Superman vs. The Elite (2012 Video)

Robin Atkin Downes: Manchester Black, Pokolistani Ambassador

Quotes 

• Manchester Black : You think that's it? It's not over, you poncy twit. If you think I'll just go to jail and rot, you're living in a dream world!

  Superman : Good. Dreams save us. Dreams lift us up and transform us into something better. And on my soul, I swear that until my dream of a world where dignity, honor and justice are the reality we all share, I'll never stop fighting. Ever.

• Superman : Sorry. I heard your telepathic shout before. But my mind is protected from anything deeper by a series of psychic blocks.

  Manchester Black : Best I've seen too. Got a few skeletons rattling around up there you don't want out? I'm not looking for you deepest, darkest. Showing is faster than telling. And I hate to hear my own voice, believe it or not.

  Coldcast : Don't believe him. Only thing shuts him up is a soccer game.

  Manchester Black : Football, you uneducated Yank.

• Superman : I'm going to say this once. Surrender now, face judgment for your crimes or...

  Manchester Black : Stop. There is no "or" in this conversation. Because you don't have the stones to do to us what we'd do to you in a heartbeat.

  Menagerie : He might have the stones to do me.

  Manchester Black : Pam, I'm handing out ultimatums. Please, keep it in your pants.

• Manchester Black : [holding a piece of Superman's cape]  How is it that no matter how badly you massacre one of these thong-and-blanket types some shred of their unmentionables still survives the blast?

  Coldcast : I did my best, boss. At least you got a trophy out of it.

  Manchester Black : Strewth.

• The Hat : Hang tight! Everyone knows Superman can't do magic!

  [flies into the whirlwind] 

  The Hat : Here's a little ancient Chinese secret...

  [starts to choke] 

  Coldcast : How? He's shielded by magic...!

  Manchester Black : Mate, that wind is clocking in at five hundred miles a minute! His body may not be taking any hits, but his lungs've collapsed from the vacuum!

• Menagerie : OW! Something bit me!

  [sees a Superman dart] 

  Manchester Black : Bit you?

  [Menagerie collapses, all her alien beings crawl out of her] 

  Coldcast : PAM! DO SOMETHING!

  Manchester Black : Do what? He's poisoned her suit, the buggers want out!

  The Hat : He was supposed to be dead...

  [Menagerie is suddenly silent] 

  Coldcast : She's not breating! Damnit, Chester!

  The Hat : She's dead...

  Manchester Black : Bugger me! He's playing it OUR way!

• Superman : Let's start with your name.

  Manchester Black : Manchester Black. Aspiring do-gooder and all-around pain in the ass at your service.

• Manchester Black : This is a call-out to the shadow cabinets, petty dictators and all-around tossers of the world. You're on notice. We're not bound by lines on a map or political alliances or government bodies of any kind. We are our own bosses, and we have a very simple job. There are the good guys, namely us and the bad guys, namely anyone who treats anyone else like trash to further their petty aims. We turn bad guys into memories. So mind your manners, lads and lasses or we'll blow your house down. We're the Elite. You asked for us, world. Now you got us.

• Manchester Black : Bunny, get ready to port again. The second he shows his S, I'm gonna flatten this whole city.

  Coldcast : Chester, wait...

  [Coldcast vanishes, a pile of cars and debris is sent flying at Manchester] 

  Manchester Black : Holy sh... Where did he go? Where did he freaking go?

  Superman : Orbit. He went into orbit at Mach 7.

• Manchester Black : You're not dying. I'm thinking it, but why can't I feel my power?

  Superman : I scanned your brain for abnormalities. And when I found one, I cut it out.

  Manchester Black : What?

  Superman : Heat vision. Focused through your pupils like a scalpel. Instant lobotomy.

• [Superman is going to kill Manchester Black] 

  Manchester Black : [weeping with fear]  This isn't you... you don't do this!

  Superman : I do, now.

• Superman : The grace of mankind is everywhere. You just have to open your eyes. Humanity has a limitless potential for good. My purpose is to help people reach that potential.

  Bialyian Ambassador : [speaks Bialyian]  Tamarev! Tamarev is under attack! What have you people done?

  Pokolistani Ambassador : How dare you! Pokolistan holds to the treaty!

  Bialyian Ambassador : Liar! My people are dying in the streets!

  Pokolistani Ambassador : No less than they deserve.

  Efrain : Limitless potential for good?

  Superman : Good isn't perfect. I have to go. To be continued, professor?

  [he flies off while the ambassadors of Bialyia and Pokolistan argue] 

• Superman : Hat, form a perimeter. Coldcast, can you absorb energy or just project it?

  Coldcast : Hell's yes. If I can get that sucker before he gets me.

  Manchester Black : Oi. You can't boss my team.

• Superman : You're right about me. I would never put civilians in harm's way. I won't kill. But you would. So I made sure I had backup. As for your people... they're fine. Nursing headaches I don't even wanna think about. But very much alive as they're stripped of their powers and prepped for transport to a supermax prison. That's why I had to let you knock me around for so long. I didn't have a nifty teleporter.

  Manchester Black : Bunny, you rotten clod, get me out of...

  Superman : But I do now. You'd be surprised how fast Bunny agreed to help me when one of the super-bots promised to return her to her home dimension.

• Superman : You killed them! Murdered the Pokolistani soldiers!

  Manchester Black : No offense, but someone had to do something while you were playing spastic on the floor.

  [Sees Hat discard an empty wine bottle] 

  Manchester Black : Oh, Hat! Every time we win a battle, he gets knackered and pukes all over the place.

  [Hat gags then vomits offscreen] 

  Superman : This isn't a joke. You can't murder people and call yourselves heroes.

  Manchester Black : Why not? Your government does it all the time. Look, Supes, when we take down the baddies, they stay down. Isn't that better for everyone?

  Superman : We are not above the law. We have to show the world that there's a better way. That people can be better.

  Manchester Black : But that's the problem. They can't. The world's overflowing with sick puppies. Original sin in 36 flavors.

  Superman : I'm not an idiot. I know there are bad men in power. It's not a perfect world, but we can't just throw morality in the garbage.

  Manchester Black : You don't have a clue what it means to live in fear, do you? To wonder why no one can stop the bogeyman who knock down skyscrapers or blow up schools. Well, we do. Human beings do. We understand fear all too well. So now we're wiping the Earth free of scum, and they love us for it.

  Superman : It can't be this way. You know that. I can't allow it.

• Manchester Black : [on the surface of the Moon]  Here's a nice slice of pitch to play on. Thank Bunny for the oxygen. Not that you need it, but we mere mortals... Figure you got a speech prepped.

  Superman : I've tried to reason with you. I've tried to show you there's another way. I'm begging you to help me end this without further bloodshed. Stand down and be judged for your crimes. And maybe we can all get out of this in one piece.

  Manchester Black : [sighing]  You're an inconceivable wanker.

• Manchester Black : This is low-level stuff, Supes. Promise. Like telly in HD.

  Superman : All right.

  Manchester Black : Apologies in advance for the graphic nature of what you're about to see. Some of us had it rough in the origin department.

• Manchester Black : Totally flash, eh? She's not just a ship. She's actually the biggest silicone-based bacteria colony in the universe. Well, this universe. Sounds gross, I know, but she's fast as crap through a goose, and ducks between dimensions. Complete privacy and gives traffic the finger. Named her Bunny. We think she had the capacity to feel, so we jettisoned her emotion nodules a few ticks back. Seemed the humane thing to do.

• Manchester Black : Quite the looker. Your reporter friend. I'm not into the golden oldies. Subspace teleport pods. All the cool HQs have 'em. So are you stalking me or are you here for the lovely scenery?

  Superman : You never gave me your cell. Had to start somewhere.

  Manchester Black : Quite the detective. Following the guy with the Union Jack tattooed to his chest to England? Heh. Come on, I'm just breaking your boots, Superman. The truth is I ramble when I get nervous, and I'm... I'm in a bit of a twist having a jaw with Superman.

• Manchester Black : [to Atomic Skull]  You're buggered, mate. Give my regards to Satan then.

  Superman : No. He's going back to Stryker's.

  Manchester Black : Back to jail? Are you daft? This is what happens. More pain, more suffering.

  Superman : We are not the law. We do not...

  Terrence Baxter : Kill him. Kill him.

  Superman : I'm sorry.

• Terrence Baxter : [to Superman]  It's your fault. You beat him already. You did it you way and...

  Manchester Black : And he failed. Is that the world you want? Or should monsters like this get what they deserve? Say it, kid.

  Superman : No.

  Terrence Baxter : Do it.

• Manchester Black : You probably won't believe this, but I used to love superheroes. But masks are for hiding. Capes are for play. You were the first. The best. But you're a cliché and you don't fit in anymore. Mad scientists, idiots in underwear, bank robbers, knock yourself out with that lot. But the real work, fixing the world, is ours. Starting tomorrow with Bialya.

  Superman : I'm shutting you down.

  Manchester Black : Right.

• Manchester Black : [to Superman]  No witty retort. Oh, wait. You're in the middle of a seizure. Sorry, mate. I can't read your mind but I sure as hell can muck about with your brain. All those capillaries, like little tubes of concrete. But still vulnerable. It's funny, isn't it? A life of truth, justice and the American, military, capitalist way. In the end, you die on the moon, wondering if your bowels will let go. And tomorrow, the world will go on like nothing happened. Dragged kicking and screaming to a better day.

• [in a crowded area of Metropolis] 

  Manchester Black : He won't do anything here, not with the sheep around us!

• The Hat : I'm getting a tight sphincter here, Chester...

  Manchester Black : Shut your gob!

• Dockworker : Listen, I like Superman, sure. But the Elite will kill these murderers and terrorists. What's not to like?

  Pokolistani Ambassador : The Elite are terrorists.They have allied themselves with Bialya and perpetrated acts of war against our nation.This will not be tolerated.

  Civilian : I've lived in Metropolis my entire life. Superman has always been there for us. But so have those criminals he's put away so many times. Maybe his way doesn't work.

  Bialyian Ambassador : Acts of aggression will no longer be tolerated and not a Superman nor a Manchester Black will stop us from defending our borders.

  Civilian : Kill them all and let God sort it out. Superman's done. This is the age of the Elite.