisses their work as inadequate for the big time, Buster is driven to prove her wrong, and he inspires his players to gamble everything to sneak into a talent audition in Redshore City for demanding entertainment mogul Jimmy Crystal. Against the odds, they catch his interest with some frantic creative improvisation and even more desperate lies, like personally knowing reclusive rock star Clay Calloway, who has not been seen in 15 years. Now faced with a tight production window with only a vague story idea and dire consequences for failure, Buster and his friends must all stretch their talents put on a show. The gang's challenges seem insurmountable, but each of them finds new inspirations and friends where they least expect them to pursue an artistic dream worthy of them.
49   Metascore
2021 Animation, Action & Adventure, Comedy, Family, Music