Japoteurs

Japoteurs
Superman series
Title card from Japoteurs
Directed by	Seymour Kneitel
Produced by	Sam Buchwald
Story by	Bill Turner Carl Meyer
Voices by	Bud Collyer Joan Alexander Julian Noa Jack Mercer
Music by	Sammy Timberg
Animation by	Myron Waldman Nicholas Tafuri
Studio	Famous Studios
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	September 18, 1942 (USA)
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	9 min. (one reel)
Language	English
Preceded by	Terror on the Midway (1942)
Followed by	Showdown (1942)

Japoteurs (1942) is the tenth of seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character of Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The first Superman cartoon produced by Famous Studios (the successor to Fleischer Studios), Japoteurs covers Superman's adventures stopping Japanese spies from hijacking a bomber plane and bringing it to Tokyo. This cartoon does not bear the Famous Studios name because that company had not yet been fully organized after Max Fleischer was removed by Paramount Pictures from the studio which bore his name. The cartoon was originally released to theaters by Paramount Pictures on September 18, 1942.

The word "Japoteur" is a portmanteau of the ethnic slur "Jap" and the word "saboteur".

The story begins with a shot of the front page of the Daily Planet. The headline reads "World's Largest Bombing Plane Finally Completed." The man reading the newspaper is Japanese, he stands up and looks at a picture of the Statue of Liberty in his office, then pushes a button on his desk, and the picture changes into one of the Japanese flag. He bows to it and jams his glowing cigarette into the news headline. Later, the Japanese man and some acquaintances knock a guard out as the plane is being loaded for a test run. Clark Kent and Lois Lane are taking a tour of the new bombing plane for the Planet. When everyone is told to get off, Lois stays behind and hides in a locker on board the plane.