DC Animated Original Movies Discussion

[Frontier]

That's not exactly what I was referring to when I called it "safe." Of course they get more leeway in the violence and language dept being a standalone movie. More like a bit too straightforward with very few surprises.

If that was the story it was trying to tell, I think it's fine.

[phonogram12]

If that was the story it was trying to tell, I think it's fine.

It's totally fine. Like I said, I liked it. Just not as much as you for the reasons already stated. I just would've liked a little bit more from it. Less by the numbers.

[Mistah K88]

1. As Frontier mentioned, having a connected universe doesn't negate having great standalone movies

2. What the connected universe really gave us was a chance to see characters featured that we never would have seen had they been focused on standalones only. Do you really think we'd have seen an animated John Constantine had they not been able to connect him through Batman? The Judas Contract was literally one of the first three movies announced for the animated originals lineup but they didn't actually make it until they were able to introduce the Titans in Justice League vs Teen Titans, and Jaime Reyes really had no other chance to get into one of these without it. I know that the world was completely destroyed before we could see it, but it was pretty much Connor Kent's (and Steel's) only shot at getting featured in a movie that wasn't just the Death and Return of Superman, and when they did a standalone version both of them were removed to simplify it. If you ever want to see a movie greenlit again that isn't Batman or Superman, a connected universe is pretty much your only option

3. If they wanted to make that transition, literally the least they could do would have been to give the universe they've been building an ending that isn't "Everybody and everything is dead and there is no future and no hope."

Not necessarily. You can easily shove Batman or Superman in something to get it off the ground yet it still not be a small cog in a larger machine. Batman Soul of the Dragon definitely won't be connected to anything. Heck even Connor, Steel, and all the Superman related characters didn't NEED to be in a movie in continuity with Judas Contract... they just needed to be in a movie with Superman in it.

By Shared Universe are we simply talking a larger hero (Batman, Superman, etc) guest starring? Or more like if it is connected to all of the other animated movies?

[John Venus]

I'm fine if they are going for a mix of interconnected movies and stand alone ones.

There are some stories you can only tell in a prior established universe and continue arcs of fan favorite characters and add more depth to them. It allows the standalone movies to be more experimental by focusing on stories that couldn't be told under a shared universe.

[Frontier]

Not necessarily. You can easily shove Batman or Superman in something to get it off the ground yet it still not be a small cog in a larger machine. Batman Soul of the Dragon definitely won't be connected to anything. Heck even Connor, Steel, and all the Superman related characters didn't NEED to be in a movie in continuity with Judas Contract... they just needed to be in a movie with Superman in it.

By Shared Universe are we simply talking a larger hero (Batman, Superman, etc) guest starring? Or more like if it is connected to all of the other animated movies?

Technically Steel's first appearance was in Thrones of Atlantis where Superman saves him and that built into how John Henry idolizes Superman for when he becomes Steel.

[Vordan]

Technically Steel's first appearance was in Thrones of Atlantis where Superman saves him and that built into how John Henry idolizes Superman for when he becomes Steel.

Which is a good example of the advantage of a connected universe: you can do long term storytelling that one and dones don’t allow. Take for example something like Blackest Night: I have no freaking clue how you would do that as a stand-alone movie. It needs to be a movie set in a shared universe in order to have proper impact, because first you need to slowly kill off certain heroes like J’onn and Arthur over time, give them proper epic deaths so we can feel and mourn their loss, so when we get to Blackest Night the horror feels much more visceral. Blackest Night is a story that only really works as a culmination to long term storytelling imo.

[Frontier]

Which is a good example of the advantage of a connected universe: you can do long term storytelling that one and dones don’t allow. Take for example something like Blackest Night: I have no freaking clue how you would do that as a stand-alone movie. It needs to be a movie set in a shared universe in order to have proper impact, because first you need to slowly kill off certain heroes like J’onn and Arthur over time, give them proper epic deaths so we can feel and mourn their loss, so when we get to Blackest Night the horror feels much more visceral. Blackest Night is a story that only really works as a culmination to long term storytelling imo.

I could've seen the previous continuity adapting Blackest Night fairly well. They had plenty of dead characters .

[Thezmage]

Not necessarily. You can easily shove Batman or Superman in something to get it off the ground yet it still not be a small cog in a larger machine. Batman Soul of the Dragon definitely won't be connected to anything. Heck even Connor, Steel, and all the Superman related characters didn't NEED to be in a movie in continuity with Judas Contract... they just needed to be in a movie with Superman in it.

By Shared Universe are we simply talking a larger hero (Batman, Superman, etc) guest starring? Or more like if it is connected to all of the other animated movies?

I mean do you think we'll see Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, and Bronze Tiger again? 'Cause I sure don't. I mean you're right, we could see a Judas Contract movie that has Batman awkwardly shoved in there as the main character I just don't think that's a good idea.

In much the same way those movies don't need to be in continuity with each other, you don't have to watch them and think of the other movies they're in continuity with each other, meanwhile those of us that want to see, say, Superboy in a Teen Titans movie can have that to look forward to. Again, assuming that they all don't end up as cannon fodder in a movie that kills them all and then completely blows up the earth and salts that universe so nothing can ever grow there again

[Mistah K88]

I mean do you think we'll see Richard Dragon, Lady Shiva, and Bronze Tiger again? 'Cause I sure don't. I mean you're right, we could see a Judas Contract movie that has Batman awkwardly shoved in there as the main character I just don't think that's a good idea.

In much the same way those movies don't need to be in continuity with each other, you don't have to watch them and think of the other movies they're in continuity with each other, meanwhile those of us that want to see, say, Superboy in a Teen Titans movie can have that to look forward to. Again, assuming that they all don't end up as cannon fodder in a movie that kills them all and then completely blows up the earth and salts that universe so nothing can ever grow there again

Maybe not those specific incarnations, but yeah... especially since Bronze Tiger and Lady Shiva were in that Deathstroke animated Knights and Dragons film that doesn’t seem to be in continuity with anything but itself.

[Thezmage]

Maybe not those specific incarnations, but yeah... especially since Bronze Tiger and Lady Shiva were in that Deathstroke animated Knights and Dragons film that doesn’t seem to be in continuity with anything but itself.

Pretty sure we saw them in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies too but a blink and you'll miss it cameo is not the same thing

[Mistah K88]

Pretty sure we saw them in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies too but a blink and you'll miss it cameo is not the same thing

I wouldn’t exactly call their roles in the Deathstroke movie “blink and you’ll miss it cameos”. (I suppose those two characters are easier to stuff into terrorist organizations like League of Assassins, H.I.V.E, etc)if you don’t want to just have everyone nameless).

[Frontier]

I wouldn’t exactly call their roles in the Deathstroke movie “blink and you’ll miss it cameos”. (I suppose those two characters are easier to stuff into terrorist organizations like League of Assassins, H.I.V.E, etc)if you don’t want to just have everyone nameless).

I mean, they were pretty much just in the movie to give Deathstroke cool people to fight, although they kind of did Shiva dirty in the end.

[Last Son of Krypton]

nevermind.

[Robotman]

Kamandi, Constantine, Blue Beetle, and The Losers Get Animated DC Showcase Shorts

[Frontier]

Kamandi, Constantine, Blue Beetle, and The Losers Get Animated DC Showcase Shorts

Yay! More DC Showcase .

I wonder if Blue Beetle will have both Ted and Jaime.