How to use this Page

The days of not having the Justice League on television are coming to an end, as it was announced today that Justice League Action, a new quarter hour animated series starring the team is coming to Cartoon Network.

After Justice League: Gods and Monsters hits stores on July 28th, DC Animation has another attention-grabbing project in the works. It was announced on stage at the Gods & Monsters premiere, that the studio would next be tackling Alan Moore and Brian Bolland‘s The Killing Joke, the most infamous of Joker stories.

There’s been no word on casting, but if I had to predict, I could easily see this as the final pairing of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and the Joker respectively. Hamill has long wanted to voice his iconic role in an adaptation of this story, and even took to twitter a few years back in response to a fan on the topic:

I’d come back for THAT! Spread the word! Campaign for #TheKillingJoke!! RT: @Cha_Luz#DC lets see #TheKillingJoke Mark said hed voice Joker

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) October 24, 2011

Though, SPOILERS…………………………………..

He’s already come back, if you count his performance in Batman: Arkham Knight, which of course you should.

We’ll see how it shakes out, I’m not a fan of the Moore-Bolland story, though I appreciate the elements that the “One Bad Day/Multiple Choice” side of the story have brought to the Batman mythos. I’m just a little surprised, given the recent controversy surrounding the Rafael Albuquerque‘s Batgirl variant cover, and some of the thoughtful discussions around the content of The Killing Joke that it inspired, that DC would move forward with such an adaptation. I’m also not sure there’s enough there fill up 75 minutes of movie, but perhaps they’ll add in some b-plot.

But, as always, sales talk and the last few releases, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis and Batman vs. Robin, each sold a bit over 3 million units respectively. Given that the first part of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns moved over 5 million units, I imagine the studio is trying to recapture that same audience.

On that same note, DC also announced that following The Killing Joke, their next projects to follow would be Batman: Bad Blood and Justice League vs. Titans. Both are set to release in 2016, with the former focusing on Batwoman.

More Batwoman anywhere is a very good thing.

Earlier this week saw the debut of the first episode of Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett‘s Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles, a prelude series of webisodes that will lead up to the full-length film being released towards the end of July (and my guess, probably debuting at SDCC).

The first episode was a pretty dark affair that focused on Michael C. Hall‘s vampire Batman as he tries to take out Harley Quinn. The newest entry, released yesterday, takes a look at the new Superman, voiced by Benjamin Bratt, as he battles Brainiac.

Witness a divergent reality where the Justice League protects the planet – but answers to no one but themselves. Employing methods of intimidation and fear, this Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman deal brute force in the name of justice. From the creative genius of executive producer Bruce Timm and co-producer Alan Burnett comes an original story where the world’s greatest triumvirate of super heroes has distinctly different origins. Superman was not raised by the Kents in Smallville, the Caped Crusader is not Bruce Wayne, and Wonder Woman is not an Amazon warrior of Themyscira. They are as likely the world’s saviors as Earth’s despotic rulers. When a group of famed scientists experience untimely “accidents,” a government task force follows the trail of clues to the Justice League – but is there a more powerful player operating from the shadows? It’s a high stakes game of intrigue, mystery and action that asks the question: How do you serve justice to those above the law?

We’ve reported in the past week or so about Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett‘s upcoming original animated feature, Justice League: Gods and Monsters, which posits an Elseworlds-esque take on the classic DC trinity.

Today, it’s been announced this newest DC animated film will hit stores on July 28th, and will feature a cast that includes Michael C. Hall (Dexter) as Batman, Benjamin Bratt (Law & Order, 24) as Superman, Tamara Taylor (Bones) as Wonder Woman, Paget Brewster (Criminal Minds) as Lois Lane, Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter films, Dig) as Lex Luthor and C. Thomas Howell (E.T., Southland) as Dr. Will Magnus.

That’s a pretty enticing cast, and I for one will be fascinated to see Hall’s take on the Caped Crusader.

Here’s the official summary of the Timm and Burnett-written story:

Witness a divergent reality where the Justice League protects the planet – but answers to no one but themselves. Employing methods of intimidation and fear, this Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman deal brute force in the name of justice. From the creative genius of executive producer Bruce Timm and co-producer Alan Burnett comes an original story where the world’s greatest triumvirate of super heroes has distinctly different origins. Superman was not raised by the Kents in Smallville, the Caped Crusader is not Bruce Wayne, and Wonder Woman is not an Amazon warrior of Themyscira. They are as likely the world’s saviors as Earth’s despotic rulers. When a group of famed scientists experience untimely “accidents,” a government task force follows the trail of clues to the Justice League – but is there a more powerful player operating from the shadows?  It’s a high stakes game of intrigue, mystery and action that asks the question: How do you serve justice to those above the law?

Sam Liu (Batman: Year One) will return to direct, and Timm and Sam Register the Co-Executive Producers.

While the deluxe edition of the Blu-ray will come with the Wonder Woman figurine seen above, the standard blu-ray set will include the following special features:

• ALTERNATE REALITIES: Infinite Possibilities – Justice League: Gods & Monsters falls into a category of storytelling where our well-known characters and the worlds they inhabit are re-imagined. This documentary explores the various attempts by writers to have a little fun and tinker with the characters, resulting in exceptional storytelling that posed thought-provoking questions to audiences.
• CALCULATED RISKS: The Making of Gods and Monsters – Justice League: Gods & Monsters was an idea that pushed the boundaries. It began with that challenging question writers face: “What haven’t we seen before?”  Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett audaciously answered that challenge, resulting in a fresh and exciting film that forces us to think differently about the DC Universe.
• The New Gods – Encore presentation of 2010 documentary about Jack Kirby’s New Gods.
• A Sneak Peak at DC Universe’s Next Animated Movie – An advance look at the next DC Universe Original Movie.
• Bonus cartoons from the DC Comics Vault

And, just if you need the reminder of how enticing this feature is looking, here’s the latest trailer:

Presented without too much ado, here’s the recent sizzle reel that The Flash production team showcased at WonderCon over the weekend. There’s some new footage of note added onto some of the stuff you’ve seen already, namely Emily Kinney as the Bug-Eyed Bandit, the return of The Mist, Weather Wizard and Rainbow Raider, and a few more glimpses at the upcoming second Arrow-Flash cross-over event.

In addition to that, here’s the first trailer for the Bruce Timm produced/Alan Burnett written Justice League: Gods and Monsters, which we detailed a bit over the weekend. I’ve so missed this animation style in DC’s recent features, which have veered more towards a sort of a grittier anime-like look over past number of years. This feels like it could be a welcome return home.

It’s come to our attention that Batman: The Brave and the Bold will be leaving Netflix streaming on March 30.

Outrageous!

If you’re a Netflix-binge pro, you might be able to finish off the 3 seasons of this underrated show in the week left (and really, it’s more like 2.5 seasons, with season 3 being only a partial order). But if you’re not able to move that fast, we’ve pulled together a list of the best episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold so that you can catch the highlights before this one drops out of your queue.

Season 1

Episode 3, Evil Under the Sea: It doesn’t get better on this show than Aquaman, and his debut episode is the perfect place to start. Aquaman episodes are consistently hilarious, and this one is no different – Batman foils a plot from Black Manta to conquer Atlantis, while Aquaman remains oblivious.

Episode 8, Fall of the Blue Beetle: This episode focuses on Blue Beetles, both the present incarnation of Jaime Reyes and his predecessor, Ted Kord, the second Blue Beetle. It’s interesting to see Batman struggle to accept Jaime as a replacement for Ted.

Episode 9, Journey to the Center of the Bat: When Batman is stricken with disease by Chemo, the Atom and Aquaman shrink and fight the disease within Batman’s body. Aquaman befriends and rides a lymphocyte he names “platelet” – need we say more?

Episode 12, Deep Cover for Batman: Batman takes the place of Owlman on a parallel Earth, turning to a parallel world version of his usual villains and finding them as allies.

Episode 13, Deep Cover for Owlman: While Batman is off pretending to be Owlman on a parallel Earth, it turns out that Owlman has been posing as Batman and has gone on a crime spree. The flip side to the previous episode, Batman returns to find himself considered a villain and hunted by his usual allies.

Episode 15, Trials of the Demon: Batman time travels to 19th century London to help Jason Blood, who’s been framed for crimes committed by Jim Craddock. The twist to this one is that the two “World’s Greatest Detectives” join forces when Sherlock Holmes and Watson assist in the investigation. As long as you can handle Etrigan rhyming, this one’s a winner.

Episode 17, Menace of the Conqueror Caveman: Booster Gold episodes are usually great for much of the same reason Aquaman ones are: Batman plays the straight man to a humorous, egotistical sidekick.

Episode 19, Legends of the Dark Mite: Bat-Mite is the Q to Batman’s Picard, and his fifth dimensional powers allow him to express his fandom in painful ways. Bat-Mite is a recurring character on the series and plays a heavy role in the finale, so this character’s intro is worth watching.

Episode 25, Mayhem of the Music Meister: Featuring Neil Patrick Harris as the Music Meister, this is a musical episode and easily one of the best of the series.

 Season 2

Episode 2, Long Arm of the Law: Plastic Man tries to keep his home life stable by taking Baby Plas to the museum,  only to be attacked by Kite Man. Batman tries to assist, but this episode sees Plastic Man’s past deeds catch up with him and threaten his family and wife, Ramona.

Episode 4, Aquaman’s Outrageous Adventure: Aquaman serves as the POV character here, and the episode centers on Aquaman’s boredom with his family vacation and secret attempts to escape and help battle evil during breaks. Again, Aquaman = the best.

Episode 9, The Super-Batman of Planet X: Batman travels through a wormhole and ends up in a distant planet called Zur-En-Arrh, where he goes to “Gothtropolis” and meets the Batman of this world. This is a sort of Superman-Batman mash-up, because Batman has super powers on this planet. The best part of this episode is that it stars Kevin Conroy as the voice of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh. Double Batman! (there’s also the always great Clancy Brown and Dana Delany).

Episode 10, The Power of Shazam: With a title in homage to the 1990s Captain Marvel Comic, The Power of Shazam pits Captain Marvel against Black Adam and Doctor Sivana, along with Sivana’s wonderfully hilarious children.

Episode 11, Chill of the Night: This episode makes most best-of lists for this series, and has a guest star list featuring Adam West, Julie Newmar, Kevin Conroy, and Mark Hamill to boot.  When The Phantom Stranger and the Spectre make a bet on whether Bruce Wayne will kill the person who murdered his parents, Batman is guided through his painful past and comes to learn about his parents’ assassin, Joe Chill.

Episode 15, Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster: Featuring multiple incarnations of The Flash working in tandem with Batman to investigate Barry Allen’s death, this episode also guest stars John Wesley Shipp (star of the 1990s live-action The Flash) as Professor Zoom.

Episode 17, Menace of the Madniks: Recalling plot threads introduced in Season 1, this episode focuses on Booster Gold, who travels to the past to spend time with his now-deceased friend, Ted Kord (Blue Beetle). Both Batman and Booster Gold considered Ted a close friend, so their rivalry and possessiveness over his friendship was touching (and entertaining). It’s also a nice reminder that shows like this don’t have to shy away from confronting death.

Episode 18, Emperor Joker: This episode is kind of like The Edge of Tomorrow in that we get to see Batman die dozens of different ways at the hands of The Joker, who gains the powers of Bat-Mite.

Episode 19, The Criss Cross Conspiracy: One of the few problems with Batman: The Brave and the Bold is that it is primarily consumed with male characters. This episode isn’t exactly much different or particularly kind to women, unfortunately, but it’s still an amusing one – Batwoman and Batman switch bodies, and we get to see Diedrich Bader pull off some of his most comical voice acting.

Episode 21, Cry Freedom Fighters: In which Plastic Man finally gets his big heroic spotlight. Basically every Plastic Man related plot point in the series culminates here, and he gets to join his fellow Quality Comics stable-mates The Freedom Fighters, including a particularly “taken so straight it’s hilarious” version of Uncle Sam.

Episode 22, The Knights of Tomorrow: More or less, this is the Grant Morrison tribute episode, taking place in the future and giving viewers the set-up of his classic Batman and Robin run, with Dick as Batman and Damian Wayne (this time, the son of Bruce and Selina Kyle) as Robin, with even a little wink and nod to Damian’s future and one of the easter eggs of Batman #700.

Episode 23, Darkseid Descending: Set-up gloriously in the previous episode’s prelude, the oncoming threat of the hordes of Apokolips compels Batman, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter to reform the Justice League…and it ends up taking a shape that’s rather familiar to fans of the Giffen/DeMatteis iteration of the team. Wonderfully epic, this could have been/maybe should have been the finale to the second season.

Episode 25, The Malicious Mr. Mind: The best possible follow-up to a Captain Marvel/Shazam episode is one that includes the entire Marvel family, Mr. Mind, and the Monster Society of Evil. While many writers have struggled to make the fairly cheesy Marvel family “relevant” for today’s audiences, The Brave and The Bold creative team embraced everything that’s weird and wonderful about the old Beck/Binder comics and this episode is their ultimate tribute.

Season 3

Episode 1, The Battle of the Superheroes: For better or worse, it’s hard not to notice the Superman shaped-hole that filled the entirety of series’ first two seasons (barring one brief flashback cameo), but with the third season’s premiere, viewers were treated to the best possible love letter to Superman’s Silver Age past. You get a giant Turtle Boy style Jimmy Olsen, Mr. Mxyzptlk, and some rather hilarious examples of “Superdickery”. Season 3 was, on the whole, not as successful as the brilliant second set of episodes before it, but this episode was a stone cold classic.

Episode 7, Sword of the Atom: Remember “Journey to the Center of the Bat” back in season 1? This is basically part 2 of that fantastic episode and once again sees Aquaman team up with (the new) Atom and shrink to microscopic size to save Batman.

Episode 9, Bold Beginnings: When Aquaman, Plastic Man, and Green Arrow get together, it’s a can’t lose combo. And sure to form, this story that details how each first met Batman not only superbly entertains, but also provides just a tiny bit of character backstory for Batman’s core three supporting cast.

Episode 13, Mitefall: Best. Finale. Ever.

Have fun!

Earlier this week, WB Animation announced the voice cast for Batman vs. Robin, the 23rd feature in their DC Universe Animated Film line-up. Today, they debut its initial trailer via IGN…take a look below at the first animated appearance of the Court of the Owls.

Batman vs. Robin hits stores in the Spring.

By Davey Nieves

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THRONE OF ATLANTIS

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is the animated film follow up to last year’s Justice League: War that introduced the New 52 to DC Animation. The last few movies have been a roller coaster of quality. Flashpoint Paradox was excellent while War and Assault on Arkham suffered from execution problems. While the film has a few standout moments Justice League: TOA doesn’t quite parallel the emotional strength of its Geoff Johns Aquaman source material.

Directed by Ethan Spaulding, the film blends two of Johns early New 52 Aquaman arcs as the audience is presented the origin of Arthur Curry. Then we shift to the mysteries of the deep and totalitarianism of Orm (Ocean Master) as he attempts to wage war on the surface world. Also dealing with the fallout from the War film are the members of the Justice League. We have to continue to see them come together as a team because apparently Darkseid’s invasion just wasn’t enough of a reason to form on a regular basis. The team crosses paths with Atlantis and the brooding enigma that is Aquaman when weapons of mass destruction are stolen from an underwater military submarine. Along the way to recovering the missiles, the league must find Arthur Curry to avoid an all out war between Atlantis and the surface world.

Where ToA stumbles isn’t so much in the execution but in the little things that you can’t ignore. Not following the books is understandable. Building the DC Animated into its own universe is a great way to create a unique identity for the brand. Plus, I’ve always been of the mindset: why make something where the intended audience already knows what’s going to happen next. That being said, ToA has an overall compacted feeling. It rushes through so much of its material causing it to feel diluted and unnecessary. The Superman/Wonder Woman relationship, Cyborg’s coming to terms with being more machine than man; it all could have been better played with or at the very least given more screen time.

Jason O’Mara, Christopher Gorham, Shemar Moore and Sean Astin return as Batman, The Flash, Cyborg and Shazam. Joining them are Jerry O’Connell, Rosario Dawson, and Sumalee Montano as Superman, Wonder Woman and Mera. Voice acting performances feel a bit unbalanced due to what seems like bad writing. Nathan Fillion has always been a great Hal Jordan but here the performance is so short that he never really gets a moment. Which is true of almost the entire cast and a big problem for having Justice League on the box art. Rosario Dawson’s voicing of Wonder Woman was superb and the film could have used more of it. Most of the weight was carried by Matt Lanter voicing Aquaman whom on his own turned in an adequate performance. Though that isn’t what you want out of a Ferrari or the title character of your movie.

Justice League has some things that did land on target. The animation is as crisp as any of the better-animated movies like Under the Red Hood and Flashpoint. Where animation excels even beyond film is in the action and this movie has some great scenes like the tidal wave and VR submarine reenactment. One thing that the film did well more so than most recent DC Animated movies is the acting drawn into the characters. Eye movements, twitches, and the fluidity of there movement in battle all surpass previous entries. Visually, everything just clicks on this movie. The credits scene also raises some questions because I’m curious to hear what it leads to since the next films are based on Court of Owls, and an original story by Bruce Timm called Justice League: Gods and Monsters. Both of which are set for 2015 releases.

Ultimately Justice League Throne of Atlantis probably suffers more from its scheduling than anything else. So many of its moving parts feel rushed and uncoordinated that it doesn’t serve the tremendous material it came from. My advice, rent it or watch it once on your favorite digital platform.

Justice League Throne of Atlantis is available now on Digital HD and on Blu-Ray and DVD January 27, 2015.

If you’ve got a hankering to rate DC Animated films follow Davey on twitter.

Via The Hollywood Reporter, WB Animation has unveiled its cast for the upcoming feature Batman vs. Robin, which despite sharing a title with a Grant Morrison arc, is actually based on the Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo “Court of Owls” storyline that opened up their run in the New 52 era.

The film will act as a sequel to the preceding Batman and Son, with Jason O’Mara, Sean Maher and David McCallum reprising their roles as Batman, Robin and Alfred respectively.

New cast members joining on include:

Jeremy Sisto as Talon (Sisto, you may recall, played Batman in Justice League: The New Frontier)

Grey Griffin as Samantha

Weird Al Yankovic as The Dollmaker

Robin Atkin Downes as Grandmaster

Peter Onorati as Draco

Kevin Conroy as Thomas Wayne (Bruce’s father, not the other one)

Batman vs. Robin will arrive in stores this Spring, its the next entry in WB’s shared universe of animated films that include the previously released Justice League: War, Batman and Son, and the upcoming (and to be reviewed in short order by Davey Nieves on this very site) Justice League: Throne of Atlantis. It’ll be directed by Jay Oliva, who took the helm for Batman: Assault on Arkham and the animated adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns, among others projects.

I haven’t enjoyed any of the offerings from this animated line in some time, probably not since Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, but I continue to hold out hope that the next entry will be the point where they bounce back. Snyder and Capullo’s enjoyable first arc together is as good a starting point as any.

By Kyle Pinion

As per usual, DC Animation has announced the next part of its animated slate following the premiere of one of their films. This time the news came on the heels of the SDCC screening of Batman: Assault on Arkham.

While we already knew Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, the direct sequel to Justice League: War, was coming in 2015; two more films will be joining it on shelves next year. They are:

Batman vs. Robin, which despite sharing a title with an arc of the Grant Morrison Batman run, will be based on Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman “Court of the Owls” storyline.

and

Justice League: Gods and Monsters, an original story written by Bruce Timm, and is not related to the 2001 Dan Jolley comic.

No casting information was announced, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Jason O’Mara returned for another spin as Batman (having played the role in Justice League: War, Son of Batman, and will be reprising it again in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis). DC Animation is clearly getting committed to the idea of a new animated continuity between some of their films. We’ll soon see which of these will fall under that banner, if not both.