DC Animated Original Movies Discussion

[Masterff]

How is it Flash never got another animated movie? Isn’t the TV show proof enough he has a fanbase?

Actually I have to say that a Flash animated Movie makes only sense for me if its Wally,Jay or Bart...
Barry already had animated movies, a tv series, is the flash in YJ, is the Flash in the Movies etc. etc.

I always thought that it would have been better for the TV Series for example to change the character every season.

Starting with Jay, then Barry, then Wally then Bart for example.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

An animated Flash movie spanning the full legacy of speedsters across history would be perfect for an animated film. The Green Lantern Emerald Knights anthology film is one of the strongest.

[Masterff]

An animated Flash movie spanning the full legacy of speedsters across history would be perfect for an animated film. The Green Lantern Emerald Knights anthology film is one of the strongest.

Not really...
Better would be just replace Barry with Wally and make new Films with Wally in the JL and Bart as member of the TT together with Nightwing,Damian,Conner etc.

You cant put Jay,Max,Barry,Wally,Bart,Wallace and maybe even Tornado Twins, Iris and Jai West etc. all in one movie...
To much characters...

I would have prefered to use THE FLASH TV SERIES and use another Flash for every season.

[Doctor Know]

Seeing the Flash in more animated spots would be a dream. My only fear is that Barry or whomever, would be hit with the nerf. In order to fill time. Like the TV show does a lot.

[achilles]

I've seen enough Flash and GL and Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman in animated films to last a lifetime. I'd like to see some of the characters that haven't been used to death in animation or live action. For example, where's the JSA? I'd see a JSA movie or series of movies before I'll ever watch the 600th League thing I've seen. Maybe now that they're done with the Flashpoint stuff, they might bother to use the JSA, though since they didn't bother before I'm not holding my breath. But it could make for some interesting original stories in animation.

[silly]

Just saw JLD Apokolips War.

Man, I remember being upset and in disbelief when Optimus Prime died in Transformers The Movie or when Duke got speared in GI Joe the Movie.

Those were different times.

[Vordan]

I've seen enough Flash and GL and Batman and Superman and Wonder Woman in animated films to last a lifetime. I'd like to see some of the characters that haven't been used to death in animation or live action. For example, where's the JSA? I'd see a JSA movie or series of movies before I'll ever watch the 600th League thing I've seen. Maybe now that they're done with the Flashpoint stuff, they might bother to use the JSA, though since they didn't bother before I'm not holding my breath. But it could make for some interesting original stories in animation.

Not happening. The JSA would not sell anywhere close to what it would need to justify the cost. Maybe after that Black Adam movie if the JSA indeed show up in that.

[Frontier]

Not happening. The JSA would not sell anywhere close to what it would need to justify the cost. Maybe after that Black Adam movie if the JSA indeed show up in that.

We'd be more likely to get a Justice League vs. JSA animated film then we would an independent JSA feature.

[achilles]

Not happening. The JSA would not sell anywhere close to what it would need to justify the cost. Maybe after that Black Adam movie if the JSA indeed show up in that.

That shouldn't be a factor---since you don't know what a JSA animated movie would sell. They've literally never tried anything like it. It was after all for a time one of DC's most popular titles, and the audience for such animations draws heavily from that. I mean, with how many movies about Harley Quinn without really much demonstration that SHE drives buys either, I think a case could be made for JSA. Not that I think it will, but it could.

[saiyan_earthling]

It'd be cool to have a Batman movie that showcases his martial arts skills, training/fighting Cassandra Cain, and also Lady Shiva.

I'd also want to see:
Red Hood and the Outlaws
Birds of Prey (no Harley Quinn!)
Batwoman
Nightwing
Batman and the Outsiders
and also another JL movie (with Batman leading the team that has Vixen, Black Canary, Lobo, Killer Frost, Atom and Ray like in the Rebirth)

[randomideaguy]

Just saw JLD Apokolips War.

Man, I remember being upset and in disbelief when Optimus Prime died in Transformers The Movie or when Duke got speared in GI Joe the Movie.

Those were different times.

That flick was a damn blood bath. Loved Constantine, ofc. Pretty good. Although I am glad the animated movie continuity is getting reset. There's a couple of things that got introduced early on (Dick being kinda useless VS Damian, SuperWonder, Cyborg as a League member) that just kinda irritated me whenever I saw them.

If they wanted a more diverse league I would've just brought back John Stewart Green Lantern. Maybe throw in Black Canary as well (she headed the team in the comics forever).

Of course, mentioning underused members (a few posts up) I wouldn't mind seeing Black Lightning or Mister Terrific on the League. Terrific would be a unique and interesting sub in for Batman, tbh.

[John Venus]

I finally saw this movie and all I can say is good riddance.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

I gave up on the in-continuity DC animated movies shortly after it began but I thought I would Apokolips War this a try since they're finally finishing the whole thing off. I'm going to jot down a few things here as I go along because just ten minutes in, I have some thoughts.

First, man, I just hate the bulky character designs in these movies. Why does JLU, a 20-year-old series, just look so much better than this? The Flash, especially, looks awful.

Ugh, the super violent death and dismemberment of DC's superheroes. Just, gross. I despise the grimdark take in the comics and I really hate it here where it's even more violent and sweary. I would have no issue with this if this was basically a Vertigo take on the JL: Dark characters but that's clearly not what this is. It's basically JLA: Rock of Ages/ Final Crisis but with a desperate attempt to be "edgy" and "mature" that mostly comes across as juvenile.

And yes, I love the Harley Quinn series.

Why does DC continually struggle to get this right? Why does stuff like this get a pass but "Batpenis" was a huge scandal and they censor the profanity in Tom King's genuinely mature, adults-only take on Mister Miracle for the mature-rated Black Label line? Showing their characters naked in even a line of books specifically targeted to adult audiences is apparently a no go but having them violently dismembered in what is fundamentally the kind of superhero story that Grant Morrison could write under the constraints of the Comics Code, well, that's just AOK, apparently.

I am enjoying the basic story, by the way. But then, I love Rock of Ages so why wouldn't I?

At least Lois and Clark still feel right. That's not nothing.

Seriously, what the hell is with the tone? Goofy superhero stuff with grotesque violence, sometimes funny but mostly lame (especially when it's "adult") humour.

Man, the voice acting is just all over the place, isn't it? Some of the characters sound great, some really don't. I love Rainn Wilson but his Lex was particularly iffy.

The New 52 Darkseid design still sucks.

Final thoughts: Meh. I mean, it had its moments (again, I'm surprised that Superman was as well handled as he was because he's normally the first that people get wrong) but it's really much ado about nothing. Flashpoint was moronic in the first place so there's a sense of "gee, thanks Barry, you really could have fixed this ages back" running through the whole movie. My biggest problem, though, is what I noticed 5 minutes in and what just got worse and worse as it went along: the whole grimdark approach to DC's most iconic superheroes is problematic in and of itself but when you add that to fairly classic superhero action, the whole thing is really just embarrassing. It's certainly possible to do R-rated, genuinely mature (or, in Harley's case, gleefully immature) animated movies from DC when so many of the best things from DC comics over the past three decades have been "for mature audiences only" but this is exactly the wrong way to do it.

Honestly, if you can't make a freaking Justice League of America story PG-13, at the absolute uppermost, you're really not trying hard enough.

[Vakanai]

Honestly, if you can't make a freaking Justice League of America story PG-13, at the absolute uppermost, you're really not trying hard enough.

But they didn't want it to be PG-13 at the absolute uppermost, they wanted it R and tried to make it R and succeeded in making it R. You don't have to like that, but you can't say they weren't trying hard enough just because they were trying in the opposite direction you want.

[Ilan Preskovsky]

But they didn't want it to be PG-13 at the absolute uppermost, they wanted it R and tried to make it R and succeeded in making it R. You don't have to like that, but you can't say they weren't trying hard enough just because they were trying in the opposite direction you want.

No, you're right I stated that very badly. That's a fair call.

My point is that they should not be attempting to create R-rated Justice League movies in the first place. And I absolutely stand by that. Again, that doesn't mean that R-rated stories can't be told with DC's characters but any sort of traditional superhero story with the likes of Superman and the Flash has no business trying to appeal only to adults. Not because comics and superheroes are only for kids but because built into the combination of these characters and these sorts of stories is something that is genuinely childlike and innocent so trying to mix that with brutal violence or, to a much lesser extent, sex and profanity, results in what I can only describe as an abomination. Every last inch of this movie felt wrong, even if I enjoyed parts of it. The goofy superhero stuff ends up looking extremely childish, while the "adult" content just looks desperate, out of place and particularly ugly. It may have been attempting to be an "adult" movie but it absolutely failed at reaching that goal - and, because of the material it was working with, it never actually had a chance in hell of doing so. The end result is a movie that looks far more juvenile than something explicitly aimed at kids like Teen Titans Go.

What's really befuddling about this movie, though, is that it has a genuinely good grasp on a character like Superman but somehow completely fails to see how incongruous it is to have such a traditional Superman share the screen with graphic depictions of Captain Marvel having his leg ripped off or Batgirl being eaten alive. Hell, just read that sentence again and tell me how any of this makes the slightest amount of sense.

R-rated DC animated films? Awesome. Give me adaptations of stuff like Morrison's Animal Man, Milligan's Shade the Changing Man, King's Mister Miracle or Robinson's Starman. Just don't give me embarrassingly adolescent crap like this. These characters and the audience deserve better.