‘Man of Steel’ Gets Perfect ‘Dragon Ball’ Opening

A new fan-made video re-imagines Man of Steel with an anime theme song — and it is strangely appropriate.

Man of Steel is generally considered a dark, serious movie, and many feel that it was the beginning of a bad streak for DC Comics’ films. However, YouTube user Negajubito proved that the whole thing could have been brightened up with the simple addition of some upbeat music, preferably in Japanese.

The dramatic shots of a brand new Superman flying through the air, hurtling through space or fighting with General Zodd gain a lot from the inclusion of Dragon Soul, the opening theme first used in Dragon Ball Z Kai. The video was meticulously edited around the beat, even including some typical shots for an anime opener. There was a long shot of Kal-El walking across a sunlit horizon, a slow-motion shot of him floating in a cloud of rubble and even a scene where he wore a massive grin while flying through the air. This could be the hero’s only smile from the entire film.

The video was just posted three weeks ago. It was Negajubito’s third remix of a Western superhero movie with an anime theme. The skilled editor has made three more since then, as well as an edit mashing up Thanos’ battle on Titan with Naruto audio, and a Logan-style trailer for a Thanos standalone movie. Each of the videos has at least 12,000 views, though several have over 100,000 and one is nearing 900,000.

The “what if [blank] had an anime opening” has become a popular meme format in recent months. A few other viral standouts have emerged, including one incredible piece of animation that imagined Spongebob Squarepants as an anime series. The video, made by animator Narmak, took over Twitter last fall. It was all the funnier because it included very little actual action, instead focusing on scowling close-ups, as all great anime openings do.

The idea has even spread beyond comics and animation, with a viral video last month re-imagining John Wick as an anime series. Much like Man of Steel, clever editing and cheery pop riffs go a long way in making the Baba Yaga appear more cheery, though it is hard to hide the level of bloodshed that makes those movies so compelling.

The online anime community seems to hold a comfortable dominance in the world of memes, with countless viral threads and standard formats emerging. As the Vine compilation craze fades, anime seems to be revitalizing it, posting characters from My Hero Academia over the figures in the well-known clips. Wherever memes are heading, anime seems to get there one step ahead.