10 Best Superman: The Animated Series Episodes
9. "Where There’s Smoke"
The first episode of the series' third season kicks off with a fiery introduction of Volcana who is just trying to live it up on a beach without the interference of superheroes and government agents mucking up her life.
As the episode develops, those very government agents turn up to show that Volcana isn't the dangerous villianess people take her for, but rather a sympathetic character who is the subject of experimentation done against her will.
She is the hopeful future of super-soldiering and while her powers are certainly deadly, all she wants is to be left alone and allowed to tan on the beach. Superman ends up getting a bit scorched fighting her, but this episode is mostly devoted to the Man of Steel helping Volcana regain some semblance of her life.
When the dust settles and the fires are put out, Superman doesn't throw her into a prison... she's had enough forced lockup in her life. Instead, he relocates her to her very own private island. Every so often, the Man of Steel flies by and delivers supplies to ensure she is well cared for, but left to her own devices. The episode has been praised for the vocal talents of Peri Gilpin who voiced Volcana and the design of her character was beautifully animated too.